Jo Rogers

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One of her clients called her " the world's biggest contradiction". Australian Jo Rogers, at 5'5" is a big girl. Off season she weighs 85-90kg and in contest at 75kg, so there's no denying she has plenty of mass. But despite all her muscles she's still a girly girl at heart. " I love pretty sparkly things" she said.

"Most people, when they find out more about me are surprised by how girlie I am..I collect fairies and my house is full of them" Jo reveals. "I also wear alot of pink". So its no coincedence then that Jo has found herself making sparkly pretty bikinis for many figure and physique competitors in Australia and New Zealand.. more on the bikini story later.

Go Figure had the opportunity to spend a weekend with Australian Physique legend Jo Rogers and her quirky ways on her recent visit to NewZealand. Read on to find out what we found out about the big girl with an even bigger heart.

Jo retired from competitive aerobics in 1995 where she placed 1st in the Qld State Titles and placed 3rd at the National Titles. "Bodybuilding was something I'd always wanted to do so when I retired from aerobics, it was the right time to weight train. I've never had female role models but I've always admired the classic physiques of Francis Benfetto and Bob Paris". With those physiques as her inspiration, Jo picked up weights in 1996 and competed that July at a contest weight of 60.9kg. A year later, a combination of natural great genetics and hardcore training, she competed at a weight of 69kg. 9 years later, and plenty more heavy duty workouts, Jo packed on 15kg to compete at the NABBA Southern Hemisphere at a weight of 75kg. For her size, Jo is remarkably flexible. She can still bring her legs up to her head and often puts a few plyometric jumps into her routine - one of her many signature posing trademarks.

In 10 years of competitive bodybuilding at National and international competition, Jo's won 7 National titles from 1999-2004. Jo's record at Intrnational level is also impressive, at Nabba Worlds she's placed 2nd once, 3rd twice and 4th once. And a thrid at NABBA Universe. Her proudest moment came in 2000 "this was the first huge year for me as it was the first year I won NABBA Australia and the first time I felt happy with how I looked, I also placed 3rd at Worlds that year" Jo remembers. Her other claim to fame is being on of the Gladiators - remember that show?

Jo on dieting. During that decade Jo's learned a thing or two about dieting. And just as she's contradiction with her size and personality, Jo also is a contradiction when it comes to her eating. "I've based my bodybuilding career on having an off season" Jo said. During her off season, Jo doesn't stick to an eating regime, she doesn't eat regularly and basically eats what she feels like eating when she feels like it. She doesn't count calories. In fact sometimes she forgets to eat as she's busy with her bikini business so her partner has to bring her food!. " I've got nothing to prove by staying lean all year" Jo added.

"In the off season, I've been up to 90kg and for one show have lost 22kg to get to a show. but usually I drop 10-12kg and generally get stroinger as the diet progresses. My weight usually stops at 80kg and I get leaner in final stage of contest prep". Another quirky point about Jo's pre contest plan is that she doesn't do any cardio and relies on her diet for fat loss.

Contest Diet
Breakfast: Protein shake (60-70g protein)
1hr later:50g (raw) + sweetener
mid morning: 250g steak + 80g cooked rice, 150g veg
lunch: 200g kangaroo sausage + rice, veg
afternoon tea: 200g fish/chicken, rice, veg
after training: Protein shake + 20g dextrose + creatine
Dinner: 10 egg white omlette (or 250g other protein) + veges
Has 5-8 black coffees per day

When it comes to contest dieting Jo does become focused on cleaner eating and gets into a regular regime. She starts her pre contest diet 22 weeks from contest. "I find my body gets rid of fat quicker this way. Once I get all the bad food out of my system, I lose weight quickly" Jo said. She cooks all her meals for the week on Sunday. She'd cook up all breakfasts and at least 5kg of chicken and divide them in portions of approx 200g.

Jo said she used to be fanatical about calorie counting "for example I might've had 50g left of carbs over that I could eat for the day, I used to go out of my mind deciding what carbs I was going to have. I was obsessed with calorie counting. But now my diet's evolved and I'm not as strict on the quantites - I stay as close as I can. What you don't have today you can make up for it tomorrow. Your body doesn't know exactly how many grams of protein or carbs you haven't had for the day. I try and keep up my carbs as long as I can so I can look fuller but every preparation is different. As soon as change stops, I decrease my carbs" Jo said.

"I also don't allow any 'cheat' meals until 4 weeks into the diet as I want to see that I'm losing weight. It might be once a week or once every other week but its not an excuse for me to eat bad. I just know what my body needs as I've learned to listen to my body".

Jo says there is no secret to dieting. "You just got to have the willpower to do it". Bodybuilding competition is something you want to do and when you're preparing for a show you need to find a happy place where you're not affected by what other people are eating or doing around you. You lean to live with it and without complaining. The more you do it, the easier it gets" and after 10 years of competing Jo should know!