Katja Ylisiurua sees that persistent myths still live in the discussion around fitness sports.
Editor of Yle Katja Ylisiurua, 30, will compete in bikini fitness for the first time this fall. On Saturday, he took the stage at the Nordic Cup in Lahti. There was already a rookie race in Hämeenlinna. On Sunday, the SM competitions will be added to the list.
– Saturday’s race already went much better than the newcomers’ race. Thanks to the competition routine, there was a relaxed feeling on stage. It felt really nice, he says.
Ylisiurua considered competing already in 2016, but she left the game because she didn’t feel good on the diet.
– It had a health problem since the wisdom teeth. I decided it wouldn’t be terribly smart to compete.
This time everything went well. It’s been overkill for a year now Jari “Bull” Mentulan in coaching.
Katja Ylisiurua says that appearing in politics helps a lot on fitness stages. Tommi Mankki / NFE
– The cooperation has worked well. As a person, Jari is warm and family-oriented and an entrepreneur like me.
– Everything was done sensibly. I didn’t train 20 times a week and eat three pieces of broccoli, but the goal was to be able to compete, but my everyday life revolves sensibly.
In addition to entrepreneurship, there is plenty to do in Ylisiurua’s everyday life. He works as a journalist full-time and makes Abitreen for Yle, where high school students are trained for the matriculation exams knowledgeably, skillfully and mentally. The website also has old yo-yo tests with answers. The package includes, for example, two live broadcasting seasons per year and extensive social media content production.
Ylisiurua also works as a Kirkkonummi municipal councilor, a party councilor and was a candidate for the Left Alliance in the parliamentary elections.
As an entrepreneur, he trains associations and organizations in the use of social media and makes podcasts.
– There is a lot of small business and sole entrepreneurship in the Left Alliance, he says.
“Physics was pretty rubbish”
This is how Katja Ylisiurua’s bikini fitness got tighter between the rookie competition at the beginning of September and the Nordic Fitness Expo at the beginning of October. Katja Ylisiurua’s Instagram
Ylisiurua has no sports background from his youth. At the beginning of the 2010s, he first got excited about group coaching with their boom and fitness sports, when he won tickets to a seminar where the stars of the sport were speaking.
After an aborted race attempt in 2016, Ylisiurua became a mother. The mother of a now four-year-old child says that her condition has been steadily improving since the first year of her baby.
During the diet that started in April, the weight has dropped by 13 kilos.
– The baby year was such that I didn’t sleep terribly and my physique was a bit of a wreck, but the direction has been upward all the time. First I built the base and went from there. Only now at the end of the competition diet has there been a bit of fatigue.
He says that the experience has been very helpful for performing.
– Especially the experience has come through politics, when I was a candidate in the parliamentary elections. I don’t hesitate anymore, even if someone criticizes, so this has been easy for me.
On Saturday, Katja Ylisiurua competed in the Nordic Cup in bikini fitness. He did not place in the top six in his height category. Tommi Mankki / NFE
– If I had gone to compete seven years ago, I would have thought much more about how I looked. Now I know I’m doing this thing for myself and as a hobby, although of course you hope to look better in every race. It’s the kind of training that suits you best in terms of look, diet and training.
Ylsiurua plans to continue competing. The purpose is to change wellness to fitness, which is a more formative sport.
– I plan for the growing season to last 2–3 years. I’m already a bit big for bikini fitness. I don’t want to outgrow my current set.
Persistent myths
It is sad to see that persistent myths still exist in the discussion around fitness sports.
– For example, many may wonder how a left-winger can practice such a sport. There is still a persistent myth that bikini fitness is just a sport for appearance, but in reality, the sport requires a lot of self-discipline and control of your everyday life, as well as mental skills, so that you can go on stage and enjoy it.
– It is also important to remember that there is no rush to compete. First, let’s go to coaching and build a foundation in peace. And if you are, for example, a family mother in your thirties, no one will judge you, even if you go to a race and have a bit of a belly sausage. This is a hobby like any other.