Daniela grew up in Portugal and moved to London when she was 19. She has competed numerous times, including coming fourth in last year’s WBFF.
In her own words…
I grew up in Portugal and moved to London when I was 19. I have been into fitness ever since I first visited Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and I was inspired by all the incredible bodies I saw. I was always a very skinny young girl and I struggled a lot to gain weight, so being surrounded by a lot of fit people really opened my eyes to what was possible with hard work and perseverance. I became a personal trainer and began taking my training seriously in 2012 when I did my first ever fitness competition, the Miami Pro in St. Albans where I entered the bikini class. I didn’t place, but the experience of the entire preparation and the actual day of the show was great, and motivated me to carry on making improvements and competing. I was lucky enough to be able to travel to the US in 2014 and compete in the World Championships in Las Vegas with the WBFF, where I placed in the top 10 for the first time. The last show I did was also with the WBFF, where I placed fourth in November 2015 in the Fitness Diva category. I train because I love training, I love making improvements to my body, getting stronger, and being able to inspire others to do the same. Typically I train every body part two or three times per week. I also train abs and cardio two or three times per week. For weight training I love to train with high intensity, low rest periods, lots of supersets and drop sets, and I tend to mix my rep ranges from anywhere between 6 to 20 reps. Basically, I tend to tear myself apart until I am barely able to walk out of the gym, especially if I am training with my training partner, who I swear gets a distinct pleasure in watching me limp out of the gym and to the car! For cardio I train HIIT style most of the time. Honestly, I just dislike long runs, and the weather where I live doesn’t exactly inspire me to go outside and hit the tarmac. I like cardio hard and fast, short and sweet. Sprints for short periods of 10-30 seconds with a 50-90 seconds rest in between for 6-10 sets is more than enough to get my metabolism fired up and my body fat down. My favourite supplement has to be L-Carnitine, I just notice I have more energy to train when I take it and it works wonders for my body fat. I also use Whey (of course!), and multivitamins and minerals to make sure I am getting an adequate intake of both. As far as diet goes, it varies depending on the time of the year, upcoming shows, and my current goals. Typically I have high intake of protein, and moderate carbs and fats. But the ratios and overall calories vary so much depending on what I am doing that I fear that if I start going into details I will take over your website with the plans. In summary though, when trying to gain strength or muscle, I tend to increase carbs, when I am trying to get into competition shape I tend to cut carbs right down, and include cycling towards the last few weeks of the diet. The type of foods I eat are usually natural sources, I don’t like additives in my food, and I cook everything from scratch, most of the time. A typical day will be made up of 5 to 6 meals, made up of a lean protein source like chicken, turkey, fish or beef, some carbs like brown rice, sweet potatoes, the odd bit of quinoa, oats, and occasionally some fruit. When I include fats, I get them from healthy sources such as avocados, nuts, coconut oil, olive oil, or eggs. And of course how could I possibly leave out chocolate… Really, who doesn’t love chocolate?! (Ok, this is rare, and never if prepping, but it’s been known to happen). When I train I like to include the use of my
Elite Body Squad bands to add an exercise variable. Bands are great for overloading a certain range of the strength curve, and therefore making an exercise completely different to what my body is used to just by introducing a band, and they are so easy to carry. I find that they are so effective at pushing my lifts through a plateau that I have also started using them with my clients. I also use the
Elite Body Squad yoga mat and
Swiss Ball, at home, or at the park if my dogs allow me! They are great for training abs, or stretching, and they save me a trip to the gym. My future goals are to gain more muscle, specifically in my glutes and legs. I love that solid leg look and I want to keep improving mine until people freak out when they see them, in a good way of course! They already call me quadzilla, so I’d like to think I’m doing something right. I am looking to open my own Studio Gym in London where I can train clients, myself, and of course allow other trainers to train their clients there too. I am always keen to learn more about the science of fitness and how to most effectively get better physically, whatever the sport, and I love being able to apply my knowledge to clients and their own specific goals to get them the results they want, so education is part of the plan too. Lastly, I will definitely be competing again in the near future and my goal is to get my Procard once and for all, so I can step on a stage with the best in the world, and get that amazing experience in front of a worldwide audience.
Follow Daniela on Instagram here