Greek Australian female body builder, Anita Nicolaou, has won the overall professional title for Ms Fit Body in the US.
Some people live on spinach and egg-whites but it’s pretty hard to do that.
Competing at the International Natural Bodybuilding and Fitness World Championships in New York, the Melburnian also won
her division in the amateur USA Figure competition, as part of the tall division.
The three categories of the International Natural Bodybuilding and Fitness world championships include the US figure, which is a softer body, the Fit Body, which looks at a harder, more muscular figure, and then the body builder.
Fit Body is Nicolaou’s area of concentration, though she says she was pleased to place in her division within the USA Figure.
The competition, which took place in New York on November 13, was Nicolaou’s second international show.
Winning overall amateurs last year earnt Nicolaou her pro card, which saw her compete in the pro category at this year’s world championships.
She also won the Australian Nationals on October 23, but Nicolaou said she was “peaking” for New York, which is where she wanted to peak.
Though only competing for two years Nicolaou has racked up her fair share of awards.
“I’ve got over 20-something titles and I think I’ve won pretty much everything I’ve entered.
“I got a couple of seconds, one third, but I’ve got about 9 overall trophies,” she says.
Nicolaou’s training regime involves one-hour weight training sessions, four days a week, and walking for about five hours a week.
“Female bodybuilders are genuinely quite strong for girls. I’ve always been pretty lean, always played sport, I played netball, athletics, and then I got into just doing weight training for the last eight years,” she says.
Within five weeks of walking into MBS gym in Richmond, two years ago, with trainer Michael Tabban, Nicolaou was ready to compete.
“I won the first comp, then won nationals. It’s been a huge ride, a good one at that,” she says.
Nicolaou attributes her genetics to some of her success.
“Genetically I’ve obviously got the right symetry, even my preparations for the world championship were only six to seven weeks. It depends on your body; I only had to drop about 4kg or so, some girls might need to lose 16-20kg, that’s hard work, mine’s not that hard,” she says, adding “my transition between normal weight and stage weight isn’t that different, it’s just about looking leaner and harder”.
In an extreme sport often renowned for extreme dieting practices, Nicolaou insists she doesn’t eliminate food groups and eats a well balanced diet.
“It’s really just about eating clean food. I have a naturopath who’s got me quite balanced. I eat totally organic food, but just wholesome food, nothing processed. As you get closer to competing you gradually start dropping back on things like avocado, fetta cheese, tomato, carrot, and you eat lots of greens; cucumbers, asparagus,” she says.
“I still have whole eggs, I still have bread, but it’s rye bread. You have to have the right foods. Some people live on spinach and egg-whites but it’s pretty hard to do that”.
Nicolaou says the industry can get a bad reputation from some of the extreme cases often portrayed in the media.
“A lot of people do starve themselves and they don’t compete again. You’ll see people blow-out and when they stop they put on the 20kg they’ve lost plus another 20kg because they unbalance their hormones so much. It is extreme. It’s very scary to see people look the best they’ve ever looked and then four weeks later look the worst they’ve ever looked, and then they go into hibernation,” she says.
“It’s a very extreme sport. You’ve got to know your limits and I don’t think you need to go that hard and if you get it right it’s pretty easy. There was one girl who was living on eggwhites, halving her food intake, doubling her exercise. It doesn’t have to be like that; it’s dangerous for your body, especially for females”.
Travelling 20 hours by plane from Australia to the US to compete is difficult in such a carefully regimented routine, Nicolaou says.
“The problem when flying is you retain fluid. We have to have all our food prepped and already cooked for the 15 to 20 hours of flying to New York,” she says.
“We have to keep off the carbs because any sort of sugar makes you blow up because we’re so lean. Because of the altitude on the plane we need at least four days to get rid of the fluid we get into our bodies”.
With the season finished for this year, Nicolaou will use the time to “get back to normality”.
“It’s quite extreme, with the training and the dehydration and that’s what sort of throws you out. But my body’s getting a chance to settle. I’m feeling fine, looking fine, I’m on track, which is great”.
The beautician and hairdresser does public speaking work and is also currently finishing a Personal Training Course, a career she worked in years ago and has decided to return to.
For more information visit Anita’s website: www.anitaandyou.com
