Push-Ups to Pinups | Nicky

Nicky was first introduced to me by one of the original Push-Ups to Pinups models, Suzanne. Suze told me I need to meet this girl, she was convinced I would like her. So we arranged a meeting and Suze was right, I immediately liked Nicky. I instantly was attracted to her personality…she knows how to tell a dirty joke! But what really drew me to her was her story, Nicky was pretty vocal that she has had a rough life filled with abusive relationships and all she really wanted was to feel better about herself. And that was it, I knew we needed to get her through this program.She started up the next week, after her first workout I started to question my earlier thoughts on her, this girl was weak. I started to think I would have to buy some smaller dumbbells just to get her through to the end of the program. Thankfully her weakness was short lived. As I’m writing this she is putting 25lb dumbbells over her head for a shoulder press. And I do believe that last week I witnessed her dead lifting her body weight. A pretty impressive accomplishment considering about 15 weeks ago she was a complete noob in the gym. I can think of one instance about 9 weeks in, Nicky was doing an overhead lunge and dropped the dumbbell on her head. The consequence of working, going to school and training hard; sometimes you forget the important things, like don’t drop the dumbbell. A little bit of blood and a week off, she was back it. During her 12-weeks prior to her shoot Nicky went from somebody who was just thin and didn’t really look fit to a lean fit woman. I will have to leave this one to her fiancé but I assume she is a testament that skinny girls look good in clothes, fit girls look good naked.

It surprised me how nervous Nicky was before her shoot, Nicky had done a lot of modeling before. When I asked why she was so nervous, she said she wanted to do underwear shots but had never done it before and was freaking out. Maybe it was my bias and the fact that I find Nicky such an amazing person that I thought she was out to lunch, she was (and still is) beautiful. Or as she would say “she’s boss”. Nicky killed it at her shoot, her projection of confidence even when she was “freaking out” helped those around her during their shoots. It’s fun to see someone in their element and Nicky weather she believes me or not was in her element.

Great job and a very special thanks for exceeding my expectations.

Nicky was kind enough to write a little something touching on her struggle with self-esteem and body image. Read more…