THE ITALIAN JOB BY GARY PHILLIPS FIGURE COMPETITOR LAURA VECCHI, TAKES GOLD AT THE STATE QUALIFIER AND FINDS HERSELF IN THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONALS! Five years ago, at the age of 20, Laura Vecchi left her homeland of Italy for the long trip to Melbourne, Australia, to further her education. Little did she know when she stepped on the plane that she would become a figure competitor and take the gold at a state qualifier and then find herself onstage competing in the Australian Nationals. Her involvement in the sport started off with a few weekly aerobics and pump classes and then after a while, Laura progressed to using weights, but in her own words “I found it boring”. As luck would have it, she was introduced to her future fiancé through school friends. He used to compete as a bodybuilder and offered to train with her and give her the encouragement and motivation she needed. So they started working out together and the rest is history. With the help of her fiancé, Antonio Cortese, Laura soon learned how to train correctly and became very knowledgeable about nutrition and diet, so much so that it’s actually got to the stage where she helps Antonio with his diet. That progressed to the next level and she decided to become a personal trainer and is presently doing just that at Church Street Health & Fitness Club in Brighton, Melbourne. After making great improvements to her own figure, people in the gym started noticing and making comments like ‘why don’t you compete, you look great’ and ‘you have the genetics to go far’. On the other side of the coin, her fiancé tried to discourage her as he knew through his own experiences how hard the next three months would be for her, and possibly for him. But being the strong-minded woman that Laura is, she decided to give it a shot and find out how hard it could be. From the off, Laura made a conscious effort to make sure that she still maintained her normal life, trying to enjoy the whole experience and not sacrificing her social life, going out with friends, going to work and looking after her home and her dog. With three months to go to the state qualifier, Laura started a steady change to her daily routine by increasing her cardio and cleaning up her diet. To maintain her sanity, Laura had one day a week off her diet when she ate 3 large meals. She started with eggs, toast and jam for breakfast, a full roast dinner for lunch and finished the day off with ice cream in the evening. She managed to do this right up to the last week before the competition. Despite only having 3kg of body fat to lose from start to finish, Laura did not take things lightly and started off with two x twenty minute sessions of cardio a week, increasing to fifty minute sessions, six-days a week. All along she intensified her weight training workouts by adding more refining exercises and increasing the repetitions while using a lighter weight. The training side of the equation was easy for Laura, after all, it was what she loved doing. The biggest downsides to competition for Laura were the tanning and preparing a posing routine. Fortunately she had a helping hand from friend and ex-Ms. Victoria, Nicky Cullingham. After the three gruelling months of dieting, working out and practising her posing, Laura was rewarded the gold and first place in the figure class at the IFBB state championships in Melbourne. Not placing in the top three at the Nationals weeks later has not discouraged Laura. She plans to take a two-year lay-off while she relocates to Brisbane with her fiancé. On a final note, Laura would like to thank her fiancé, Antonio Cortese, together with Nicky Cullingham and all of her friends for supporting her. LAURA’S OFF-SEASON WORKOUT SCHEDULE MONDAY >> BACK Chins or deadlift (alternating each week) Lat pulldown Seated row >> REAR DELTS Bent-over lateral raise TUESDAY >> CHEST Flat bench press & incline bench press (alternating each week) Incline flyes Dips or pec-deck >> BICEPS Alternate bicep curls Barbell curls WEDNESDAY >> DAY OFF THURSDAY >> LEGS Squats Leg curls Standing calf raise FRIDAY >> SHOULDERS Press on a Smith Machine Lateral raise >> TRICEPS Single arm pushdowns Kickbacks PRE-CONTEST WORKOUT SCHEDULE MONDAY >> BACK Chin-ups Barbell rows Lat pulldown Reverse-grip pulldown >> REAR DELTS Bent over lateral raises Single arm bent-over raises TUESDAY >> CHEST Flat bench press Incline dumbbell press Cable flyes Dips >> TRICEPS Pushdowns with a rope Overhead extensions Body dips WEDNESDAY >> QUADS Squats Extensions Hip Flexor THURSDAY >> LEGS Press Dumbbell laterals Front raises >> BICEPS Alternate dumbbell curls Barbell curls Concentration curls FRIDAY >> HAMSTRING Leg curl Standing leg curl Straight leg deadlift >> CALVES Standing calf raise 45-degree leg press toe press. M&F

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