Nicole Berg

"I'd love to be a 160-pound heavyweight," she says. "There's nothing I'd love more than to walk onstage just shredded and bone-dry at 160 pounds."

Nicole's raw ambition is typical of a new generation of young female bodybuilders now in their early twenties who seem to have few of the hang-ups about getting "too big" or "too muscular" that earlier generations of women struggled with. "We come from a kind of in-your-face generation anyway," Nicole says. "Times are changing. It's OK to be outspoken and want a little more and go after it. Now females are taking charge and doing what they want in society as a whole. So there's a lot less of us that have hang-ups about being big."

Of course, Nicole is realistic enough to know it's going to take some time for her to fulfil her dreams. This year she is taking time off competing to put on some size, and plans to compete in the Emerald Cup, a national qualifier, next spring, at around 145 -- a full 10 pounds heavier than in her last show. After that she hopes to go to the Nationals and eventually the pros. As you'd expect, her ultimate goal is compete in the Ms. Olympia. "I don’t compete just for the sake of staying in shape," she says. "I want to stand on that stage one day. I want to make my mark."

Although Nicole's goals are pretty ambitious, those who know her say she has what it takes -- mentally and physically -- to fulfil them. "When she first started in my gym I could see huge potential in her," says her trainer, national-level heavyweight Gerri Deach. "I've gotten to know her through helping her prep for her first shows, and I know that she's very capable of going as far as she wants to in the sport. I look for Nicole to win a major regional show in the next year or two. She'll most likely be ready for the national stage in two years -- and the sky is the limit from there."

Growing up as the eldest of three sisters on a farm in eastern Washington state, Nicole was a tomboy as a child and played basketball, volleyball and softball at high school. All that physical activity gave her a body she describes as "thick", but after attending junior college and moving to western Washington to work as a corrections officer, she gave up athletics altogether and was starting to put on weight. "It was driving me crazy not to be involved in competitive sports," she says. "I became stagnant."

Nicole joined a gym to try to get back in shape and had always been "fascinated by muscle." But it was only when she came face-to-face with Gerri Deach for the first time that she began to consider bodybuilding as a possibility. "I never knew it was an option, especially for a girl," she says. Gerri re-organized Nicole's training, making sure she hit every bodypart equally, and put her on a bodybuilding diet. "My gains went through the roof," Nicole says. "She pushed me like no-one's ever pushed me before and I wanted to train hard for her. I'd do anything for someone that believes in me, so the more she pushed, the more I gave."

Just over a year later, Nicole has already transformed her body. "It's like night and day," she says. "I've put on a lot of lean muscle. I've got more separation in my quads, and my sweeps are a little bigger. I'm starting to bring my shoulders up, get more definition in my abs, my back is getting bigger. There's a little more density to my body and I feel a lot harder. But I still feel like a baby!"

When Nicole started to transform her body into a bodybuilder's physique, her parents, especially her mom, were worried. "She thought I would get huge, lose all my feminine qualities and never get a date," Nicole laughs. But their attitude gradually changed, especially after Nicole pointed out it was "better to be a gym rat than a bar fly." "As soon as I said that, something clicked and all of a sudden they were supportive," Nicole says. "Now when I go home, my mom's like, 'What can you eat? What can I make you?'"

Nicole now works as a security supervisor at a lockup facility for juvenile males. Although she usually covers up at work, the kids all know she is a bodybuilder – which can sometimes be an advantage. "I have a lot of kids that if we show up to a call, they'll cuff right up, because they don't want their friends to see them taken by a girl. I'm like, "Hey, that's cool, I don't want to get hurt either. I got a competition to get ready for.""

But the biggest benefit of bodybuilding for Nicole has been the boost it has given to her confidence. "Being physically strong has helped me become more emotionally strong and more confident in my occupation and with personal relationships," she says. "I used to be pretty shy and soft spoken, but I guess getting on stage with next to nothing on gets you over your modesty real fast!"

Nicole's future in bodybuilding looks bright. She won the novice heavyweight and overall at her first show, the Washington State, last year and then took third at the Washington Ironman a week later. She is now looking forward to competing as a heavyweight at the Emerald Cup – the same show her mentor Gerri Deach won in 2001. In the meantime, she's working hard on bringing her upper body up to match her legs and improving her thickness and density. The best thing, Nicole says, is that she can only get better. "You always hear of women complaining about turning 30, but I can't wait to turn 30," she says. "Imagine the muscle maturity I'll have then!"

Nicole Berg can be contacted at: nik132@msn.com

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