NICOLE Toan proves that women really can do it all.
The 27-year-old from Falmouth has been competing as a bodybuilder for the last three years.
Despite being just 5ft 1in and weighing a little over nine stone, she’s certainly making a big impression.
The Belfast-born beauty who moved to Cornwall last year is a personal trainer and was encouraged to give bodybuilding a try by a friend.
She soon became hooked and is now determined to change perceptions of the discipline and prove it is for women as much as it is for men.
“My first body building show kind of set the bar because I won,” she says.
“It was a big shock. I got the bug. That’s when I really started looking at it properly and taking it more seriously.
“I had always made my training schedules in a body building style but in terms of competing in shows, I didn’t know that much about it.”
Nicole adores being on the stage. After months of intensive training, she says there is no better feeling than showing off all the hard work.
She spends hundreds of pounds preparing for each event, splashing out new bikinis, the essential fake tan, make-up artists, not forgetting a weekly food bill of up to £80 in the run-up.
When she first started competing she hired a coach to train her up and now she’s coaching other women in Cornwall.
“When you step out on stage you feel great,” she says.
“You put in all that effort and that’s what it’s all for.
“It’s an amazing feeling. I come across quite confident on stage but I’m not always like that. I get really nervous leading up to it but as soon as I step on the stage it goes away. It’s a performance. It’s like I’m a different person when I’m up there.
“If I could I would stay on stage the whole day.”
Rather than competing against others, she sets herself personal targets.
“You want to look your best on the day but it’s all down to the judges and their opinions,” she says.
“You might make all that effort not even get placed so you have to think of it as a competition against yourself rather than others – you want to look the best you can.
“It is tough. You’re putting your body on show. It’s very personal. No one is just born with talent, you have to work to get it. Obviously genetics does make a difference but hard work will always override that.”
Before each competition, she follows a four-month intensive training programme.
As well as following a strict exercise regime she has to make sure she eats the right foods to maintain her muscles.
She says: “You have to make sure you eat the right things so you can put on muscle. I eat a lot of protein – meat and eggs.
“You can’t see your friends and family. It can make you moody. You can’t eat your favourite foods and you can’t drink alcohol.
“It does take over your life – it’s seven days a week. But it’s worth it to make sure you look your best.
“You have to be 100 per cent focused.”
“If my friends and family are going out for dinner I can’t go unless I can take my own food. Preparation is key. You can’t miss your meals and you have to eat the right things. I have to make sure that I have everything prepared each week.
While there are relatively few female body builders in the UK, Nicole says more women are seeing the appeal. She recently featured in a BBC documentary about women in body building and says she hopes to promote the industry and challenge people’s preconceptions about it.
“Everybody thinks bodybuilding is about big muscles and steroids. It’s not, especially for women,” she says.
“I can only speak for myself, but I don’t sue steroids. I don’t need to for my category and I can put on the muscle I need to by training.
“For most of the men, they have to take steroids. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be able to compete against the other men.
“Some people say it’s only for men but it isn’t.
When I’m out I do like to get dressed up and be girly. People are always telling me I have a great bum or say I have very defined legs.
“When I tell them I’m a bodybuilder, they’re really surprised.”
Gone are the days when women just want to be skinny. Today, it’s all about being toned and have curves in the right places.
“You just need the right training,” Nicole says.
“Some people come to me and say they want to be skinny. A few weeks later they’ll see how their body is changing and say they want to lose weight in different places and they want curves in others.
“It’s all about bums and tums at the moment.” Girls want big bums and abs.”
Courtesy of: The West Briton