Gladys Matthews' Prime Figure

Whenever Gladys Matthews is asked 'how old are you?', she'd give a standard reply "45 + gst". While Gladys might be coy about giving her age, her youthful figure speaks enough volume about the commitment she's put into her fitness and maintaining her body which many 30 year olds would be envious of. While Gladys competes in the Senior Figure class, she'd be competitive in any class as she's got a great structure and muscle mass...but she'd be too modest to agree with that. Gladys is retired and married with 3 children in their 30s. She said she's always been a competitive person. She's always played some sort of sport like netball, tennis and did aerobic classes but didn't get into weights until 4 years ago.

"I joined the gym to do the Body 4 life as I had some weight to lose and lost 8kg in the competition and won the challenge then I did the body sculpting part of it and it did amazing thigs to my body – not so much weight loss but changes my shape. A staff member said I should try bodybuilding which I did and obviously got addicted. "

Since entering her first competition in 2003, Gladys has been on a mission to catch up on lost stage time! She’s competed in 32 shows encompassing 2 in Australia ( where I placed 1st and 3rd) 3 National Titles in Figure and Physique and 25 placings at regional shows and got 4th twice.

While Gladys is a seasoned competitor, she thinks she still has plenty of room to improve. She says she wants to come in harder this year “I’ve always been slack in my cardio, so I want to get more serious about that. Offseason I weigh around 61kg and at contest I weigh 57kg so I give myself up to 3-4 kgs on in the off season, I won’t go heavier than that and that way I only have to diet about 4 weeks coming into a comp.”

While Gladys won’t reveal her age, she believes bodybuilding is the fountain of her youthful figure “Bodybuilding keeps you young and healthy. I definitely have more energy and gives focus to your workouts. Its also something you can do for yourself, especially if you have to give your time to family”.

But Gladys admits even at contest time she still has 'lots of cheats’. “ I find the diet really hard because its boring mainly because I don’t spice it up, so that’s something I have to work on too. When I cheat its mainly on licorice but that’s only about twice a week but I always try and eat clean and know when I’ve overdone it and pull back. I really rely on shakes and bars as I have a hard time getting all the chicken and fish in! “.

Gladys and bodybuilding buddy Janine

Gladys enjoys all aspects of bodybuilding (except the dieting!), “ I enjoy the challenge of trying to better myself. I keeps me trim and enjoy the contest day as that’s the fun part of it catching up with all your friends”.

Bodybuilding has also been a source of her social network “ I didn’t have a life till I joined the gym!” Gladys said. “I’ve met so many people through training and competing at shows. Everybody’s really friendly and they’re all interested in what you’ve been up to.” While she doesn’t see herself as a role model, Gladys admits people do come up to her and asks how she looks so good and they’re inspired to get into shape too.

Although Gladys was late to discover bodybuilding she's making up for it by being the ultimate gym bunny. She gets anxious if she desn't train " If I have one day off, I'm ok but if I take off I get agro" she said. Now there's no stopping Glaydys and we know she will compete until she's 50 + gst...but we'll never ask ofcourse! right: Senior Figure never looked so good. Hard to believe but all these ladies are all grandmothers!