PNBA UK Women’s Bodybuilding athlete Claire Guirguis details her 2022 Natural Olympia preparation.
The 2022 Natural Olympia is happening this weekend, November 10-13, in Las Vegas, NV. We’ve been able to get in touch with a few of the elite contenders over the past couple of weeks and get insight into their training, diet, and preparing for the natural bodybuilding finale. Professional Natural Bodybuilding Association (PNBA) athlete Claire Guirguis was the athlete we recently got in contact with.
Claire Guirguis is a UK athlete who competes in the Women’s Bodybuilding category. Here’s how Claire Guirguis’ 2022 natural bodybuilding season’s been going thus far heading into Natural Olympia:
- UKDFBA British finals WBB Amateur 3rd place – Oct 16th
- INBA PNBA European Championships Hungary Amateur WBB 1st place, winning pro card status – Oct 26th
- INBA PNBA European Championships Hungary Pro WBB 2nd place – Oct 26th
Q and A
We asked Claire Guirguis questions regarding her training, diet, and mindset going into the 2022 Natural Olympia. Below are the questions (Q) and responses.
Q: How’s your 2022 contest prep been for the 2022 natural bodybuilding season?
Guirguis: “It’s been a predominately smooth prep. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the year, I broke my arm, which meant I wasn’t fully training properly for 6/8 weeks. So January into the beginning of February was quite frustrating. I wanted nothing other than to get back into pushing the development phase as soon as possible. We really wanted to add tissue in the posterior chain upper and lower. But that was put on hold whilst my arm recovered. In that period, we put a lot of focus on the lower body. This still allowed the lower posterior to be worked on too. Once the arm healed, we got to business with the back.
We came out of Oct 2021, after the UKDFBA finals and the INBA PNBA World international championship in Bucharest, very happy with the package we took to the stage. As always, the focus of this current year was to improve and bring better for next time. With my height, we know I’m never gonna be the biggest on stage, but one of my main strengths is the ability to take body fat levels very low, which enables us to really bring conditioning to stage. I bring a balanced physique in terms of muscularity, meaning proportions help a more aesthetic look. This is how I see bodybuilding, so it’s what we run with, and I hope it gets rewarded.
My coach Zac Fothingham put together a new training plan focusing on the posterior. He split out my leg workouts with only one pure solid session on the lower per week and then included glute and hamstring work into one of the upper sessions. This, I feel, has made significant improvements. My legs were less fatigued, and the quality/performance of those isolated exercises was much stronger. From October until May this year, we have pushed food pretty high and started prep in a really good place.
The recovery phase (a time when we want to get the body back in a happy place. Bodyfat levels back to normal, and hormones back in check) and the offseason have always been the hardest part of the prep for me as your body changes so much and being small I really notice the weight gain.
This time around, I felt much more comfortable in my skin, which makes a massive difference on a daily basis. I understood it’s part of the process. If you’re in a happy place, things are much easier to handle psychologically. This time around, I was a lot more conscious of my off-plan meals, I was much more sensible with them than in previous off-seasons. We also decided to keep in short sessions of LISS cardio which helps me structure my day, appetite, digestion, and overall sense of well-being, if I’m honest. I feel this helped a lot during my off-season.
Communication with Zac has been key throughout. He has been my coach for a number of years now. His knowledge and experience as a coach have been outstanding throughout. It’s important for an athlete to find a coach that they trust and can be honest with and grow with as a team. Building that relationship together is essential if you want to achieve your goals and be successful in your bodybuilding career.
Q: What do you expect going into the show?
Guirguis: “Going into the Natural Olympia as a pro is just incredible. We have a week to make tweaks and bring a better package again. Condition is key, and if we can improve even more, which is a tough task this coming week, we have done everything we can, and the rest is out of our hands. The plan for peak week is similar to last, it worked well last time. We linear loaded slowly filling throughout the week, making daily changes based on the morning set point. With me being only 93lbs flat, trying to do the “norm” 2-3 days of loading could have us run into digestive issues with the amount I need to fill. Last week was perfect, which is why we are planning the linear load again.
The Olympia show is on a massive scale I’ve never done anything this big before. My mindset is to focus day to day, and tick those boxes the best I can on the run-up to the show. Consistency is key, especially now.
In terms of what I expect or want out of the show, I hope the lineup of Women’s BB is a good number, I know the standard will be great. I want to see how competitive I will be standing against the pros with experience under their belts. I want to stand on stage and for people to want to watch, I want to make my mark. And the look we bring to the stage will do that, the placing is out of our control.”
Claire Guirguis Is Excited for Natural Olympia
Claire Guirguis is excited about competing at the INBA PNBA Natural Olympia. She stated:
“I am very proud to be a part of the UKDFBA Team. They are an incredible federation. Everyone is like family, as an athlete, you are well looked after and considered. There isn’t another federation out there that is like it. I’m so excited to go out there with the team. The high standard of athletes we have is undeniable. It’s going to be a great way to end the year. and to do it with like-minded people who know how much strength and dedication it has taken to get to where we make it even more special.
The INBA/PNBA has been great so far. The shows I’ve been involved in have all been very professional and well-organized, and the vibe is really friendly. The Standards and numbers of athletes taking part in the shows from around the world have been fierce. and it gets better each time. Associations like the INBA PNBA are fantastic platforms that promote natty bodybuilding, which often doesn’t get the airtime it deserves. I’m looking forward to the future as a PNBA Pro. Exciting times ahead.”
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