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Not only has she successfully cemented the role of women in the metal industry, her commitment to health and fitness has shown many in the rock music world that you don’t need drugs and alcohol to be badass! She is among the list of ever-growing rockstars who are choosing the gym over alcohol to perform to their full potential and give more to the world of rock music.
From Lifting Weights to Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu and having her very own 90 day ‘Body Shred’ Fitness Challenge, she has built a community of support and accountability for music enthusiasts to get fit.
She has so far achieved what no woman in metal has. Nita joined the likes of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani in having her own signature Ibanez guitar becoming the first female musician ever in its history to have done so. She made history when her first solo single ‘Dead Inside’ with Disturbed frontman hit number one on the Mainstream Rock Airplay Chart, making her the first solo woman in over 30 years to have achieved this feat!
Nita appears to have it all… she’s toned and sexy as hell and has proven herself to be one of the greatest female musicians of all time!
But none of this would have been possible if Nita hadn’t made some tough physical and mental decisions to become the fire she is today. Let’s explore some of the things that were instrumental in shaping her mind and body that ultimately transformed her into the Goddess she is today!
Visualizing success
When Nita was 7 or 8 years old, she did ballet and competed in gymnastics with her sister. Even at that age, she would lay in bed before her performance and visualize her routine in detail. She would visualize every step, every nuance, right up-to the point of winning and accepting the prize.
Nita continues to visualize to this day. She imagines playing on stage, moving people with her performance, the reaction of the crowd down to her every move.
Here’s a fact… all top performers, regardless of their profession, know how important it is to picture themselves succeeding in their heads… before they actually do in real life!
The more vivid they are with details, the better they perform. Right up from picturing the audience, how they move and the crowd’s reaction when they finish.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali visualized himself winning way before the actual fight. Michael Jordan saw himself taking the last shot in his mind before he actually did in reality. Jim Carrey visualized himself being the greatest actor in the world and even went so far as to write himself a $10-million check for ‘acting services rendered’, dating it 10 years in the future… 10 years later, he was cast in the movie ‘Dumb and Dumber’ for $10 million!
And so, from a young age, Nita understood the power of harnessing her mind to get her body to ‘behave’ in a way she imagined. This translated to more confidence on stage and ultimately her success.
Remember… It doesn’t matter what is true, only what you believe is true because with work that will become true.
Breaking up with alcohol
It’s hard to imagine the Nita we know today, with her washboard abs and toned arms, was once smoking and drinking constantly on tour. She didn’t play a show without having a drink first because she thought that it gave her the confidence to perform better.
She came to realize that regularly going on tour was having a huge impact on her physical health and that her body couldn’t keep functioning with all the alcohol and smoking. She was 50 pounds heavier, constantly fighting with her boyfriend and was so unhappy with how she felt.
She even recalls going on stage with a female co-player, both hammered, making huge mistakes and laughing over it thinking it was funny. Looking back, she sees what an unprofessional mentality that was and decided that she needed to break up with alcohol.
It wasn’t easy though… alcohol was almost a ‘given’ if you were a rockstar and Nita was concerned that she wouldn't be accepted if she quit drinking. In fact, she was terrified about being respected, if people would still wanna hang with her but most importantly… would she be able to play on stage without a drink first??!!
That first performance without alcohol was a struggle. She felt her confidence drop and was constantly worried that people were looking at her and that she was messing up, so much so that she broke into tears after that show.
But when people came up to her after the show telling her how she fu*king crushed her performance and how much they loved seeing her on stage, she started to realize that she could do without the alcohol!
She got sober in 2015 and started to see numerous signs that she had made the right decision. She dropped 50 lbs, felt good in a bikini, her relationship improved and her career skyrocketed! Instead of fighting and drama, she now had productivity and peace.
Staying fit on and off Tour
Being on the road constantly, with limited access to healthy food or a gym can be very hard. As any gym enthusiast knows, even a few days away from home can mean chaos to your routine if you don’t plan ahead.
Quitting alcohol wasn’t enough. Nita had to make some drastic changes to her physical health and start taking care of her body, if she was going to perform to her full potential on stage.
She stopped going to the bar after her shows and instead started waking up early to go to the gym.
She decided to start working out again with her girl friend at powerhouse LA. Nita remembers being very intimidated when she walked in. She didn’t know how anything worked, she would look up each exercise and it took her a long time to get comfortable in the gym.
Nita then decided to take her fitness seriously and instead of following Instagram accounts which didn’t provide the kind of training she needed for her goals… She then signed up with coach Ingrid Romero and her husband Joe from Team Edge, who could give her a tailored plan to improve her endurance and functionality on stage, her strength and also her muscle tone. This was a game changer as Nita constantly toured (still tours) and could only train in hotel rooms or gyms.
Today, she looks at her stage performance as a workout. She has a step tracker to track her steps on stage trying to hit her 10k goal. If you’ve watched her perform on stage, you’ll see how active she is, running back and forth with high energy moves and jumps. She wears a waist trimmer called ‘Sweet Sweat’ to help her sweat more.
She carries resistance bands with her for hotel room or gym workouts and tries to get in atleast 3-4 workouts a week. During the lockdown she used powerblock dumbbells and trxtraining in her backyard. She has a DDP Yoga app on her phone that needs no equipment and sometimes even does this in a parking lot.
Before her stage performance, she does sprints, less lifting and more cardio for about 90mins to get her prepped and energized.
Most importantly though, Nita always tries to be prepared. If she forgets to bring her gym shoes or bands, she knows there will be consequences and she’ll have to miss her workout. She constantly exercises discipline around prepping for her tours.
What Nita eats
Touring can be a nightmare for people trying to be healthy. Finding food even while traveling is hard and if you’re not prepared, you’ll be forced to eat whatever is available. You can forget about finding healthy food that is high in lean protein from local supermarkets or restaurants.
One of the biggest changes Nita knew she had to make was with her nutrition. And while she loves being home and cooking in her own kitchen, she prepares herself really well ahead of her tours.
She uses the rpstrength Diet Coach app to track her macros and stay on a balanced meal plan which focuses on clean healthy eating without restricting food groups.
She is an advocate of ‘1st Phorm Level-1 bars’ that she says are her secret weapon for when she gets a sweet tooth, usually at the end of the night. These bars have 20grams of Protein and Nita suggests trying the Peanut Butter Lover and Chocolate PB Pretzel.
Nita also uses 1st Phorm protein powder for shakes and her favorite snack by mixing the protein powder with egg whites and microwaving it for a delicious Healthy Mug Cake!
She tries to drink atleast half a gallon of water a day, takes L-Carnitine before her show, BCAAs during and after her show refrains from eating a meal. After her shows, Nita usually has a protein shake instead with banana, chocolate and soy milk.
In addition, Nita takes Opti-Greens and Opti-Reds to boost her immune system and gut health. Her convenient Micro Factor travel pack includes a full multivitamin, EFAs, Probiotics, Antioxidants and CoQ10 and another fruit/veggie blend.
The Whole Package
Given Nita’s lifestyle both on and off stage, she trains, eats and looks like an athlete. People often label successful people as having luck or talent, but I’ve found that those things mean nothing in the face of hard work. Take Nita for example, her success today… her single 'Dead Inside' being the #1 Rock song in the country, her amazing physique… NONE of this would have been possible if she’d just relied on luck or talent.
Nita made some tough choices in her journey, from pushing out of the comfortable shell alcohol gave her, constantly visualizing success, working on the guitar every free moment she had… and all this while balancing her nutrition and training 3-4 times a week. That takes discipline and hard work.
In Nita's interview with Metalinsider, she spoke about how the feeling of accomplishment is way more rewarding than the buzz and later hangover from drinking alcohol. She goes on to say that being productive, getting stuff done, seeing her body change has given her lasting beneficial effects.
It wasn't just kicking the alcohol though... Nita had to train her mind to be strong enough to grow into the character her visualized herself to be, the best version of her and that is truly a remarkable feat.
I hope that her story has inspired you to step out of your comfort zone, work hard and believe that your dreams can come true! Share this article if you enjoyed it :)
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