HIGH FLYER By John Plummer From Oxford graduate and City high-flyer to personal trainer and international bodybuilder… GEMMA MILLER reveals why she swapped the material world for the fitness world! When Gemma Miller turned 30 she was handling multi-million dollar accounts for world-famous London insurer Lloyd’s. An Oxford graduate, she and her stockbroker husband Howard led the kind of City lifestyle that was as financially rewarding as it was physically demanding. Three years later and her days could hardly be filled more differently. Gemma is now a full-time personal trainer whose fanaticism for fitness has led her to compete for Britain in the World Bodybuilding Championships. The hefty bonuses and the late-night drinking sessions are a distant memory… and she wouldn’t want it any other way. “There is no comparison between my life then and now,” she says. “I work for myself, which is an absolute joy. Training fits around my hours and I am fortunate enough to have so many clients that I only work with people I like.” She’s also happy with her new body. “I didn’t think it was physically possible for me to look this way,” she says. “If anyone had told me in my old job I’d be doing this, I’d have laughed.” Her thirty-something career change proves it is possible to get off the nine-to-five treadmill and do something more rewarding regardless of how much is at stake, if you are determined enough. “Mum and dad thought my education was being wasted and it was risky from a financial point of view,” she says. But fitness has always been Gemma’s passion. She represented North Yorkshire in the 100 m as a 13-year-old and continued to shine in hockey, netball and rounders when she attended Wadham College at Oxford University, where she studied Japanese for five years. “The reason I did Japanese was because someone told me it was the most difficult language to learn,” she explains. “I like a challenge.” After graduating aged 23 she taught English and music in a Japanese primary school before returning to work for Lloyd’s as a political risk insurance broker, which entailed insuring a bank that was funding an oil-for-food programme in Iraq against war breaking out. As Gemma’s new high-pressure lifestyle kicked in, her love of sport got pushed to one side and her weight shot up to 11 stone. “I got really out of shape,” she says. Depressed by the extra pounds, she eventually consulted a personal trainer. “That was the day I really got into fitness,” she says. “Before then I always wanted to look a certain way but didn’t know how to go about it.” Gemma’s long working day - not to mention frequent business trips to Paris - made shedding the pounds doubly hard work. “I’d wake up at 5.30am, go to the gym first thing then work until 6.30pm,” she says. Nevertheless, she progressed to the extent that by 2001 she began to think about quitting her job to become a full-time fitness professional. “I realised I had got as far as I could at work,” she says. “I was running a team of four and handling the biggest account in the department. It was so male-dominated I didn’t think I could go any further.” Howard still had his salary so when some share options matured, Gemma felt she had enough of a financial cushion to make the leap. She enrolled on a sports massage and personal training course with Premier Training and when it finished she advertised in her local newspaper. Within a month she had a 20-strong client base and was working seven days a week: it was that straightforward. “A lot of people are too nervous about doing it,” she says. “But it’s not that hard. You just have to take the decision and stick with it.” Besides training others, Gemma now had the time to whip her own butt into serious shape. She thought about entering some kind of competition to provide a focus to her training and at first tried cross-training events. A family tragedy brought that to an end when her mother died in August 2003. “In the months following her death I struggled to keep up with the gruelling cardio workouts and had to pull out of the cross-training circuit,” she says. “It was then that I began to focus more on the weight training and decided to enter a bodybuilding competition. My body responded better to a bodybuilding diet and exercise programme than it ever had to cross-training and I found the discipline of preparing for a show helped with the grieving process.” By November 2003 she had gained enough muscle to enter the under-52 kg lightweight class at the EFBB Stars of Tomorrow competition, where she soon discovered what serious bodybuilding was all about. “I had no idea what to expect,” she says. “I stepped backstage and saw a lot of women who knew exactly what they were doing and I felt totally out of my depth.” She didn’t win but her potential, particularly her amazing calves, was noted and she was asked to represent Britain at the IFBB European Championships the following year in Portugal. It was an incredible honour for someone so new to the sport. Everything was happening so fast and at first Gemma’s nearest and dearest took some getting used to her more muscular look. “Howard wasn’t sure to begin with but when he saw me at the Stars of Tomorrow show he got quite excited,” she says. “My family was literally speechless. I emailed them some photos of me and I never got one reply. They are a bit more positive now than they were then.” Gemma trained ferociously to get in shape for Portugal but she lacked the time and experience to make an impact against such a phenomenally high standard of physique. The competition brought together the best amateur bodybuilders, body fitness and fitness competitors from the continent. The bodybuilding class is for women who train for maximum muscularity and Gemma was simply too small when she lined up alongside them. “It was a mistake to enter,” she says. “I had no idea what to expect: I didn’t even know how to wear my costume properly. I was really flattered to be asked but I would like to do it in a couple of years time when I’ve improved, and also to compete in the body fitness class rather than the bodybuilding category.” Qualification for the European Championships also earned her the right to take part in the World Championships in September 2004 in Barcelona. Again, she didn’t place in the top six but at least she could return home an international sportswoman and much the wiser about what it takes to compete against some of the very best athletes in their field. The experience convinced her to switch from bodybuilding to the body fitness category, which is for more lightly muscled women. The competition still requires a lean and proportioned weight- trained body but the emphasis is more on shape instead of pure muscularity. She also realised she needed guidance so she contacted one of the most know-ledgeable women in the game, former European professional bodybuilding champion Kimberley-Anne Jones, who now trains many of the country’s leading bodybuilders and fitness competitors at her gym in Catford, South London. Under Kimberley’s eye, Gemma underwent an Arnold Schwarzenegger-like total rebuild in a matter of months. She went from a raw bodybuilder with some good bodyparts to a streamlined and polished body fitness star in the space of a few months. Her physique was far more balanced, her condition vastly improved and she knew how to display it on stage. “I couldn’t have done it without Kim,” says Gemma. “The biggest thing she has done is give me confidence. The first time I came to see her she said ‘right let’s have a look at you’. I held on to my clothes, I was terrified. A couple of months later I was running around in my bikini.” One year on from her first competition a totally different Gemma Miller lined up for the same Stars of Tomorrow show in which she had made her debut a year earlier. She was almost unrecognisable. Lining up against perhaps the toughest body fitness class ever seen at a qualifying event for the British Championships, she placed second and was invited to compete at the national finals in October. Shelley Hine, who narrowly beat her, was another of Kimberley’s protégés. Gemma’s professional life is also going well: she trains around 30 clients a week, many in the garage of her Essex home which she has converted into a fitness studio with treadmill, stationary bikes, rowing machine, step machine, punchbag, free weights and dumbbells. “My clients can’t believe it when I tell them I have competed in bodybuilding because it never comes up in conversation until I have known them for a while,” she says. “Most are middle-aged housewives who want to lose weight but a couple have said they would like to have a go at competing.” Gemma’s competitive goals centre on this year’s British Championships. “I’d like broader shoulders and a narrower waist and I need to keep working on my bum,” she says. It’s going up but I need to get it higher!” If that goes well, she would like to sample the international scene again. Whatever happens, it’s safe to assume she won’t be going back to the City. “When I left Lloyd’s they sent me on six months gardening leave to get me out of touch with the market,” she says. “They banned me from talking to my clients for 12 months because they were worried that I would pop up somewhere else. They are still waiting… “I haven’t even been back to the City yet. My old colleagues don’t even know I’m doing this. I bumped into someone I worked with in Waitrose and they didn’t even recognise me. “I used to throw myself into my job as much as I do my training today but it was a much less healthy and far more destructive lifestyle. It paid well but all I was really doing was making lots of money for other people. “The only thing I miss is a bonus. I will never go back. Ever.” THE ROUTINE Gemma trains seven days a week, incorporating two 30-minute cardiovascular sessions and one weights session into each day. “The emphasis is on low weight/high repetition work paying attention to correct form,” she says. “But I change the reps and exercises within each muscle group regularly to ensure that my muscles remain stimulated. “My legs, particularly my calves, are naturally large so I keep the weights very low and the rest periods short. I take the weights higher and the reps lower for my shoulders, chest and lats as these are areas I am looking to develop. I train all muscle groups over a four-day period.” Gemma has a slow metabolism and finds that excess carbs cause her to bloat so when preparing for a competition she moderates her carb intake drastically. “I eat six times a day and the first five meals will be made up purely of one or more of the following proteins: egg whites, tuna, white fish, prawns, chicken or protein powder,” she says. “The sixth meal will incorporate some steamed cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts and stir-fried mushrooms, onions and cabbage. “As my first cardio session and daily weights session take place first thing in the morning, at around 5.00am, the carbs from the vegetables taken the previous evening provide me with the energy I require. In order to maintain this very restrictive diet I allow myself two days of unrestricted ‘blow-out’ after a competition. My favourite cheat foods are chip butties with mushy peas and chocolate. M&F SAMPLE WORKOUT SCHEDULE: DAY 1: Chest & Hamstrings Incline Dumbbell Flyes 4 x 15 >> SUPERSET WITH Incline Dumbbell Press 4 x 15 Flat Dumbbell Flyes 4 x 15 >> SUPERSET WITH Flat Dumbbell Press 4 x 15 Smith Machine Lunges 4 x 20 >> SUPERSET WITH Smith Machine Deep Narrow Squats 4 x 15 Stiff-Legged Deadlift 4 x 20 >> SUPERSET WITH Smith Machine Wide Plié Squats 4 x 20 Squat Rack Lunges 4 x 20 Crunches 4 x 20 >> SUPERSET WITH Reverse Curls 4 x 20 DAY 2: Back & Biceps Wide T-Bar Rows 4 x 15 >> SUPERSET WITH Narrow T-Bar Rows 4 x 10 Wide Lat Pulldowns 4 x 15 >> SUPERSET WITH Close Reverse Lat Pulldowns 4 x 10 Single Arm Dumbbell Row 5 x 15 each side Preacher Curls 6 x 15 >> SUPERSET WITH Standing Dumbbell Curls 6 x 20 Barbell Lunges 4 x 20 DAY 3: Quads Leg Extensions 4 x 20 >> SUPERSET WITH Squat Rack Squats 4 x 20 Leg Extensions 4 x 20 >> SUPERSET WITH Leg Press Plies 4 x 20 Sissy Squat 4 x 20 Smith Machine Lunges 4 x 20 DAY 4: Delts & Triceps Press Behind Neck 4 x 15 >> SUPERSET WITH Military Press 4 x 10 Lateral Raises 4 x 15 >> SUPERSET WITH Bentover Laterals 4 x 15 Triceps Pushdown 6 x 20 >> SUPERSET WITH Reverse Pulldowns 6 x 20 Dumbbell Walking Lunges 4 x 20 Crunches 4 x 20 >> SUPERSET WITH Reverse Curls 4 x 20 SNAPSHOT DATE OF BIRTH: March 25, 1972 BIRTH PLACE: Middlesbrough CURRENT RESIDENCE: Chingford, Essex HEIGHT: 5ft 3ins WEIGHT: 52 kg COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS: Representing Britain at the 2004 IFBB World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships AMBITION: To be EFBB British body fitness champion TRAINING ADVICE: Start with your diet TO CONTACT: millergemma@hotmail.com