lifestyle admits to having played tennis and racket ball. ‘When I was at boarding school, I won the overall sports cup when I was thirteen. I had a friend who used to wrestle for Great Britain and I thought her physique was really good. You look around and you see a lot of skinny girls, who are not necessarily healthy. You can have low body fat and still be really fit and healthy and so I wanted to learn more about that. I then re-trained as a personal trainer in the UK in 2003.’ In the run up to her fortieth birthday, Natasha made the conscious decision to get herself in the best shape of her life. Five years later, she found the confidence to compete. Currently living on a ranch in Jimena, much of her time revolves around actively caring for her horses, dogs and cats and consistently maintaining the chaos that surrounds keeping animals. ‘I’m massively independent; I don’t want to have to ask someone to do something for me so I learn how to do it myself. I’ve got my own chainsaw to chop trees, I know how to change a car wheel.’ Her pursuit is a testament to other grandmothers, proving that it is possible to achieve these feats at her age, whilst juggling a full time job and hectic home life. As with all bodybuilders, Natasha’s physique and training intensity yo yos, ‘I can grow muscle quite quickly, but that’s because I’ve always done sports, so I’ve got the muscle memory.’ She reached an incredible almost 7-8% body fat percentage following her competition prep.
Contestants were urged to flaunt their femininity...
Clearly, with all four women having trained as personal trainers, the sport embodies more of a passion and a lifestyle, over a
“I used to be a cardio bunny and always looked the same!”
Michelle Olivera
Elka Hanglin
superficial desire to look good. ‘It makes here, my training is completely different you feel good, as women we are especially from my clients’. You have to ensure you’re run by hormones. What keeps me going is not biased with your work. You have to getting stronger and stronger. I’d rather do step out of the bodybuilding world.’ She this for strength attributes both physically takes her training seriously. During her and mentally. I’ve always loved training; peak, ahead of the WBFF competition, you have to be consistent with it.’ Rachel Rachel reached a body fat percentage of left her job with the military around 11%. ‘It was more about how police during her mid twenties I looked,’ she asserts, ’my veins used She reached to pop out quite a bit, I was quite to pursue a career in fitness, an incredible lean.’ Michelle’s background is in an industry she truly loves. almost 7-8% dance, having represented Gibraltar ‘I studied sports science and management in Nottingham on the world’s stage on a number body fat Trent and after that I decided of occasions. In 2013, she pledged percentage to do my PT course because I following her to embark on a new fitness venture, really enjoyed the interaction tackling crossfit, calisthenics, weight competition with people and changing lives, and resistance training. ‘Through prep. increasing clients’ activity levels my training, I managed to overcome and thus their quality of life.’ obstacles and become stronger, not Her work and her personal training quest only physically but most importantly menare two entirely separate worlds though. tally. This, in turn, made all facets of my ‘Bodybuilding is not so much for women life better. It led me to want to inspire and GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE APRIL 2016
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