Darlene Escano - IFBB Pro

Born in Novaliches, Quezon City Manila Philippines I am the middle child to Fernando and Rowena Escano. My father being an architect was given a job opportunity in Papua New Guinea in the 80s so he moved his young family were we set up home for 7 years in Port Moresby. We left Papua New Guinea for Sydney, Australia in 1987 and have called Australia home ever since.

At a young age I have always been into sport. At school I was competitive in track and field sport and swimming. My parents enrolled me in jazz, tap and ballet but I was too much of a tomboy so dancing didn’t last very long. Two years to be exact. When I grew older I joined a gym and started weight training and doing classes. I’ve never looked back and only grew more interested in fitness and the lifestyle it lead.

I believe everyone has at least one idol or role model with whom they aspire to be like. Mine was Monica Brant and always will be. When I saw a picture of her in a womens fitness magazine a few years ago it inspired me to want to train harder to achieve a body like hers. I went to watch my first body building show back in 2005 and there again I was inpired by the strong beautiful figure girls on stage. I knew then I wanted to give competing a go.

Dieting to compete is never easy, well not for me anyway but I love the challenge and love seeing my body transform. I sacrificed eating all the foods I love as well as my mums home cooked filippino dishes. Towards the end I actually looked forward to my tuna and brocolli. My social life was put on the backburner but my friends were very supportive and understood why I couldnt come to special occassions or why I brought my chicken and brocolli with me every where.

Having a training partner is not essential but it does help when you have someone there to help you with your training and to make sure you are focussed and on track. I've been lucky enough to have great training partners and have learnt so much from them along the way. I don't speak for everyone but for me body building is like a whole different world. Unless the people you're with has or is doing the same thing they will not understand. My fiance has been the biggest supporter and the most understanding man I could have ever asked for.

My biggest achievement so far would definately have to be winning my height class and overall at the 2011 Arnold Classic. It was such an amazing feeling knowing you have just won a big international competition with your friends, family and fiance there to witness everything. This won me my pro card and have since competed in two professional competitions one qualifying me to compete in the 2011 Ms Olympia in Las Vegas this September!

My goal is to do my very best in the Olympia but most of all have fun along the way. I want to continue to inspire and motivate others not only through me competing but also in my career as a personal trainer. I'm currently setting up my website www.defitnessonline.com where I offer my services as a personal trainer, online trainer, posing and presentation classes and many more.