Sheila R. Bleck (born October 14, 1974) is an American retired professional

female bodybuilder Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It began in the late 1970s, when women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions.

Early life and education

Bleck was born in

Coos Bay Coos Bay is an estuary where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, the estuary is approximately 12 miles long and up to two miles wide. It is the largest estuary completely within Oregon state lines. The Coos Bay watershed covers an area of abou ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, along with her

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

sister, Sherry. Their mother, Rebecca, was young and unmarried, and they never knew their father. Bleck has spoken of the abuse she and her sister suffered at the hands of babysitters between the ages of three and five years old. Eventually, Bleck's working mother asked the twins' grandmother to step in and take care of them. In 1992, Sheila, who describes herself as having always been athletic, graduated from

North Bend High School North Bend High School is a public high school in North Bend, Oregon, United States. History The North Bend school district awarded its first four-year diplomas in the spring of 1908, the first high school in Coos County, Oregon, to do so. The sch ...

.Sheila Bleck Stage Choreography
/ref>

Bodybuilding career

Amateur

At the age of twelve, Bleck's mother bought her and her sister their first weight bench. She cites actor

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

's character

Rocky Balboa Robert "Rocky" Balboa (also known by his ring name The Italian Stallion), is a fictional title character and the protagonist of the ''Rocky'' film series. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who has also portrayed him in all eigh ...

and the Incredible Hulk as her early inspirations. Bleck, by that time a modern dancer, would not begin lifting seriously until the age of 16, when she joined a powerlifting. Her first trainer was Jake Grabow of Better Builds Gym, from whom she received an education on eating and posing. Not long after high school graduation, Bleck started competing as a bodybuilder. In 2008, in winning the NPC Nationals, she obtained her IFBB pro card.

Professional

In 2009, John Romano became Bleck's prep coach for her pro career, although her current prep coach is

Dave Palumbo David Christopher Palumbo (born February 17, 1968) is a retired American bodybuilder. He competed in his first bodybuilding competition in 1990, an NPC national competition in New York City, where he placed 6th place weighing in at 168 lbs. In ...

. In 2010, she came in a close second at her first professional competition, the 2010 New York Pro. She lost to

Cathy LeFrançois ''Cathy'' is an American gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Cathy Guisewite from 1976 until 2010. The comic follows Cathy, a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life—food, love, family, and work. The strip gently pokes ...

by just one point. Since 2010, she has been in the top six of every professional bodybuilding competition in which she has competed, with the exception of the 2014 Ms. Olympia. At the 2016 Rising Phoenix World Championships, Bleck came in 2nd place overall and won the Best Poser Award.

Contest history

* 1993 Bill Pearl Classic - 2nd (HW) * 1995 Oregon Coast Champ - 1st (HW) * 1998 Oregon State Champ - 1st (HW) * 1999 Oregon State Champ - 1st (HW) * 2000 Oregon State Champ - 1st * 2000 Emerald Cup 2000 - 1st * 2000 USAs Nationals - 16th * 2002 Contra Costa - 1st * 2003 Nationals - 6th (HW) * 2005 National - 11th * 2006 USAs Nationals - 3rd * 2006 Nationals - 3rd * 2007 USAs Nationals - 2nd * 2008 Nationals - 1st * 2010 IFBB New York Pro - 2nd * 2010 IFBB Ms. Olympia - 4th * 2011 IFBB Ms. Olympia - 6th * 2012 IFBB Tampa Pro - 2nd and Best Poser Award * 2012 IFBB Ms. Olympia - 6th * 2014 IFBB Tampa Pro - 1st and Best Poser Award * 2014 IFBB Ms. Olympia - 7th * 2016 IFBB Tampa Pro - 1st * 2016 IFBB Rising Phoenix World Championships – 2nd and Best Poser Award * 2017 IFBB Tampa Pro - 1st * 2017 IFBB WOS Rising Phoenix World Championships – 2nd and Best Poser Award * 2018 IFBB WOS Rising Phoenix World Championships – 3rd

Personal life

Bleck currently resides in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. Her sister Sherry started boxing competitively at age 19 and did so for six years with the USA Amateur Boxing Association. She fought as a welterweight and had an undefeated 10–0 career. Sherry has also competed in amateur bodybuilding three times (2004, 2005 and 2007) and took two overall titles and one 2nd place. They remain close to this day.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bleck, Sheila 1974 births American expatriates in Sweden American female bodybuilders Living people People from Coos Bay, Oregon Professional bodybuilders Sportspeople from Oregon Sportspeople from Stockholm Sportspeople from Tampa, Florida 21st-century American women