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Geeta Saini, the winner of 2021 Senior Women National Bodybuilding competition, talks about gender stereotypes and her transition from an overweight girl to a muscular athlete. This article has appeared in the website www.
lokmarg.com
People see me as a woman bodybuilding champion today, they see the shine of the gold medal that I won but they know not the struggle and sacrifice behind that glitter.
My journey to being a bodybuilder started with my decision to hit the gym for weight loss. I was overweight (around 110kg) at the age of 23 years. Working out for two to three hours a day and a strict diet plan helped me shed 46 kg in one year. However, my skin loosened up and its texture deteriorated. At 23, I started looking like a 50-year old.
I slipped into depression. It was my elder brother, Sachin Saini, a bodybuilder himself, who suggested that I should start weight training to tone up my skin. This led me to hit the gym again. I soon got passionate about pumping iron. I had no intention of being a body builder; I was a graphic designer by profession. All I wanted was to be fit.
But as luck would have it, my brother had to quit bodybuilding to take care of family business while I took it up more seriously. I started practicing to compete in state level competition and in 2017, reached Top Ten of Haryana Senior Women’s Bodybuilding Competition in Gurgaon.
Then started training under the coach Yatinder Singh and the next year (2018) bagged Bronze medal. The following year, I won the Gold in the state. My next target was National Gold. However, the pandemic and lockdowns that followed in 2020, the training and the championship event impacted adversely. Finally, the national event was held in April 2021 where I won a Gold.
Courtesy: https://www.lokmarg.com/some-doubted-my-orientation-a-few-called-me-transgender/?fbclid=IwAR0mCQCf53_OBhYRi80qv8I_1i57SOHMxylo36IdgzjkEozGhf-eUeHBXdQ