Rachael Labender, a 22-year-old Sumner High School alumnus, swept first place for her height category in the 2010 NPC Bikini Championship in Las Vegas. The Arizona State University senior posed and flexed her way out of the amateurs and into qualification for her International Federation of BodyBuilders professional competitor card.
“It was really an amazing experience,” Labender said. “I had just taken second place in regionals the weekend before. I didn’t expect to win first place at my first national competition. Some people work their whole lives to get to that point.”
The bikini competition is a relatively new competitive category in the world of bodybuilding. Like other competitions in the NPC and IFBB, a panel of judges award points to athletes based on their physical excellence, personality and stage presence. Unlike other competitions, explicit muscle definition is less of a consideration for judges and raw muscle mass is not a consideration at all.
“Judges are starting to get more of an idea of what they’re looking for,” Labender said. “It’s hard to define. You have to look good in a bikini. Your body can’t be too soft, but it also can’t be too hard – the muscles can’t be too showy.”
Labender became interested in bodybuilding when she noticed the results her friend was getting while training for a competition. Wanting to tone her own body, Labender joined a team with Better Your Best Fitness, a training gym in Tempe, Ariz.
“I’ve always had a competitive personality,” she said. “I decided to see how far I would be able to push my body.”
During four months, she pushed herself to extremes of exercise and diet, waking up early six days a week for cardiovascular exercise before eating some new variation of egg whites for breakfast. Three days a week, she worked with trainer Randy Blocker on different weight regimens and Sundays were reserved for body-shocking sprints.
Seven BYB Fitness teammates made it to the national competition in Las Vegas, but even those who didn’t qualify traveled to support their second family, she said.
As a high school student, Labender played soccer for the Spartans. In her free time, she danced competitive hip-hop and went to dance school.
Labender’s dance experience was one of the main factors she contributed to her unexpected but welcome success in Las Vegas.
“It was a huge adrenaline rush,” she said. “It was a lot different from being up there with eight other girls and that was very nerve-wracking. I was shaking. But I loved it.
“The one thing I will always remember about when they announced I won is seeing my trainer in the stands, climbing over the seats while another trainer held him back. He was going crazy.”
Labender will compete in her first pro competition early next month. The IFBB Tournament of Champions will take place Sept. 11 in Culver City, Calif. If she places in the top five, she will go on to the Olympias Competition Sept. 23 through 26, at the Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas.
