Mum Nearly Dies Giving Birth: Wins Body Building Trophy A Year Later

When Jenna Thompson was told she would never lift weights again after the complicated birth of her daughter Emilia, trainer Anita Albrecht knew it would take more than doctors orders to stop her achieving her dream.

And just over a year later (and with an incredible amount of hard work), she did just that, lifting a trophy in the Miami Pro Champs body building competition.

Smiley, confident and eager to transform her body, 33-year-old Jenna, a self employed hairdresser, had what I would call a 'great base' for training when we first met in August 2012 - a lovely shape and more importantly, the attitude to make her a winner.
 
Jenna’s goal was to compete in a body building competition and we began training in earnest for the April 2013 Miami Pro World Champs.

Signing up for this kind of goal is not for the faint hearted. Doing it naturally without the assistance of synthetic drugs or steroids is very hard, especially for a woman.

Having competed as a natural bodybuilder and figure/fitness competitor for many years, I knew first hand that it can be a rather obsessive sport and one that becomes all-encompassing to reach that stage in a body condition that the most carved of athletes would be proud to showcase.

Jenna was training really hard as she worked towards the April goal, using my training and diet plan to increase her muscle mass and sculpt her body in a way that would minimise her waist, widen her shoulders and back and create an incredible posterior.

Then a bombshell hit - Jenna unexpectedly fell pregnant!

I knew when she called that something was up. When I asked if she was OK, Jenna replied: "Yes but I can't come to the [body building] workshop anymore. Well, there’s no point now. I've just found out I am pregnant!".

Immediately, Jenna’s training went for hardcore body building to pre-natal, until two weeks before her due date.

She went into labour on 12 September, with plans to use hupnobirthing techniques. But as the pain increasde and hours rolled on, Jenna opted for painkillers. Her partner Dan (a qualified psychiatric nurse) helped to reduce her pain by hoisting Jenna into a standing position as that made her contractions more bearable, but the difficult labour continued for 20 hours.

Little Emilia wasn’t born until the morning of the 14th. But Despite the joy of the new arrival, it became clear all wasn’t well.

It turned out Jenna had suffered an extremely rare fourth degree tear (only one to two per cent of women who give birth will experience this), which caused extreme loss of blood and internal injuries.

Jenna went into shock and only found out later that it had been touch and go. A colorectal specialist on site at Broomfield Hospital was able to expertly sew up the tear. If he hadn’t been on hand, she was told, she would have died.

For three months Jenna wasn’t able to lift her own daughter, or anything in fact, in case she sufferent a prolapse. When she began physio, she was told she would never lift weights gain.

But Jenna wouldn’t give up. She worked hard with physio and was finally given the OK to do core and pelvic floor work.

But when we had our first session she was frustrated that she couldn’t do a basic crunch or sit up. It was completely normal considering her experience but for Jenna it was like learning to walk again.

For months we worked only on core. No weights allowed, no lifting, not even bodyweight squats were allowed. I prescribed exercises for Jenna to do when she was not in session with me and like a trooper, she stuck to it.

Slowly but surely every abdominal muscle, each core fibre returned bit by bit to about 85-90% strength and Jenna was ready to lift again. Things were on the up.

But being a stubborn coach I would not allow her to go near a weight until she got given the all-clear from her physiotherapist.

Patience, visualisation and perseverance paid off and in February 2014 Jenna was told she could begin light bodyweight training again along with some extremely light weight training. Like her daughter, it became baby steps.

Rebuilding Jenna's body wasn't just about building muscle. It had to be strong, functional and it had to give her a base strength to be able to lift heavy again. Our bodies are like buildings. You start with the foundation and build on that, layer by layer, piece by piece with shapes that make it into something beautiful.

After months of this work Jenna was ready to start work towards her first show.

In June 2014 Jenna began a strict 16 week pre-contest diet and tough training regime to get her ready for the stage to be able to compete in the Miami Pro Champs in October.

We entered her into the Bikini Tall and Yummy Mummy categories. There are many categories in bodybuilding and Jenna's physique suited the more feminine class that the judges look for in these two divisions.

These classes require lean muscle not ripped bulky muscle, curves, tone, abdominal definition and most of all a gorgeous balanced shape and an overall package reflecting a healthy woman.

By doing HIIT cardio, lifting weights three to four times a week and following a diet of chicken, fish, turkey, oats, sweet potato, brown rice, protein shakes, nuts and good oils such as Udos and a huge amount of vegetables and salad we got Jenna stage ready and looking amazing.

Jenna also had to learn her posing and posture and ordered a sparkly bikini to wear for the competition.

Jenna's transformation from June to October was incredible! We slowly reduced her calories and increased her training regime as we needed in order to lose enough body fat to reveal her naturally earned muscle definition and gorgeous curves.

Her legs and arms became defined, her glutes resembled a ripe peach and her tummy not only bounced back but it took on a shape of a finely tuned cello with its side scoops and smooth linear lines. She retained almost all her muscle, lost nearly 16 lbs of body fat and got into the shape of her life.

On the day there is only one way to describe it. She worked it! Jenna stood out in body, stage presentation and in her posing. No one would have believed that just over a year earlier Jenna nearly died.

And she walked away with a trophy. Beating over 20 competitors Jenna was awarded an  incredible third place in the Yummy Mummy section.

Like a proud mother I welled with tears knowing that it wasn't just a victory, it was the rebuilding of a body, mind and spirit. And with a healthy, happy one-year-old, Jenna is only at the beginning of her journey.

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