BUFFALO'S MELANIE GRANADA ADDS RIPE MUSCLE INCHES AT AGE 51
By Wessex Man
Buffalo, New York -- After losing about 100 pounds in weight in her late 40s Melanie Granada is emerging as one of the more spectactular mature female bodybuilders in the United States. She's a punchy outdoor lady, unmarried, who is attracting attention which looks well-deserved. She's a light-weight 122-125 pounder in contest condition, but her biceps are more and more eye-catching.
"At age 51 I do have mature muscle memory so I have plenty of time to get better. I have a lot of health problems that I have to fight all the time, a liver problem and a thyroid problem, but I keep plugging," she told me in an interview. "It takes me longer but that's still an incentive to work harder and workthruit." (Note the "workthruit" abbreviation. This is part of Melanie's e-mail address WORKTHRUIT@aol.com).
Melanie, who is 5' 4" tall, is a muscular street light mechanic In Buffalo, near Niagara Falls, who took up bodybuilding only five years ago. She almost died from a bleeding ulcer in 1996. Melanie at that time was hugely overweight but the following year she found her way into a Gold's Gym and started working under trainer Julie Gregoire.
"I found a trainer who was my motivator and mentor, so it began. After a couple of years and 100 pounds in weight loss, I started feeling better about myself and the self-assurance started emerging. So did the compliments about my weight loss and how different I looked and acted. Still the same me but only more confident."
Since developing her muscular profile Melanie has won a string of bodybuilding awards. She's placed well since 1999 in such contests as the Mr/Ms Buffalo and the Can-Am. Melanie came first in her classes in the Northern States Super Natural in the current year.
"I hope to be ready to compete again by March 2003. I hope to do the Northern States Super Natural again, still looking for the overall title."
"I'm always striving to add more muscle," she adds. "My legs need to grow into the loose skin from so much weight loss. That will take a few more years, but my priorities are to stay symmetrical and balanced. I don't feel that I've reached my maximum size or definition yet. You can always get better and grow, through persistence and patience...."
"My career helps my training. I'm a construction worker. I put in new residential street lights. We pull the wire, dig the trenches and put up the poles and light fixtures. So I am working my body all the time. I get tired sometimes but I never quit training. A few breaks here and there but that's it."
I asked Melanie about the reaction of ordinary people to her muscled physique in public places such as beaches, shops and crowded streets.
"It's kind of cool. I get a lot of comments on my big guns (biceps), and comments on the street about finally seeing a woman in construction who looks the part....I havn't gotten any negative feedback, only from women who don't know any better. All in all the response has been positive. I sure get a lot more guys talking to me these days."
We discussed how much weight she's training with. "Bench press 140 pounds ... but havn't checked that one out in a long while. Probably more by now. That was last year. In the squat I've done 220, but I never do just one rep, and I have worn out discs in my lower back so I don't push it."
"Leg press 350. I use 50 pound dumb-bells for my chest press, usually 8-10 reps. I curl biceps with a 55 pound straight bar. Again for reps, not just one rep."
"Those weights are nothing compared to other bodybuilders, but it's just fine for me."
Melanie also looked at why bodybuilding is such a new sport for women. "Only one in 1,000 women can actually do the bodybuilding thing. It takes discipline and dedication, along with a lot of sacrifice.....Women are so afraid to put on muscle. Most of them never will. Most will tone beautifully but not bulk up. Only the obsessed dedicated ones will, and that is still not acceptable in all parts of the world. It's the old mindset that women should stay home and make babies and take care of their man. NOT for me."
If you don't have a Username and Password for the Galleries, get one here