Bodybuilding championship: Mother of two boys, Pratibha Thapliyal took to bodybuilding when she came to know she was suffering from thyroid a couple of years back. Five years later, the 41-year-old homemaker from Pauri Garhwal has now won gold at the 13th national senior women’s bodybuilding championship. The championship was organized by Indian Body Building Federation in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh.
“I was the senior-most by age and junior-most experience-wise,” the mother of two teenagers said on Friday. She has two sons, aged 15 and 17. They study in class 10 and 12, respectively, at a school in Dehradun.
High thyroid levels
Talking to reporters, Pratibha said, “I came to know in 2018 that my thyroid levels had risen to 50 against the maximum acceptable level of around five. The doctor then advised me to start working out. I joined a local gym with my husband, Bhupesh, and lost about 30kg in a few months.”
That inspired her. She decided to participate in her first bodybuilding competition last year in Sikkim, as “Uttarakhand’s first female professional bodybuilder”, and finished fourth. “I was hesitant to take up the sport at first, given the costume competitors are required to wear. Actually, when I first started bodybuilding, women in my neighbourhood started taunting me. But now that I have won gold, their attitude has changed,” Pratibha said.
She says it was her husband who first noticed that she had developed muscles. Himself a fitness enthusiast, he also noticed that she was good at lifting weights. He advised her to take up the sport and supported her all through.
Pratibha is now preparing for the Asian and world championships.
She has husband’s support
Her husband is also her trainer and dietician. He said in school and college she used to play volleyball and cricket. In fact she led the state volleyball team before marriage.
He said his wife was quite disappointed that she failed to get a podium finish in Sikkim. She then worked really hard. “She used to spend seven hours at the gym daily and had a strict diet. As a result, she won the gold in just her second event. We hope the state (Uttarakhand) recognises this and helps her train better,” he said.
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