To any of you who attended the recent Junior Nationals in Chicago, Vickie Biberian may just have been another figure competitor. Gaining a respectable 9th place she presented herself well in a tough line up. However, Vickie is far from just an average competitor doing what it takes to get up on that stage. For Vickie, just the mere fact that she is a successful figure athlete is more than just a little remarkable and, dare I say it, awe inspiring. For you see Vickie suffers from a condition known as Pro Long QT Syndrome, an electrical abnormality of the heart that causes a prolongation of recovery following excitation of the cardiac ventricles. It is associated with fainting and even sudden death due to ventricular arrhythmias.
Recently interviewed by ‘Bloomberg News’ due to her having been involved in a product recall of an Internal Defibrillator, Vickie now shares her story with RX Muscle readers and, to any of you out there who complain about the rigors of contest prep and dieting, this may prove to be a very humbling and inspiring experience…….
In the midst of one most jam-packed contest schedule in history, August kicks off with Dexter Jackson’s Jacksonville Pro in sunny north Florida. Proving to be as a great a promoter as a bodybuilder, Dexter puts on a top notch event that is pleasure for athletes, media, and fans alike. It’s in a great theater located at the University of North Florida and Dexter runs a tightly organized, yet fun and relaxing show. The Jacksonville Pro has grown to three divisions this year: Men’s Under-202 bodybuilding, figure, and bikini. This is an interesting mix and an entertaining combination. It allows us, as the media, to give more attention to these divisions that might otherwise get overlooked in jam-packed show. And for all of you RX GIRL fans, it puts the ladies front and center and the IFBB Figure and Bikini Pros have come out in large numbers. With 35 figure pros and 17 bikini pros scheduled to appear, the line-ups are deep and the talent is large. Along with Rx Muscle’s own Sally Taylor, I sat down and sifted through the names in an attempt to preview and predict the action to come in Jacksonville.
"My big picture goal is to produce materials to inspire younger girls in their personal journey - whether it is to be fit, follow their dreams or just believe in themselves. I already have thousands of girl fans that are looking for inspirational role models and physiques that are strong, sexy and empowered - and these fans are very loyal! So I hope to keep challenging the age stereotypes and increase my credibility as a spokesperson for being strong and staying young.”
It has been a year since I spoke to figure competitor and fitness model Belinda Benn and she shared the above goal. Now since Belinda is not the type to just wait and let things happen, she goes out there and makes things happen, I figured a return visit was well overdue. So let’s see what has been happening in ‘Benn’s World’ since our last encounter…..
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