MUSCLE & HUSTLE Gwyn's bodybuilding secrets

What started as a birthday challenge led to fab abs and trophy triumph!

- Fleur Guthrie

Standing on stage in a sparkling teal bikini with the crowd cheering as she showed off her flex appeal, 53-year-old Gwyn Pardoe smiled through any fear and had one of those "pinch me" moments.

Taking the Napier Art Deco train trip was one of 50 ways Gwyn and friend Cindy kept their birthday goals on track.

It was her first time wearing a bikini, first set of high heels on a wooden stage and first time flashing a spray tan (the darkest colour the salon had!) in her first-ever bodybuilding show.

As someone older and new to the sport - she'd only taken it up three years earlier as a challenge for her milestone birthday - the fun-loving Whanganui mum-of-two only had one goal: to enjoy showcasing her hard work in the gym.

But Gwyn was recently named New Zealand Novice Figure Tall national champion, taking out the title in what was only her second competition.

“I loved being up there,” enthuses the early childhood education teacher, who gets up at 4.45am for training each weekday before making the commute to Palmerston North for work. “And funnily enough, there’s been no nerves – just learning curves!

“Underneath my wrinkles is a pretty good abs package. I’m not an overly confident person and my self-image isn’t way up there, but I can pretend quite well. Fake it ’til you make it.

“When I’m on that competiti

on stage for a tiny fi ve minutes, I’m swimming around like a beautiful swan on the top, but underneath I’m paddling like mad,” she admits, adding that her husband Bruce, 62, their two sons, Ziek, 32, and Samuel, 27, and stepson Corey, 44, are also extremely proud of her.