| My name is Alina Popa. I am a 26 years old bodybuilder and I was born in Eastern Europe, Romania. Still living in Romania though I hope I could change this one day…J I work as an English translator and basically this means translating books. Since I can organize my time as I want this is a great activity to let me also train properly.
Ever since I remember I was the sport kind of person, very skilled in sport games, very strong (used to beat all the guys in my class in arm wrestling) and I was involved in track and field starting with 12 years old. It was more like a hobby because I never got to compete. Between high school and college (I studied English and Romanian for 4 years in college, major in English), I accidentally entered a gym. I was 19 years old. The reason was to keep fit and lose some weight. That was the moment I fell in love with iron J I remember, upon starting to go to the little gym in my quiet native town, I began to read the little thin bodybuilding magazines that I could find on the Romanian market at that time. The competition movement in Romanian bodybuilding was kind of poor at that time, but I remember one girl in the gym getting ready for a National Junior Championship…and I admit I felt sort of jealous on her. I kept on training for the next two years until one day I entered another gym in another town, where I was a student, and the trainer there saw my potential and suggested to me I should train to compete. I’ll never forget how honored I felt…and how happy. So I guess I would have liked to compete but I didn’t manage till I got someone to support me and help me. My stats could be quite impressive in off season. I am 5’7’’, 185 pounds now - most I’ve ever been. I get 145 pounds in contest shape.
-17’’ biceps in off season, 15’’ in contest shape
-28 thighs off and 25 contest
-off season overall proportions are 43-29-40 The history of all contests that I have entered so far is not that rich but I like to think my voyage has just begunJ I also didn’t put on here all the local cups I entered.
-2003 first place National Championship, middleweight
-2004 second place European Championship, heavyweight in Tavira, Portugal. My first contests were in 2000 , local competitions, first one was a regional cup and I placed second in heavyweight class. The same year I placed third in the National Championship, heavyweight. Due to some problems I didn’t compete for 3 years but I kept on training till 2003 when I got my National title but this time in middleweight. It was a great struggle for me to get to 125 pounds at my 5’7’’ height but I did it!!! And this year I managed to get second in European Championship in heavyweight class. I consider it to be the biggest success for me yet. It was also my first international contest. One typical day of my life is not very exciting…I wake up quite late, I cook almost all the meals for a day, I go out for different shopping I have to do, then I go back get ready for the gym, I go hit the gym…back home I keep on eating and go to sleep late, busy with some work I do translating different books. I train 5 days a week, one muscle group a week; I train heavy all the time, except for the legs that I train with low weight but high reps when I get ready for a competition. Usually in off season I try to stay as little as possible in the gym, like 50 minutes or 1 hour maximum and work with high intensity. The main differences between training in off season and training for a competition is ….when I get in cutting shape I change the diet , train my legs with higher reps and also perform some cardio, any type, except I hate to run J I think my best body part is shoulders. I love to train them, they are the first to bulk and the first to cutJ My favorite exercise in the gym…hmmm… I like lateral raises for shoulders and squats….what I hate is endless sets of squats and lunges I have to perform with high reps when I get cut. And of course…as I said already, I hate to runJ
What I also love, besides bodybuilding, are my cat, Stephen King’s books, and horror/Sci-Fi movies. I think that nowadays Women’s Bodybuilding judging is mainly concerned with a combination between muscle and femininity…raw muscles are not appreciated anymore….i am talking about amateur level where feminine muscles and symmetry sometimes beat size. I love size too…I could never be a fitness or figure type with my bone structure…what I am trying to do is be huge (as I am genetically endowed for building muscle so easy) but sexy and feminine. Next year I plan to win the European Championship and place good- among top three- in the World Championship. You can write me at alina_fbb@yahoo.com or come see me on FTWebCam where I broadcast live 3 days a week: FTWebcam I want to thank Andy and James who gave me credits before anyone else did. Keep up the good work you are doing guys!!! | 
