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Dana Linn Bailey

Dana Linn Bailey is an American professional bodybuilder for the IFBB. Dana is the winner of the 2013 Olympia title for her class (figure) and is a popular internet personality.

She first started her fitness journey back when she was 5 years old by taking part in swimming classes. From there, she soon developed a competitive attitude and focused her attention on contact sports such as soccer and basketball.

When her college years came to a close, so did her sporting as a soccer player within the college team. This is when she started going to the gym to satisfy her thirst for physical progress. Over time, she became one of the most popular female bodybuilders of the current era, if not of all time. This is her story:

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“It’s ok to be strong, be confident in exactly who you are.”

Athlete Statistics

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 “If you have discipline, drive and determination, nothing is impossible.”

Accomplishments

• 2011 Jr. USA’s – 1^st place and overall (First women’s physique pro in IFBB history)
• 2012 Desert Muscle classic – 4^th place
• 2012 NY pro – 16^th
• 2013 Tampa pro – 2^nd place
• 2013 Dallas Europa – 1^st place
• 2013 Olympia – 1^st place
• 2014 Olympia – 2^nd place

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“My advice to everybody is to never feel like you are better than anyone else, no matter who you are or what your status is. At some point, we were all beginners.”

Biography

Encouraging Parents

Dana was born in the United States on May 30th 1980. Her parents encouraged her to take part in regular physical and sporting activity from a very young age.

This involvement ultimately began at the age of five where she was placed into a swim team. Shortly after this, she became involved in soccer, basketball and field hockey to name but a few. All these disciplines helped to establish the foundations she later carved her physique upon.

This “innate” physical activity continued throughout her younger years, sometimes in a relentless fashion. At times, she had to balance “ping ponging” between practice sessions from one sport to the next. Whilst simultaneously trying to accomplish all of her academic tasks.

She had become a potent soccer player by the time she reached University (West Chester) and was subsequently recruited to play for their team as a starting defender.

An Athlete Through And Through

She enjoyed her time with the team taking part in NCAA’s and playoffs. However, this sports orientated period of her life ultimately came to an end once her four years of college came to a close.

Faced with the proposition of inactivity due to a lack of sports integration, she decided to start going to the gym with her boyfriend at the time (and still current) Rob Bailey.

This lead to the development of a passion for weightlifting subsequently followed by a love of bodybuilding. This lead to her taking part in figure competitions between 2006 – 2010.

Dana’s ultimate aim was to become an IFBB pro, though she faced several obstacles at this early stage due to her desire to become as muscular as possible. A trait that, past a certain point, becomes undesirable for her initial category choice.

As luck would have it, 2011 saw the introduction of the very first physique competition. This category owed itself far more to Dana’s “denser” frame. As such, she chose to compete and ended up taking not only 1^st place for her category, but winning the overall title too.

Making History In The IFBB

This victory earned Dana her much sought after IFBB Pro card and entry into the professional bodybuilding ranks. Though she went on to win several more titles along the way, her enormous breakthrough came with her victory at the 2013 Olympia.

In conjunction with being a highly successful competitive athlete, she has also (with Rob Bailey) established her own clothing line. Along with a vehicle performance enhancing business, and has built her own gym. All of these run alongside her many seminar and Q&A appearances over the course of a typical year.

Her online training videos are considered to be one of the most popular of any competitive athlete. Dana also posts regular video blogs and training tips. All of these elements combined have established her as one of the world’s biggest fitness personalities.

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“My training is a mix of powerlifting and bodybuilding. I absolutely love the challenge of powerlifting.”

Training

Dana’s training approach typically follows a four-set structure per exercise combined with a rep count of 10-12 per body part. She usually trains with her husband Rob Bailey in their own gym and enjoys a mixture of powerlifting and bodybuilding.

This is simply used as a rough foundation, however, she also likes to achieve total muscular overload. She does this by incorporating high volume rep sets towards the end of training her muscle groups. She also uses systems like “DTP” on a regular basis to create as much shock as possible to her target muscle group.

She has been known to train her legs up to three times per week. Her sessions (regardless of the muscle group) are often very strategically structured to ensure every area of the muscle group is adequately targeted.

Her favourite body part to train is upper body, delts in particular and is known for gruelling routines for this body part like the one below.

Typical delt training session for Dana

WARM-UP SUPERSET

• Bent over reverse cable flyes – 15-20 reps
• Face pulls – 15-20 reps

SUPERSET

• Bent over reverse cable flyes – 4 sets of 10-12 reps
• Face pulls – 4 sets of 10-12 reps
• Single arm cable lat raise 4 sets of 10-12 reps

SUPERSET

• Lying upright cable row 4 sets of 10-12 reps
• Upright cable row 4 sets of 10-12 reps
• Reverse hammer-strength one-arm press 4 sets of 10-12 reps
• Side lateral raise 4 sets of 15, 10, 15 reps per set
• EZ bar underhand-grip front-raise 4 sets of 10-12 reps to failure
• Front plate raise – 4 sets of 10-12 reps to failure
• Note: Rest 60-90 seconds between sets

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“To me, strength and aesthetics are equally important. I don’t want to just look like I am strong, I actually want to be freaking strong.”

Nutrition

Dana breaks the mould a little by not sticking to a specific carbohydrate count or any diet plan for that matter. She instead, simply focuses on eating as cleanly as possible throughout the year and some of her favourite protein sources include:

• Egg whites
• Fish
• Steak
• Chicken
• Turkey
• Protein brownies
• Peanut butter

Some of her preferred carb sources are:

• Oatmeal
• Rice
• Sweet potatoes
• Pizza
• Cereal with marshmallows
• Ice cream
• Chocolate rice cakes

Whilst some of these choices may seem completely erratic, it’s important to state that Dana believes in moderation whilst trying to eat as much like a “normal” person as possible.

She simply focuses on all round healthy nutrition from the above sources, while incorporating enough of what she likes to maintain her interest and establish “normality.”

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“The sexiest thing a girl can ever possess is confidence…and I rock that shit hard.”

Idols and Influences

Dana Linn Bailey’s bodybuilding began when then love interest Rob asked if she wanted to see more of him, then she should go to the gym more to see him. That’s exactly what she did! Inspired by Rob Daily, Dana began to train alongside Rob and found a deep passion for training and heavy lifting.

One person who Dana speaks very highly of publicly and whom she looks up to in the fitness industry is Jamie Eason. Dana admires Jamie for her amazing physique, and for her overall personality and how she carries herself.

Dana is very open about her biggest influences being her fans and followers. They keep her motivated more than any individual. Dana travels all over the world for guest posing, expos, and appearances to meet her fans and followers alike.

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“Obstacles are put in our way to see if we really want to reach our goals, or if we just thought we did.”

What we can learn from Dana Linn Bailey

Dana is an inspiring individual who’s goal is to keep inspiring and motivating both men and women to get in shape and be healthy and happy. She runs a global fitness empire and was the first women in history to obtain a Pro Figure card in the IFBB. This shows Dana’s incredible motivation, self-discipline and drive.

Dana has been a spokeswoman and role model for other gym-loving females throughout the globe. Showing you can be strong and sexy without the need to expose yourself sexually. Dana’s work and public ethic demands respect, as she’s devoted to reaching out to her fans whenever she can.

Dana pushes boundaries and has played a huge part in paving the way for the figure category in women’s bodybuilding.