A woman who’s been weightlifting since she was 14-years-old is back after an 18-month absence and has revealed photos of her impressive physique.
Natalia Kuznetsova, a Russian power-lifter, had retired after achieving a number of titles, including European champion for the bench press and deadlift.
She also has world records under her belt – one for bench press and three for deadlift.
Here she is explaining how ‘every woman is sexy’:
Now 26-years-old, Natalia has decided she can’t stay away from the sport and is officially back in the arena – returning to Russian capital Moscow to compete, writes Mail Online.
Natalia said as well as power-lifting, she’ll also start working as a coach to help other athletes ‘reach their potential’.
She said:
People definitely recognise me.
An athletic body can be seen under clothes. Many people recognise me, ask to take a photo with them. Many people even know my name.
Natalia said she got into bodybuilding when she was just 14-years-old, weighing less than 40kg (six stone).
She’d originally taken up bodybuilding in the hope of gaining weight but said she ‘soon found herself transfixed by the sport’.
Now weighing 90kg (14st), Natalia said she’d been looking forward to getting back in the gym and lifting heavy weights again.
She trains for several hours every day, making sure she sticks to a strict diet – instead of adding spice and sauces to her food, she simply ‘adds protein powder’.
Natalia posts photos of her progress to her Instagram account – which has more than 195k followers – keeping track of how she’s getting on.
She said she gets some criticism and nasty comments on her photos but said she’s ‘learned to ignore them’.
Good for you Nataliya!
Another female body builder absolutely owning it, is 19-year-old Alyssa Mercado, who fought off a severe infection which saw her weight plummet to six stone.
The intestinal infection sapped her body’s nutrients, meaning she lost a lot of weight.
However, she’s now unrecognisable, as she prepares for her very first bodybuilding competition.
The New York based receptionist had been so ill at one point, she wasn’t able to leave her home, suffering from a range of restricting symptoms including excess wind, abdominal pain, bloating, distention, diarrhoea and constipation.
Alyssa’s illness left her exhausted, depressed and with the feeling she was missing out on so many life experiences.
Alyssa gave the following statement to Media Drum World:
During this time, I felt so alone and so hopeless. I kept questioning why me, as I continued to see social media post after social media post of my friends and classmates going to parties, enjoying senior year activities and just enjoying everyday life.
There were so many times I even found it hard to get out of bed in the morning.
Determined Alyssa decided to take action to get control back over her body – she switched to a gluten free diet, which alleviated many of her symptoms and at this point, things started to look up for her in a dramatic way.
Amazing.
