Bodybuilder constables top competitors
You would think settling into a career as a new cop and taking up a new role in the tactical response team would be enough of a challenge for a Hawke’s Bay policing couple.
But the pair have also spent the past year training and competing in natural bodybuilding competitions, here and in Australia.
And constables Shane Gordon and Michelle Hellyer have a stack of gold medals to show for it.
Hellyer is just over a year into her policing career, while Gordon has been with the police for nearly eight years and recently joined a tactical dog team.
Hellyer has always loved CrossFit, competing at national level on several occasions, but found it difficult to get to classes with shift work. The change to bodybuilding made sense as she could fit training around work.
“My personal trainer had been in my ear for a while to give bodybuilding a go and then I met Shane, so I thought why not?”
She hasn’t looked back, taking out top honours in her first competition in Hawke’s Bay and then going on to win the national title, as well as gaining her professional card.
Gordon, a member of the Hawke’s Bay Armed Offender Squad, has been bodybuilding and power-lifting for 13 years, and recently discovered natural bodybuilding competitions in New Zealand, for which competitors must be 100 per cent drug and substance free.
Gordon’s road to the nationals was a little rocky after tearing a bicep and undergoing emergency surgery 16 weeks out from the competition, but he still took out the Hawke’s Bay and national titles and gained his professional card.
He also won the overall men’s physique and men’s bodybuilding titles at the Australasian Armed Forces/Emergency Services Championships in Brisbane.
The couple started training as Cyclone Gabrielle hit, with both facing long shifts and difficulty getting the food they needed.
“There was so much cake being delivered to the police stations . . . we just had to walk away from it.” Gordon said.
Food continued to be an obstacle for him as a month out from his national competition he was deployed with the AOS to Gisborne after a gang shooting in the town.
“I wasn’t sure what food I would be able to get and what cooking facilities I had so I took two kilos of cooked chicken with me.”
On an average day while training for the bodybuilding competition, Gordon often eats seven meals a day so would take three or four meals with him to have while on shift.
Bodybuilding is an incredibly disciplined sport, with everything from your food and water intake to your sleep being tracked. Both Hellyer and Gordon admit they’ve taken a container of their own food to social occasions.
In the couple of weeks before a competition, the pair shed weight, so the diet becomes incredibly lean which can be tough.
“You really need to manage your energy levels,” Gordon said. explained. “Your BAS [Body Armour System] scrapes against your skin, you can’t handle the cold and you even lose fat on the bottom of your feet, so even standing and walking becomes uncomfortable.”
Hellyer agreed those periods were tough.
“My team are amazingly supportive but those final weeks are hard work, so I often take a couple of weeks off prior to a big competition.”
While the road to success has been tough, the pair love the challenge and the results.
Now they are “professionals”, their next goal is competing at the world championships in Canberra, in October. In the meantime, they’re enjoying the off-season with less training and more food.