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Sure we all
have to put a lot of things on the line in order to
compete. Our jobs, our friends and relationships
...but are you willing to put your life on the
line? Vini Rangihaeata did exactly that and
lived to tell the tale. Vini had been
training for 2 years to compete in a bodybuilding contest in 2005
when suddenly her dreams were shattered when she was in an accident
at home which caused a brain swell and left her
paralysed. |
| " Doctors said I'd never walk again. But
the thought of walking never left my mind. I was
highly positive. I told them never use that phrase around me again.
I had a lot of positive support around me. I was
more distraught about not being able to training." Such was her determination, Vini proved the doctors wrong and 6 months later she was back on her feet. " It took a year to rehab but I was back walking by end of ‘06. The doctors were absolutely shocked and the biggest boost for me was that they used all the video from my physio classes as an example of mind power association" . Vini said the other reason she had to hurry and get out of hospital was that she had 2 kids to look after, (14 and 12 year old at the time) ‘and they needed their Mum at home'. |
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Although Vini got back on her feet she did lose her ways with her eating habits. " I was out of shape, overweight and a shocking eater. I ate pies for breakfast and lots and lots of bad stuff. Just fell off the wagon and didn't have motivation. I lost it." It wasn't
until she started working at Harbour Fitness in April 09 that her
fitness regime got kickstarted over a dare at a staff
do. "The dare was that we would compete at the
North Harbour Champs in November 09 so that's how the whole thing
got triggered" Vini said. At that time Vinni standing at 5'3", weighed 59kg
and had 26% bodyfat. Were you shocked at
that weight? " Hell yeah! That was the motivation to get back in
shape, hearing that number." She
said. |
 NABBA Nth Hbr 09 |
| And so began Vini's journey to compete, a dream she'd had since she was 15. Her day would begin at 6am with at least an hour of cardio on the treadmill, then it was a full day working as Operations Manager at the gym, then she would train at night for another couple of hours. Although monotonous, Vini loved it and says the end goal was the key. She admits it was tiring as she didn't get home till 8.30pm at night but she credits help from her kids that got her through " My kids were fantastic and helped all the way through. My son Ricki (18) had container duty and my daughter Kayla (20) helped clean the house." | |
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Just as things were going to plan the Universe
threw Vini another challenge. " At the
end of August 09 I had terrible headaches in training and felt like
someone was hitting me in front of head with a baseball bat." Vini
said. She went to the doctors and was told that she had a brain
aneurism and was told to stop training. |
| " I was angry that they
picked it up (the aneurism). I was also angry that they said I
couldn't compete. I totally bottomed out. I
stopped training and dieting. My whole world centered on the gym. I was thinking ‘you're taking away my training, my socializing, you're taking away people I'm around every day.' That wasn't cool. So for me I needed that back and that's what drove me back to get into it." |
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Vini sat out all of September but
after much pleading and begging, doctors finally gave in and
gave her the ok to get back into training but they said she would
do it at her own risk. That was all Vini
needed. But leg training was absolutely one
thing Vini was not allowed to do. "They said doing too much legs would send too much blood up to the head and it could cause the aneurism to return" so Vinni begrudgingly took it easy. As easy as Vini knew how that is. |
| " I still did cardio but
‘only' walking." She says. But walking to Vini
meant doing an hr to 1.5 hr at 6 incline on the
treadmill 6 days a week in the mornings. Mind
numbing to some but Vini wanted to achieve her goal and she was
prepared to do the work to get there. " I made new steps for myself and made different workouts on the treadmill. I walk different angels on my feet. Lean forward, lean back. Change leg position, walking backward so I worked all angles of my legs.". While she couldn't train her legs with weights, she made sure she hammered her upper body by training a body part each day while doing many reps as heavy as she could. |
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| When Vini stepped on stage at the North Harbour
comp in November, she looked liked she belonged there. She
presented a beautiful figure with hard lean muscle weighing 49kg at
8% bodyfat, and with hard legs to match. A figure that won her the
Novice Figure Short title. So how did Vini feel when she finally stepped on stage at North Harbour? " It was everything I thought it would be...and then some" she said. "All day I thought yes I'm in it, that's the main thing. My hairs were standing on end all day with all the excitement and the many supporters from the gym who were there. When I first walked out on stage I looked for my kids and then cried a little in the beginning. I had that goal since 15. So it was huge and achieving that was amazing." |
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Vini's advice
to athletes who need to get focused is simple "Make the decision.
Don't talk about it, just do it. Once I make the
decision its done and then I action it. Done." |
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