About myself
English Name Allen Wen
Birth Name Sheng-Chun Wen  
Birth date 16 June
Age 27
Born in Tao-Yuang, Taiwan now living in Bloemfontein, South Africa
Attended Grey College in Bloemfontein and matriculated in 2000 went on to complete Tertiatry education at UFS.
Currently employed in Thaba Nchu, Dr JS Moroka Hospital as a Medical Officer, as well as a Fitness Instructor at Virgin Active Gym, Bloemfontein
My other interests include card games where I have represented the South Africa Team in two previous occasions. I have also been previously selected for the South Africa University Team for chess. I have also obtained my provincial colors in table tennis. 



My background in this sport
I have always been a gym fanatic, and like many guys, wanted to have washboard abs and great physique like those models in the fitness magazine or even Men’s Health. This triggered my interest to step into a world of fitness and it was in Medical school that I completed my international fitness instructor’s license in 2005.
I had no intention at all in bodybuilding at first, but it was during an encounter with an ex-pro bodybuilder, who told me that I have a gifted body structure, and that I should consider the sport. I decided to give it a try.
I started competing in bodybuilding in 2007, and ever since stepping to my 1st novice show at the IFBB Novice SA Bodybuilding Championships, where I placed 6th in the under 65kg division, I was hooked. At the time I did not know much about this sport; I merely did anything and tried everything that anyone told me! It was in the same year that I qualified to compete in the WPF SA Championships.

ABOUT MYSELF
NAME: Charmaine Linda Howell
DATE OF BIRTH: 8th July 1970
AGE 39

Born in South Africa and proud to be South African.
I matriculated from Hill High School and then went on to work and study at same time.
I qualified with BCompt Honours through UNISA and moved towards General Management.
I worked my way up from an admin clerk to eventually being managing director and was then approached by Sunrider International to open and head Sunrider South Africa. Sunrider helps people start there own Franchise business with healthy natural foods, beverages and beauty products, that helps cleanse and balance the body through the philosophy of regeneration.

I was Managing Director of Sunrider South Africa for the past 10 and half years, so earlier this year I resigned so I could join my husband to focus and grow our own recently opened personal training studio called TEAM CHAZ and continue to follow my dreams of helping other people by transforming their bodies, boosting there self confidence and improving their lives.

Now in 2009 I will be back to compete myself and I am also excited to be trying something new in the Fame Shows.
My Husband and I have taken over WPF Gauteng and will be hosting the Gauteng provincials and the SA Championships for 2009. I am excited because I am bringing a whole new group of people and new talent to the shows this year to help grow the sport. We are a team and I am proud to have them on my side.

It is my passion to help people achieve balance their lives that lead to the creation of our private gym and personal training studio called Team Chaz. Here we assist people to achieve there dreams and boost their self confidence by changing there lifestyles. We guarantee results if people stick to the eating plan and give us 100% in there training.
Please visit our website to see what all we do.  www.teamchaz.co.za.

My MOTTO is as follows: quitters never win and winners never quit SO JUST DO IT AND NEVER GIVE UP. Your mind limits you… not your body. I’ll give you 300% if you just give me 100%.
What is better than pain?......... RESULTS!!!!

LENEL LE ROUX

Did you have any obstacles, like bad cravings or days when you didn't fell like going to gym?
Yes but it’s all about challenging yourself!!!!  DON’T MOAN AND DON’T MAKE EXCUSES. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO, SO GET ON AND DO IT.  LIFE IS SHORT, SO STAY FOCUSED TRAIN INTENSELY AND WISELY.

How long were you training for before you decided to compete in fitness pageants?
9 months from my before to my 1st miss bikini comp.
And then from bikini i went to Figure 2008 was my 1st year for figure and it was a great Year
1st in Free-state then 1st in South-Africa and then 2nd Miss Universe 2008.

What has been your motivation through everything?
My Family keeps me motivated.  I surround myself with people who love life and live life to its fullest.
I learnt that if i did my ultimate best on the first exercise and then focused on doing my very best on the next exercise and continued to do the same with each workout, my strength increased and my mental approach improved.  That’s when it all became so much more of a CHALLENGE, simply because in order to get through as much and the best you can do, you need to practice the “mind-muscle connection”

Do you set yourself goals? Yip, setting goals and then working towards these goals and achieving them!

 Have you done anything out of the ordinary to stay on track and meet your goals.
No, my mentality has changed from dieting to living a healthy lifestyle

Anything else you would like to add?

Enjoy life! Always remember to set your goals according to what YOU want!!
I AM a firm believer in concept of ATTITUDE and GRATITUDE!!
ATTITUDE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN SKILL,TALENT, EXPERIENCE OR PERCEPTION – TOWARDS YOUSELF AND TOWARDS OTHERS.
As a woman it is imperative to remember to have the right attitude from the onset you need to be in control of who you are because you cannot always control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude.  In doing so, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.
Give thanks for everything that happens to you, know that each step towards achieving something bigger and better than what you have right now.

How did I get into bodybuilding?
I was always athletic and into sports at school.
I was chosen as a prefect and received my honours blazer for sports and still hold some school records to date. I ran cross country, did Athletics and played netball.
I continued playing netball after leaving school and was chosen to represent South Africa in the Springbok under 21team.
Then Due to a knee injury where I tore three quarters of my AC Ligament and was told I would never run or play any sport again unless I had a repair knee op and even then maybe there would be a 50/50 chance that I could play sport again.
I refused the repair op and ended up just removing the ¾ of the ligament that was damaged.
It was at this time that I reconnected with an old friend of the family and well known personal trainer, Beaulah Strydom.
Beaulah, who was a Miss Universe previously herself, used to train my step dad several years before and we got working hard on rehabilitating the knee.
So here I am 10 years later, competing, running & training without ¾ of my AC ligament.

In 2001 I started training in the gym.
In 2002 I won IFBB provincials and came 3rd in the South African Championships.
In 2003 I won IFBB provincials and South African Championships and placed in top 15th at the world Championships in Spain.
In 2004 had a year off from competing.
In 2005 I won IFBB provincials and the South African Championships. I also won WPF provincials and the South African Championships and I placed 2nd at the WPF World Championships in France.
In 2006 I won IFBB provincials and the South African Championships
In 2007 I Placed 2nd in the Muscle Evolution show and 2nd in the IFBB SA Championships and I won WPF Provincials and the South African Championships and place 2nd in the WPF world Championships in South Africa.
In 2008 I took a year off to open my personal training business and focused on helping others get on the stage and the following happened.

• Vicki took first place IFBB provincials and SA Championships
• Amanda took second place in same line up for IFBB Provincials and SA Championships
• Paul took first place in WPF provincials and SA Championships
• Lisa took second place in WPF SA Championships
• Brenda won Fame provincials and won body beautiful and received a pro card for Fame and placed 3rd at nationals.
• Susan place 2nd at Fame provincials
• Jonaid won Fame provincials and got pro card for fame.
• Rialette won provincials for IFBB novice and took 3rd in the IFBB SA novice champs
• George placed 3rd in WPF Boksburg show
  

KEY TO WINNING
This is a lifestyle not just part time just before competition to try get ready. Also if you can remain consistent you have to improve. I am always trying to better myself and do not get on stage if I have not improved my physic from the previous year. My key to winning is in having a strong support team.
Most important I have GOD on my side and with him noting is impossible.
I always say I have the best team as I have my husband and many loyal supporters of family and friends who stand behind me and give 300% to help me achieve my goals.

What advice can you give to any woman who wants to transform her life and get a better physique?
Set goals for yourself and working towards your goals!!!!! To stay focused all the time!!!!!
THE SOONER YOU REALISE THAT THIS IS YOUR LIFE, AND YOU WIL NEVER GET ANOTHER CHANCE AT IT, YOU HAVE TAKEN YOUR FIRST STEP. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE THAT ARE POSITIVE AND HAVE THE SAME PHYSIQUE DRIVEN GOALS. WHATEVER LEVEL YOU ARE RIGHT NOW,SET THE NEXT GOAL AND DON’T STOP YOU HAVE THE POWER WITHIN YOU TO DO WHATEVER YOU WISH.  BE INSPIRED ABD GET MOTIVATED BY THE FACT THAT YOU ARE GOING TO LOOK THE BEST YOU HAVE EVER LOOKED.

What diet and training program did you follow to get into shape?
 AFTER ALL, YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. JUST A HEALTHY EATING PLAN FOR THE FIRST 6MONTHS. MY TRAINING SCHEDULE CONSISTS OF A FIVE DAYS A WEEK,CARDIO WORKOUTS AND WEIGHTS. MY BEST DIETING TIP IS THAT “NOTHING TASTES AS WELL AS THIN FEELS!”

How long did it take you to reach your goals? And how long did it take for you to get from great Fitness shape into the competitive shape you presented on stage at WPF?
9 months from my before to my 1st miss bikini comp.
And then from bikini i went to Figure 2008 was my 1st year for figure and it was a great Year
1st in Free-state then 1st in South-Africa and then 2nd Miss Universe 2008.

NAME: Ronnie Ronald Koen
DATE OF BIRTH: 6TH July 1968
AGE: 41

Born in South Africa (Paravlei at home) and proud to be SA. I matriculated from Kliptown High School (the only student writing & passing Maths Higher grade) and then went on to study at RAU B Compt Acc to become a CA (I never become one, but I’m a qualified Internal Auditor). Finished my degree at RAU and did my B Compt Hons at UNISA. I then went and did my article with PriceWaterHouse and finished in 1996. Started my first real job out of articles with Nedcor as a Junior Manager, went on to be Audit Manager, work for Discovery, Gauteng Provincial Government helping them to established an Internal Audit Unit, which is still existing, De Beers as Audit Mine Manager and currently at ABSA as a specialist in Management Assurance.

HOW DID I GET INTO BODYBUILDING?
As I mention I was tutoring Maths while at Varsity and one of the guys I was helping was starting off with bodybuilding and I show how his body changed and he dare me to just train with him and see if my brains can stick to training. I train for 1day and could not move a muscle the next day. I said that morning that that evening I’m not going back (we were doing the Joe Weider training principle where we train the whole body in one night and we did not have all the right & light weights). This guy killed me that day. But come 3 o’clock and I was back in the yard of one of our friends. I trained for 8 years and only after that, 10 years later I have been competing (total of 18 years). The first 2 days I could not even was my face without hurting. Every muscle in my body was paining, I could hardly sleep. The truth was literally “no pain no gain” and my friend really wanted to kill me, but I hang in there as there is one saying that I learned early in my schoolboy years ‘Winners don’t quit and Quitters never win”. That week at Varsity people were commenting about how my body is changing.



That my chest was growing big. I enjoy the attention when people were staring at me. I started to train at the Varsity’s gym and later become the bodybuilding instructor because when people join the gym there was no one to show them what to do. So when ever someone started they would be informed that they can contact Ronnie, who will show them what to do. I started to train in the morning and also in the afternoon. Next to my studies building my body become the 2nd most focus point in my life. I live, spoke and dreamt building my body (You can see I mention building my body as I could at that point not call me a bodybuilder. I believe you are not a bodybuilder unless you have diet and stick to that diet and then walk onto the stage to compete) I know a lot will not agree with me on this statement. I would go as far as to cancel a date if it was going to interfere with my training time. I always used to train on my own as my partners could not keep up with my training style.

The amazing things about bodybuilding is that those years, especially my year 1989, bodybuilders (these where the guys I met at RAU gym) would not share their knowing on what they knew about bodybuilding. At that time RAU was still 95% white and my group was the 3rd group or year that non-whites was allowed to study at RAU.I was bless in that sense that the gym for all students was R50 for the year and I had excess to the internet at the Library. The Library became my best friend. This is where I read about the big games, made copies of their programs and diets. Through trail and error I learned what was working for my body.

I left training for a period of 3 years while I was doing article and part time studying. I got divorced in 1996 and decided then to go back to the gym. I started training with my 1st partner Richard Handsford for 2 years and it was him who inspired me to compete. I was bitten by the competing bug in 1997. I have been competing ever since.
I was an IFBB judge from 2004 until 2008. I’m currently an executive member of WPF.

I’m sponsored by EVOX since 2007 and they have been great to me. The product is one of the best on the market.

Last year when I was selected by WPF to represent SA I hooked up with TEAM CHAZ; Costas help me with my posing and preparation for Worlds.
This year Charmaine Howell took me under her wing and changed my diet and my physique. I am in the best shape and have never looked better. Thanks TEAM!. TEAM CHAZ provides Personal training, Specialising in: Body Shaping & Fitness, Weight Loss or Gain, Strength training and Sports conditioning. As well as, competitive bodybuilding, nutrition & supplementation and posing. They can be contacted on 082-467-0347 or info@teamchaz.co.za . Go to www.teamchaz.co.za for more details.

I have won the following overall titles at either WPF or IFBB:
WPF:
Mr Vaal
Mr Springs
Mr Millennium
Mr West Rand
Gauteng Central Provincials 2008 and 6 at Mr Worlds

IFBB:
Mr Egoli
Mr Edenvale

Regards
Ronnie RonMan KoenMan

I need to mention that I do believe that you have to go out there and make things happen for you. The reason why I said this is because I was never registered because I was born at home and my parents did not worry about me been registered. I was though reading at the age of 5 and could write as well. I did not go to school at the tender age of 6. I decided that I also wanted to attend school when I was 9 years old and went and enrolled myself into the school. I was looking after myself from a tender age. It was at this point that I decided that I would make something of my life. My father never went to school hence he could not write nor read. My mom (God bless her soul) left school in std 5. I was the 1st in our family to matriculate. My elder sister later went back to night school to complete her std 10. She is currently busy with her doctorate in education.

I did a lot of tutoring of Maths and Accounting in my own time when I was at school and University, this was for free and my way of giving back to our community.