Germany Wins! Anja Langer German Female Bodybuilder

I was born in the city of Stuttgart in Southern Germany on 3 June 1965, and I grew up in a nearby town called Boeblingen. Our house was right next to a forest, and during my childhood, I conducted a lot of outdoor activities. This probably explains my fascination for nature, which still exists today. At a very young age, I also discovered that my talents and strengths were in physical activities. My first passion was for gymnastics.

At the age of eight, I became an active member of the gymnastics association and participated successfully in several competitions. As my family owned two horses, riding horses was a natural choice for me. I belonged to a horseback-riding club and compteted in several horse shows. However, my need for variety also became apparent at that time.

During my teenage years, other sports captured my curiosity. I tried springboard and platform diving when I was 14, and within a year I was able to dive from the 10-meter platform. Then, with my curiosity for diving being satisfied, I took up jazz dance.

I was filled with enthusiasm for jazz dance, for I loved the music, the motion, the expression, and especially performing. My affiliation to jazz dance would later be of great benefit to my bodybuilding career, especially when I had to do a posing routine on stage; I always treated my routines as dance performances.

It was 1980 and I was 15 years old when I started training with weights. I was the only girl in the gym, but this did not bother me. I actually enjoyed it, especially since the guys were all amazed at how strong I was.

Slowly but surely, I got into a regular work-out schedule. For the first six months, I trained twice a week. Gradually, I increased my training to three times a week, then four times a week, and so on. Then in 1981, I decided to enter my first competition, the Baden Wurttenberg championship. I placed second, that is second to last, but rather than letting it discourage me, it fueled my ambition and I trained even harder. I also learned about dieting, as well as how to get the most out of my workouts, and I applied that knowledge to my pre-competition training. A year later, at the same local competition, I won second place.

At that point, bodybuilding was still only a hobby, and my parents tried to make sure it stayed that way. After finishing secondary school in 1983, I was ready to take on the world of bodybuilding. However, I wasn’t 18 yet, and because my parents were against me bodybuilding, I was forced to secretly prepare myself for competitions; a situation that only fueled my determination. It wasn’t until much later that my parents finally recognized that bodybuilding was part of my personal philosophy on life, and that my positive outlook has, and still is, a direct result of my participation in that sport.

From 1983 to 1986, I studied graphic arts. I found these studies quite fulfilling, as I had enjoyed painting and drawing ever since my childhood (I still paint as a hobby and plan on posting some of my work on this site in the near future). Anyway, while in school, I continued to train and compete. In 1983, I placed fourth in the German championship. The following year, a bodybuilding partner and I became the runner-ups in the couple posing category at the amateur world championship in Madrid, Spain. In 1985, I won the Junior World champion in Australia, and then I captured the titles for both the German championship and the European championship in 1986.

When I finished my education, I decided to turn my hobby into a profession, but 1987 was a difficult year as my father passed away that year. Still, I managed to win second place at the IFBB Pro World Championship in Toronto and then fourth place at that year’s Ms. Olympia competition. In 1988, I won runner-up at the Ms. Olympia in New York City.

At that time, I was only 23 years old, and I needed a break to recompose myself. Thus, I decided to put competiting on hold for a year, with the goal to come back and win the Ms. Olympia title in 1990…. and I was ready to dedicate all my efforts to achieve that goal; however, fate had other plans in mind for me. Instead of training for the Ms. O. in 1990, I was preparing myself for a different, though no less exciting event: Childbirth! Throughout my pregnancy, I trained and followed a special diet, and then in January of 1991, I gave birth to my first son, Elija.

In the later part of 1991, together with the late Bill Reynolds, I co-authored a book on bodybuilding, exercise and nutrition. In 1992, it was published it in the United States as ‘Body Flex & Body Magic‘. During that year, I also returned to the stage of bodybuilding, but only as a guest poser mainly at major competitions. Although, I was not as muscular as during my competitive days, my audience was enthusiastic and it was the most fun I ever had on stage.In 93 and 94, I also participated in a few theatrical performances that were held in Stuttgart, Germany, in which the plays were acted out through a combination of dance and movement and involved a variety of athletic and muscular performers. What an exciting and creative experience this was for me.