Journey of a Gamer turned Bodybuilder with Twitch Streamer BBXH

Ready to embark on an exhilarating journey through gaming, bodybuilding, and the value of community? This week's episode of the Whiskey and Wisdom podcast features an engaging conversation with vivacious gamer and Twitch streamer, BBXH. Her tale of transformation, from creating her unique gamer tag to her unexpected leap into the world of esports hosting, will leave you spellbound. As we delve into her favorite games and spirits, her love for tequila and whiskey is revealed, adding an extra punch to the conversation.

Surprises don't stop there. The toughness of BBXH's character takes center stage as we unveil her stunning transition from a gamer to a bodybuilder. Through her eyes, experience the grueling world of bodybuilding and the steadfast dedication it demands. Her balancing act between streaming and competing is nothing short of inspiring. We also get a taste of her athletic ventures beyond the gym with a glimpse into her experience in a DC area soccer league, her passion for fantasy football, and her participation in the Spartan 10K. 

Our conversation rounds off with a wealth of valuable insights on nurturing a Twitch community. BBXH shares her strategies on networking, forming genuine friendships, and the importance of active involvement in others' streams. You'll also learn the significance of setting boundaries for maintaining a robust social media presence. Stay till the end to discover her multifaceted projects ranging from Twitch streams, Clash Royale tournaments, to bodybuilding and beyond. So, sit back, plug in, and prepare to be captivated by our multi-talented guest!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:31

Welcome back everybody to the whiskey and wisdom podcast. This week, as per usual, you have constant co-host Chris Kellum and Tyler y'all. This week we bring on somebody whom, unfortunately, we haven't met in person, but we have met virtually.

Speaker 2: 0:47

Hello, I am D or BBXH. That's my gamer tag and most people know me by that versus D, but that's me.

Speaker 3: 0:57

So where did the gamer tag come from? What? Jump right into the question.

Speaker 2: 1:00

Okay, so that I wish I had a better story and people always say it's a good story, but for me I feel like I don't know. So when I started streaming, I wasn't sure if I would actually be Streaming more. Just I figured I'm just gonna give this a go. So I just was kind of in the mood of whatever, I'll just do this. So I blame my husband, josh. So he used to run Minecraft servers called XH craft and his gamer tag was someone XH. Mmm and a trolley, so that it would be like somebody, someone just shot you, right. So and we call it a. You know, like pet names, you call friends or, but now you call each other BB. So I said I'll just be BBXH, just fully thinking it wouldn't you know last. And here it is, seven years, still baby XH.

Speaker 3: 1:47

That is a pretty cool story, though, so I, oh good.

Speaker 2: 1:50

Yeah, I wish it were something like more tied in. I guess it is tied into me, but, you know, with history behind it.

Speaker 1: 1:57

Yes, all right. So, because this is whiskey and wisdom, where we convinced you to try some whiskey. What are you drinking on?

Speaker 2: 2:06

Okay, so this is called honey Walker platinum label For all the whiskey people out there. You know I keep it fancy.

Speaker 1: 2:17

That is a real fate.

Speaker 2: 2:19

I'd still not had that I drink tequila, so it was in my cabinet, but I wanted to drink whiskey today and then, I, you know, I got my whiskey glass here.

Speaker 3: 2:33

Now you came prepared. I appreciate it, cheers.

Speaker 2: 2:37

Cheers guys.

Speaker 3: 2:39

Hitchhike. So what's the tequila of a choice for you then?

Speaker 2: 2:43

Okay, so not to be, not to be. I don't know cliche, but I love Asamigos repasado. I know that's like the. George Clooney one, but it's real, that's actually really good tequila. So it it's. I guess compared to others it's a little pricier. So that's my choice. If I'm going quality and then for maybe on the More casual side, I love one called cortisol, which of course means heart in Spanish, and that one you know. For a not Very expensive one it's really tasty.

Speaker 3: 3:18

Oh, those are my two favorites. Awesome. Good to know I am not as much of a tequila drinker, but I am trying my best to get into it because there's quite a few people out there that's been telling me I'm missing out.

Speaker 2: 3:29

So I know that's how I feel. Whiskey everyone's like oh you don't like whiskey, or it's already don't like it. I guess that I just I don't know, I'm a newbie to it.

Speaker 3: 3:38

Right, get it, we've got to build a palette.

Speaker 2: 3:40

That's right.

Speaker 1: 3:41

I I tend to drink mezcal.

Speaker 2: 3:44

Sorry, I am not a smoky flavor person. We drink whiskey, so mezcal is a good yeah, it's an exclosis thing. Okay, that makes complete sense.

Speaker 1: 3:54

Yeah, and as long as you didn't say class as all was your like to kill a preference, I'm totally okay with it. Just if you had said that I'm like, well, ma'am you are doing really really well in your dream. Yeah, All right, so you've been treatment for seven years. Yeah it's a lot that get started.

Speaker 3: 4:14

Sorry, I just told.

Speaker 2: 4:16

Once again my dang husband. He now I know better, now I'm like he and I realized he gets ideas and he's like let's do this. I know that back then. So I Was working, as I'm from the Washington DC area, so if anybody's from this area, you're most likely working for the government or you're a government contractor, which I was a government contractor and just you know typical nine-to-five job. I did purchasing and not. So I also, ever since college, and even Through working at that government job, I worked at a company called Barbizon, which is a modeling and acting school. I went there when I was in high school and did I mean you can learn all kinds of things there. They teach you how to walk on a runway, how to do your makeup, about self-confidence, public speaking, and I learned a lot there. And then I started working there as a teacher and so that kind of gave me that background in the entertainment and media world. And I also was a gamer my whole life. I've got an older brother and he and I grew up playing games. Our first console was at Sega Genesis and then we played PlayStation games. When we eventually got a computer, I especially loved playing. We had a Mac first, so I played on Mac and then PC, so I had that kind of the background of the two and my husband and I were watching a Streamer play Clash Royale because we wanted Clash Royale had just come out in 2016 and we wanted to get better at Clash Royale. So, as we're watching, he was like I feel like you could do this. So Then I'm like okay, and he were he does it for the government. So he's he's like I will buy the camera, the microphone, I will set everything up, I will figure out OBS, which he did and I he's like you just sit down and do the on camera stuff. So I said okay, and it started as a hobby and went from there.

Speaker 1: 6:08

So, because I remember when Clash Royale came out yeah, how do you stream that like I've? Yeah, I remember when they had tournaments like I used to follow, like a hundred thieves used to post up people and I'm like, how are you recording Simultaneously your phone as well as like your face or your chit-chat and yeah, I'll throw OBS.

Speaker 2: 6:32

Yes, but it it's so much easier to do that now because you can just use a capture card. But back then in 2016, it really took some figuring out and we went through. There was different apps that we could use and you could just plug the your tablet or your phone into the computer, and there were some. There's like blue stacks, so we use that, and that was. That's an emulator. Some games even ban that, but this game it doesn't give you any kind of advantage. And Clash Royale, but these blue stacks for a while where you can mirror your tablet. And then there's a different, and then it was. There was one. I can't remember what it's called, but it was straightforward for Apple. I don't have any Apple products, so I had to find one that was, and we went through a few. But yeah, just plug in the tablet in was what we did back then.

Speaker 1: 7:17

See, I'm proud of you, you're finding ways to get around it. So which leads me to did you call each other BB? Am I brain automatically was like was it from your? Is it just like a pet name, or was it because of where you had worked?

Speaker 2: 7:35

No, it's just like a pet name.

Speaker 1: 7:37

Okay.

Speaker 2: 7:38

Like, just for like, and we don't even call each other that anymore, but we used to, yeah, so because now it's like I feel like somebody's calling my name, which I know it ends up being now. I never thought about it, but it makes it maybe awkward because some people want to abbreviate your gamer tag but they don't want to call me BB. I guess, like out of respect, and I'm like I'm sorry, you just call me. D, I guess.

Speaker 1: 8:00

I mean, yours is way easier to pronounce than mine, so yeah, what's yours?

Speaker 2: 8:06

It's just cool.

Speaker 1: 8:07

Months. Oh no, it's actually snowy, it's snowy hurdle.

Speaker 2: 8:13

Oh.

Speaker 1: 8:13

Snowy turtle. It was snow turtle. I was really bored and I was like putting things together and I was like, yeah, no one can pronounce this, so it's good I don't stream anymore.

Speaker 2: 8:24

You're a good conversation starter, I guess, for your community.

Speaker 3: 8:28

So does your husband stream with you as well now too, or is he doing the backside?

Speaker 2: 8:32

He does now. He did not before, but he does. He started on Twitch and now he's streaming on kick Okay, and he plays. I mean, he started with Sea of Thieves because that's what I play, and then now he plays. He played a lot of Escape from Tarkov and now he's on Dark and Darker.

Speaker 1: 8:51

I haven't played.

Speaker 2: 8:51

Darker. I haven't played it yet.

Speaker 1: 8:54

So I've seen a lot about Sea of Thieves.

Speaker 2: 8:57

Yes.

Speaker 1: 8:58

How do you like it?

Speaker 2: 8:59

I love it. I've played it now, since the game was in beta back in 2018.

Speaker 3: 9:04

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 9:05

And yeah, and I eventually turned it into my main game after Clash Royale kind of fizzled out for me. I tried so many other games in between but eventually landed on Sea of Thieves and I like it a lot because you can kind of play the game differently depending on how you feel that day. Like if you're feeling like you want to be really sweaty and you want to PVP with other people, you can do that. If you want to do puzzles, they have these kind of puzzle story quests that you can do. Or you can go fishing, you can play however you feel that day, which I feel like in longevity of streaming a game that's so helpful.

Speaker 1: 9:41

It really is Makes sense too, because I know a lot of people who play like World of Warcraft and League of Legends and I'm like, yeah, I've seen some people who are like all right, so today we're just doing a fishing stream and I'm like really Are you just going to find as many fish as possible. I know how long that takes.

Speaker 2: 9:59

People do that and it's hard. I feel like League or games like that or even Clash Royale was like that where you're going into a match, you finish the match, come out, rinse and repeat is so repetitive to do on stream. So I like to see a thieves is not like that, because you can just go around and sail adventure and then you're not in a match per se.

Speaker 3: 10:21

It's impressive You've been able to stay with one game for so long though, because I'm more of that like that cod type of guy, so like to go in and out because, like all of the cheaters and stuff that come across, and so like you're in cod and you're out of cod and maybe you're in apex and then maybe you go to kind of a new strike and then maybe you go over to like League for a little bit because you decided to get a little antsy, and then you come back to cod when they come out with a new version of it and supposedly they got rid of some of the cheaters. So being able to stay with something for so long, for five years in that world, is very impressive.

Speaker 2: 10:57

Yeah, thank you. It's kind of challenging, like I think a lot of see it there's see it the streamers right now or at a point where they need more content. But they did just release a season 10 video today with some brand new stuff which I know we're all like yes, thank you, because I mean, no matter what, you still get like burnt out from it. But it's that weird feeling as a streamer. You're like do I play what I'm my core game is or do I go and do variety? And you can choose whatever you want to do, but it's just you know things. It might not be the same viewership if you switch games, which I went through, and it's hard Because you got to do what you want to do some days.

Speaker 3: 11:36

Yep.

Speaker 1: 11:38

So, question you've switched over to kick now, correct?

Speaker 2: 11:42

Not me, but I have thought about it.

Speaker 1: 11:45

But my husband did.

Speaker 2: 11:46

But, I have not made that jump yet, but I have a kick channel, so where are you streaming now Twitch Okay. Yeah, just on Twitch.

Speaker 1: 11:55

Do you like it over at Twitch?

Speaker 2: 11:57

I do. I think it's hard, though, and it's really hard for new streamers, because discoverability on that app is just really challenging, because the way it's laid out is, most people go into Twitch with a game in mind that they want to watch, right.

Speaker 1: 12:15

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 12:16

Like Call of Duty or League of Legends. So you go into that category and it's typically organized by who has the most viewers to who has the least amount of viewers In the game. For example, like League of Legends, if you're a brand new streamer and that's a saturated market with streamers you're like all the way on page who knows what of the directory, so it's really hard to get discovered on Twitch. So I feel like you really have to have other avenues of bringing people to your channel, whether it's YouTube or TikTok, whatever it is. And let's see, tiktok is different because you open that app and you see all kinds of different people, all kinds of different content that gets shown to you, and it might be somebody brand new. So Twitch doesn't work like that. So I think it can be really challenging to grow sometimes Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3: 13:01

Yeah. So what really got you into like I know you talked about a little bit before that your husband's like hey, you should really try to be good for you, but what really got you into gaming in the first place?

Speaker 2: 13:13

Oh man, I think my parents buying us a Sega Genesis, and my brother is definitely a gamer, and so he and I would both. Just that was our hobby as we were kids.

Speaker 3: 13:24

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 13:25

And like what's the guy? Sonic the Hedgehog?

Speaker 3: 13:27

we played that.

Speaker 2: 13:29

And then different games on PlayStation, and I remember playing or watching him, for example, play Resident Evil, and he would print out the instruction page or the glue page and if he got stuck he'd be like read me the next clue. So I'd be like OK, you're going to do this which. Back then I'm like this is so boring, who would want to watch somebody play video games? And now I'm like oh wow, and this is what I do now.

Speaker 1: 13:53

Right.

Speaker 2: 13:54

Full circle. So yeah, and then we got, like I said, we got a computer and I started playing games like SimCity and just other little kid games, also like some Snoopy game, and I just got roped in. I started playing Diablo, I started playing EverQuest, and so luckily, in the summertime our parents would let us stay up and play, so he'd be on the consoles and I'd be on the computer just staring up in the summers playing. So that's how it all started, I guess, and just finding more and more games I enjoy.

Speaker 3: 14:24

So how'd that conversation go for? Like your friends and family, we're like oh yeah, I'm a government contractor and now I'm going to start gaming.

Speaker 2: 14:32

They're like wait what you tell people. I'm a Twitch streamer, especially back in 2016,. People are like what is that Some people are like is this like their picture in like a cam girl thing?

Speaker 3: 14:43

And.

Speaker 2: 14:44

I'm like no, no, no not that. I am playing video games and they're like people, people watch you. And the first question people are always like you get paid to play video games and you're like oh, you know, really like, because it's like content creation. But I feel like now content creation of all different kinds is so common and people understand it now, or is back then People are like what? Like I don't understand this. So now I'm like let me just show you what I do and I'll just pull up with a clip of either hosting that I've done and or or like a day to day Twitch stream. I'll be like here, let me show you today's Twitch stream and then they understand. They're like OK, so you have a camera on you and on the game and you have a chat, and then they full start and they understand and after they see it, so with the hosting that you do, how'd you get into hosting? So that all started because, like you talked about, with the tournaments in Clash Royale, I started to host those tournaments on my Twitch stream. And then somebody was in my Twitch stream that had the finances to fund these tournaments and he was trying to grow an eSports team, but he didn't have the means to get people in these tournaments. So back in the day, Clash Royale used to have these in-game tournaments. You would host a thousand players with huge rewards, but it cost about, if I remember correctly, like $700 to start one tournament. So nobody was starting these tournaments. I mean, it's mainly kids playing this. So this guy had the budget to host the tournaments but and then he would say okay, you host on your Twitch channel, so that way you get people into the tournament and people would instantly fill with a thousand players as soon as you released a password and as soon as it got released it would be instantly filled because of the reward. So that drove so many people to my Twitch channel because they wanted to all compete. And so this business guy and I just got in this routine of he would fund the tournaments and I would host them, and then I would not play because I didn't want to take one of the slots and I could not compete against these. I mean, these are really good people that are entering. So I was like I'll just commentate on the game like sports, and so I started doing that. And then this other company, Moe Esports. They were doing the Northern Arena tournaments and they did a CS go, they did Hearthstone and up in Canada and they were doing Clash Royale and somebody threw my name out there and for a host, so they brought me up to Toronto and it was you know one of these. it was like kind of starting out tournaments but I did the live hosting casting me and another guy, and then they had another one and then the game creator, supercell. They started doing these events and they already had seen me do this at these professional Esports events so they called me up and then I got. They started when they started doing the call to CCGS, these tournament series, so I went out to LA and I'd be out in LA for weeks at a time filming the series with them and I loved it. And it's just one of those things you get on the roster as a caster or a host for a certain game and you just get called back over and over and it's wonderful and I love it. And then I've done some of the C at Thieves. It's not as much an Esports game but I have the opportunities they have had. I've done a lot for them as well.

Speaker 1: 18:05

Nice. So what is I mean? I know the difference, but what's the difference between a caster and a host when it comes to these games?

Speaker 2: 18:15

A lot of people I find, yeah don't don't mainly don't know what a caster is. But so for anybody that doesn't know, a host is somebody you don't really need to know the game per, say, you're kind of driving the show, You're saying welcome everybody to such and such tournament, these are our players today, and you're kind of driving it and then you're throwing to the casters, so you're just kind of running the event, running the flow of the event as a host. But as a caster is the same thing as a sports commentator, but it's for Esports, and so you're just same thing like a sports commentator does. For, like football, let's say, you're calling what's going on in the game and usually have somebody who does that kind of commentary and I've done it solo before but usually you have two. One person comments on what is happening right here, right now, and then you have also somebody who is telling, teaching you about the game, about the history of game, about the history of the players. So they're throwing in that information as well.

Speaker 1: 19:10

Your play by play and your color caster.

Speaker 2: 19:12

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:15

Sorry, I watch way too much leak. My wife has finally started watching some with me, and it's hilarious. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:24

It's. It sounds like a foreign language league, all like jungler and like. What are you talking about?

Speaker 1: 19:31

when it's bad too, because I'll play it on like the big TV downstairs and I'm like pointing at the screen like all right, so this guy's buying this to do that she's like I can't understand.

Speaker 2: 19:41

You're like this is cool, I have somebody to root for and you understand what's happening.

Speaker 3: 19:45

It's my fun.

Speaker 1: 19:47

So outside of I mean working and casting, because I guess streaming is work pretty much.

Speaker 2: 19:55

Yes.

Speaker 1: 19:56

For you now. So do you play any games outside of like Sea of Thieves now?

Speaker 2: 20:01

Hmm, Well, so right now there is a game that I I'm sure I'm forcing myself not to play it off the stream. It's called Palea. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's, so it's only out for a month and still in beta, but it's kind of like a cozy game, kind of like animal crossing, but it's also an MMO so you can kind of play with other people as well. I'm so enjoying playing that I've been playing it a ton. But I've been forcing myself not to play it so that I can still enjoy playing and it doesn't feel like we're streaming. But what I refuse to stream and I love to obsessively play off stream right now is Marvel Snap. So have you guys played this.

Speaker 1: 20:39

No, yeah, I saw somebody on the airplane playing it oh, it's so good and I was like I haven't heard of this.

Speaker 2: 20:45

So if you've played Hearthstone, it's the same game developers and it's kind of like a fast paced express version of Hearthstone with Marvel characters and I love it. It's so fun. I did an event for it back in February and got booked and I just it's like my game, that I'm like I will maybe stream this once in a blue moon, but I just I'm like, I just want to enjoy it, you know.

Speaker 1: 21:10

That is so funny.

Speaker 3: 21:13

So one of our mutual friends, Grace from Sway Creative. She was saying that you have some activities outside of streaming and gaming that you've been focusing on lately. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Speaker 2: 21:25

Okay, of course. So outside of gaming, I'm very much so into fitness. It's my hobby and I like to do all kinds of active things playing soccer, I like snowboarding and rock climbing, whatever it is. I'm just now getting in the golf. But I also am into bodybuilding and I started, so I do the bikini bodybuilding category, which for women, that's probably the least muscular, for a simple way to say it, category of the mom. I think someone has some, you say, bodybuilding people picture like the big bodybuilders out there. So I don't do that. But it's been something I've been doing since 2019 and it's hard. It takes a long time to really put on muscle naturally and I'm doing it all natural. So, yeah, I just competed in a show at the beginning of September and then one at the end of August, so I'd started prepping. They call it prepping for that. It's like leaning you have to cut down, obviously see all the muscles since April.

Speaker 3: 22:27

So that's what I've been working on now and finally, like in relax season, I'm sure that's a lot to kind of balance, streaming and work and everything altogether, with cutting and everything as well, because I know how strict it is when it comes to calories and drinking them. Everything like that too, on top of just like being able to focus on what you do every day.

Speaker 2: 22:48

Big time, and I mean especially when it gets down to the wire. Probably, like the last four weeks or so, I feel like it's hard to balance everything because it's getting up. I usually get up at 5.30. I go to my lift for the day and I have a coach and he gives me all my lifting schedule, he gives me my macros that I eat and I usually just make my own meal plans and but yeah, and it is hard to be strict. But one beauty about streaming is it's easy to meal prep for streaming. It really makes sense to meal prep, whether you're into fitness or not, for streaming, because then you can just quickly like go grab your food and then come for it. So it kind of fits into lifestyle as well. And I mean the beauty about being a content creator is you have full autonomy of your schedule so you really can adjust it on the flies you need to if you're like, oh my gosh, I am not feeling it today I'm going to sign off. You have, you know, the ability to do that, which is a great thing, and it makes it possible to do that. It's hard to get up to the lift to do my stream, get off, and then I got to go do like 45 minutes of cardio and then you're tired, but I still. This is no complaint, because I signed up for it. I just love it. It's a project you can work on every day.

Speaker 3: 24:07

So one of the main questions I get all the time doing what we do here is like who you having on the podcast next? And so I was telling people that you were going to be on the podcast next, and so the question that everyone has asked me, so now I have to ask you is how does a streamer get into the bodybuilding and fitness world, and how did that kind of love come to be?

Speaker 2: 24:29

Wow, I guess there were two. For me it was two separate worlds. So a job that I had when I I guess I was in college, I worked at a gym and there was a woman that worked there with it was a bodybuilder, and so I got to watch her do all her prep and she was also a fitness instructor for the classes. So I'd watch her do the classes, do her own cardio, do her own lifts, and then I'd watch her weigh out her meals and I just thought the discipline of it was all so cool. It was something that I had thought about for years before I ever even started it, and I've always been into fitness and I find it's a good way to make friends, because in the DC area it is so transient. People come and go all the time. They are moving in for a contract and then they're gone and they move elsewhere. So I find, either at the gym or, like I played in a, just an adult soccer league, you can just make friends through that as well. So I think that was a big part of it for me to connect with people. So you're still in the DC area then Yep, I am one of the few like, born and raised here.

Speaker 3: 25:40

I'll say I almost never hear of that. It's usually people exactly what you said. They come in for a couple of years, grab a contract, or they're there for a senator or whatever the case may be, and they're part of their team for a little bit and then off to the next place.

Speaker 2: 25:52

So I know it's a sad thing.

Speaker 1: 25:55

So because I always go off the rail when it comes to random stuff. Living in the DC area, do you watch any of the DC sports?

Speaker 2: 26:06

A little bit. I mean the command. You know not, we'll see how they do this season. I guess they won their first game. So I don't know. I love fantasy football. I'm not super into the NFL, I'm watching it, I do. I love fantasy football, so I do that. But we've been to some DC United games and I've been to some more, I would say in my life. I've been to Baltimore Orioles games, those games that I have not games. So I mean that's nice, you have all these other Ravens are closest. I stopped them for our team, but I would not say I watch them any of them regularly.

Speaker 1: 26:48

Yeah, we'll have to get you on. We'll have to make a fantasy football league for the podcast next year.

Speaker 2: 26:54

Okay, I love fantasy football.

Speaker 1: 26:57

I always think about it and I'm like, man, I need to, I need to like get in a league. And then I look and I'm like, oh wait, the season started last week.

Speaker 2: 27:04

I know that's so true. I, all of my the two, I'm in two leagues this season. Both were like oh gosh, we need to draft, like drafting the night before.

Speaker 3: 27:13

That's what we did too, so so actually, the league diamond this year is the first time I've only been in one league is all the guys I played cod with, so it's it's fun having that kind of like camaraderie there.

Speaker 2: 27:24

Yes.

Speaker 1: 27:25

He still didn't invite me.

Speaker 2: 27:27

Wow, I didn't make the team, so sorry, oh rude.

Speaker 1: 27:30

It's all good, I'm just here to close mayhem.

Speaker 2: 27:33

Oh good.

Speaker 1: 27:34

So, now that you're done with competition, for two questions. One, why did you choose to do back to back comps?

Speaker 3: 27:43

Competitions yes.

Speaker 1: 27:45

And then two. What was your meal afterwards?

Speaker 2: 27:50

Okay, so I chose to do them back to back because it's so long it takes me. I try to. I try to take my time leaning out.

Speaker 3: 28:01

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:01

So I try to take like 20 weeks to get ready for these shows and it's not like you dive into like low calorie and high cardio. It's so gradual down, but so it's a long time to get there. So you feel like dang. If I'm like this stage lean, I'm going to make it count. Which side note, by the way I unexpectedly with these, I also did those, and then last weekend I did a Spartan 10 K.

Speaker 3: 28:28

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 28:29

I've never done a 10 K in my life. I love sports and fitness but I am not a runner. But it was then because I had been prepping for these shows. I felt very prepared for it, like that's like three events that I got myself ready for in these weeks and one was just unexpected. But but I will say, last year I did four shows and they kind of got spread out. Yeah, and it was just too much for me. I and that was a hard lesson I learned last year to not spread them out that far, cause the first one was in April and the last one was in June, so it was like two months of being that lean and oh, it was just, it was really difficult and I will not do it again. And my last show I did terrible anyways, because when you stay that lean, you slowly but surely are losing that muscle mass. So it was hard to do but this. So this year I was like I'm going to try to do two shows very close together, which I did, and so I'm not. I think I will continue to do that. The first few years I did one show and you feel like, oh, that's it, like after all that, okay, just one time and then you're done. But okay, so then my meal after. So let's see. So the big. I'm really big into desserts and I love sweets and so I buy these one of those big cookies.

Speaker 1: 29:48

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 29:48

They're like crazy big cookies. So, I bought a packet of those from a woman I had never. I just had found her on Instagram. Her company's called fatashbakes and she's out of Orlando, so I ordered hers and they were so good. And then another company for the second show I did, out of Orlando. Hers were called Choco Loco Cookies and those were like humongous and so good. So we went and got that and I don't even what do we get for? Oh, we got sushi.

Speaker 3: 30:18

Oh, that sounds good. I love sushi.

Speaker 2: 30:20

I love sushi but, yeah, my biggest focus was on the cookie.

Speaker 1: 30:25

There's a lady in the building that our studio's in and she does marshmallows and they're all like different flavors.

Speaker 2: 30:33

We'll find it and we'll post that in the show notes and we'll try and figure that out for you, cause I walked past it.

Speaker 1: 30:39

I was like oh, these are and they're not like the baby little. They're the size of like the jumbo. They look actually delicious, unlike the fake ones you get from like that we're all used to.

Speaker 2: 30:53

Yeah, the little. I don't know the brand, but yeah, like for s'mores.

Speaker 1: 30:59

I do have a real question though. Okay, where'd you finish? I was going to ask that and then I forgot about it. I thought about food first. How'd you finish in your comps?

Speaker 2: 31:09

So the first one. So I do two categories. So in the organization I do, which is OCB, which is tested for to make sure that you are a natural athlete, you can do debut, and this goes for the men's categories. Women's debut means it's your first ever competition, so you can only do that once. And there's novice, which means you have never won your class before your group, so I did that one. I've not won a class before. I got second place last year. And then you can do open, which is open is anybody and everybody can do open. That's the category that counts, because that's the only category that you can go pro in. So I did both of those. So the first competition, I got second place in one and third in the other. And then the second competition I did, I got third place in one and I didn't place in the other. So you know, it was still fun, though we went down to Virginia Beach and went to the beach after, so it was a good way to end the season, regardless of that yeah, still a win there. Yeah, I'll take it, and I know what I have to work on. I know it's just still like growing more muscle. So that's what I'm doing now. I'm slowly getting to the track.

Speaker 3: 32:19

Volking season.

Speaker 2: 32:20

That's right Volking season. So did you.

Speaker 3: 32:23

Right. So when you got on stage for the second one, did you feel pretty confident on there? Did you feel like, at least for yourself? Looking at like past, the other ones you've done before, did you get on stage and feel good for yourself or were you like, yeah, you know what I am going to remember?

Speaker 2: 32:39

No, I think I felt I felt good about it because you're they say that you should always view, and I try to that. You're always competing against your previous package and I definitely. I got a new coach this season and he's somebody the coach that the coaches I had before were good, but I think I outgrew them and they were also. They didn't live when she lived in Florida, so I live in DC, so it's all online, which is common, but I wanted to see somebody in person. So I started working with a guy that I he's well known in the DC area and he coaches a friend of mine and I go and I visit him in person. He can see. You know my lifting techniques and all of that, and I just feel like I had grew so much with him and I didn't even do a full year with him yet, so I'm excited to do like a growing season with him because I feel like, no matter what, this was still a better package than I brought last year. So it felt like a win for me and I felt like last year that last show I did because I was so lean. That was time where I was like I don't think this is it for me. You know it is yeah that that category is so subjective so, it really depends, like, who you're standing next to on the stage. You don't want to be the most shredded, but you don't want to be the softest out there. You want to be the person in the middle and it really depends who shows up. It just does. It's weird, but it you know, part of the fun, I guess.

Speaker 3: 34:06

So do you find that being like a good way to kind of de-stress from the day to day? Is that kind of like a balance between like all right, at least I'm not doing this all the time, I'm not doing this all the time. It kind of separates the lives.

Speaker 2: 34:18

Big time I think it is, and like when I go to the gym in the morning, that's my me time, because when you're streaming, you're interacting with people the whole time, you're having all of these mini conversations throughout the day, and so that's like my time. I'm the person that's like got my headphones on, not because I don't want people to talk to me per se, but I just want to like listen to a podcast, or I want to listen to music and that's like my me time. And so I do feel like it does offer a lot of balance for me and for my life, and it is like physical balance as well. I mean, this is like a lot of our jobs now. It's so sedentary, like. I'm sitting in this chair for the whole time I'm streaming, so it forces me to get up and do cardio and it makes me feel like I don't have a choice. I have to do this cardio, so it forces me to do it in a good way.

Speaker 1: 35:04

Because I was jumping back and forth with serious and then not serious questions. How'd you pick your colors for your stream? Oh, you're rocking like purple and blue.

Speaker 2: 35:16

Oh yeah, those it just kind of well. I just okay. So my streaming room used to be upstairs it's. It gets so hot in the summer.

Speaker 1: 35:26

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 35:27

So it's. We're in the basement now and then I just moved this shelf down here and I don't know where the light changing remote is. So it's purple but then the blue. I just figured those would go together. But I honestly my favorite color is red and such air and I've got little word here. So most things that go with red. But I try to do everything in red, but I lately I love purple or I love light pink. I just bought one. I gave in and bought one of these of the Stanley S. Oh, the Stanley, yeah, I just gave in and bought one, but it's so good it goes in the cup holder and I got the pink. So convenient.

Speaker 3: 36:04

I haven't seen a red one. I know I didn't see a red one.

Speaker 2: 36:08

So I think I I don't know I probably would have bought the red one.

Speaker 1: 36:13

So on a serious note, jumping back again. Sorry, that's the joys of drinking and just on both aspects of your day to day and streaming and things. What would you consider success for you like in the streaming world as well as in competitions?

Speaker 2: 36:33

Well, the first thing I think of was success. I think it's all something that is in the value of the beholder, because everybody it's goal dependent, in my opinion. Like I think your success depends on what your goal is, whether that is to be wealthy or to be famous or to win whatever it is, I think it depends on what the person's goal is. So for me, I think the most I think, when the first thing you said that I think of is doing the hosting things, because I like streaming. But man, if I could do the hosting gigs every day, every week, that would feel like success for me. I just enjoy it so much. I'm so proud of the hosting work that I've done and some of the ones I look back I'm like that was a success to me, that like doing this particular event and stage hosting, or with the particular game companies or in studios, that stuff, it's so fun and, again, I'm so proud of it and those were my goals. So that felt like success for me. And then, as far as the bodybuilding shows, I think I can't help but to say the success would be winning, because that is my goal and I always try to beat my previous package. So I think that's a mini success, but ultimate success will be winning overall, which means getting your pro card, and then there's progression from there, winning a pro show. So I think you know what. I haven't got it yet, but it gives me something to continuously work on. That's awesome, I love that.

Speaker 3: 38:03

So, with the community that you built on streaming anyway, what would be three tips for someone that is in the same type of boat when you were starting? What would be three tips to growing the community that you have on Twitch?

Speaker 2: 38:17

Okay. So, first and foremost, I think you really have to get involved in whichever way that you're comfortable with, because, again, it's really hard to grow on Twitch and get your name out there and it's really hard to just kind of turn on the camera and wait for people to show up. More often than not, that doesn't happen. So I think the biggest thing is just to genuinely and don't even say like networking, like just make friends with people that are playing the same game as you. And the beauty of video games is it's typically something you can do with other people and you can easily collaborate with other people in and you can end. The beauty of Twitch also is that you can create true friendships with people. You can go into somebody's chat and interact with them live. It's so different from other social media, so you can build a bond organically with a person and say, hey, do you want to play this game together? And they may already have somewhat of an established community. So then you go from there, or joining tournaments or I don't know, doing the tutorial videos on TikTok or YouTube and putting other content out there for the community, or just getting to know people, I think, or being part of Discord channels and being active in those Discord or Reddit forums. Just being active and getting your name out there is a really good way to grow and kind of piggybacking off that. For number two is to be involved just genuinely in other people's streams, and I feel like one of the biggest no-nos that people don't know in the beginning is to you know, like don't even tell people you're a streamer when you're going into somebody else's stream. Like just go in there and like get to know people. I've had people that they. I had a girl, for example, that was a moderator on my Twitch channel and she had been coming to my Twitch channel for three years and then so she was a good friend of mine and she said I think I'm going to try to start streaming, but she had already just organically built a friendship with so many of us myself as a streamer and community members that everyone was like, yes, girl, okay, start streaming, I will support you. So she was already starting out with this community that supported her because she had put in just genuine friend, the time to make genuine friendships. And the next thing is I feel like you just got to. So many people are so afraid to just start and they see people like we were talking about the camera and like the microphone and I didn't have all this stuff when I started. I had like a webcam and like some headset mic and I feel like you're not. It's not going to be perfect. When you start and I, you grow and you learn and it's hard for a lot of people to do that because they want they see their idols or the people they look up to. It's a certain way and they feel like I have to do it this way. But part of being a new streamer is being diverse and being unique and trying different things. So I feel like that is a good way to start and some people it's more relatable when you're starting out and you'll eventually grow to investing in a new mic or learning how to do your own graphics or whatever it may be that they view as a good point. So I think just getting started and don't feel like everything has to be as you see these other streamers that have been doing it for a while.

Speaker 3: 41:24

So talking about how other people have gotten started or can get started. If you were to tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?

Speaker 2: 41:33

I think maybe to set better boundaries with people. I think I went in like I was like you know what, I didn't watch Twitch, so I think that helped me in the sense that I'm like I don't know, like I didn't have any expectations of having a certain viewership or whatever. I was just kind of like okay, I think that helps me. But it's different from real life. When you're live people, you know when they're on your stream or they're in your game and they realize you're streaming. Whether you have one viewer or a thousand viewers, they sometimes act differently and, being a nice person, sometimes people, they'll see how far they can push to get away with things, and especially people that donate. I mean, that's the nature of Twitch, is that your income is people tip you if they like your stream, and so there's. you know, I ran into that in the beginning, where people and nothing, nothing weird.

Speaker 1: 42:28

I don't know if people were like oh man, like what?

Speaker 2: 42:30

happened, but nothing weird, but just as an example, like I had somebody who donated quite a bit of money and they felt like it gave them entitlement to just join my game whenever they wanted, and it really irked me. But I felt like, oh my gosh, I can't say anything because this person is being very generous to me. So I have to play with them and I look back and I'm like girl, no, like you don't, like there's nothing in there that like it says that you have to do that. So I had to learn to set those boundaries and I had to learn to be more assertive with people and speak my mind in that way, and in a nice way still. But I would go back and tell myself to not be afraid to do that.

Speaker 3: 43:11

That's a great one.

Speaker 1: 43:13

I love it. So, because you are on social media content creator, where do people find you? Well, keep up with all the stuff.

Speaker 2: 43:25

Always switch Monday through Friday. I'm always on there in the mornings morning for us Eastern times and people but I also post on Instagram and TikTok bb, underscore, xh, and then sometimes on YouTube, which is just bbXH, and then Twitter X, whatever we're calling it now.

Speaker 1: 43:44

It's Twitter. I don't care.

Speaker 2: 43:47

Yeah, I'm not going to say you can find me on X on Twitter bbXH underscore ditch.

Speaker 1: 43:54

Sweets.

Speaker 2: 43:54

Yeah, We'll see on Instagram. I would say in TikTok.

Speaker 3: 43:59

Same with us too.

Speaker 2: 44:00

Yeah, they're just weird time for me. I never know what to write on Twitter.

Speaker 3: 44:05

I know I was like, yeah, it's not worth it.

Speaker 1: 44:09

Twitter threads.

Speaker 2: 44:10

I'm like yeah, oh, you have threads.

Speaker 1: 44:11

Do you really want to know what I'm thinking today? No Right, I think some weird stuff, not bad, just like random.

Speaker 3: 44:18

Just like my questions here.

Speaker 2: 44:21

Maybe you should post them.

Speaker 3: 44:23

I was going to say actually it might be a good one to follow.

Speaker 1: 44:26

So I just want to say thank you so much. It was actually a blast. Sorry, I know you're a busy woman who needs to probably go get a cardio in.

Speaker 2: 44:35

Not anymore, please no.

Speaker 1: 44:38

It's like no cardio till the new year, not till next year. No I appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 44:43

Thank you, guys for having me on. This was so fun to chat with you two.

Speaker 3: 44:46

Yeah, thanks. You too. Thanks for taking some time out of your day and getting on and talking to us, and I'm sure we'll have another one soon.

Speaker 2: 44:53

Yeah, it would be great.

Speaker 1: 44:55

Yeah, I'll come find you on Twitch.

Speaker 2: 44:57

Okay, just let me know what's you.

Speaker 1: 45:00

The next time my prime snow, snow turtle. Yes.

Speaker 2: 45:05

Turtle.

Speaker 1: 45:06

Well, it's spelled weird because you know how the internet works. But yeah, I'll show you All right.

Speaker 2: 45:10

Well then I'll know it's if all of you snow turtle.

Speaker 1: 45:13

Thank you guys for listening so much to this conversation. It's been all over the place but, like she said, we are on all the social medias Instagram threads, technically TikTok, we post everything, all the pretty social medias. You see all the videos. It is sponsored by Sway Creations because, trust me, we don't know how to video edit anything.

Speaker 3: 45:36

No, I don't have the time to do it. If we did so, no.

Speaker 1: 45:40

So check them out. Also, if you need help growing your social media but like comment share, subscribe. Check us out on all the social medias and all of the podcast apps and check out BBXH on Twitch.

Speaker 3: 45:56

All right, we'll see you all soon. Thank you so much. Cheers Right now.