Barbara Labidi (Buffy) Interview

Hi Barbara, It’s a real pleasure to speak with you..

 

You are a strongwoman, wrestler and power lifter, how did you get started in that work ?

I always admired strong muscular women and i did many sports in the past, but when I stopped for 1 year with training because of problems with my relationship, I put on weight little bit and when I started again with training I found new personal coach at the gym and fell in love in this sport…I started with powerlifting, then I continued with strongwoman- and I added wrestling too…actually it was big luck everytime because I met right people who showed me these sports and possibilities to competitions ..my first fitness coach introduced me to powerlifting- he said I am naturally strong for woman and I should try to compete in powerlifting…

I met other people at the gym and they competed in strongman and asked me if I don’t want to try to train with them…So i tried and i loved it because it is very complex hard training and you need to be completely strong and there are many disciplines not only 3 like in powerlifting.

And i must say that when i started with strongman training i became much more stronger than before…I really LOVE it!:-) and how did i get to wrestling? By accident I read advertisement on internet that they are looking for muscular strong women for wrestling shooting in Prague…I arranged interview, I liked it and I started with shooting and then with trainings…now I go to MMA classes and I like it too!

 

How many years have you been travelling around doing those different shows that you do ?

 

Concerning wrestling sessions I don’t do it so long- I started 1 year ago.

 

I  have done powerlifting  for around 10 years and strongwoman 2 years.

 

What sort of training do you do to keep your technique as a power lifter ?

Most of my trainings are really hard and strength trainings,

I need to keep my power during all year so I can not stop with this type of training for long time but when i am “off season”- I have lighter trainings, i do more reps, more cardio training…but base of all  for me are basic exercices with free weights like squats, presses, deadlifts….

And when I prepare for strongwoman competitions I train more and more strongman disciplines like atlas stones, super yoke, axel bar, log lift, farmers walk, frame carry, etc…

I need to change gym because here in Prague it is very complicated to find good gym for strongman training …We have 1 very good but it is far away from my place so I spend a lot of time on travelling but what do you do !!

 

Your work with Session Girls, can you explain that website to us ?

Sessiongirls.com is webside where guys can find any sessiongirl in the world…

We have profiles there, we put pics and videos there, we introduce ourselves, what we offer for sessions, our best results at the gym, we can add some links to our own websites….

It is great webside where we can introduce ourselves to guys…

There is also possibility of bigger advertising if you pay membership…

It is really very popular website and I am glad I have my profile there- Barbara Czech

 

How many sessions would you do on a daily basis ?

It is very different and depends on my training, competitions, my job in the office, my travels…I am very busy but I enjoy it

 

What do your friends and family think of the job you do ?

They don’t have any problem with it because they know about my passion for any sport and they also know I will do what I want

 

What type of diet would you follow when you train ?

I need to keep high protein diet, it means I need to care of amount of proteins which I eat during the day for building my muscles and recovery too, I try to eat healthy, eat less amount of carbohydrates and some fat…a lot of meat, eggs, cottage cheese, yoghurt, fruit, vegetables, rice…

I have intolerance to gluten and lactose as well so I must keep to these diets too…

 

How did you get interested in the job you currently do ?

I saw advertisement on internet where they were looking for muscular strong women for wrestling shooting in Prague …I arranged interview and I liked it and then my friend from wrestling told me about possibility to do wrestling sessions and I created my profile and started with this job.

 

If you were not doing the job you are doing, what do you think you would be doing in life ?

When I was a child I wanted to be a professional athlete…

it was my dream,But unfortunately I didn’t choose right sports in the past in which I could become world champion and now i am very old for professional sport…for power lifting or strongman sport it is fine but problem is these sports are not Olympic so even if you are very good athlete you need still to pay your expenses like travels, hotels, sports nutrition etc and it costs a lot of money if you don’t have any sponsor…

Strongwoman sport is not popular here in Czech Republic so I don’t have any sponsor yet…maybe if I moved to UK or USA my situation would be different…So I love this sport and competitions but it costs really so much money…

 

To people who may not understand what you do, what would you say to them ?

I offer sessions where I can show you my power, I do arm wrestling, different types of wrestling- competitive, fantasy, posing, lifts and carry, muscle worship, i offer online coaching too- we can go together to the gym for training, I can help you with your diet, give you some advices how to loose, how to build muscle, how to be strong 

We can meet at special studio for wrestling or at the hotel, at the gym…

I can show you techniques from wrestling, some holds, scissors…

Some my clients prefer fantasy light wrestling and muscle worship and some want real competitive wrestling, arm wrestling, tests of strength like push ups etc

It is very different…

Sometimes I am just company to the restaurant, theatre…on holidays…

 

Lastly Barbara, What are your plans for the future ? Thank you for taking time out to chat to me…

I have one big goal for next year- Arnold Classic strongwoman Competition in Ohio Columbus next March 2020…I want to train hard and get some good result there

Next month I have competition in UAE in Dubai- also strongwoman…

I would like to get more clients in my sessions, i am also planning to moving abroad- i am considering UAE- Dubai…I want to work at the gym there like personal coach – i already have Certificate of bodybuilding and fitness coaching- and also to try to advertise strongwoman there and show people even muscular strong women can be sexy and girls dont have to be afraid of lifting weights at the gym….They will not look like men, trust me…it is not so easy

And in general, I want to live happy life, be surrounded positive nice friendly honest people and do what I love so continue in my competitions, trainings, building strength and muscles.

South Africa 2019 World Cup Champions

South Africa have won their third World Cup after a 32-12 win over England in Yokohama in this morning’s World Cup Final. Given that England had beaten New Zealand last Saturday 19-7 and South Africa saw off Wales in an arm wrestle last Sunday the widely held belief was that England would win if they played somewhere close to the way in which they did against New Zealand.

South Africa did not get that particular memo and went after England in the set piece where they had real dominance throughout the campaign and the loss of Kyle Sinkler was keenly felt after he left the field after 2 minutes after being knocked out with Dan Cole being asked to play the duration of the 80 minutes and as we have seen in the past 12 months England have used Kyle Sinkler and others for over 50 minutes at least before bringing in the “finishers” as Eddie Jones likes to call them.

This time though his plan went out the window as the strength of the South African 23 came out in force and from the moment Jerome Garces awarded the first scrum penalty to South Africa after Sinkler’s departure the writing seemed to be on the wall.

Similar to Steve Hansen last weekend I feel Jones could have sprung Ben Spencer from the bench early on in the game as I feel Ben Youngs had a poor day at the office, the Saracens pairing at half back might have been able to put England on the front foot but like most of these teams no real deviation from the tried and trusted.

South Africa for their part were of course beaten on the opening weekend by New Zealand but since that game they managed to use a very structured game plan with a six/two split on the bench for the rest of the tournament which meant they could strangle the life out of teams and finish off sides by utilising a full front five on the bench in the final stages of games.

Looking at the way in which South Africa played this morning is very reminiscent of the Erasmus/Nieneber coaching template that they worked on while in charge of Munster from June 2016 to December 2017. The defence system employed by South Africa worked very well for Munster although they did lose out in two Semi Finals in the Pro 14 and Champions Cup.

A word as well for ex Munster coach Felix Jones who took up a role with South Africa in the summer where he was an opposition analyst for them.

He was wanted by Erasmus as soon as he took on the head coach role but bided his time and saw out his contract with Munster and then turned down a new deal and when this chance came he took it with both hands, congrats to Felix and Aled Walters who both worked with Munster in recent seasons.

Well done to South Africa who now join New Zealand as three time winners of the World Cup, only England in 2003 managed to break the southern hemisphere dominance as the only northern hemisphere winner with Australia winning two in 1991 and 1999.

South Africa were winners in 1995, 2007 and 2019. Francois Steyn won his second winners medal this morning after winning his first in 2007 as a 20 year old. All eyes will now focus on France 2023 where South Africa will defend their crown but not before facing the British and Irish Lions in the summer of 2021.

For the northern hemisphere it is back to drawing board, having two of the semi finalists in England and Wales but still England could not match the intensity of last week to see them through. We were told by Eddie Jones this week that England could play better than they had done in defeating New Zealand but unfortunately for Mr Jones, all his planning and preparation since 2015 hasn’t counted for little, yes this experience will help the majority of this squad when 2023 rolls around but for the here and now they were beaten by a well drilled and disciplined South Africa side.

All roads now lead to France 2023, it’s the beginning of a new 4 year cycle for each team involved and for those hoping to be involved. It is also time World Rugby seriously to try and evolve the global appeal of the game but that’s for another day….