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BACK FROM THE BRINK

BY JOHN PLUMMER // PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATT MARSH

Jo Griffiths has risen to the top of the British fitness scene in just a couple of years. Here the former army girl reveals how training has earned her far more than a few trophies.

Welshwoman Jo Griffiths describes herself as ‘just a normal down-to-earth Valley girl’ and while in many ways that’s true there are some things about her life that could never be described as ‘normal’.

At the age of 18 Jo joined the army where she qualified as a lorry driver and spent six months in Cyprus as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission – hardly the norm for most young women.

She left the army when she became pregnant at the age of 21 and now, almost 16 years on, she has built the kind of body that is as far from the female norm as you could possibly imagine.

Not for her bingo wings and a butt sinking slowly to the floor but instead a hard and shapely physique that compares favourably with any in Britain. Don’t take our word for it: in the last two years she has placed third and fourth at the UK Bodyfitness Championships, which is a fine achievement by anybody’s standards but even more impressive when you consider that the winner on both occasions, Maxine Cook, is barely older than Jo’s daughter, Danielle. Last year Jo’s achievements drew the attention of the national media when she was one of three women interviewed for a Sunday Telegraph feature called Bikinis and Biceps – Inside the World of Female Bodybuilders.

So it would probably be more accurate to describe her as extraordinary but when you talk to Jo you soon understand why she describes herself in the way she does. Despite all she’s achieved, she remains far more likeable and modest than someone with a body as good as hers often is. “I just love life and training and I have a lot to be thankful for – a very supportive family, friends and a healthy daughter who I adore,” says Jo.

Fitness has been at the heart of everything good in her life. It was the lure of an active life that attracted her to the army and it was the discovery of weight training at the age of 29 that opened the door to a new world and helped her through some tough times. In fact, anyone who says weights and women don’t mix should take a trip to Aberdare and tell Jo that. “Training is my life; I love it,” she says. “I take all my anger and frustration out in the gym when I go. It’s an addiction. I would go every day if I could and if I can’t go for a few days it really starts to bug me.”

She has always loved being fit and healthy. “I was a sporty and active child who loved running and all the team games at school,” she says. Later she loved the outdoor army life. “Even though I qualified as an HGV driver, fitness was still a big part of our daily lives,” she says. “Being a soldier always came first, and fitness levels had to be pretty high.” Back then, however, it was all bodyweight exercises rather than gym work.

After falling pregnant Jo returned to Wales to bring up her daughter alone on benefits. They were difficult times. “Life was pretty tough as a single mum, so much different to the exciting life I was used to leading,” she recalls. When her daughter got older she decided to go back to college and study for an advanced diploma in sports therapy and she now has her own sports injury clinic.

One day her brother offered to take her weight training and she jumped at the chance. “I had never lifted weights before,” she says. “After a week I was hooked and after eight weeks I was really surprised how my body had started to change shape. I had always been a naturally skinny girl, all arms and legs, and I loved the way my body responded to lifting weights and the curves that came with it.”

She wasn’t the only one to notice the changes. Ali Oun, the owner of Powerhouse Gym where she trained, had helped various people prepare for competitions over the years and he encouraged her to consider it. She was intrigued. “I loved the atmosphere and the buzz around the gym,” she says. “Ali taught me everything I know about training and helped me loads with my nutrition. He would joke and dare me to stand on that stage one day so I decided to look into it.”

The clincher came when she saw a picture of figure competitor Malika Zitouni, who would go on to become Ms. Universe in 2007 and a mentor to Jo. “I was blown away by her beauty and physique,” she says. “She was so feminine with muscle. Flawless. This made me train even harder and eight months later I stepped on stage for the first time.” Weighing 119 pounds, Jo finished first at the 2004 Natural Physique Association Welsh Championships and looked set for a bright future in the sport. Little did she know at the time that life was about to get complicated again and it would be five years until she next competed.

“I did that show in the August and in January I got married,” she says. “Then my husband had an affair with the mortgage advisor who was helping us buy a house. It was that odd, I should have gone on The Jeremy Kyle Show. After that I went into a bit of a depression; I started drinking and didn’t train much.” Jo eventually met someone else and threw herself back into her training. She came off anti-depressants and things started looking up again.

By this time the bodyfitness class had become established as a more glamorous, less hardcore option for females who weight train seriously. She knew she wanted to do it so she got back on stage in 2009 and won the Welsh Championships and a month later lined up at the UK Championships where she surprised everyone by finishing third.

Some people thought she should have placed even higher. Jo’s muscular 142 pound body was the most similar in size and conditioning to the body that earned Louise Rogers first place the previous year but bodyfitness was drifting towards a softer look and the judges opted for the slighter Maxine Cook first and Jayne Tingle second. Nevertheless third in her first year of bodyfitness was a tremendous achievement but Jo knew she had to reduce her boulder shoulders and soften up if she wanted to do well in 2010.

“I was criticised for carrying too much muscle,” she says. “When I undressed backstage I could see I was too muscular for the class and had oversized bodyparts.” With the help of coach James Llewellin she returned with a totally different look in 2010. “I came in 16 pounds lighter,” she says. “It was a huge risk – I was a lot softer and more feminine.”

Jo won the Welsh Championships once again and went to Nottingham with high hopes but she was bitterly disappointed when she was named in fourth place. “I was upset backstage,” she says. But as the months have passed she has come to view things differently. “I preferred the way I looked in 2010 and to come in the top six against more than 20 girls of that quality isn’t bad,” she says. Her plans for 2011 are to come in somewhere in between her looks of the two previous years and see if she can place highly again.

She trains five days week, resting at weekends, working in a 10 to 12 rep range and normally doing four exercises per bodypart. “Every four to six weeks I like to vary my routine so I’m continually shocking my body,” she says. “It also depends on how I feel when I approach the gym on the day. I’m a big believer in listening to your body.”

Bodyfitness may be glamorous but it requires hard work, particularly as the new bikini class has been introduced for women at the softer, less muscular end of the chart. Jo enjoys training hard and can squat 100 kg. “I’ve always trained like a bodybuilder even though I’m a bodyfitness competitor, lifting as heavy as possible with correct form,” she says. “This style of training works well for me, but I’m not a girl who struggles to put muscle on.

“Offseason I always try and lift as heavy as possible but using strict and correct form. The last thing you need is an injury. Precontest I usually switch to high intensity training. I find this helps my body to shed more fat.”

She eats six or seven meals a day at three-hour intervals. ‘I just stick to the basics: oats, chicken, rice, eggs and protein powder,” she says. “I also take branch chain amino acids, glutamine and a multivitamin. Precontest I lower the carbohydrates until I achieve the required look. Offseason my diet pretty much stays the same. I just add more carbs and allow cheats of whatever I fancy at the weekend.”

Precontest she does an hour’s cardio before breakfast every day followed sometimes by another half an hour after training if she feels she isn’t losing fat quickly enough. “I either power walk or use the cross-trainer, depending on the weather,” she says. “I love cardio outdoors. Offseason I tend to do a lot less – maybe two or three hours a week because I don’t want to be burning off hard-earned muscle.”

Jo is her harshest critic: “I always think there is room for improvement and never think I’m going to be good enough.” She says her glutes are the area she most needs to improve but she is blessed in that she can add muscle easily so she can soon bring up any lagging bodyparts. “Last year I had to stop training certain areas because they were oversized.”

After winning the Welsh title for two years running she is thinking about doing a different qualifier in 2011. “I am still undecided,” she says. “I’m training hard at the moment but I also have to be realistic as I have reached the age of 36 and it’s getting harder to compete against the younger girls but as the saying goes, you’re only as old as you feel and I’m feeling fitter than ever. I still get nervous and very excited as I am about to walk on the stage. There is nothing like getting a good result and I tend to get very emotional knowing that all the weeks of dieting and morning cardio, and pushing my body to endless limits has been worthwhile.” Worthwhile in so many ways.