Shantelle Rathburn is a bikini star in the making.

Shantelle Rathburn will be taking stage for the Bikini Division 2018 NPC Mountaineer Classic in Charleston this Saturday. The gym owner is just one of thousands of aspiring pro-bodybuilders excited for the upcoming season

Rathburn told My Daily Tribune that bodybuilding filled a need for competitive physical outlet that was missing after she graduated college.

“I love competitive sports. I traveled and played basketball and played when I got in college and graduated. I just missed that aspect. The older I got I just didn’t feel as good. So, I started working out and I actually researched and came up with my own plan and trained myself for my first show. I took from it and learned a lot. In the fitness industry, you have to put hard work into it or you won’t get results and no one can take that from you.”

She says that bodybuilding actually is a superior form of contest to many collegiate sports. There is simply a different level of accountability in individual sports.

“In a team sport, certain factors can alter your success. In this sport, no one can take it from you. Literally anybody can do it.”

Still, she treasures the fitness community, contending that the gym, at its best, is a place where people aid each other in the pursuit of common goals. Her day starts at 4am with training, then an 8-hour work day- with fitness clients scattered in between.

She said the training for Bikini is highly specific.

“Bikini has the least striations showing. You don’t want all the muscle fibers showing. Where the bodybuilding division, people are huge.”

Rathburn is very confident she can place first in her division. Such a placing would put her within striking distance of the national stage.

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