The winner of this year's bodybuilding Ms Bermuda 2008 weighs 111 pounds and can leg press more than four times her body weight.
Bermuda Body Building Federation's 21st Night of Champions held in the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium on Saturday was proof that hard work and diligence pays off.
Winners included Sidney Bean, Mr. Bermuda 2008, Susan Rebello, Miss Bermuda 2008 and Sandra Simons Ms Figure Fitness 2008.
"I only started weight training last year August," said Ms Rebello. "I started training for the competition in January.I hired a personal trainer, Carmichael Bryan fromSea View Ultimate FitnessGym."
To train she did heavy weight training, and combined with cardio training with proper nutrition.
She started body building because she wanted to be as fit as she possibly could.
"Last year I was 35 pounds heavier than I am now," she said. "I have lost a lot of weight.
"I like the discipline in body building.I like seeing the results.I also have found I enjoy eating clean foods.I have also done a lot of research on nutrition.I have learned a lot about what sugar and alcohol do to your weight loss programme."
Before starting body building she said she did the typical things that people do to lose weight.
"I restricted my carbohydrates, and stopped eating which is the worst thing you can do," she said. "I tried dieting before but in all the wrong ways."
"You have to be willing to work hard," she said. "But it is so worth it."
Ms Rebello also plays for the Renegades Ladys RugbyTeam, and trains in martial arts, among other things.
She set the Bermuda Body Building Federation competition as a personal goal.
"I wanted to see if I could do it," she said. "I started training for the competition in January."
She cardio trained every day twice a day, and weight trained once a day for six days.
"Towards the end I was doing 25 pounds on bicep curls," she said."I was doing 60 pounds on single arm dumbbell rows, and I was leg pressing 450 pounds.That is more than four times my weight."
Ms Rebello was in the light weight class which is up to 114 pounds.
"I was really focused," she said. "Once I make up my mind I am going to do something I am pretty driven."
Mr. Bermuda 2008, Sidney Bean, said the title felt very good. "It was good, but I would have rathered more competition," he said."There were only three guys I was up against."
This was Mr.Bean's second time competing. He has been body building for five and a half years. He is in the heavyweight class.
"I started out at 168 pounds and took my weight up to 260 pounds and then I cut back down to 230," he said. In normal times he does heavy weight lifting to train, but before competitions he cuts the weight down to medium heavy weight lifting with higher repetition. Posing is part of the competition. There are also weight lifting routines. Competitors often use music. Mr. Bean used music called 'God of Zeus'.
"I found it on a Playstation game, 'God of War'," he said.Mr.Bean works at Bermuda Air Conditioning. "If the pay was good I would do body building full time," said Mr. Bean. He said that body building has been good for his health. "It keeps your diet balanced," he said.
"You are constantly putting in everything your body needs because you have to. "I like the fact that I am bigger and better than what I looked in the past.Body building has done a lot for my physique and health." The title Mr.Bermuda 2008 qualifies him to represent Bermuda in the Bahamas in an upcoming Central American Caribbean (CAC) Body Building competition. Miss Figure Fitness 2008, Sandra Simons, said she was inspired to take up body building after reading about another local body builder.
In addition to weight training and cardio, Ms Simons also uses something called plyometrics to train. "Plyometrics is a type of exercise training designed to produce fast powerful movements and improve the functions of the nervous system," she said.
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