They rise in the small hours, eat up to 12 meals a day, and can spend €20,000 per year on physical excellence. Alison O'Riordanmeets some of the top competitors in the Irish women's bodybuilding business
IN THE world of female body-building, the soft, feline woman is not considered beautiful. Rather, its practitioners are after larger-than-life muscles and taut ligaments. “Everyone has a different opinion of what women find attractive. Some like it, some hate it, so it’s impossible to judge. It depends on the person in question,” says bodybuilder Justina Galvanauskaite.
“On competition day, of course we look bigger, ripped and defined . . . It’s the day we peak. However, I do love getting dressed up, and even on stage I try to be as feminine as possible,” says Galway native Laura Newton.
Most female bodybuilders follow the same painful routine, day after day, enrolling themselves in gruelling workouts of intense weight training and bland diets of protein shakes, egg whites and sweet potatoes. With no financial incentives (on the contrary, it’s an expensive sport) and few plaudits, they are nevertheless relentless in their desire to achieve.
Limerick native Angela McNamara is adamant that when you take into account food, travel, accommodation, supplements, vitamins, tanning products and make-up, the sport costs her about €20,000 a year.
Bodybuilder and strength and conditioning coach John Lane believes their dedication would surpass that of many professional athletes. Typically, bodybuilders will consume meals eight times plus a day. Diets are based primarily on lean sources of protein: chicken, turkey, fish and the right amounts of complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. “Preparation is the key to being successful – typically, meals will be planned weeks in advance to ensure all the nutrient requirements are met,” says Lane.
However, all say the extreme commitment does not extend to performance drug use. “I personally do not take drugs; it is a tested sport, and the cons far outweigh the pros in regards to the effects [drugs] can have on the female body – such as a wide jaw, a deeper voice and unwanted hair growth,” says female bodybuilder Laura Newton.
Lane believes there are four key elements to being a successful bodybuilder: diet, training, rest and mental strength. “The demands on the competitor – especially a couple of weeks out from competition – would break most people. The difference between a champion and an average bodybuilder is down to how single-minded competitors are in their pursuit of a physique that displays the desired size, muscle density, symmetry and leanness. The champion competitor dedicates their lives to this pursuit and it possesses their every waking moment. This may seem strange to people who live a radically different existence, for whom excellence isn’t something they are relentless in the pursuit of,” says Lane.
Three months ago I myself began a tough weight-training regime in a warehouse in Ranelagh with Lane. Having run a marathon last year, I wanted to give the cartilage in my knees a well-earned rest and put the Lycra-clad days behind me, so when I heard about bodybuilding classes I decided to do it instead of constantly pounding the pavements. I have been lifting weights three times a week since then. I am not looking to make my debut on stage but rather to become more athletic and lean.
My three-days-a-week schedule would never allow for the sort of development the women on this page have achieved, although my programme, nutritionally speaking, is based on best practices from bodybuilding.
I have been given a detailed seven-day diet plan with the correct macro-nutrient breakdown to achieve my goal. It has taken eight weeks to acclimatise to this; now my fridge is complete with cartons of eggs, tubs of cottage cheese, chicken fillets and lean mince.
But I don’t see myself competing professionally – just one training session still feels like doing 12 rounds in the ring with Bernard Dunne.
ANGELA McNAMARA
My family background has deep roots in bodybuilding. I was brought up in gyms around the country from a young age watching my mother compete, she was a Miss Ireland champion. My daughter Whitney currently power lifts and is the teen national record holder, at just 17. I was 35 years old when I took up bodybuilding on the back of seeing a bodybuilding show in Limerick. I now hold many power lifting and bodybuilding titles. I am currently the strongest woman in the world for weight under 67.5kg.
I love and breathe the lifestyle; it dominates my life. Mentally, one has to be as tough as nails. Everything is prepared in advance, from my food to my routine – it’s simple preparation that is the key to my success and makes me the best. I’m strong and muscular and proud of it, but socially it is very hard and can be a lonely existence.
Everything I do affects my training, down to a decision to eat a square of chocolate. It may seem excessive but it can be the difference between being ripped and defined or smooth and flat. I don’t take any holidays and every penny I have goes into eating and competing.
When in preparation for competition I have 12 meals, eating every two hours – which means getting up during the night. I bring my meals in containers to my bedroom, which has a small fridge. Two weeks away from a bodybuilding competition, I eat solely boiled chicken, fish fillets, broccoli, spoons of rice and pasta or baked sweet potato, and train three times a day in separate hourly sessions. I get stared at a lot for being muscular. Children think I’m a superhero.
Women love to lift and achieve goals as much as men – I will compete until I can’t compete anymore. Bodybuilding and power lifting are not recognised by the Irish Sports Council . . . being a world champion, I feel neglected as an Irish athlete. Next year I want to be bigger, stronger and better.
LAURA NEWTON
“I love the body changes I see in myself”
I started lifting weights to lose weight, and the more I trained with weights, the more toned I became. I never thought I would step on a stage and compete, but as time went on I wanted to push my training further. I entered my first competition last April in Waterford. I had no intention of competing but, as the time approached, I warmed to the idea and was placed in the top four. I love the body changes I see in myself, although you need two wardrobes of clothes – one for on season and the other for off season.
I have caught the bug for competing now. We train and diet all year round, for just three minutes on a stage. It affects your life even on a daily basis, constantly thinking when and what to eat. When it comes to competition preparation, you live and breathe the sport with cardio every day for an hour, usually for 16 weeks in advance. I then weight train in the evening six times a week. Nothing else matters – there is no time for anything else in those 16 weeks. You can’t go at it half-heartedly; you need to give it your all.
The feeling of being on stage looking your best makes it all worth it. I use a trick that if I feel I’m going to break my diet like reach for a piece of chocolate I touch my stomach to feel my abs and that prevents me.
There is a lack of understanding from those who don’t train. When people hear you compete in bodybuilding shows, they expect you to be unfeminine, but as well as being lean and ripped it’s about hair, tan, make-up and nails – people forget the glamour. If you haven’t got the right mental strength, it’s impossible to be a champion. I love the sport – it’s not a chore for me to go to the gym, it’s part of who I am.
JUSTINA GALVANAUSKAITE
“For me, it’s an addiction”
Being only 25 and from Lithuania, bodybuilding has become my passion since I settled in Athlone. I have dreamt of being a bodybuilder since I was 12. During my teenage years I would watch bodybuilding shows and always long for that chiselled shape. Coming to Ireland I began to gain muscle and make my dream a reality. For me it’s an addiction – my life revolves around working out, eating regularly and rest.
The art of bodybuilding for me is to sculpt the body. To prepare for a contest I need three months – my diet becomes more strict and training more intense. Bodybuilding overshadows everything else. I never have enough of it – it is an addiction; one always wants more and to be better.
Preparation for competition starts with bulking, then shaping. To get good definition, diet plays a massive role. My meals are more frequent to keep muscle mass and get lean. It’s tough; you have to be strong, mentally and physically. I compete twice a year. When I don’t compete, I can have a cheat meal once a week – my cheat meal is a kebab. When I am competing, there is no cheating, just clean, high-protein food. Nutrition plays such a big role in bodybuilding, what you eat results in how you look. It is important for me to stay feminine. Every year, more and more female bodybuilders are coming on board which is positive.
