Bodybuilder shapes up as contender
An inspirational mother of four is set to compete in her first national event at this year’s New Zealand Bodybuilding Championships.
Na Watson, 42, will compete tomorrow in Palmerston North and hopes her journey to better health can inspire others.
Watson said that 3 1⁄2 years ago she was a ‘‘really big lady’’ and knew something needed to change as her health was not in good shape.
At first, she started to do general exercise such as walking in an attempt to lose weight and improve her health.
Then earlier this year she was inspired to start bodybuilding after she saw other bodybuilders in the gym and thought she could do it too.
Watson said she trained for two hours every day, and her training usually consisted of an hour of cardio and an hour of weights.
This weekend’s event would be her third time competing on stage. She said it would be a good experience with a lot of good athletes there, and she just wanted to see how far she could take it.
‘‘I get nervous every time before a show – I haven’t got used to it yet. But I’m sure [as] you keep doing it, you get used to it.’’
When she first started bodybuilding she entered the shape category but found that was not for her. She wanted to be more focused on muscle and changed to the physique category.
Physique had an emphasis on muscular shape with low body fat, balanced development and muscular separation, while maintaining a feminine look.
Watson wanted to be an inspiration for other women and her children who had already shown an interest in following her into bodybuilding.
When it came to being healthy and losing weight, Watson said having a good diet in addition to exercising was the most important thing.
She was originally from Thailand and loved to eat rice, but switching to black or brown rice from white rice was a huge help in improving her diet.
After events, when she could loosen up a little on her diet, Thai food was her meal of choice, Watson said.
National Amateur Bodybuilders Association New Zealand secretary Marianne Poole said she was thankful the event could go head with so many other events being cancelled recently because of Covid-19 restrictions.
There were 80 athletes registered for the event from all around the country.
Female athletes could compete in four different categories: Shape, Figure, Physique, and Classic Women. There were three categories for men: Athletic, Physique, and Mr Body – Board Shorts.
The event will be held at the Wallace Development Theatre from 10am tomorrow.