She's all that and Amore

USN Ambassador and IFBB Champion, Amore Coetzee talks hard work, nutrition, relationships and the challenges she’s faced towards becoming her best. An active child whose sporting career ended due to injury, Amore found love at the coast, in the gym and within her own skin, and has never looked back.

- CHARELLE JOHNSON

Tell us about your journey into fitness and what sparked it?

I've always been interested in sports; I grew up being an active child, always taking part in athletics, gymnastics, drum majorettes etc. In Matric I had operations in both of my knees, which ended my sporting career for the time being. When I got to university academics became the most important part of my life and I didn't pay much attention to anything else. Three years later I moved to Durban and met new people who were all training and going to gym on a daily basis, so I started to get back into it again. I started dating Brian, who was very involved in the industry at the time. We went away one weekend to the beach, and I remember that I had felt so incredibly uncomfortable in my own skin. I had asked him to introduce me to a coach, and I got started with a diet and a training program a week later.

At what point in your fitness journey did you realise you would like to take it a step further and begin competing? 

I eventually started losing weight and gaining self-confidence. My coach and Brian had both convinced me to take part in my first show, and since then I've been hooked. I actually started doing very well and I just continued to train and diet until I ended up at the top.

What are the three biggest challenges you've faced during competition prep?