After being peer pressured to try methamphetamine for the first time in 2005, Katie Nash found herself ‘immediately addicted,’ buying off the streets and using throughout nursing school. By 2010, she had learned to cook it herself at home. In 2013, she was caught and arrested on four felony charges.
Katie was released after spending one night in jail and, per her attorney, began attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings. “It was scary at first because I live in a small town where word gets around, so everybody knew,” she recalls. She also had to face withdrawal and her family’s discovery of the addiction.
“There’s a life beyond addiction, and it can be beautiful. You just have to work for it.”
“But I needed something new — and positive — to occupy my time,” she adds. “I knew I had to change or I’d lose everything: my husband, my kids, and our business.”
So in 2014, Katie went to her local gym, Evans Fitness in West Memphis, where her neighbor Amanda worked as a trainer. Katie asked where to start and was recommended body sculpting classes, which she attended three times a week for several years. Then, in January 2023, she hired Amanda as a personal trainer and began lifting heavier.
Around this time, Katie also hired another trainer, Hamilton, to help her work on her glutes. One day, he asked if Amanda had ever talked to her about competing in bodybuilding. Katie wasn’t sure she had the right build, but he assured her otherwise.
From there, her routine intensified: five days a week in the gym, including two-hour sessions three times a week split between sculpting classes and one-on-one training with Amanda, plus two additional days of solo lifting.
Katie’s nutrition changed as well, requiring consistent meal prepping and clean eating to lean out. She competed in her first bodybuilding competition last month, taking home first place in three categories and second place in another.
Nash’s life changed forever after her arrest for meth abuse in 2013. “The most rewarding part is knowing that I changed for the better, and that my past life doesn’t define who I am,” she asserts.
Now, nearly 12 years into sobriety, the Proctor, Arkansas, resident, mother of two, and grandmother of three, is a bodybuilding competitor and champion, having completely turned her life around, while continually aspiring for more. She now has her sights set on another bikini bodybuilding competition in April 2026, and says training never really stops between shows.
“What I went through made me a better person. I grew in a lot of aspects — spiritually and emotionally — and if anything, I want to inspire others to change,” she notes, adding, “There’s a life beyond addiction, and it can be beautiful. You just have to work for it.”
Follow Katie’s journey:
TikTok: @katienash41
Instagram: @knash16n
By Shlomit Ovadia
Photo by Tindall Stephens
