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Mr. and Mrs. Russell Garcia pose for a couples' portrait.

Photo by Carlos Guerra

Team Garcia: The couple that lifts together stays together

22 Apr 2015 | Laurie Pearson Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow

   Pushing the odds as they lift weights together, a local bodybuilding gunnery sergeant, along with his wife and teammate, prove that they have what it takes to be successful on and off the stage.

   Gunnery Sgt. Russell Garcia, communications chief aboard Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif. and certified elite trainer with International Sport Sciences Association, is a nationally qualified men’s physique competitor. His wife, Kat Garcia, is now a professional women’s figure competitor and operations manager for their trainer in Temecula, Calif. When they started this adventure nearly three years ago, people were not optimistic about couples working out together successfully, but they knew that common goals would keep tight the ties that bind.

   “We’ve learned from past relationships (what) happens to a lot of marriages,” Garcia recounted, saying that some couples grow complacent, and stop doing things together.

   “At first you go through that honeymoon phase,” he said. “Then after that it’s like ‘Okay I want to do my own thing and you hang out with your friends.’”

   This was not the case for him and Kat. 

   “For us, if we weren’t doing it together, we’re like ‘Why do I want to do it?’” he asked. “We want to be able to share all these experiences together. And that’s what made competing great was the fact that we both fell in love with it. We know what the other person is going through, especially when it’s time for a competition. We know the other person’s got this coming up, they’re stressed about this. So you can help the other person kind of deal with that stress.”

   When people said it could not work, they leaned on one another to make it happen.

   “When we first started competing, we actually had a lot of people tell us ‘There’s no way you guys are going to stay together. You’re going to get divorced,” said Garcia, laughing. “It’s very, very stressful. Especially when you’re in prep because you’re hungry, you’re tired, you get irritable.”

   This stress can be compounded by someone’s own personality. Garcia pointed out that how a person reacts to stressors such as carbohydrate cravings and exhaustion vary.  He says he can be more reactive than Kat as it gets closer to competition and his coach starts to cut back on more of certain foods.

   “I’ll admit it,” he said with a grin, “she tells me all the time that I ‘Divo-out’ when I’m in prep.”

   For this dynamic team, this is when patience and communication save the day.

   “We had to figure out how to find balance, how to motivate each other without making the other mad,” Garcia said, “(We had to) figure out what’s going to work for (each other). It’s a give and take.”

   People questioned them when they decided to do a show together, preparing and then competing at the same time.  

   “People said we were nuts,” said Garcia. “We actually found that when we prep at the same time, we actually loved it. There were times when tension would get high and (we were) fighting for the last piece of chicken because (we) didn’t have all the meals together like (we’re) supposed to. We’d always take a step back and say ‘You know what, I’m sorry, we’re both in prep, neither one of us is more important.’”

   He pointed out that if one is in preparation for a competition, then whoever is not in competition puts the current competitor first. The person competing may need more food, or rest, because they have to be 100 percent. However, if both are in preparation at the same time, neither can sacrifice. Both have to be as strict as possible.

   “Whenever you step on stage, if you don’t do well (you wonder if) it was that one little point where I gave in and I went out and had a cheeseburger,” said Garcia. Or he would wonder if it was something he should have done,  such as work out at the gym on a day he skipped.   Through it all, they support one another. In a competition in which he scored lower than he would have liked, it was Kat who bolstered his spirits and rekindled his drive to return to the stage that afternoon. She reminded him of his hard work, the progress he had made and of the inspiration he is to others.

   “Go out there and have fun,” Kat reminded him. He did. 

    “This sport is hard on you,” he said. “That’s where you have to find that balance between your training, relationships (and) work.” 

   “We’ve had a lot of people come up to us and say ‘Oh my God I get so mad at the other person because they’re pushing me,” Garcia recounted. He said you have to learn that balance between how to push the other person, without making them mad.

  To learn more about bodybuilding, men’s physique and women’s figure competitions, contact Gunnery Sgt. Russell Garcia at (760) 577-6751, or find them on Facebook at “Russ & Kat Garcia – Husband & Wife Fitness Team”, or on InstaGram @Garcia7984..