Sophie takes gold at Arnold Classic
When Sophie Guidolin gave birth to twins girls and became a mother of four, she believed her days of bodybuilding in a bikini were well and truly behind her.
But last month 28-year-old Sophie flexed her way to centre stage at the Arnold Classic to show that motherhood is no obstacle to becoming trim, taut and terrific.
“I really wanted to show myself that I could do something that I never thought I could do,” she told Sunday Night’s Denham Hitchcock.
“I never thought that I would even be able to get my body back to point where I thought that I was happy with the way that I looked, let alone get on stage in a bikini to be judged.’
Sophie not only made it to the stage, but 19 months after the twins were born she won her bikini division.
“I’m so excited,” she said after being awarded the gold medal. “What ever you want to do. You can achieve.”
After the birth of her first son nine years ago, Sophie gained 32 kilograms and struggled with her health.
“I had gestational diabetes and I put on so much weight,” she said.
“I got to a point where the doctors had said to me, ‘you cannot keep going the way you are going, you need to do something, you need to make a change'."
Sophie worked hard after each of her children were born to get back into shape. Her victory at the Arnold Classic was witnessed by the man the contest was named after, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He said women like Sophie were giving men a run for their money.
“It’s just a great addition to our sport to have women involved,” he told Sunday Night.
“As a matter of fact, in some areas even much better than men. They have more of a feel for it. Women really have brought a whole other dimension onto that stage.”
For Sophie, a regular day begins at 4.30am.
“I get dressed in the dark and sneak down the stairs, I have breakfast and then jump in the car and go straight to the gym," she said.
Sophie’s kids, nine-year-old Kai, eight-year-old Ryder, and 19-month-old twins Evie and Aria, are her biggest fans when she’s on stage.
But she says her biggest support is her partner Nathan, a natural Mr Olympia bodybuilding champion who doubles as her coach.
“I’ve got to try and get her ready to get on stage but also then have the dad side of me where I am looking after the kids, feeding the kids on the day,” Nathan said.
“Sophie will still try and chime in and do her thing on the day but she has got to be concentrating on what she is doing on the day so I will try and take a lot of that load away.”
Sophie said many great things have come out of her daily workouts, but the best thing the gym has ever given her is her husband.
“He’s my real life trophy,” she laughed.
