RISE or Fall Have you even wondered what it feels like being on stage at a bikini competition? Ever wondered what the preparation involves? We spoke to the UK’s Pro Champion Abbey Willis to find out...
Abbey Willis is a 23 year old Bikini Pro Champion. She is also a full-time fitness coach helping other females get the body of their dreams. Abbey’s fitness journey started way back in her early teenage years but hasn’t always involved weight training. “I have been a dancer all my life and when I was in my late teens I really lost my passion for it. I needed something to fill that space and the gym just fell into place!” By using her love for sports she found her new passion for the weight training. “I fell in love with fitness because it really showed me what my body was capable of; through eating to fuel and training for me. My confidence just bloomed. It makes me feel strong.” Like many other young females Abbey found herself feeling empowered and confident through lifting weights and wanted to push herself further in the field. This is when she decided to try something new and enter the world of bikini competitions. “In my last year of uni I went to see a bodybuilding show completely out the blue. I saw the girls on that stage and how confident and strong, yet still feminine they looked and I just knew I needed to give it a shot!”
The bikini competition world has never been highly in the spotlight and many think that it is just for muscular men. However, these competitions give women a place to feel confident within themselves too and become proud of the hard work and progress they have made throughout the past few months of prep. “Proud would be the easiest way to describe it. You have worked so hard for that one moment and regardless to the result you know you gave 110% to everything in the lead up.” We all want to feel proud and inspired and being on stage is a great way to achieve this. Achieving big goals is always a great feeling, “my proudest moment would probably be getting my first UK Pro win and be fully-funded to fly to the USA as the only female in 2018 to represent the UK and to then get a TOP 2 placing in the Atlas International.” You might want to try out bikini competitions yourself but just know it’s not just as easy as showing up and looking amazing on stage. It requires hard work and dedication beforehand to get the right physique for the show as well and mentally preparing yourself for what’s to come. “I
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