‘I eat, I sleep, I train’
Local bikini fitness model will be competing at this weekend’s Toronto Pro Supershow
What’s the secret to being an international bikini-fitness modelling champion?
Ask Toronto’s Anya Ells and she’ll tell you a big part of it is being boring.
“I eat, I sleep, I train,” says Ells, 25, who recently won the bikini category at the 2015 Arnold Amateur International Bodybuilding, Fitness, Figure and Bikini Championship.
The brunette bombshell works out religiously, eats six “clean” meals a day, hydrates plenty, tends to personal training clients and gets lots of rest. She doesn’t party, rarely even drinks a glass of wine with girlfriends. The result? A tanned, lean physique, impossibly small waist and championship titles.
“For most people it would be boring. I like it because it’s a process. I like the changes I see in my body,” she tells the Star from Studio Fitness gym downtown.
Winning the Arnold means Ells is now considered a professional by the International Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation. She will be competing at the Toronto Pro Supershow Saturday and Sunday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Ells says she’s always been into fitness, describing her younger self as a “cardio queen.”
“I’d run 10 kilometres every day just for fun.”
While attending George Brown College for fashion, she got into weight training and conditioning. Her identical twin sister, a personal training and fitness model, encouraged Ells to start competing. She entered her first bikini contest four years ago.
Though Ells was motivated, she says the lifestyle changes that came with modelling were challenging, especially for a 20something.
“You can’t go out at night and drink,” she says. “My social life went down a little bit.”
But the pros of being extremely body conscious have outweighed the cons, Ells says. “Because you’re eating so clean, your body feels good all the time.”
Ells starts most mornings with low-intensity “fasted cardio” before eating breakfast.
She then trains hypertrophy-style, meaning she targets one to two muscle groups per day.
“For bikini girls, it’s really focusing a lot on your legs and glutes,” she says, adding “when people hear ‘bikini,’ it downplays how much work you have to do.”
Bikini models, while still extremely fit, tend to have softer definition than bodybuilders.
Ells’ coach of two years, Adam Headland, says her discipline is what sets Ells apart.
“The issue we have with a lot of the young people in the sport is they think they can party and rave,” he says.
“Anya eats clean all year round, she trains hard all year round, she’s extremely dedicate. . . . That’s what makes the difference between a champion and an alsoran.’”
> CORRECTION
A June 3 essay on mental health by Jowita Bydlowska misspelled Kara Aaserud’s surname.