My name is Gisela Arenas. You can call me “Gise.” I am from the South American country of Argentina, born in a city called Rio Cuarto in the province of Córdoba. I am proud of my recent achievements in the fitness world, and I thank my parents for instilling in me the core values of life and the importance of carrying forward a disciplined and healthy lifestyle.
When you put muscle on a beautiful body, you get a beautiful body with muscle!Bill Dobbins
But my road to becoming fit and healthy was not a simple one. I became a single mother at an early age, which required my working double shifts a day for many years. I began living such an unhealthy lifestyle, I developed a gastric ulcer, and this convinced me I had to make a drastic change in how I lived. My mother was a great inspiration and, as the former bodybuilding champion of Argentina, she was the one who introduced me to the fitness lifestyle and eventually to competition. Which, I think, pretty much saved my life.
My mother told me about fit bikini, “Baby, this category was invented for you!Bill Dobbins
I had always been a very active young girl and my parents instilled in me the ability to discipline myself and set positive goals. I was looking for a way to reduce stress and to invest some time and effort in improving my body and my life. Back in 2012, the bikini fitness category was just starting. My mother told me, “Baby, this category was invented for you!” So, I started working out in the gym and slowly the weights started to change, develop and shape my body. Plus, my mind was much more at peace! Gradually, I began to see all the hard work beginning to pay off and I was very happy with the results!
It’s good for promotion for me to look good in the gym – but that doesn’t mean I’m not training with full intensity.Bill Dobbins
These positive results made me more interested in health and wellness and in both adopting and promoting a healthier lifestyle. That’s when I started to realize how everything is connected – your mood, what you think, what you eat, how you exercise, and how much rest you get. While I had been subject to a lot of stress and at one point was bordering on becoming depressed, training to compete in bikini fitness changed all of that.
“Training for competition not only developed my body but helped me psychologically as well.”Bill Dobbins
In addition to my gym workouts, I began to realize that diet and nutrition were essential aspects of developing a superior body. But it is also important to develop the discipline it takes to put all of this knowledge into practice. And, as anyone who competes can tell you, sometimes the diet part is a lot tougher to handle than the workouts.
In terms of putting this all into practice, in 2012 I entered and won multiple national bikini fitness competitions, achieved the title of Argentine Champion, which qualified me to compete in the Arnold Rio de Janeiro, an important contest in the world of fitness and my first international event.
Whether figure or bikini or whatever, you still need to train like a bodybuilder.Bill Dobbins
I then represented Argentina in 4 World Cups (Ukraine, Poland, Hungary and Canada.)
I finished in the Top 6 at World Cup Quebec, Canada 2014 and I am proud to be the first Argentine Bikini Fitness athlete to be a World Cup finalist,
I am truly very grateful for the opportunities that being an athlete has afforded me.
I have been able to travel the world and to experience many different cultures.
I am also so grateful to be working with amazing sponsors and companies like Jan Tana and Aquapacific.
In 2018, I came to the US to see the Mr. Olympia in Las Vegas! This vacation led to a decision that changed my life. I enjoyed my time in the USA so much, training at the Mecca of fitness (Gold’s Gym. Venice) that I made the big decision to stay.
Bill Dobbins
I qualified as an IFBB pro and I am training at Gold’s Gym, Venice, under the guidance of bodybuilding pro Silvio Samuel. As far as I am concerned, there are no limits to improving your body except those imposed by your natural genetics. And you don’t know what those are until you work hard and long enough to come up against them. So, I plan to continue my career, both as a competitor, consultant and educator, and see how far I can go and what more I can achieve.
