She’s big, she’s bold, she’s beautiful - and she’s a bodybuilder. Liza Reichenberger aka “Herculiza” is coming to the 2009 Pro Natural U.S. Cup on September 26 in Sacramento.
At 49, she is the reigning 2008 WNBF Natural Universe Champion with a host of other titles under her belt since she began competing in bodybuilding in the 1980s including overall winner of the 2004 Musclemania World Championships, WNBF World Heavyweight Champion in 2005, WNBF Pro International Heavyweight Champion in 2007, and WNBF Universe runner-up in 2007. Now she is ready to take on all comers at the Pro Natural U.S. Cup.
The 5’8” and sturdily-built Reichenberger was never the typical girlie-girl growing up, even though she tried to be. “I was a dancer in ballet and jazz from 6-16 yrs of age, dancing 'en pointe' (toe-shoes) for 3 years. I also was on a swim team, the 'Park Stockdale Piranhas' from age 11-15,” says Liza. 
“As a child, I used to cry (alone, later) when my parents’ friends would pat me on the head and say, ‘she's built like a real little locomotive, isn't she!?!’ In ballet I wanted to look like a gazelle, but usually ended up playing the male role lifting the other girls over my head since we were short of boys in our little local ballet company in Bakersfield. I felt more like a rhino.”
Bodybuilding proved to be her salvation. “I went into bodybuilding because all my friends said I should,” explains Liza, “because of the way I was built. But before lifting a single dumbbell, I had already entered several arm-wrestling contests in local college nightclubs, where I won cases of beer for myself and my friends! “ It might be said that the proverbial writing was on the wall.
College was the University of Oklahoma at Norman, but it was not without its challenges. “A huge turning moment that launched me into wanting to compete” says Liza, “was when I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'Conan the Barbarian.’ I just KNEW I could ride bareback and swing a sword over my head better than the blonde co-star in the movie. Being an action-adventure movie heroine was my new ambition, and my college grades plummeted! “ Still, she would eventually earn her BS in Geology.
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From the beginning, Liza resisted the temptation to use performance enhancing drugs. “I never chose the synthetic route because, although I wanted to be muscular, I also wanted to be feminine and sexy. I was terrified of voice changes and other virilization side effects that I saw among fellow female athletes who used drugs. Being natural was a no-brainer for me.”
As it turned out, Liza was ahead of her time even without drugs. Her natural muscularity was too much for the general public to accept at the time, so she gave up her movie ambitions and decided to hit the books again to seek a second college degree. She would go on to earn her Masters in Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta and now works as a Physician’s Assistant and partner at Joint Options Medical Group in Redwood City, California.
Her competitive instincts and her natural physical attributes eventually lured her back into fitness modeling and bodybuilding even without the support of her family. “My parents and family have never supported my bodybuilding career. They felt that I attracted the wrong sort of men, and thought my fitness modeling was sordid and embarrassing,” says Liza. However, after recently relocating to California, Liza has found her element.
“I was stuck in the Midwest and South for 33 years and finally feel at home here in California...great husband and in-laws - all Sacramento residents and all supportive of my bodybuilding. For the first time in my life, I will have a large family group at the show!!!” Liza and her husband, Patrick, were married the day after her victory at the 2008 WNBF Universe on the beach at sunset on Grand Cayman Island, and they share four children between them – Liza’s son Conan, 11; and Patrick’s children Melissa, 12, Marc, 14, and Cameron, 5. They now live in San Mateo, California, where “our blended family works well,” says Liza. .jpg)
Her new family is already finding out that “mom” is not only a top natural bodybuilder and fitness model, but a woman of many talents and interesting pastimes. She is an avid scuba enthusiast, enjoys making silver and gemstone bead jewelry, is a whitewater adrenaline junkie, loves to travel to exotic places, and loves seeing the world from the back of a big rumbling motorcycle.
Liza’s family probably also knows by now that her favorite movie is – no surprise – “Gladiator.” They also know that –like the protagonist Maximus Decimus Meridius – she will be prepared to take on all comers in the Pro Natural Cup where the stage will be her arena and the crowd will be crazed to see if Herculiza can slay the pretenders once again.
Strength and honor.
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