Interview with Nina Moe (Norway) by Anne Pietila

1. First of all, you have a chance to introduce yourself shortly. Who is Nina Moe?

Photo by Patrick Braude

Well, I am a 30 years old girl who lives in Oslo, Norway. My biggest interest in life is training with weights and of course figure competitions. For the last 11 years I have been training with weights and I’ve been competing since 2005 and this year’s World Championships contest was my 9th time. I am a positive, happy, stubborn and a very competitive person. Spending quality time with my family and friends is very important to me and I love to travel around the world to experience and see new things. My job is to help other people to get in shape, as a personal trainer.

2. Then I want to congratulate you for your victory in the World Championships! You were runner up in tall figure class and lost the win only with 3 points! How do you feel now after the show?

Thank you, I’ve felt great every day since the competition and it’s just an unbelievable feeling. Even though I lost the win with only 3 points, I am very happy to be as close as I was to be the world champion. 2nd place is for me a really big achievement, I am very very satisfied.

3. Second place in the World Championships, was this something you expected before the show? Or what was your goal?

No, I didn’t expect this at all! My goal is always to do my very best to win, no matter what! Otherwise it will be difficult to follow a strict diet to the end. And then if I don’t win, I always know that I did my very best! This year my main goal was to place in the finals, because I knew that it wouldn’t be easy to place among the top 3. This was really a big dream that came true.

Photo by Patrick Braude

4. Could you please tell us more about your prep to this show and experiences about the contest itself?

I started preparing for the world championships around 11 weeks before the contest, my off season weight was 160 pounds(72 kg) and I had to lose about 20 pounds(10 kg) to be in really good shape. This time my goal was to be in much better shape than ever before ,so I knew that this diet would be my hardest ever!!!!

I always get professional help from my coach IFBB Pro Geir Borgan Paulsen trough my diets, he plans my diet program and I eat and exercise the way he tells me to. Once a week he checks my condition and makes a few adjustments on my diet program. I usually eat the same kind of food every time I’m dieting, but this time we had to go much lower on calorie intake, to get a harder and more defined look!

To participate in the contest was great and I had so much fun, my condition was just like planned. I am very satisfied with my stage performance and I really felt confident on stage. This year I got so many good comparisons but even if I felt good after the first day, I wasn’t sure if I would make it to the finals, the second day....but fortunately I did!

5. But before this show, you have competed quite many times in both national and international level. Tell us a bit about your contest history and your best achievements?

My contest history:
2005 - Norwegian Championships - 2nd
2006 - Larvik International Grand Prix - 1st + overall
2006 - Norwegian Championships - 1st
2006 - Nordic Championships - 2nd
2007 - European Championships - 10th
200 7- World Championships - 8th
2007 – Norwegian Championships - 3rd
2007 - Nordic Championships - 4th
2008 - World Championships – 2nd

I am very satisfied with all my achievements in my contest career. One of my best achievements is Larvik International Grand Prix 2006, because I got the Overall title. And the very best is of course placing 2nd in the 2008 World Championships, in Santa Susanna.

6. So, you also competed in World and European Championships in year 2007. You placed out of final in those competitions, and now you took silver medal, that’s a great improvement. How did you take your physique to better level in this year? Did you do something differently in your prep?

I always try my very best to improve my physique from contest to contest. This year I had to tone down my shoulders a bit, because they were a little too dominating last year. Instead of training very hard on my upper body, I focused more on my lower body and abdominals to achieve a more symmetric physique. This year the diet was a lot tougher, because my calorie intake was a lot lower than before.

7. What is your best moment in your whole competing career, could tell us a bit about it?

Photo by Patrick Braude

My best moment must be placing 2nd in the 2008 World Championships. It was the first time I cried on stage, this was really a huge thing for me. I couldn’t really understand at the time, and I am not sure if I really understand yet, it is really unbelievable!! Since my goal for this contest was to place in the finals, among the top 6 athletes.

8. You have now a great achievement behind you, could you tell us a bit about your life after contest season? There have been much talk about post contest syndrome among the female competitors, how is your life after contests?

Since I came back from Spain after the show, my life is pretty much back to normal, back to work and weight training 5 days a week. I always look forward to getting back to my normal training and eating routine, after contest. But I have had some struggle because I really really love chocolate and ice cream and it’s hard to stop eating, sometimes. Now that I’ve gained a little bit more weight it’s much easier to stick with healthy food and the hunger for sweets kind of disappear by itself.

The first week after the show I had to take a pause from the gym, because my body was so exhausted after dieting and competing. Then I started slowly training myself up again.

Photo by Patrick Braude

9. Please tell us about your off season. What are your principles concerning nutrition and training during it? How much do you train and eat and do you do cardio in off season too? 

To me it’s very important to train all year round, and eat high quality food off season as well as on season. If you want to look better on stage each time you compete, you have to do your home work! Because nothing comes for free in this sport!! I try my very best to work out 5 days a week and a little bit cardio every day.

10. In your opinion, what are your strengths and weak points in your physique /as a competitor?

The weak points in my physique must be my calves, gluteus and abdominals, my strengths are my back, shoulders and arms.

Photo by Pål Laukli

11. What else do you have in your life besides competing?

Besides competing I live a very normal life, work and weight training takes a lot of my time. The rest of my spare time I love to spend with my boyfriend, my dog and my friends.

12. What is the most important thing you have learned during your contest career, share that tip with us?

Well, as I mentioned earlier, nothing comes for free in this sport. You have to work hard both mentally and physically all year, if you want to be one of the bests!

Photo by Pål Laukli

13. Now you have taken yourself to the top level in amateur figure. What do you think is the key for success and what all that needs to be a successful amateur competitor?

The key to success besides physics, looks and genetics in body fitness (figure) is that you have to be a very competitive person, to go trough a strict diet and to stay focused on your goal. You have to be very dedicated to weight training, of course. It takes years to build quality muscle, so you need a good amount of patience.
Confidence in yourself is very important, because you must always believe that you can be as good as anyone else. Lots of self discipline is very necessary in order to stick to the diet and training program.

14. Then let’s talk about your future a bit. What is your next show and your goals there?

I am really not sure what to do next, cause I didn’t expect to place as good as I did in the World Championships. I have been thinking about competing one more season in the European and World championships, to see if it’s possible to place better, specially in the Europeans. Even if I turn pro or not I’m only going to compete in international competitions in the future and my goal is of course to win!

Photo by Pål Laukli

15. How do you see your life in 5 years, still competing?

In five years I have a little family of my own, still work as an personal trainer and hopefully a owner or part owner of a gym. And of course I’m still competing, as a pro!

16. So, turning pro is something in your plans?

Yes, of course I want to turn pro, that has been my main goal since I started competing. I haven’t really decided if I’m gonna apply for the pro card now or compete one more season as an amateur figure athlete.

17. Thank you for interview and now in the end of this interview, you have freedom to say what ever you want to! What would you like to say to all competitors and fans reading this?

would be more than happy if anyone is interested in sponsoring me. Then I can focus more on competitions and weight training, and be able to compete more frequently.

hope to be back on the fitness-stage as soon as possible, so to all you competitors out there... watch out!!!

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