Anja Langer (born June 3, 1965) is a German former professional

female bodybuilder Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It began in the late 1970s, when women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions.

of the late 1980s. Her career peaked in 1988 when she placed second at the 1988 Ms. Olympia.

Biography

Anja was born in 1965 in Stuttgart in Southern Germany, where she grew up in the nearby town of

Böblingen Böblingen (; ) is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen (district), Böblingen District. Sindelfingen and Böblingen are Geographic contiguity, contiguous. History Böblingen was founded by Count Wilhelm von Tübingen-Bö ...

. Langer grew up in a house near a forest and at a young age she did a lot of outdoor activities. Because of this she developed a passion for nature and the outdoors. As an active child, her first passion was gymnastics. She competed at the age of eight in several gymnastic competitions and was successful. She also took part in horseback-riding competitions since her family own two horses and became part of a horseback-riding club. During this time Anja became more involved with different types of sports that captured her curiosity. She tried diving at the age of fourteen and

jazz dance Jazz Dance is a performance dance and style that arose in the United States in the early 20th century. Jazz Dance may allude to vernacular Jazz, Broadway or dramatic Jazz. The two types expand on African American vernacular styles of dance that ...

soon after. It was during this time, at the age of fifteen that she was introduced to bodybuilding by her first boyfriend. She began weight training in 1980, at a local gym near her home in Germany. At the time she was the only girl weight training at the gym. This did not bother her since all the men at the gym were impressed by how strong she was. Little by little she increased her training, she put more attention to her diet and decided to compete in her first bodybuilding competition. In 1981 she competed in the

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Championships and placed second to last. Langer was not discouraged and decided to train harder and competed again in the same contest and placed second. At this time bodybuilding was still a hobby for her and her parents, who disagreed with her bodybuilding, wanted it to remain that way. Because of this Anja had to keep her competition preparations a secret. It was later that her parents accepted her passion for bodybuilding and respected their daughter's career of interest. In school she studied graphic art, while still competing regularly. When she completed school, Langer decided to make her hobby her profession during this time. She placed fourth at the German Championships, second Amateur World Championship in

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. In 1985, she won the Junior World Championships, and the European Amateur Championships and German Championships in 1986. After turning pro, Langer decided that her main goal as professional was to win the Ms. Olympia title, but 1987 was a difficult year for Anja. Her father died in that year and because of this she was unable to fully focus on her bodybuilding preparations. Despite this she was able to get second at World Pro Championships, and second at the Olympia. After placing second at the Olympia, Langer decided to put her competitive career on hold. She decided to take a whole year off and compete again at the 1990 Ms. Olympia in hopes of winning that show. However, she was unable to compete due to an unexpected pregnancy. Despite this she still trained while pregnant to maintain her musculature and compete after the end of her pregnancy. In January 1991, Anja Langer gave birth to her son, who she named Elija. Afterwards she put bodybuilding aside and worked with Bill Reynolds to write her book about bodybuilding, exercise and nutrition called '' Body Flex-Body Magic''. The book was released in 1992 in the United States. She also returned to the bodybuilding stage as a guest poser showing a smaller frame than she had during her competitive days. During 1993 and 1994 she took part in two theatrical performances that were held in Stuttgart, Germany. From 1995 through 1998 she owned a gym and later turned to personal training, fitness consulting and modelling. In 2000, she decided to return to the public eye of bodybuilding and took on the role as a spokesperson for bodybuilding as a healthy sport. Langer was inducted into the 2011

IFBB Hall of Fame The IFBB Hall of Fame was established in 1999 to honor outstanding athletes and officials in the sport of bodybuilding. There have been no inductees since 2011. Induction years 1999 * Carla Dunlap *Cory Everson *John Grimek *Lee Haney *Rachel Mc ...

Vital statistics

*Full Name: Anja Langer *Birthday: June 3 *Place of Birth:

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

*Current state of Residence: Stuttgart, Germany *Occupation: personal trainer, fitness model, actress, professional bodybuilder, fitness consultant, author *Marital Status: Married to Roy. *Height: 5'6" *Weight (In Season): 140 lbs. (Off-Season):144lbs. *Eye Color: Blue *Hair Color: Blonde

Bodybuilding philosophy

Langer's training philosophy mainly consisted of a combination compound, and isolation exercises (mostly done with free weights and a small number of machines and cables). She trained with the traditional push and pull routine (three days on, one day off). Anja focuses on her

Chest The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

Back The human back, also called the dorsum (: dorsa), is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral c ...

, in order to bring her upper body to match her strong legs. She believes that proper form is very important and often avoids extreme heavy weights.

Contest history

*1981 Baden-Württemberg Championships - Did not Place *1982 Baden-Württemberg Championships - 2nd *1983 NPC German Championships - 4th *1984 NPC Amateur World Championship - 2nd (with a partner) *1985 NPC Junior World Championships - 1st *1986 IFBB European Amateur Championships - 1st (HW) *1986 IFBB German Championships - 1st (MW & overall) *1987 IFBB Ms. Olympia - 4th *1987 IFBB World Pro Championships - 2nd *1988 IFBB Ms. Olympia - 2nd

References

*Langer, Anja. '' Mein chest: How I compelled it to improve! ''. California: ''

Muscle & Fitness ''Muscle & Fitness'' is an American fitness and bodybuilding magazine founded in 1935 by Canadian entrepreneur Joe Weider. It was originally published under the title ''Your Physique'', before being renamed to ''Muscle Builder'' in 1954, and ac ...

'', June 1989. . (Woodland Hills, I, Brute Enterprises, 1989.) Magazine section: Women, pages 148–153, 222, and 223 cover Anja Langer's article.

External links