The winner of the bikini-fitness Tiger Classic 2013 and Tiger Classic Mamaia 2014 competitions
Hello Diana Pivniceru and thank you for taking your time to give this exclusive interview to our publication, Casino Life & Business Magazine.
Hello and thank you for having me here, as I feel honored to have this interview for your magazine!
You are a multiple champion and awarded at the National Championships. How did you take up on this sport? How did you start it?
This is correct. I take a great pride in the two titles of national championship in my career and I really hope to have the same thing happen this year! I did performance track and field between the seventh grade up to my freshman year in college. I gave up due to personal reasons and, in a short while, I took up on fitness at the gym center. At that time, I was just doing it for maintaining my shape – I was coming from a difficult sport, so I was trying to do the same. After a year of strictly personal ‘by ear’ training, a friend asked me why I was not doing it as a performance sport. That friend showed me a few pictures with some girls in the Bikini Fitness competition abroad and I was pleasantly surprised at how beautifully this sport could shape your body. I quickly said yes to the challenge, thinking that I really wanted to look as ‘perfect as those girls!’
From that moment, I only had 6 months to train following the plan that my friend had given me. After that, I entered the National Championship, at Bikini Fitness where I won the gold medal. It was such a thrilling sensation, to climb on the highest stand on my first attempt!
To make a summary of the years of sport that have helped me to get in my present shape, I can say that everything started 13 years ago and until now, at 26, and this means 13 years of work and optimum health, which many people desire to have…
Did you family, friends support you at the beginning of your career? Were they understanding of you?
My family was there, with me, when I started doing sport. Later, when I went towards fitness, they did not have a clue about it. Slowly but surely, they adjusted to my dieting requirements, my lifestyle in general. So did my friends. They all have always been supporting me and they are really proud of me!
Congratulations on winning the bikini-fitness competition, the under 1.69 m category within Tiger Classic Mamaia 2014. How was the competition and its organization?
Thank you for your congratulations! I did indeed win in both my 1.69 category and also in the OPEN category. The competition was quite fascinating and it was my first participation in the open. As usual, the organization was superlative – the Tiger Classic team is always prompt and a good organizer. The weather gave us a headache – the sky was clear at the beginning but it started raining after an hour. As I was saying, the organization team did an excellent job and the show did not have a lengthy delay.
There were new competitors, with a really good training, whom I have never met during the previous competitions. I notice that new girls come to such contests every year and this is good news. Bikini Fitness is a rather young branch, at least on a national level, and also attractive.
Photos by Alin Slutu
Was it of any good that this competition leg took place ‘in your hometown’?
– It really helped me that my town hosted this competition, as I had more supporters than I usually do during the other events throughout the country. But this was the only ‘advantage’. As for the rest, I was more nervous than I usually am, just because I was ‘at home’ and the first thing I wished was not to disappoint anyone!
You are Tiger Classic 2013 and Tiger Classic Mamaia 2014 champion. Will Bucharest 2014, 2015 follow?
Exactly, I am the champion to the latest two editions of Tiger Classic. And, yes, the one in Bucharest will be next and I hope to be healthy enough to be in the next ones too!
How do you keep yourself fit?
How do I keep myself in shape? For me, it is as simple as it gets: throughout the year, I make sure to keep my ‘diet’ that consists in a very healthy food. But I am not starving myself, as everyone thinks! I admit I eat sweets, especially the ones with chocolate, but sparingly. During season, I eat a lot of fruits and of course vegetables. As for meat, I have chicken, beef and fish – salmon, which I love. Around the competition time, almost a month before, I get on a slightly different diet, more focusing on proteins, carbohydrates – from small quantities to zero in the last days before the event. I can tell you that this is rather strict, it is good to better define my stomach line. I do not have to work too hard on this chapter because, as I said, I have a strong body for the entire year. The difference between the out-of-season and the competition time is small, 1 or 2 kilograms maximum.
Do you have a certain training pattern?
No, I do not. Everything I have had so far, in terms of performance, I have got through hard work, studied the training of the girls taking part in the professional Bikini Fitness, read books and also listened to the advice from people who have been in this field for years. And slowly but surely I managed to collect information and made up a true training plan. Of course my athletic training is of a great help, and so are the theoretical information learnt during the college and master years.
Where are you training yourself?
In a fitness center, Mega Gym, where I am also a fitness instructor, teaching spinning, sports ground and beach, especially in the summer time.
Photos by Alin Slutu
What would you recommend to a novice for the first training sessions?
For the beginning, a lot of ambition is required, patience, as results are not visible overnight. That person must be perseverant and iron-willed in order to reach the desired place, to listen to a good instructor who should guide correctly and provide an excellent training plan and a balanced diet. Before I forget – for optimum results, a nice and long warming up is necessary prior to the training in order to avoid possible injuries, the eternal stretching after the training, a great care about the diet, giving up to bad habits. And they should not exaggerate with the physical training at the center or anywhere else – and work all the muscles! They should not work a part of their body only, like the amateurs – the superior half must be as big as possible, and the lower part seems that it does not belong to them!
What other sport do you do?
Running (on the stadium, park and mainly on the beach!) – since I am familiar with this sport – which I combine with my cardio training, even during the days when I want to simply relax. And I love volleyball, too – I was excelling at it during high school and college (the team leader); I play table tennis whenever I have some free time. I swim in the summer – it is very good to have it right there, around the corner. In winter, I go skiing any time I get to go there in the mountains. In fact, I love most sports and I get involved in any, do not miss any opportunities! I am a sporty girl, this is how I have since my first years of age. I used to be very energetic even before doing performance sport and I have not changed a bit.
Should you start your career again, would you do the same thing?
If I started it over? I think I would try field tennis for performance, I love this sport. I used to play it as a child, got better in college and, why not admit it, you can make money out of it. I do not regret anything I have been doing so far and I am really proud of all my results! Yes, I would also do fitness again.
What is your daily job?
For some time, my regular job has been a massages. I have got a degree in this field and I have been working for four years here. In the summer, I move to the seaside, on the beach. For the rest of the year, I work in a salon as a freelancer and in the training center, when I also train myself. Since this year started, I have been working as an instructor, giving private lessons and spinning classes.
Thank you for your time and good luck in your sport career!
I also thank you for this interview!