FBBUK: The Fit Writer

OK, let's start with a question.

Can you name Britain's one reigning World Champion female bodybuilder?

Didn't think so.

Until a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn't have known the answer to the question either. Wouldn't have known that Britain even had a female World Champion. But we do.

It's time we met her. Say hello to Nicola Joyce, World Champion.



The fact that Nicola is a World Champion yet remains unknown even to fans of female muscle is easily explained. You see, she's a natural bodybuilder, competing in natural shows and let's face it, these natural shows and natural women get only a fraction of the attention that non-natural contests attract - unless, of course, Jodie Marsh is competing, in which case they are on TV and all over the print media!

Actually, Nicola is not just a World Champion, she's a two-time World Champion, having recently retained the title she first won last year in Boston in November.




She is also a distance runner, an international triathlete, and an open water swimmer with a string of achievements - for example, she's swum up Lake Windermere, swum round the island of Jersey, and swum across the English Channel - twice.

But it's what's going on between Nicola's ears that has really got my attention.



Despite her physical prowess, I found out about Nicola via her blog.

"The Fit Writer", as she calls it, has reports of her runs, her triathlons, her open water swims, and her bodybuilding contests. It has fitness-related product reviews, and advice for bodybuilding competitors (both male and female). But of most interest to me, and I'm guessing to you too, dear reader, is the insight it provides into her own daily bodybuilding life. If you want to know how crazy a female bodybuilder can go when she's prepping for a contest, her blog will tell you. Ever dreamed of dating a female bodybuilder? Nicola will tell you what you'd be letting yourself in for. Know a female bodybuilder and want to say the right things? Check with Nicola.



But it's not just the content of the blog that I like. Nicola writes with some style.

Here she is at the UKDFBA this year. The winner will get a WNBF pro card...



I’ve either won it or... I haven’t, frankly. One matters, one doesn’t matter. That’s how I see it. One is a win, the other is not a win.

The head judge was saying that it was incredibly close... that, in fact, it was a tie-break. We were tied for first place, and the result of the tie-break is...

"In second place..."

Me.

Sigh.

OK. Smile, smile, don’t cry, look up, smile, walk forward, shake the winner’s hand, stand there and smile.

The winner was then called forward, and offered WNBF Pro status.

My emotions have been up, down and all over the place since. At the time I felt absolutely gutted and disappointed, but not so bad. I felt happy, in that I knew I was my best ever (so far!), very happy personally in how I looked and how I’d posed, etc. Happy that I’d improved a placing in a year (I was 3rd at UKDFBA last year) and happy (although it’s a bitter happiness!!) that it was so close. You can’t ask for much more (other than winning, obviously) than being in a tie break situation.

But I have also gone through a slew of negative emotions: sadness, disappointment, feeling absolutely gutted, and (if I’m honest), angry. I’m not sure at what. Myself, I think. Angry that I didn’t get on stage absolutely dominant, that I left it up to the judges to make the decision, that I didn’t step up there and make their job easier for them. I won’t be making the same mistake again. Believe me, there’s nothing like losing something so important to you on a tie-break decision to focus the mind.

A compelling read, don't you think?

Unsurprisingly, given her ability to tell a story and her all round way with words, Nicola earns her corn as a freelance Sport and Fitness Writer and Fitness Copywriter. One who just happens to be a runner, a triathlete, an open water swimmer, and, er...
Oh yeah, I almost forgot! A two-time natural bodybuilding World Champion.



Please enjoy Nicola's blog responsibly!