Anja's book Body Flex-Body Magic is a great resource for women who want the ultimate fit figure. Proper uses and combinations of weight training, cross training, nutrition, stretching and various forms of aerobics are at the core of Langer's personal fitness program. This book is perfect for beginners yet covers advanced techniques all the way to Contest Bodybuilding making this a great choice for women at any level.

Highlights include:

• Reducing the bodies fat stores with ease

• Building up selected skinny body parts

• Achieving full-body flexibility

• Training and eating during pregnancy

Read her Feature on the left to learn more about her life and get comments from her about her book.

In November, 2005 three of the top German female bodybuilders from the Golden Days of German Bodybuilding met for a reunion in South Beach, Florida. Top to bottom- Sunny Steurer, Anja Langer and Connie Ploesser. Sunny Steurer now resides in Florida where she runs a Body Management Company. Sunny picked up Anja from the airport in Ft. Lauderdale and said Anja still looked incredibly good. They talked about the past, present and future as they chatted, joking and giggling on the beach. The two had traveled to South Beach to meet with Connie Ploesser another female bodybuilder from Germany. Steurer is a 1990 Ms. Olympia finalist.

Anja Langer a "German Angel"

Born in June of 1965, Langer grew up in Southern Germany where she acquired a fascination for nature. Her family owned two horses. She learned to ride and entered competitions. She was also involved in gymnastics, diving and jazz dance as a child. At 15, a friend introduced her to bodybuilding. She was the only girl in the gym and had impressed the boys with her strength. Within a year Langer had entered her first competition. The frequency of her workouts increased. The importance of nutrition and dieting became a major influence on her training as she worked to learn all she could.

Prior to turning 18, Langer secretly trained for competition against her parents wishes. Her positive attitude, enthusiasm and competitive spirit drove her to continue. Graphic Arts was her major in school. Anja continued to train and compete all through school. When she completed school, she decided to dedicate herself full-time to bodybuilding. She took fourth in the German Championship in 1983, World Champion in Australia in 1985, won both the German and European Championships in 1986. In 1987, she won second place in the IFBB Pro World Championship in Toronto. Then, in 1988 she took second place in the Ms. Olympia Contest in New York. It was Langer's goal to take the title of the Ms. Olympia contest in 1990. There was a turn of events in her life.

Motherhood was Anja's next role. Her son Elija, born in 1991, changed her life. She set aside bodybuilding and in 1991 worked with Bill Reynolds to write her book Body Flex-Body Magic. It was released in 1992 in the United States.

Since that time, Anja worked as a stage performer, gym owner and personal trainer. She took on the role as a spokesperson for bodybuilding in 2000. Today, she writes articles and appears on magazine covers to promote a positive attitude towards the sport of bodybuilding.

Langer's book BodyFlex-Body Magic was written with Bill Reynolds then editor of Flex Magazine(1992). Bill passed away about the time the book was released. He had put a lot of work into the book. It was his belief (which he said to Anja) that up until that time no real comprehensive workout book of quality had been done by a female bodybuilder. The unfortunate timing of Bill's death left the book without someone to advertise the book in the United States where it was released. Anja was in Germany focused on motherhood when the book came out. As a result, Body Flex-Body Magic did not have the success it should have had.

Anja is continuously getting positive responses to the quality and content of the book. She feels Bill would have been proud of the product and responses from the readers.

Bill Reynolds referred to Ms. Langer as a "German Angel" in his book Sliced which he wrote with Negrita Jayde in 1991. He made the following comment about Anja Langer in that book. "A relative newcomer to the sport, Germany's Anja Langer has rocketed from obscurity to superstardom in record time. At 20, she was European Champion and at 22 placed second in Ms. Olympia. Her dorsal muscularity is unforgettable."

I asked Anja if the content of her book still holds true for her today. She said, "I think it is a quality product, much to the thanks of Bill. Certainly, science in fitness and health has improved since that time, but I would leave most of the book as it is; I would maybe add a little more on health and fitness for mothers; i.e. how to balance a busy schedule of motherhood with staying in shape. Raising children just takes so much time and energy that it is hard to do anything else. Just staying in shape is hard enough, and this is also were I will be placing my focus in the future: to be a good role model as an athlete who is a mother at the same time. Moms are such a neglected target group in the fitness/exercise world, with little credit given to all those mothers that manage to stay in good shape."

Anja had hinted to me that she was not happy with the current sport of bodybuilding with women. I asked her to comment. Her reply, "Yes, I am not satisfied. In today's female pro-bodybuilding, the competitions are focused primarily on mass and muscularity. With the excessive aspects of these criteria taking center stage, grace, poise, stage presence and all those other things that initially made the sport so attractive have lost out to the desires of those that want to see the extreme on display. Sadly to say, this is how it is in many things of today's world. The drawback to female bodybuilding is that it creates an ever-increasing gap between the average woman who is bodybuilding to look good and stay in shape and the pro-athletes. The end result is that very few of these competitors are able to serve as role-models to the mainstream public. Nevertheless, my dissatisfaction is not intended to discredit the hard work and dedication of these athletes. As a former competitor, I truly do respect their incredible accomplishments."

Anja, what is your current involvement with bodybuilding and fitness? Her reply was "Currently, I am getting back into shape in order to present myself as a role model for moms over 40 that want to be or get into shape. Most importantly, I am doing it while I balance it with motherhood. This will help demonstrate that it can be done if the individual incorporates it into part of her daily life, and should be obtainable for women of all walks of life. I am also a personal trainer, and I have plans to move more into the rehab aspects of personal training; i.e. for older people or children with disabilities."

If you'd like to visit her website click here.

©2006 Whetstone-Media LLC

1988 Ms. Olympia Contest DVD including Anja Langer. Anja is also on the 1987 Ms. Olympia Contest DVD.

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