BODYBUILDING
By samuel darroch
FOR Rawson’s Angela Wood, posing and flexing on stage at an October Australian Natural Bodybuilding competition to Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Stronger’ was an exercise in pure catharsis.
To win the competition’s most inspirational female athlete award was a bonus, but considering her background it was little surprise the accolade fell to the 42 year-old mother of four.
A torrid upbringing spiralled into alcoholism, depression and anxiety – demons Wood has come to contain, if not completely dispel, through the power of exercise and positive thinking over the past couple of years.
Sober for 11 years and off anti depressants since last December, Wood put her remarkable transformation largely down to the influence of bodybuilding, a discipline she adopted about two years ago.
Originally motivated by the desire to become a personal trainer, an accreditation she has since achieved and now applies at Rawson gym, Wood was introduced to bodybuilding and immediately began lifting weights both physically and mentally..
Wood finally took to the stage for her first competition last month in the novice and over 35 female categories at an ANB event in Melbourne after about 24 months of strict training, diet and exercise.
“I didn’t place, but I didn’t mind, I just couldn’t believe I was up there,” she said.
Winning the title of most inspirational athlete was for Wood a trophy with far more significance than that of first place.
“I can’t even put into words what I felt, I nearly fainted,” she said.
“I was just so humbled by it, there was over 200 women that I had won that out of, not only that… but for me I was very emotional because I have been to absolute hell and back throughout my life and journey… it has been horrific.
“My upbringing, let alone my alcoholism, has just been horrific so to be acknowledged in this way is huge.
“To me it just showed that finally, it’s about finding a belief within and that’s what I’ve been given through this.”
Wood said her journey in the sport had helped overcome a need to conform to extraneous expectations, and she had learned simply to be “the best me I can be” along the way.
“Actually saying you know what, they’re no better than me – nobody is better than anybody else,” she said.
“To me it wasn’t about winning, I didn’t go there to win a trophy, I went there for myself, to prove to myself that I could do it.”
With four children, ranging in age from five to 23, Wood plans to step back from bodybuilding commitments to spend more time with her family, but will continue to train people out of Rawson gym.
While she still attends Alcholics Anonymous meetings twice a week, and still has her bad days, Wood wants to use a wretched past to help others toward a brighter future.
“I still struggle, it’s a day at a time thing… I feel so much better after I train, but this (award) in itself has helped beyond words,” she said.
“If I can pass on a little bit of this belief within to someone else and help them to see that it doesn’t matter where you’ve come from, how old you are, how many kids you’ve got, if you believe in yourself enough you can achieve a dream.”
