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From 03:00 cardio workouts and tough diets to the stigma-shattering pride of being a "muscly" woman... A local bodybuilder has opened up about her journey to finding inner and outer strength from the strict discipline.
Hollie McVittie, who recently won the overall ‘Figure’ class at the ‘PCA Jersey’ show, discovered bodybuilding in 2015.
Hollie has always been quite active, having spent most of her life riding horses. In fact, she moved to the island 20 years to do just that after seeing an advert in a magazine. “There were two job offers, one in Denmark and one in Jersey, the phone was engaged in Denmark, so I called Jersey and I here I am!” she recalled.
After her racing trainer retired, he encouraged Hollie to get a “proper job”, a piece of advice she followed, taking a job in the finance industry whilst keeping “her fitness on the side” through 'insanity classes' – bodyweight high-intensity workouts - among other things.
Pictured: When she attended her first bodybuilding competition, Hollie was impressed by the strength of the women on stage.
However, her fitness journey took a different turn in 2015 when she attended a bodybuilding competition, which she knew nothing about.
“I was really blown away, I really liked the strong girls on stage,” she said. “My work always involved strength, but I have always been a stick and very weak. It bothered me in my work with horses, I wanted to be stronger. I was drawn in by their strength and confidence in themselves.”
To this day, the “art of showing your body in a dancing way” remains Hollie’s favourite thing about bodybuilding, even though it is not graded.
Soon after the show, Hollie started working with Gary Wilmett. Then in 2017, she started training with Richard O’Connor, the owner of BodyRox who Hollie says “knows all about bodybuilding”.
While she lost her first competition at the end of that year, Hollie persevered. In 2019, she won her class at the Jersey show and then two years later, she conquered the women’s physique masters class at the first UK Arnold’s Sport Festival.
Pictured: Hollie and Jo at the PCA Show in Jersey last October.
Earlier this year, she started working with Jo Stuart who “turned her body around” and helped her get in her best shape yet. The work paid off as Hollie won the overall ‘Figure’ class at the ‘PCA Jersey’ in October.
To achieve this, though, Hollie spent weeks following a gruelling routine. She would wake up at 03:00 or 03:30 to do two hours of fasted cardio. Then at 06:00, she would start working with her personal training clients at Fitness First before having her first meal. Her workday finished at 14:30, at which point she would go home and fuel up on carbs before training on weights with her coach at 16:30 six times a week.
In addition to this, Hollie would walk 15,000 or 18,000 steps a day, try and get enough sleep – something she admits she struggled with as she was training late – and drink six litres of water every day.
Pictured: Hollie needs to ensure she gets enough rest to help her body recover and build muscles.
“It’s quite hard core,” she admits. “It’s hard as I am not naturally strong,” she added. “I had to work really hard on my legs. The feedback now is that I need to grow my back. I spent 19 weeks working with Jo, most of that was dieting but what we have achieved is as if those last five years had not happened. It can be tiring but I really do love it, otherwise I would not be doing it!
“It’s like showering, it’s something I do every day. It makes me feel grateful for all the things it has brought to me and how my body has changed.”
When she is not training for a show, Hollie’s routine is much the same, except she does only one hour of cardio and can limit her steps to 10,000 a day.”
Pictured: "Bodybuilding is about the way you look, so you have to be very lean," Hollie said.
As tiring her training regime is, Hollie says it’s the diet she struggles the most with, especially since she is a “foodie and a bit of a binge eater”, something she is now trying to address through Emotional Freedom Therapy and hypnotherapy.
“It’s very difficult because you have to train very hard, do lots of cardio and eat very little food,” she says. “Normally, you eat enough food to power this, but bodybuilding is about the way you look, so you have to be very lean. I go down to about 4 or 5% body fat on stage.
“Most people enjoy the training but learning to say no to yourself with food, especially when you live in a first world country with lots of food around, is quite tough. You end up having lots of tantrums when you go past shops.
Pictured: On stage, Hollie goes down to 4% or 5% body fat.
“When I coach I tell people, ‘eat whatever you want, as long as it is with moderation and you get it to fit your macros’ but with bodybuilding, you cannot do that, it’s extreme, it’s all or nothing.”
As Hollie explains, the dieting doesn’t stop once the show is over. “Your hormones are out of whackbecause you are so lean, so the water can damage your heart, your thyroid… If you get too fat too quickly, it will affect your off season. I remember that I want to represent my sport as a great athlete. I love bodybuilding so much, it’s really important that I am in shape and healthy and well. I have to walk my talk!”
Whilst most people would think of steroids when talking about bodybuilding, Hollie says this stigma comes from a lack of education.
“Bodybuilders are the most educated people about heart, endocrine, hormones,” she explains. “I have my blood tested regularly to make sure everything is ok, I take 200 supplements a day.
Pictured: "We should live in a world where you are free to look the way you want to look," Hollie said.
“You will find that in most sports, performance enhancing drugs are there because they help with recovery. There’s a lot of stigma but without education. It’s hard to build muscle naturally, if people decide to take those drugs, it should be entirely their choice as long as they are educated, they have blood tests and they check their heart rate.”
Whilst some people claim they are averse to “muscly” women and share their opinion in comments on social media, they leave Hollie unfazed. “Many people do not want women to be muscular because muscles are thought of as a male trait,” she says. “I do not think that. Beauty is a personal thing, we should live in a world where you are free to look the way you want to look.”
“I look strong but functionally I am also strong,” she adds. “I can lift a lot of shopping bags! When I work with my clients, I can lift stuff in a way that I would need a man’s help with if I wasn’t as strong. It’s not just for aesthetics.”
Pictured: “You can get very confident from being on stage and learning how to showcase your body," Hollie said.
Despite the stigma, the gruelling training regime and the strict diet, Hollie does not plan on leaving bodybuilding anytime soon. The benefits, as she explains, outweigh the drawbacks.
First of all, the bodybuilding community is “very inclusive and non-judgemental” as Hollie says. “It’s a culture, it’s a lifestyle. Everybody is so kind and welcoming, we all know our lifestyle is slightly unusual.”
In addition, the discipline has helped Hollie gain confidence. “There are lots of people who have issues, whether that’s eating disorders, mental health issues, or health issues, body building can help them in a very healthy way,” she explains. “You can get very confident from being on stage and learning how to showcase your body.”
Pictured: “It’s a great solo journey, you are always working on yourself," Hollie said.
Bodybuilding has also helped Hollie learn about herself. “I get to design my body and my lifestyle, I don’t think I ever knew I had control over those things before,” she says. “It taught me to set goals, see them through and then raise my own standards It’s taught me so much humility, which I think is a really invaluable trait, and so many things about myself, especially my eating, which I had never recognised. The personal growth is just so incredible, a lot of sports offer that.
“It’s a great solo journey, you are always working on yourself. In these next nine months, if I do not do the work, it will show when I diet down. People struggle thinking long term. Body building teaches you to be patient, it’s a marathon.
“Your standards are raised a little more each year and you become more confident as you do it.
“It changed my whole life and I am excited to see what I can achieve in my 40th year, I intend it to be my biggest winning year.”
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