Dedicated single mother and multi-talented professional, Newfoundland native Chelsea Cumby balances a hectic schedule, excelling at competitive fitness at an elite level 

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Many of us are guilty of throwing down excuses, some good and justifiable and some paper thin, for not making the most of our physical capabilities. My day was too stressful, I’ll go to the gym tomorrow! With that weather, no thanks! 

Healthy & active life

Marystown native Chelsea Cumby sees your excuses and raises a full-time single-mom schedule fitted with a demanding career path, attempts at a social life, and little things like eating, sleeping and breathing. 

Now a resident of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Cumby’s fitness kick began in earnest following the birth of her daughter Izabella. A single mom, office center manger, certified massage therapist and paralegal, one would understand if Cumby threw in the towel on attempts to lead a healthy and active life, much less enter the world of competitive fitness.

“Izabella was six months old and I was going to the gym at night from 9:00 until midnight in between her feedings and it was the only time of the day that I could fit it in,” Cumby tells The Herald. “I was doing that five days a week. I’m not sure when I was sleeping, but that’s how I fit it in. And then during the day I would do my meal prep and I did it all on my own.”

Using social media as a motivation tool, and adapting a style of learning by imitation, Cumby entered a foreign world of sorts as modest and tentative as the best of us

“I was super nervous starting out especially because I knew nobody really, none of my friends were into anything to do with the gym,” she explains. 

“I was also fairly new to Halifax so I didn’t know very many people here to begin with. So it was literally like a journey by myself.”

Dedication to fitness

Combining a strict, pre-planned diet with dedicated gym time, Cumby has trained in competitive fitness for three years. A glimpse at her daily routine provides ample proof of her dedication to fitness. 

“Everyday I get up at 5:00a.m., prepare (her daughter’s) meals and mine, and get my meals all packed for the day, because I eat every two to three hours and then I get her off to daycare. I go to work. I cook her supper the night before so that we can go directly from work to the gym. And there’s a daycare in the gym and she really likes going, so she eats supper there. I train there for two to three hours. I come home, we get her ready for bed and then I cook the meals for the next day. And then in between that I still have to get all my housework done and somehow get a social life in there somewhere.”

A bodybuilder in both figure and bikini, Cumby recently took home 1st place in Figure Tall at the Atlantic Classic Bodybuilding Championship in Moncton, earning the right to represent Canada on a national level. She followed that up this past April with 1st (bikini) and 3rd (figure) place finishes at 2019 Maritime Open in Charlottetown. 

A proud mother

“It was a super confidence booster,” Cumby said of her recent wins. “It was absolutely the most proud I’ve been in my life and the thing I’m most proud of that I’ve ever done, because I worked so hard for that much time to place. Placing is not common. You don’t go into bodybuilding knowing you’re going to place, ever. Because you don’t know who’s going to show up to these things. 

“There’s always going to be someone bigger, there’s always going to be someone better who’s been at it for longer. And to be able to say I’ve placed, only being my third competition, is so big of an accomplishment to me. And it really drives me to now be able to work even harder to keep going.”

The 27-year-old shows no signs of slowing down despite some new medals for her mantle. While the role of a proud mother trumps bodybuilding champion or career-woman every time, Cumby has mastered the delicate balancing act, even launching her own side-business Fitted Fitness, helping those in similar positions find a fitness regime tailor-made to their needs.

“I like to be busy,” she said. “If I have downtime now it just feels strange because I’ve been doing it for so long. I like the fact that now when people say ‘I don’t have time for the gym’ I can be like Well listen this is my day. Tell me you don’t have time.”

For more on Chelsea Cumby and her dedicated training plans visit Fitted Fitness on Facebook