GW: my full name is Gwendolyne Wortmann, I live and was born in Germany and live and train in Hanover for 2 years now. A fun fact about myself is that I’m an equestrian for 20 years already, a lifetime vegetarian and vegan for 10 years.

BD: When and why did you get started weight training and competing? What was your first contest?

GW: In June 2018 I started weight training during my bachelor studies mainly to lose weight again (struggling with an eating disorder) but had many weeks of study breaks. In may 2020 I broke my ankle and together with Covid I wasn’t able to train for 10 months.

After losing weight again I decided to overcome my eating disorder and started proper eating and training in May 2021. I did my first competition prep in May 2022 and had my first bikini season in Autumn with the NRW Cup, Dennis James Classic and Musclecontest Austria.

BD: What do you love most about the Bikini Division?

GW: I love bikini for its presence, shining, and the muscular development that comes with hit. I really like the elegance and also the off-season look, especially in the glutes and shoulders.

BD: What are some things you would like to accomplish in the short and long term with regards to competing?

GW: Short term: I want to have a great off-season, where I focus on putting on a whole lot of quality muscle. This is necessary in order to go pro. My long-term goal would be to compete on the Olympia stage.

BD: What advice would you offer would be competitors interested in learning more about bikini and competing?

GW: I’d like to address every newbie not to get fooled by the amounts of PED’s (performance enhancing drugs) seen at the amateur level. You have to be patient. Do your work, work hard, and do everyday for years. You’ll get what you earn, but be patient. Also, be sure to love the process and the lifestyle. If you do – you’ve already won!

BD: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this feature. Hopefully we can do an IG Live down the road. In the meantime where can your friends and supporters go to learn more about you, as well as your sponsors?

 GW: Absolutely. Friends and supporters can follow me on IG at @GwendolyneSheperd

The post Gwendolyne Sheperd Speaks!! appeared first on BikiniDivision.com.

BikiniDivision.com: What’s your full name, age, hometown, home gym? Would you like to share a fun fact about yourself?

Moriah Fischer: My name’s Moriah Fischer, I’m 24, I’m from Freeport, IL, and train at Anytime Fitness. As for fun facts, I have a couple to share. I have been in fitness my entire life. It originally started with doing dvd tapes with my mom and going for walks. As we got older, my mom made it a priority to include and show us fitness and what living healthy means. My mom, sister, and I got into running half marathons, 5ks, 10ks, and other road races.

I’m also child number 2 of 5. I’ve had such an amazing opportunity to have parents that involved my older sister and I when we adopted my younger sister from Almaty, Kazakhstan and my younger brother and sister from foster care.

BikiniDivision.com: When and why did you get started weight training and competing? What was your first contest?

Moriah Fischer: Kinda like my answer to number one. I have always lived a healthy and fit lifestyle. I’m very competitive and enjoy having an outlet for that. I did road races, cross country, and track in high school. I ended up having an injury from running. I almost tore my hamstring.

When I came back from that, it wasn’t the same. I didn’t enjoy it. So I didn’t go on to run in track. It was a few months of feeling lost because I was an athlete and then I ran into my previous personal trainer who had always talked to me about doing shows. I’ve always lifted weights because I knew it would help with running. My first show was the Noble Warrior Classic in may of 2018.

BikiniDivision.com: What do you love most about the bikini division?

Moriah Fischer: What I love the most about the bikini division is it’s subjective. You really don’t know what to expect or what they’re looking for until that day. I love that because we are all made different so all you can do is bring your best. I also love the glam!

BikiniDivision.com: What are some things you would like to accomplish in the short and long term with regards to competing?

Moriah Fischer: Some short term accomplishments would be to get my pro card. Long term would be to make it to the Olympia (and win).

BikiniDivision.com: What advice would you offer would be competitors interested in learning more about bikini and competing?

Moriah Fischer: You don’t want to look back and think why did I wish to get there faster. Your time will come in the meantime keep putting in the work.

BikiniDivision.com: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this feature. Hopefully we can do an IG Live down the road. In the meantime where can your friends and supporters go to learn more about you, as well as your sponsors?

Moriah Fischer: I’m on Instagram the most @moriahfischer . I do have a TikTok and YouTube moriahfischer as well. My goal is to get better at showing up on those platforms as well

The post Moriah Fischer Speaks! appeared first on BikiniDivision.com.

The Division calls for different criteria based on what federation you’re competing in; however, for the most part the Bikini look is pretty universal. The judges aren’t looking tons of vascularity or grainy muscle hardness.

As a result of how attainable the look is and how feminine it is (whatever that actually means), it’s not uncommon a lion’s share of a contest’s competitors doing Bikini. As a result, many federations have dramatically limited the amount of stage time competitors get for comparisons. Whereas in Bodybuilding there’s a number of mandatory poses, Bikini may have 2-3 poses and a group walk. When you have dozens of fit ladies, with great hair and make-up, great suits, and exuding tons of confidence and good vibes matched by huge fan response, it truly makes the judges have their work cut out for themselves. They need to see a number of bodies in record time and score them.

So while on the surface Bikini might look to be easier – it’s not. And while on the surface it may look like Bikini is easier when you look at the number of pro cards issued as compared to other divisions – you’d be wrong there as well. The reason so many more pro cards are issued in Bikini, is because Bikini has double, triple, sometimes quadruple the amount of competitors competing in its classes than say bodybuilding. It’s not like they’re just giving away free cards. Trust me, there’s ladies who have really paid their dues competing year after year and placing just one or two spots from turning pro. And they keep coming back!!

Bikini Competitors are the real deal. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THEM!! And be sure to visit BikiniDivision.com often. Also Follow and Tag BIKINIDIVISION on Instagram!!

The post Welcome To BikiniDivision.com appeared first on BikiniDivision.com.