WOMEN’S BODYBUILDING: RACHEL PECORARO
Recent Accomplishment: Baltimore Gladiator Championships 1st Heavyweight
Age 30
Height 5’5
Contest Weight 136
Residence Glen Burnie, Maryland
Contest History 2013 Baltimore Gladiator Championships 1st Heavyweight; MuscleMax Championships 1st Heavyweight
GETTING INTO IT I played Little League baseball and ran cross country and track in high school. In college I started weight training and getting into lifting. Because I’m a federal police officer, I maintained my fitness through that and then last year decided I wanted to compete.
DANGEROUS LADY “I just switched federal agencies, so now I work for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. I am a Control Tactics Instructor – basically I am teaching tactics to in-service police officers and agents. Shooter response, hand-to-hand combat, self defense and physical fitness.”
ALL-DAY CARDIO “As a police officer, I would get up at 3:30, get to work by 4:30 and get an hour of cardio in before my shift started at 6. Then during the day my patrol consisted of riding a bike around the White House area, responding to things that happened or just protecting the White House complex. When my shift ended at 2, I would go home, change and then do another hour of cardio and get my lift in. So I was basically doing cardio all day!”
DON’T MESS WITH ME “Having a background in strength and having that ‘Don’t Mess With Me’ look definitely helps with the job. We wear polo shirts, so I roll my sleeves up so my biceps show more than everybody else. So yeah, people notice. That’s the fun part! If you show up and have command presence, obviously that makes a big difference. The last thing you want it so show up as a small officer when you’re trying to deal with somebody.”
CHOOSING BODYBUILDING “I originally wanted to compete in physique but my lat spread was so big my coach talked me into switching to bodybuilding. I already had the muscle mass, so it was either lose some muscle to compete in physique or grow a little bit and have fun with it rather than give up the size I worked hard to put on over the years. “
