Bodybuilder goes international in middle age

COLIN SMITH/Nelson Mail

DEDICATED: Rebecca King is about to compete at the Asia Pacific Bodybuilding Championships in the Philippines.

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Mapua woman Rebecca King is no ordinary grandma.

The 51-year-old bodybuilder is training three to four hours a day to perfect her physique and routine for next month's Asia Pacific Bodybuilding Championships in the Philippines, where she will represent New Zealand.

Ms King said she had worked out for 28 years, after giving birth to her first child.

After attending fitness classes, it wasn't long before she became an aerobics teacher.

"I decided I wanted to be taking the classes rather than paying somebody."

She carried on in the industry and became a personal trainer in 1999, and started competing in bodybuilding competitions in 2005.

She said weight training was her true passion and she became hooked from the first time she pumped iron.

"I loved it, I just felt so complete. I'd never felt that completeness with anything else.

"When I do weight training, I just get such a good feeling from it. Even if I come in stressed from work, I become energised. It's giving back to yourself."

Contrary to popular belief, she said bodybuilders did not have to starve themselves before a competition.

Her diet, although strict, was now more "hunter-gatherer". She ate fresh, unprocessed foods, including, meat, fish, rice and plenty of vegetables.

She said she was usually very disciplined but was even more focused now, preparing for the competition on April 26. "While you might have been able to twist my arm before, you can't twist it now."

It's the first time she's competed internationally, and she's had to find $7000 to get to the competition with her choreographer.

She is one of 12 New Zealanders chosen for the event, and was picked after winning first place in the senior physique class at the National Amateur Body Building Association Championships last September. It was only her third competition.

To help raise funds, a dinner and auction is to be held at the Mapua Village Inn on Saturday night.

Prizes, including a tandem skydive and a six-month gym membership, and food for the evening have been donated.

Ms King said she had been "blown away" by the generosity of those who had contributed to the event.

"They say what goes around comes around. Well, boy, I like what's coming around now. It's incredible."

Tickets cost $35 and can be bought at Health 2000, the Village Inn, City Fitness and Mapua's Tessa Mae's with Attitude.