Woman power

With a warm welcoming smile and a Namaste gesture,Olympian body builder Nicole Ball doesnt come across as a woman who would intimidate people through a towering ego or through barbed words.

Olympian body builder Nicole Ball says that she feels comfortable in her skin irrespective of what other people say

With a warm welcoming smile and a Namaste gesture,Olympian body builder Nicole Ball doesnt come across as a woman who would intimidate people through a towering ego or through barbed words. However when you watch her flex her bicep muscles for audiences across the globe,you do know that here is a woman on whose wrong side it is never wise to get to.

I feel honest and true,when I am working out on my body, she quips with the ease of a trapeze artiste as she answers a question about her tryst with bodybuilding. Nicole who has been a professional body builder for the last 10 years says that the journey till the Olympic stage has been a long and hard one. From battling eating disorders to finding a sport,a career,and a new leash of life in bodybuilding I have seen it all. It is a result of this that I just enjoy waking up every morning and repeating my schedule of working out eating right and working hard towards my goals, she says about her long road out from being a small town Canadian girl to a world-renowned body builder.

In the city as the guest of honour for the 3rd Pune Fitness Carnival,Nicole feels that women,if determined,can achieve anything. I get a lot of questions as well as flak for being a body builder with cynics claiming that women who work out too much end up looking like men, she laughs,adding,But I figured that these are the same people who make fun of you if you are too thin,or too fat,so you need to just accept that they are always going to be there to heckle you and move on towards your own goal.

On the bodybuilding scenario in India and Pune in particular Nicole says that the lack of exposure is a big hindrance for Indian bodybuilders to come up. Moreover other factors such as lack of sponsors,and even the lack of knowledge regarding training and dieting is a huge deterrent. Well India definitely has the numbers,population wise,but the exposure needs to improve. That is a reason why bodybuilding hasnt developed here in India,but maybe ten years down the line we could be having Mr. Olympia coming out from here,maybe from Pune as well, she chuckles.

And while people are always intrigued to know about her diet and workout schedule Nicole feels that the two go hand in hand. Right from doing daily cardiovascular exercises and weights for almost 2-3 hours and 1 and a half hours respectively,to eating three meals a day which consist of only boiled or grilled white meat and green veggies,I follow it all with the intensity of a arrow shot from a bow,no puns intended,but if you want to get to the top you better start working your way out hard,right from the bottom, she says on a concluding note.

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Woman power

With a warm welcoming smile and a Namaste gesture,Olympian body builder Nicole Ball doesnt come across as a woman who would intimidate people through a towering ego or through barbed words.

With a warm welcoming smile and a Namaste gesture,Olympian body builder Nicole Ball doesnt come across as a woman who would intimidate people through a towering ego or through barbed words.