SINGAPORE – On April 26, 2025, Ms Mayda Jutahkiti stood backstage at Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre, in a sequinned red bikini on five-inch heels, her well-honed muscles gleaming under spray-tanned skin.
She had practised her bodybuilding poses to perfection over the last four months with her coach. But performing under the bright stage lights and in front of an audience was quite another thing.
“When they called my name and I first stepped on the stage, my legs turned to jelly,” she says, recalling how she walked onstage mincingly to avoid falling.
Ms Jutahkiti was not just a first-timer in the women’s bikini novice category at the Physique & Muscle War 2025 bodybuilding competition.
At age 50, the mother of two was 21 years older than her only competitor, aged 29, who went on to win in the category. She was also the only competitor in the women’s bikini masters 40+ category.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the female participants in Physique & Muscle War were aged below 35, says Ms Sabrina Ang, chief executive of Fitness Movement, which has been holding fitness modelling and bodybuilding competitions for the past 11 years.
Since 2023, she has seen a few participants above age 40, including a 60-year-old. 2025’s event had four registered female entrants across all age categories.
As more midlife women are now working out, Ms Ang hopes to see “significant growth” in the event in the next two to three years.
Ms Jutahkiti’s bodybuilding journey grew out of her frustrations with the sudden and inexplicable changes she experienced in 2023, including brain fog, mood swings, low energy, disrupted sleep and anxiety.
“It was frustrating because I’d always been able to push through challenges, but this felt different – like I was losing control of my own body and emotions, to the point where I was suffering from anxiety and mild depression,” says the managing director of public relations firm Elliot & Co.
Ms Jutahkiti takes her surname from her Thai father, who is now a Singaporean.
After much research, she realised she was experiencing perimenopause, the sometimes tumultuous transition years before a woman’s periods stop completely.
Strength training kept coming up in her research as one of the best ways to manage her physical and mental symptoms, so the former casual gym user started hitting the weights regularly.
Ms Mayda Jutahkiti says her bodybuilding journey modelled resilience, discipline and self-belief to her two children, aged 18 and 23. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
She also joined an online programme by The Wonder Women, a US-based coaching firm specialising in midlife women.
Buoyed by the results she saw in her changing physique and mental well-being, she marked her 50th birthday in August 2024 with a bikini photo shoot.
“Strength training gave me focus, structure and a renewed sense of purpose. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was regaining control – not just of my body, but also of my identity,” she says.
Ms Mayda Jutahkiti at her first bodybuilding competition, Fitness Movement’s Physique & Muscle War 2025, in April. PHOTO: FITNESS MOVEMENT
Why not join a competition, her friends suggested. That piqued her curiosity and gave her a goal to work towards. She chose the April contest as it was a local event and suited her schedule.
Ms Jutahkiti started what bodybuilders call the “prep” stage in mid-January 2025 just before Chinese New Year, which proved to be “quite tough and rigorous”, she recalls.
Bodybuilders go through a bulking or “build” phase, where they put on muscle, followed by a “cut” phase, where they exercise and go on a careful diet to lose fat without losing too much muscle. It is the cut phase that allows the muscles to become more defined for competition.
In addition to her existing 60-minute, five-times-a-week strength training regimen, she added low-intensity cardio, which at one point amounted to 70 minutes daily.
A typical meal for her then comprised about 120g of either chicken breast or barramundi (usually air-fried), 80g of cooked zucchini or spinach, and either sweet potatoes or white rice of between 50g and 100g, depending on her carbohydrate allowance for that day.
Her company’s flexible work arrangements allowed her to fit in her training before or after work, or during pockets of free time.
As a midlifer, Ms Jutahkiti had to work harder to build muscle, make sure she had adequate recovery and forgo social outings because of her strict diet.
“Mentally, there’s that self-doubt too. It’s not very common for women to be bodybuilding. In the gym, people would ask me: ‘Why are you working so hard? Women don’t need to build muscle’,” she says.
Her daughter, aged 22, who is studying in an Australian university, put her doubts and worries to rest.
“She said: ‘You have to wear a bikini. Otherwise, how are you going to show off the muscles and all the hard work you have put in?’ My kids understood that it was not a flesh parade,” she says.
Her husband, aged 52, who works in logistics, and their son, aged 18, lent their moral support through the tough training months and cheered her on during the event.
“My son said after the event: ‘Congratulations, mum. I know it wasn’t easy’,” Ms Jutahkiti recalls.
With the encouragement of her coach and family, she has registered for a bigger competition in Johor Bahru in two weeks’ time for the experience, since she is still in peak physical condition.
Ms Jutahkiti says her bodybuilding journey has helped her model resilience, discipline and self-belief to her children.
“If I practise self-love and self-care, and I can overcome perimenopause and feel good about myself, I am demonstrating something to my kids as well as becoming a better mum because I’m physically, mentally and emotionally in a better state,” she says.
- Stephanie Yeo is senior correspondent at The Straits Times’ Life section.
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