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COVER GIRL MUSCLE


Fitness competitor and model Jelena Abbou continues her march toward the world of mainstream modeling, keeping her devotion to her physique in tow

By Mark Thorpe | Photos by Ian Spanier

The provincialism of small-town Austria could nurture and guide Arnold, but it couldn't contain his unbridled determination. Today, the story that began in Graz could conceivably end in a bid for the presidency of the United States.

Following a similar storyline but working with a slightly different economy of scale, Serbia's Jelena Abbou is making her own run for fame and fortune. In 1993, a little more than 30 years after Arnold entered the cramped grotto of Graz's only weight room with visions of Reg propelling him through set after set, Jelena stepped into a similarly spare gym in Serbia, where only the devoted dare tread. She was 16 and the first woman in her town to frequent the place.

Jelena's Reg Park was Cory Everson, one of the most recognized and successful female bodybuilders in the history of the sport. Jelena came across a photo of Cory in an old issue of Muscle & Fitness, and to an active but skinny kid from Gornji Milanovac, whose only experience with organized sports was impromptu track meets with friends, the full, muscular look was appealing.

When she showed up at the gym for the first time, however, Jelena had no idea how to train, so she went to the owner for guidance. "I wasn't doing any specific workouts," she says. "Whatever he was doing, I was doing." Jelena eventually learned enough from reading whatever she could find on weight training to devise her own routines.

She's the first to admit that her workouts were pretty rudimentary; nevertheless, by the time Jelena was 18, she was training other people. "Whatever I was doing, from the articles I found in magazines, I would give to my clients to do," she says, returning the same favor she had received years earlier.

Although Cory's physique was the impetus behind her drive to work out, Jelena wasn't filling out like the bodybuilding icon. She knew eating protein was necessary for muscle growth, but her understanding of exercise nutrition was very limited, and she rarely ate more than three meals a day. Supplements were for the most part unavailable.

She worked hard, but her training never reached the intensity level necessary to take her body beyond the skinny-but-strong stage. Still, she trained consistently until 1997, when she was 20 years old.

That year, with the war with Bosnia ravaging much of Serbia and the economy struggling, Jelena thought about moving to the States. A friend who had relocated and gotten married encouraged her to visit, just to see what it was like. "I wasn't planning to stay.

I just wanted to see what the big deal was about America," Jelena says. Most of her ideas about the country came from movies, which left her with one indelible impression: Everything here was big and beautiful.

She landed in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and despite the state's tendency to end up at the hind end of less-than-flattering jokes, Jelena was captivated. She was 20, with little money and even less English, but she was ready to make her move. "I thought: Let me just try to live here. I can always go back home if it doesn't work."

THE BIG, THE BEAUTIFUL

Jelena settled in Fort Lee initially before making Hackensack, New Jersey, her permanent home. She found work as a waitress in a bakery and signed up at a local gym within walking distance of her house.

Conquering the figure stage wasn't her immediate goal, in part because the competitive division hadn't been created yet and partly because she was simply focused on getting her footing in America. Her original impression of the U.S. was confirmed by her first trip to the gym: It was huge, with far more training options than she was used to. She admits it was a little overwhelming.

Nevertheless, by 2001 Jelena had overcome her initial misgivings and was preparing to compete in her first figure show, the NPC Women's Extra-vaganza. During her three-plus years in the country she had filled out substantially, taking her physique from her self-proclaimed "skinny fat" to seriously muscled. With access to the latest information on weight training and nutrition, she learned to lift heavy and to eat more protein as well as more frequently throughout the day.

For her first show, Jelena basically flew by the seat of her pants. "I didn't know what kind of suit I needed, what I had to do onstage, nothing," she says. She bought one- and two-piece swimsuits off the rack at a local store and learned about the quarter-turn requirement about an hour before going onstage. For the most part, she watched what the other girls did and mimicked them. "It wasn't that bad," she says.

"I got fifth."

A year later she was a full-time personal trainer, along with her soon-to-be husband Marko Abbou, and making steady strides in the figure world. As she watched the new sport grow, she felt the trend in the NPC was for bigger girls, so she switched to the WNBF, where a softer look prevailed. Yet after she won that organization's biggest show, the World Pro Natural Figure competition in 2004, she decided to try the NPC again.

Although Jelena felt she was too small to compete, she never received any feedback from the judges that was critical of her size, and at the 2006 Team Universe in New York City, she won her pro card. "I don't think they go for size anymore," she says. "It's more conditioning, symmetry and overall shape."

Whatever the trend is today, Jelena's right in the middle of it. Not only is she an IFBB figure pro, but she's also one of the more successful fitness models in the industry. She has been inside or on the cover of most of the major bodybuilding magazines, and has been in a number of infomericals and commercials as well. "I've covered most of the fitness arena, so I'm trying to move toward mainstream modeling," she says. "That's my goal, to be successful in modeling and still be able to compete."

The main obstacle is her size. Most people in mainstream modeling think she's too big to make a serious mark. Then again, Jelena knows history is full of crossover successes. And besides, this is America, where the best things are big and beautiful.

SNAPSHOT - JELENA ABBOU
Birthdate: April 2, 1977
Birthplace: Gornji Milanovac, Serbia
Current Residence: Hackensack, New Jersey
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 118 pounds
Family Status: Married to Marko
Career Highlights: 2007: Atlantic City Pro Figure, 7th; Team Universe Pro Figure, 7th.
2006: Team Universe, 2nd (earned pro card)
To Contact: jelenafit.net

>> For Jelena's arm-training routine, click here.

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