OFF THE RECORD
A Strong Competitor:
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The Houston Lawyer
By Liz Furlow
Jeannie Andresen
eannie Andresen, a commercial bankruptcy attorney at Doré Rothberg McKay specializing in mineral liens for oil and gas servicers, is also a competitive bodybuilder. After having her second baby in 2017, Jeannie decided she wanted to lose the weight she gained during her pregnancy and get fit. At first, she went to the gym and ate healthy. But then she decided to push herself harder. One day at the gym, she observed those around her. Who was the strongest, who was the fittest? She approached them all in turn, asking them who they trained with. Almost all of them named a local coach, Jay Martinez. Jeannie pulled the trigger and gave Jay a call. She told him her basic goals: she wanted to get healthy and to tone up. For the next year, they worked to achieve those goals. But as Jeannie’s strength and fitness developed, so did her original ambition. A year in, seeing how far she had come already, her trainer suggested that Jeannie try a bodybuilding competition. “We decided to turn things up,” Jeannie says. Jay came up with a very specific training and nutrition regimen for Jeannie, and the next level of work began. On certain days, she would train specific muscle groups, or she would perform a certain amount of cardio on various fitness machines. Based on her progress each week, her couch would adjust her meal plan or training schedule. This rigorous training schedule also had to fit in around Jeannie’s top priorities: work and family. To make time for it all, Jeannie woke up at 4:30 every morning to train. After her morning session at the gym, she would then come home, get her daughter ready for kindergarten, and head to work herself. Jeannie had her first bodybuilding competition in 2019 and has competed in three shows since, including national level competitions. To prepare for a show, discipline is everything. Jeannie cooks all of her meals in advance, because she needs to eat five to six meals a day—measuring each meal to the gram—and eat every two to three hours. But Jeannie considers the final two weeks before a show—the 38 March/April 2021
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cutting phase—to be the most challenging. “You’re trying to deplete your body without starving yourself. You don’t eat any carbs for days, maybe just fish and asparagus, for a week.” The final days leading up to the show require an altogether different kind of preparation. As a competitor in the bikini division, Jeannie is expected to get “all glammed up,” as she says. This means “crazy dark spray tans and a sparkly bikini, all for 10 seconds on stage.” The rigid discipline required to train for these competitions, from working out every morning to measuring her meals down to the gram, has helped Jeannie develop the same discipline and focus at work. Not only does the training reinforce the discipline required for long hours of work and research, but the exertion of physical activity early in the morning provides her with a mental reset. By the end of each morning training session, Jeannie says, she is “ready to attack the day.” Jeannie’s life before and after her training are like night and day. Before, she would hit the gym occasionally, but had no real physical routine. And where her kids used to eat chicken nuggets or pizza for dinner, now they eat what she eats: salmon and broccoli and other healthy meals. Jeannie will compete at the national level in Pittsburgh in July, and will begin her training in a few months’ time. “Everyone can make time for it,” she says. “If you want to do it, you’ll make the time.” Jeannie may be contacted about bodybuilding through her Instagram at @jeannie_andresen_ and her coach, Jay Martinez of Team Cobra, can be contacted through his Instagram at @kingjmcobra. Liz Furlow is a litigation associate at Baker Botts L.L.P. She is the associate editor in charge of the Off the Record column for The Houston Lawyer.
