Gallery of Anja Langer

ANSWER: After the 1988 Ms. Olympia, I decided to take a year off from competitive bodybuilding. I was still very young (23) and my climb to the top had happened so fast that I needed to recollect myself. I figured that I needed some time to rest and re-focus myself both mentally and physically, in order to return a year later to win the 1990 Ms Olympia. I was already training hard in preparation for the Ms O. when I found out that I was pregnant, which naturally canceled all my plans for the 1990 Ms. Olympia.

In January of 1991, my son 'Elija' was born and I decided to focus all my time and efforts towards raising him. I am very grateful for having had that opportunity to dedicate myself completely to my new role as a mother. It was and still is my greatest achievement.

In the later part of 1991, I worked together with the late Bill Reynolds on a book about bodybuilding, exercise and nutrition. In 1992 we completed it, and then published it in the United States as "Body Flex & Body Magic". During that year I also returned to the stage of bodybuilding, but only as a guest poser. I might not have been as muscular as during my competitive years, but the audience and my fans were enthused, and it was the most fun I ever had on stage.

In 93 and 94, I participated and had a major role in two theatrical performances, which were held in Stuttgart, Germany. This was a very creative experience for me, since the plays were acted out through a combination of dance and movement and involved a variety of athletic and muscular performers.

From 1995 to 1998, I owned my own gym, which was also located in Stuttgart. It was a very interesting experience, but I did not enjoy it very much, since it required more efforts in the managerial aspects than with the sport of body- building, exercise or training people. At the end of 1998, I sold the gym and turned my efforts to personal training, fitness consulting and modeling.

QUESTION: Why have you returned to the body building scene?

ANSWER: First of all, I never left the sport of bodybuilding. I may have stopped competing and posing on stage, but I never stopped training or eating healthy. Also, as a trainer and fitness consultant, I have kept up with the newest research on exercises and nutrition. And, I have done physique modeling for clothing and fitness magazines and commercials. The main reason you haven't seen much of me in the last few years is because after leaving competitive bodybuilding, I conducted most of my activities in my native country of Germany, thereby limiting my exposure here in the United States. Unfortunately, bodybuilding (and fitness) does not have the same popularity in Germany as in the US. Therefore, I have decided to return to the Mecca bodybuilding (and fitness) in order to pursue my goal as a representative of bodybuilding (and fitness).

QUESTION: What do you mean by "your goals as a representative of body building"?

ANSWER: As mentioned before, bodybuilding has been part of my life since I have been 15 years old. That is almost 20 years of my life. The sport has given me a lot and I would like to give something back. I think that the average perception of bodybuilding is too narrowly focused on just the competitive aspect of the sport. I think that my involvement with bodybuilding demonstrates the versatility of the sport. In my early teens, bodybuilding taught me confidence and poise, which definitely helped me get through the difficulties of those adolescent years. Then, as a professional and still only in my early twenties, I traveled all over the world, met interesting people and competed in world class events.

The discipline of bodybuilding helped me during my pregnancy, and also gave me the strength to endure the pains of a difficult labor. And through body- building and fitness I was able to pursue a career as a business women and still have the time to enjoy being a mom; first by publishing a book on body building, then as the owner of a gym, and now as a trainer and model.

As a representative it is my goal to reach a much larger audience than the current competitive athletes in both bodybuilding and fitness.

QUESTION: Does this mean that you don't think that competitive female bodybuilders are representatives of the sport?

ANSWER: No, I never said that! I love competitive bodybuilding. I competed for 6 years and participated in 2 Ms. Olympia contests (4th place in 87 and 2nd place in 88) I know and appreciate the dedication and commitment that is required to be a competitor. But competitive female bodybuilding is going the same way as everything is going nowadays, they are getting bigger, with more muscularity and better definition. I think that the pros are great representatives of what can be achieved with a lot of dedication and gifted genetics, but the average person, who can maybe work-out 2-3 times a week, can no longer identify with the professionals. The pros only make up a small group of people that are involved in bodybuilding, but many people that conduct body building won't call themselves bodybuilders because that term is heavily associated with 'competitive and professional bodybuilders'. Men will usually say that they 'lift weights' or 'work-out', while women will use the terms fitness, aerobics or exercise. But in truth most of them are actually body building.

QUESTION: And what about the fitness competitors?

ANSWER: It is amazing what today's fitness competitors deliver in their routines. They are superb athletes, but if the current trend continues, the competitors will soon be required to have professional gymnastics capabilities in order to compete. Once again, the average person won't be able to relate to these athletes.

QUESTION: Expand on what you think the differences are between the terms: fitness, body building, and competitive bodybuilding?

ANSWER: Fitness and bodybuilding are very much related and have often been interchanged in their usage. I see their difference in that bodybuilding includes those activities conducted to attain a better state of health with an emphasis on improving physical shape, posture and overall appearance. This includes but is not limited to weightlifting, aerobics, cardiovascular exercises, stretching, and dieting. Fitness includes those activities conducted to attain a better state of health, but with more emphasis on improving physical ability instead of physical appearance. These activities can be the same as in bodybuilding, but may also include gymnastics, dance, ballet, martial arts, and other coordination oriented activities. In body building there is also a greater focus on eating habits, diets and nutritional supplements, since physical appearance is directly related to an individual's nutritional intake. Competitive body building is conducted by those individuals that maximize the benefits of dedicated weight-training,, controlled dieting, nutritional supplements, and selected aerobic activity in order to present on stage the combined result of mass, muscularity and definition in a coordinated and aesthetic display, also known as posing.

QUESTION: With the increase of popularity in the female fitness competition, do you think that it will replace female bodybuilding?

ANSWER: No. Although these fitness competitions include a swimsuit portion, the main focus still lies with the competitor's ability to demonstrate her overall fitness and coordination skills.

Bodybuilding is the sport that still best displays the beauty of a muscular and athletic female body developed to its maximum potential. But I also mentioned earlier, that it is the aesthetic display of the muscular body that should be the goal of the competitors; therefore, I hope that the competitive female bodybuilders maintain a balanced focus between their ability to aesthetically present their muscular physiques, and the size and muscularity of their physiques.

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