Susanne Clements has only been in bodybuilding a few years but she has already produced great results.
Her biggest achievement came recently at the Organisation of Competitive Bodybuilding Yorton Cup nationals in Washington, DC. Often called the natural bodybuilding world championships (due to being recognised by the International Fitness and Physique Association), Clements produced three top-five finishes at the event.
Clements, 41, placed second in the women’s novice division, fourth in the women’s masters (35 and above) and fourth in the women’s open class. She states the results were her best ever.
“I’ve competed three times in two years and this is the best I’ve ever done,” Clements said. “I’m quite pleased I was able to get three trophies. I’m a perfectionist, I was hoping for first but next time I guess.
“It was a good experience though every time I went on stage I was terrified. There were a lot of competitors from places like the United Kingdom, Jamaica, Canada, Barbados, China and Nigeria.”
Clements first competed in October 2009 after getting into the sport in January that year. She weighed roughly 124 pounds and finished fifth overall in the women’s novice and masters segments. This year she competed at about 128 pounds.
She competed for Cayman under the Natural Bodybuilding Federation, headed by local bodybuilding legend Tiger Wilson. Assisting her was personal trainer and fellow competitor Michael Salmon and coach Dave Connolly.
Salmon, who now runs his own gym in Industrial Park called Creative Fitness studio, did not have his usual stellar outing. He placed sixth in the grand master (over 50) and eighth in the master (40 and above) sections. Salmon, 51, states his diet held him back.
“I don’t like excuses, I got beat,” Salmon said. “I took a chance and it didn’t work out. This year I just opened my own business and it was a struggle. I had seven weeks to prepare and that wasn’t enough time to get ready. The least amount of time you need is 12 weeks, 16 weeks is ideal.
“Training wasn’t an issue, my diet was the issue. I got my butt kicked.”
For the record Salmon has competed at the world championships over the last decade. One of his most recent showings came in 2009.
He weighed roughly 162lbs and claimed the best overall pose award, second place in the grand master, fourth in the master and sixth in the middleweight open categories.
Salmon states his results and that of Clements came after heavy training.
“Normally I’m at 165lbs but for this show I was 190lbs. That’s the heaviest I’ve ever been for a show. I stepped up to the big boys and I was ready to slam. It was the last show for the year, our training was really hard and it got really intense. We did two days on, one off starting as early as 4.30am which worked out to four days of workouts and three days of posing.
“We’d do bench press (I’d go up to 300lbs), leg press, squats, cardio and weights. In addition Susanne did a lot of bike work while I focused on the treadmill.”
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