Ariel Khadr is now a two-time international fitness champion. Khadr arrived in Columbus, OH ready to defend her title, and she would be the woman alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger at the end of the night. She joined Isabelle Turell on a recent episode of The Fit Rockstar Show to talk about what it feels like to be a two-time champion.
“I just soak it all up. I don’t take it for granted,” she told Turell. “Every minute of that, I’m grateful for.”
The New York native started her fitness life doing both gymnastics and judo. His parents were huge bodybuilding fans, which might be the connection that led Khadr to start competing.
“They started taking me to bodybuilding shows back when it was just bodybuilding and fitness, and fitness, kind of like how Bikini now has 40 girls there. There were so many girls in Fitness.
Khadr was competing competitively as a teenager, and she was actually at one point the youngest IFBB Pro ever, having won her professional card at the age of 16. She was a professional athlete before she started driving.
“I didn’t even have my license. I was so focused on it that I only cared about getting my pro card at the time.
Khadr would graduate from high school and go on to college, but she was also rising through the ranks of her division. She eventually became one of the top contenders for the Fitness Olympia. Khadr was one of the favorites to win in 2022, but the title went to Missy Truscott. Khadr finished third. Many athletes would have taken the time to decompress and regroup, but she returned to work for the Arnold competition.
“I guess I really dug deep. As soon as I got home, I was literally on my laptop editing music, and I did that that day when I got home, and did my routine afterwards the Olympia because I was so hungry to do an amazing routine.
Now, Khadr will be considered a top contender for the 2023 Fitness Olympia, but she’ll have to defeat Truscott along with three-time winner Whitney Jones and the rest of the pack to claim the title. To see the full interview with Khadr as well as every new episode of The Fit Rockstar Show, subscribe to the Olympia TV YouTube channel.
