Tarren McCall and Lisa Pavelka |
The Contest Day saw 160 competitors from all around the world. It was really well run and the language barrier didn't seem to affect us that much as long as you kept track of what classes were on.
There was a strong Fitness Shape class which is not that popular in NZ. We shared a dressing room with a Belgium competitor Nadia Rogaleva who placed 6th in the Fitness Shape.
|
Women Physique Naera Johnson 2nd
Masters Men O/50 Maxwell Stott 4th
Senior Figure Tarren McCall 3rd
Figure Short Lisa Pavelka 5th
Physique Men Warren Ah Fook 7th
There were 6 competitors in my class from Slovenia, Netherlands, Spain, Greece and Italy. I was the smallest of the six so I fought a tough battle for my placing and I was very happy to have won 2nd place.
Whats happening for 2007, Well.. Maybe Greece!!!!!!
Cheers,
Naera Johnson
Rhonda's Excellent Adventures!
It has been almost 3 months since our Wonder Woman, Rhonda Bryers, competed at the IFBB Women's Bodyfitness Champs in Spain but we're still interested in hearing what happened! so now that she's landed and back into normal life Rhonda's finally given us an insight into her excellent adventure which has seen her fly around the world at lightning speed and experienced some pretty cool things..
Tell us more Rhonda!!
Chris and I left NZ on 13 September - 10 days prior to the competition.
The reason for this was that we flew on buddy fares with a friend of ours who works with Air NZ. In hindsight, I should have not left this early but as we were getting cheap fares through the buddy system we didn't have much choice. We had to fly Auckland / LA / London / Spain and to break the trip up we stopped two days in both LA and London - again, in hindsight, I would not recommend this! |
 |
LA
When we finally landed in LA I couldn't wait to get off the plane. My calve muscles were feeling quite tight from the long flight and by the time we reached our hotel the feeling of tightness had moved right up to my stomach! Thoughts went through my head that I might be suffering from some type of internal blood clot and I got a bit worried but after awhile I put it down to being dehydrated and jumped into bed after throwing back a neurofen.
Our room had its own kitchen which was great for being able to prepare my food for the day. I managed to stink out the kitchen on the first day with Salmon - oopps Yip, it was quite bad - not a lot of ventilation. Oh yeah, I had to endure the torturous time in an LA supermarket - foreign ice cream, cookies..............etc.
The hotel restaurant was excellent! To my surprise they made eggwhite omelettes - I mean they were actually on the menu!!! and fantastic salads.
The next morning I was up and straight to the hotel gym for a workout. Not a too bad a gym for a hotel - a few cardio machines and dumbbells so I felt I got a fairly good workout.
That night we ventured out to Sunset Strip calling into the Viper Room - Nat Cole was playing (I think we got in somehow by mistake) and the Rainbow Bar (a famous rockers bar) where I met Lukas from Supernova! I didn't know he had won the competition at that time until I text Kylie to tell her about my ventures and she told me.
LONDON
By the time we reached London we hadn't slept in 24hours. I was past the point of being able to go to sleep so got the yellow pages and found a gym in the area. As it turned out it took me 40 minutes to walk there which was great! Extra cardio!!
I found eating in London really hard. There was no fridge in our room and the hotel wouldn't cook me anything special. I have to admit that my diet slipped up in London. I started wishing that I had brought protein powder with me. I could have survived on that for a couple of days. I did the best I could with eating but I felt that I should have been better prepared. Actually I don't know why I didn't buy some protein powder from the gym - that's what decarbing does to you though - leaves the mind a bit vacant!!
SPAIN
Finally! Barcelona is a great city! We rented an apartment in the centre of Barcelona for three days before heading up the coast to Santa Susana. Again I found a gym on day one but trying to talk to the staff proved difficult - explaining that I just wanted to train as a casual and not join up! Chris and I couldn't stop laughing when they spoke to us in Spanish. They probably thought we were nutters! I started wishing that I had studied Spanish! The gym was good but it was stinking hot and I found it hard to do cardio in that heat!
On the second night in Barcelona my Mum, her partner and my sister arrived. They got to the apartment at around 11.30pm and we stayed up for a few hours to catch up on our adventures through LA and London. I was really happy that they were there to support me!
|
SANTA SUSANA
Neralee and I met up in Santa Susana. I got a bit tense when we went to register to find that they didn't have our names down and hadn't booked any accommodation for us. Chris had to sort out the problem and we ended up having the best hotel right on the beach!
Neralee and I were both excited to be there and we got on like a house on fire! I'm not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that we roomed together because we stayed up until 3am talking, giggling, posing...........
|
 |
Registration
All I want to say to any future girls who go to the Worlds - Make sure you look fab at registration! The place is full of photographers and not to mention the judges!!!
D Day
I was surprised to find out that we didn't have to be at the venue until 4pm!
Neralee and I with supporters in tow waited patiently waited at the bus stop to be collected and driven to the venue. Well, the bus arrived and people pushed in line to get onto the bus - athletes and supporters. As it turned out, even though we were at the front of the que initially, we didn't get a seat on the bus. We were told that another bus would be there shortly to collect the rest of us. After half an hour of waiting we started to get worried. Neralee was first up and the start time was fast approaching. Chris was sent off to find a cab as we started to get more anxious. The bus finally arrived a few minutes later and we were on our way.
The venue had no warm up weights - no mirrors nothing! I was thankful that Maree Stubbington had lent me her dynaband. I noticed that rules are not followed at these events. Although not allowed, people were out the back filming us. Girls were wearing huge earrings (no jewellery allowed in round 1) Some bikinis were very brief!
It was incredibly hot inside the venue and I was sweating something terrible warming up. Chris was fanning me down with a towel that we thought was Neralees but was another competitors!!oopps. The lady who it belonged to was a Brazilian.
Now I have to tell this story........
As you do.........I was comparing myself to this lady feeling quite confident about my condition. She looked very smooth and I wondered how she had made it to the Worlds. Well, when I was on stage I had to take a double look because I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. This woman had changed in a matter of minutes right before me! I was dumbfounded about this transformation. Her upper body had become quite muscle and her legs were rippled!!! How in the heck someone can change like that - I have no idea - This lady came 3rd. I'm thinking about writing to her and asking about her training etc. I think we are friends because we stole her towel but made up for it by giving her some tan as hers got stolen! P.S - I wont be sharing her secrets!!
Round 1 of judging seemed to take forever! 36 girls in my class and Neralee had 41. After about 10 minutes the sweat started. It was dripping. By the time I got off stage my hair was wet. I had dehydrated and even spent time in the sauna which I don't normally do. I have never sweated like this before on stage - it was awful!!
Overall I felt right up there with the other girls in my class although I could have been leaner and more 'out there / flirty'. I want to stress to you that Body Fitness is:
V SHAPE / BIG MUSCLE AND LEAN!!! NOT SOFT!!!
SUMMARY
Although Neralee and I did not make the top 15 we were proud to have achieved our goals by competing at a World event. I had 36 competitors in my class and Neralee had a massive 41. We have been proud to say that we got 16th which we have had many giggles about as most people don't know that 15th is the last placing!! I'm laughing again.......
My advice to any future competitors:
1. Body Fitness is being judged on: V Shape - Big Muscle - Leanness
2. Get Noticed by moving a lot and being flirtatious
3. Take lots of workout gear
4. Always look immaculate (even at 7am at breakfast if you don't want to feel like a scruff)
5. Don't holiday beforehand - its too hard and breaks the workout pattern
