Michelle Jones

Michelle Jones
by Hans
Photography by Hans

Michelle Jones in the off-season, January 2007

In the fall of 1998, a 21 year-old girl named Joanna Thomas won the overall at the British bodybuilding championship, making her the youngest ever national champion in the UK. Joanna, of course, went on to make a big impact in the US, winning the lightweight class at the Jan Tana in 2001 on her pro debut.

Last October, Joanna’s record was broken by another 21 year-old, Michelle Jones, who won the middleweight (under 125 pounds) and overall at the 2006 British when she was eight months younger than Joanna was. At 5-foot-3 and 125 pounds, Michelle looked incredible, with phenomenal legs and calves, awesome delts, a big, wide back and a tiny waist. This is a girl with huge potential. “A new era has dawned in British female bodybuilding,” the British edition of Flex magazine gushed.

Unfortunately, the rules had changed since Joanna won the same show eight years before. Joanna had automatically won a pro card as overall winner. This year, for the first time, the UKBFF, the British bodybuilding federation, decided that while the men’s winner would continue to get an automatic pro card, the women’s winner would not.

When Michelle found out a few days after the show she was, as she puts it, “gutted.” “I was fired up and ready to go,” she says a few months after the show at Forest Gym, a hardcore gym in Surrey, just south of London, before a chest workout. “I was getting really excited, thinking, ‘I’ve really got to get some size on now to go up against the pros.’”

Understandably, Michelle was depressed for a little while after the show and admits her training suffered. But she is now back on track and in the middle of what she calls a “two-year process of bulking up” and oozing enthusiasm for bodybuilding. Her original plan had been to compete again at the Worlds in September 2008. But she and her trainer think she is doing so well that she might even compete at the same show this year. “I can’t wait to get back onstage!” she giggles. “So if I’m ready to do a show, I’ll do it!”

Michelle onstage at the 2006 British

Although Michelle only competed for the first time last year - the British was only her second show - she had been working toward becoming the British champion for six years. It all started when she had just turned 15 and decided she needed to do something to get in shape. She was a typically unhealthy British teenager, who - apart from a couple of years of gymnastics - didn’t exercise and ate a lot of junk food. “I was a little bit conscious about how I looked because I was a little chubby,” she says. “I thought, ‘I’ve really got to do something because I’m really not happy.’”

Michelle’s dad, who worked out regularly, had encouraged her to come to the gym with him. But it was only when she picked up a bodybuilding magazine for the first time and saw pictures of female pro bodybuilders like Kim Chizevsky and Laura Creavalle that she was motivated to do it. “As soon as I saw the pictures in the magazine I thought, ‘I want to look like that, that’s what I want to do.’ I just loved the look.” From then on, she dreamed of one day becoming a pro herself.

Michelle started training with her dad and eating better and pretty quickly she started to lose fat and put on muscle. Although her dad didn’t completely share her enthusiasm for the muscular female body, he was supportive. “He was pleased I’d found something I really wanted to do and I was dedicated to,” she says.

Michelle still remembers how, when she was around 18 years-old, a male training partner (who had competed himself) told her she had a lot of potential as a bodybuilder. “I thought, ‘Really? Okay!’” she laughs. That’s when she decided to, as she puts it, “put everything into it and make it my life.” Soon afterwards she starting training at Forest Gym, owned by pros Harold and Karen Marillier.

Last year, helped by Harold and Karen, she did her first show, a national qualifier, and won the overall. She took to competing like a duck to water. “The whole experience was brilliant,” she says. “Getting tanned up, eating chocolate and pumping up backstage, being onstage – I loved it, the whole thing!” She says she tends to cover up in the gym, so she was surprised to find she felt completely comfortable onstage in a posing suit. “It felt quite natural and I really felt at home,” she says.

At the British, Michelle’s shape – set off by awesome delts - and near perfect symmetry helped her beat several much more experienced competitors. The other big talking point was her legs, which are just incredible for a 21 year-old. In fact, before the night show, everyone told her, “Just show your legs, and it’s all over!” She says she is now focusing on improving her back thickness and her arms, while keeping her waist tight.

These days, Michelle’s whole routine revolves around bodybuilding. She works as a supervisor at a health food store, which allows her to get in her 7-8 meals every day and get 8-9 hours of sleep every night. She still sometimes trains with her dad, who she says has also put on a little size over the years. “He’s quite good at keeping up with me,” she laughs. For the moment Michelle says she is enjoying the off-season. “I love eating - and sleeping!” she says. But after coming so close to getting her pro card last year, you can be sure it won’t be long before Michelle is back onstage again.

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