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Inside The World Of Competitive Female Bodybuilding, At The Castle Hill RSL

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[h=1]Inside The World Of Competitive Female Bodybuilding, At The Castle Hill RSL[/h][h=3][/h] By Flip Prior 31/7/14 907



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Backstage at the Castle Hill RSL, 21-year-old Rhiannon Keith teeters on clear plastic, sky-high stilettos as she peers into the mirror, scrutinising her four layers of mahogany fake tan for rogue streaks.
The room is steamy and pungent, packed with near-naked men and women with improbable muscles bursting out of tiny, sparkling costumes as they pump heavy weights or squeeze in a few final push-ups. The sheets of black and clear plastic that cover the walls, floors and furniture are slick with canola cooking spray: it gives browned skin the best sheen and is being sprayed liberally throughout the room.
It’s only 10am on a Sunday, but hundreds of excited spectators are already packed into the function room outside, whooping as friends and family take to the stage under flashing lights to strike theatrical poses in front of a po-faced panel of judges.
Rhiannon smiles, flips her long purple-dyed hair extensions over her shoulder and flexes her arms. “I’d like my core to be a bit better but I can work on that,” she says. “I’m focused, I want to win this … I went hard this week so now I’m here and good to go.”




For 16 weeks, the 21-year-old personal trainer from Glebe has been training for this International Natural Bodybuilding Association competition, squeezing in gruelling workouts of up to three hours a day between work shifts and her exercise physiology classes at the Uni of NSW. Each day, she’s washed down a strictly regimented diet of steamed chicken, oats, spinach and eggs with up to six litres of water, fuelling cardio sessions that burn up to three quarters of the 1400 or so calories she consumes.
Rhi is nervous but excited; in extraordinary shape with barely an ounce of fat on her body, she started “depleting” a week ago – dropping carbohydrates from her diet to eradicate glycogen stores from her muscles. Three days ago, she started adding carbs back into her meals to plump up her muscles so they pop out in sharp relief for the competition, which is only her third.
On stage, judges will examine Rhi’s physique from every angle, looking for “structural flaws” as well as her muscular proportion and symmetry. As a woman competing in Miss Figure Novice, Miss Figure International and Ms Figure Class, she’s required to strike a difficult balance between taut, hard definition and soft femininity.
And the competition is tough.
The other women backstage are gaudy, formidable and spectacular, their burnished skin set off by glittery bikinis, thick makeup, false lashes, false nails, hair extensions and towering heels. They’re all smiling, but fierce – and equally determined as Rhi to win trophies.
INBA Competitors at the Rooty Hill RSL. © Flip Prior

According to International Natural Bodybuilding Association Australian events director Ron Ziemiecki, women have been joining the INBA to compete at twice the rate of men over the past five years. The competitive sport has been exploding in popularity, in tandem with a growing focus on the body beautiful. “A large sector of the community is just fed up with all the doom and gloom about obesity and all the other diet related diseases,” he says.
More than 30 such events are held across the nation each year – and the Castle Hill event’s crowd, while enthusiastic, was small.
“That was a small contest, inhibited a lot by the small venue — as a side note, that competition is moving to a larger venue next year,” Ron says. “Our larger competitions are staged over two days with about 2500 people on average both days.
“We also participate at industry expos where (up to) 40,000 people attend annually in most states … our competitions at those expos are the centrepiece.”
Ron reckons optimistically that, while there’s a serious commitment required for those who wish to compete internationally, at a start-up level it’s “really just a lifestyle with a little tweaking here and there, diet and exercise wise”.
But have no illusions. You’ll be eating a LOT of steamed chicken and boiled rice.
Rhi plugs in her earphones and takes tiny sips from a shot glass of vodka to calm her nerves as one of her competitors, Lynsey, chats to her coach Steve nearby.
Pumping her biceps idly, the 33-year-old mother with abs of steel explains she has always been fit and even weight-trained during pregnancy, but she “cranked it up” to be able to compete again after giving birth to her two-year-old son. ”I was like, ‘That’s it – no more ruining my six pack,’” she says, light green eyes startling against her skin.
Steve smiles at his charge. “We’ve been increasing her carbs so she’s a bit fuller this time – her conditioning is absolutely superb … as you can see, it gives her that nice, full vascular look,” he says, pointing out her muscle definition proudly.
It’s all a bit like Strictly Ballroom on steroids – minus the steroids, that is. Along with caffeine-based stimulants, any drugs, including diuretics and protein powders, are banned; this event is all about getting shredded the natural way.
And for Rhi, competing is about far more than just looking good; it’s part of a long quest to rebuild her inner, as well as outer, strength. She was spurred to enter after breaking up with a violent ex-partner in 2013: “He nearly killed me,” she says. “He made me feel bad for going to the gym … he hated me looking good. He saw it as a threat, I guess.”
Leaving him finally gave her the motivation she needed to turn her back on partying and start working out instead. None of it has been easy. “There’s been times when I’ve been on the step machine when a rage has come over me – I want to scream, want to hit someone, want to cry,” she says.
And sticking to such a regimented diet for so long is also hard. “It’s not sustainable … your body goes into a shock phase,” she says. “As much as you look good, you’re not healthy.” So why do it? She smiles again. “I’ve always wanted to do this. It’s to win – to be the best.”




In front of the crowd, Rhiannon is in her element, beaming at the judges as she struts around the stage in her tiny bikini. Two burly blokes acting as comperes keep things moving swiftly. “Quarter turn to the right … and face the front … aw, fantastic conditioning, ladies. Double bicep … and strike.”
The crowd is impressed. “Squeeze your glutes – come on,” someone shrieks above the pulsing techno as the ladies strike poses with frozen toothy smiles, buttocks and thighs shuddering with the strain.
For her efforts, Rhiannon comes third in two categories and fails to place in the last. Backstage afterwards, she is tired but pumped.
“That was hard. Really hard,” she says. “Everyone has worked so hard. At the end of the day, if I get up on stage and the girl next to me is in better condition, good on her because she worked harder than me – or maybe she said no to that muffin that day, and I didn’t.”
Rhi won’t compete again until October – and this time, she’s really determined to win. ”I’ll go off season for a bit and get some more size on my shoulders, eat some good food and train hard,” she says. “But first, I’m off for a feed.”
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Flip Prior is The Walkley Foundation’s communications manager and an occasional freelance journalist. She one day dreams of being as buff as Rhiannon, but her enduring passion for dumplings and wine makes it incredibly unlikely. She tweets from @FlipPrior.

Read more at Inside The World Of Competitive Female Bodybuilding, At The Castle Hill RSL | Junkee

 
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