In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger— an Olympia winner himself— when personal trainer Lisa Giesbrecht took to the stage of the prestigious bodybuilding competition in 2012, one thought occupied her mind: I’ll be back.
Next month, the Victoria, B.C., personal trainer will realize that dream when she returns to Las Vegas for her second attempt at claiming the title of Ms. Olympia at the international bodybuilding event made famous by Schwarzenegger, who held the title of Mr. Olympia for seven years.
“It’s like the Olympics of bodybuilding,” she told Metro. “This is the highest. You can’t go higher than this.”
The muscle-bound mother-of-two is the only Canadian to qualify for this year’s female portion of the competition that will see her duke it out against 13 other top female bodybuilders from around the world.
Giesbrecht was first introduced to the sport in 2004. Since then, she has performed in major bodybuilding competitions throughout Canada and the United States.
While she has high hopes of taking the Ms. Olympia title this year, Giesbrecht said the competition is stiff.
“Being Canadian, too, and being a newcomer, it’s unfortunate but we’re not very well represented,” she said.
Her biggest hurdle? Defeating Iris Kyle of the United States, who has won the title eight years in a row.
“Her physique is pretty much perfect,” said Giesbrecht. “So for someone to get her out of first place, it’ll have to be someone who’s bang-on perfect.”
But Giesbrecht said she has a secret weapon— her height— that she hopes will give her a competitive advantage. Compared to shorter bodybuilders, who tend to appear “blocky” when they build muscle, Giesbrecht said she often gets compliments for her long and lean shape.
She’s also gained about five to 10 lbs. of muscle since her last Ms. Olympia performance.
“That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is,” she said.
Still, Giesbrecht said judges have varying opinions on what makes for the perfect female bodybuilder physique. Many are looking for the perfect X-frame, she said, in which the biceps and quadriceps have equally proportioned muscles but the waist is small.
In that case, she said her height could count against her.
“Because I’m tall, I always will need more muscle just to fill out,” she said. “My legs are a little bit smaller than they should be.”
At 46, Giesbrecht said she is one of the oldest female bodybuilders taking part in the competition. Although she hopes to finish in the top 10, she said she would also be content just knowing that she qualified to compete in the high-level competition twice in her career.
“To qualify for the Olympia is very difficult,” she said. “Just getting here, I could retire now and be quite happy.”
Courtesy of: MetroNews