“Push your body as far as it can go,” read the text message from personal trainer Jessica Garcia’s father.

 

This was just one of the countless calls and text messages from friends, teachers and family members that the Bronx native and “American Gladiators” challenger has received the week before her upcoming debut on Monday night’s show.

 

“My mother always knew I was destined to do something big in fitness,” Garcia said in a phone interview. “She helps me remember where I’m from.”

 

Garcia, 25, spent her childhood living on Marion Avenue, but moved to Throgs Neck at the age of 9. At first, the peppy, pint-sized Puerto Rican found it difficult to fit in with the largely Irish and Italian neighbors, but became more outgoing and independent through cheerleading.

 

Garcia, who weighs in at 4’11 – 106 lbs, was a cheerleader for 14 years. She started at Saint Thomas Aquinas elementary school, and eventually rising to become captains at Cardinal Spellman high school and New York University.

 

“There’s such a stigma with being a cheerleader, but […] it’s just as challenging as any other sport,” she said. In high school, there were three-hour practices every weekday, lasting from May through March, which prepared the team for national competitions.

 

Garcia has been a cheerleading coach at Cardinal Spellman for the past two years, and hopes to open a cheerleading center in the Bronx in the next couple of years.

 

“A lot of high schools don’t offer top-notch cheerleading,” Garcia said. “But students learn to be a dedicated team member and keep their bodies in shape. You also get to meet kids from all over the country.”

 

Garcia has been a fan of “American Gladiators” since watching the original show. “I liked the hits and the crazy athleticism,” she said. Garcia relishes being the underdog, hence her moniker “Mighty Mouse,” after a trainer told her that she does “superhuman things” like 300-pound leg presses.

 

Garcia rigorously trained for three weeks before the tryout, working out at the gym six days a week — sometimes twice a day. At the tryout, she was up against 5,000 people from across the country, according to a New York Times profile in February. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/fashion/21fitness.html?_r=1&oref=login).

 

Though Garcia hopes to win, she is just as excited to be interacting with the top fitness trainers in the field. “I’m stoked dude!”

Tune in to “American Gladiators” on NBC, Channel 4 on Monday night at 9 p.m.