Provincial body building champ aims for national title in October
Lisa Giesbrescht is no ordinary mom. Standing five-foot-eight and sporting bulging muscles, this Langford woman is ripped.
“I am definitely unique, I am not like the other mothers (at my children’s) school,” Giesbrescht said.
The mother of two girls and seven-year body builder is training for her third trip to the national body building championships, this year in Montreal on Oct. 9.
“I've been training since the last show (in August 2010). I only took a week off and then I’ve been right back at it,” Giesbrescht said.
Giesbrescht competes in the master (over 35) class and the open heavyweight class.
“I am considered small as a heavyweight,” said Giesbrescht who tips the scale at 175 pounds.
Despite ample 40 centimetre biceps and 60 cm quads, she is pumping a lot of iron to gain more muscle mass for the nationals.
To sculpt her body, she trains five days a week in the gym totalling about 10 to 15 hours of high intensity weight training and a minimal amount of cardio.
“I combine free weights and a few machines,” Giesbrescht said.
Sticking to a tough training regime does mean her family has to make some sacrifices.
“I can’t do spontaneous things with the family,” Giesbrescht said. “I need to have my food and my workouts.”
She eats small meals every few hours. In the morning she has two small breakfasts of egg whites and oatmeal, two hours a part. During the rest of the day she eats chicken and brown rice with vegetables.
“Food is huge issue when it comes to getting in shape and how it affects your life,” Giesbrescht said.
Training is important for Giesbrescht, but says when comes to priorities her family always comes first.
During the week Giesbrescht’s husband works out of town and leaves Giesbrescht juggling the challenges of family, training and her job. On top of her workout schedule, Giesbrescht is a personal trainer at Odyssey Health and Fitness in Victoria.
“I have a wide range of clients,” said Giesbrescht explaining she coaches people ranging from teens to women up into their 60s.
While her daughters are not interested in becoming bodybuilders, they are supportive of their mother.
Last year the nationals were held in Saskatoon, and Giesbrescht placed seventh in the open heavyweight class. At the 2009 national competition she placed second in the masters division and seventh in the open heavyweight class.
Last July Giesbrescht won the overall competition for the provincial body building competition in New Westminster.
“With that (win) I can go to the national level forever, and I don’t need to qualify,” she said.
While over the past few years of training Giesbrescht has transformed her body into a lean build with rippling muscles, she said the biggest change in herself is the confidence she has gained.
“You learn what your body can do and learn what you are capable of doing,” Giesbrescht said. “If you set a goal you’d be surprised that you are able to achieve it”
Even before she was a body builder Giesbrescht loved working out. After seeing a retired female body builder working at a fitness gym, Giesbrescht was intrigued. “I always admired her look and I just wanted more of a challenge,” she said.
“A misconception is that female body builders are not feminine and that we are very masculine, but a female can have muscles and still look feminine,” Giesbrescht remarked. “Body building should be for everyone.”
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