Krystal Rhodes-Skinner

I'm Krystal Rhodes-Skinner and I am originally from Seattle, WA. Like many others sadly, I started my journey with a rough upbringing and an absent mother. At the age of 10 my life changed completely as I had met my father and moved to Idaho with him...my mom made some terrible choices in her life, one being not introducing me to my father, but when he found out about me he did everything in his power to rescue me!

Ten years later and here I am, age 20, living in Meridian, ID with my dad and my family, pursuing my love for helping others with their health and fitness journeys. For as long as I've known my father he has always been apart of the fitness industry. I remember at age 16, I went to one of my very first fit expo's and fell in love with the environment, the benefits of a fit lifestyle, and the people who were preaching it.

I've always been active and sporty growing up, but with an absent mother, I didn't know or focus much on what foods to put in my body and I wasn't taught to eat "properly". The way I looked at food was, if I had it, then I needed to eat it because I didn't know when or if I'd eat again. I carried that mentality on with me for years, even though my father provided in more ways than I could ever imagine. But I still ate unhealthy, I ate too much and I didn't care what I did to my body. By age of 18 I was roughly almost 160lbs, depressed and still gaining weight. I was making horrible choices, hanging out with horrible people and eating horrible things. Then I realized how horrible it was making me feel, so I had cut off all the negative people in my life and I started going to the gym 2x a day because of pure boredom. But I got lonely, and still not understanding the importance of eating right, I used food to fill my emptiness and only went to the gym as a distraction. Months later, I noticed that my maxes were going up, I was getting stronger, and I could feel my muscles getting bigger...but I couldn't see them. So that was my "ah-ha" moment! I realized if really wanted to see the changes and gain the confidence I was so desperately hoping for, I'd have to make the gym a priority and eat correctly. I researched and researched, bought books of all kinds, and studied as hard as I could, and to be quite honest, nothing ever sparked my interests as much as becoming a "health freak" did. I looked up workouts and training advice, spent hours on ON's website and I wrote down meal plans and workouts like my life depended on it. Slowly but surely I started to notice how truly it is all about what we put into our bodies and what we believe we can do with them. I started to eat healthy and as clean as ever, and more importantly I started to trust the process and love myself again.

During this transformation, my dad worked at a top online supplement store, so I had plenty of resources and people that helped me along the way. That's the reason why I wanted to be apart of the fitness industry in the first place; everyone is so willing to help others as well as helping themselves. And that's what I want to do, I want to help others and inspire others to be the best they can!b :)

Becoming an athlete for Optimum Nutrition is a dream come true! Truly a huge blessing and I am so humbled to be apart of such an amazing team. I am currently focusing on competing in NPC Bikini, hoping one day to get my IFBB Pro Card. While doing so, I am also a personal trainer and outdoor enthusiast! Living in Idaho, the scenery is beyond beautiful and since I spend a ton of my time outside, I had recently decided to make a backyard gym and I do a majority of my cardio in the foothills/mountains.

I look forward to see where this journey will take me and how I can help others with theirs as well! :)