Liza Reichenberger wasn’t a typical little girl growing up. She spent 10 years in ballet, trying her best to be dainty and girlish, but was often relegated to male roles involving lifting. Herculiza wanted to be graceful, but was strong and sturdy:
“As a child, I used to cry (alone, later) when my parents’ friends would pat me on the head and say, ‘she’s built like a real little locomotive, isn’t she!?!’ In ballet I wanted to look like a gazelle, but usually ended up playing the male role lifting the other girls over my head since we were short of boys in our little local ballet company in Bakersfield. I felt more like a rhino.”
Enter bodybuilding. Ballet and other typical girly endeavors might not have been the right choice for Liza Reichenberger, but she was a natural bodybuilder.
“I went into bodybuilding because all my friends said I should, because of the way I was built. But before lifting a single dumbbell, I had already entered several arm-wrestling contests in local college nightclubs, where I won cases of beer for myself and my friends! “
In 2008, Liza won the 2008 WNBF Natural Universe Champion. On September 26th, 2009, at the age of 49, Liza Reichenberger will be gunning for the 2009 Pro Natural U.S. Cup.
Read more about Liza Reichenberger’s story, or check out herculiza on Youtube or Myspace.