Constable Shane Gordon (left) and Constable Michelle Hellyer took out top spots at the national bodybuilding competition.
Constable Shane Gordon (left) and Constable Michelle Hellyer took out top spots at the national bodybuilding competition.
You would think settling into a career as a new cop and taking up a new role in the tactical response team would be enough of a challenge for a Hawke’s Bay policing couple.
But the pair have also spent the past year training and competing in natural bodybuilding competitions, here and in Australia.
Constable Shane Gordon and Constable Michelle Hellyer have a stack of gold medals to show for it.
Hellyer is just over a year into her policing career, while Gordon has been with the police force for nearly eight years and recently joined a tactical dog team.
Hellyer has always loved CrossFit, competing at national level on several occasions, but found it difficult to get to classes with shift work. The change to bodybuilding made sense as she could fit her training around her work.
Constables Shane Gordon (left) and Michelle Hellyer at Police College.
“My personal trainer had been in my ear for a while to give bodybuilding a go and then I met Shane, so I thought why not,” she said.
The police constable hasn’t looked back, taking out top honours in her first competition in Hawke’s Bay and then going on to win the national title, as well as gain her professional card.
Gordon, a member of the Hawke’s Bay Armed Offenders Squad (AOS), has been bodybuilding and power lifting for 13 years, and recently discovered natural bodybuilding competitions in New Zealand, for which competitors must be 100 per cent drug- and substance-free.
Gordon’s road to the nationals was a little rocky after tearing a bicep tendon and requiring emergency surgery 16 weeks out from the competition, but he still took out the Hawke’s Bay and national titles and gained his professional card.
The police constable also won the overall men’s physique and men’s bodybuilding titles at the Australasian Armed Forces/Emergency Services Championships in Brisbane.
The couple started training for the local and national events just as Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke’s Bay in 2023, with both facing long shifts and difficulty getting the food they needed.
“There was so much cake being delivered to the police stations from the public after the cyclone - we just had to walk away from it!” Gordon said.
Food continued to be an obstacle for Gordon, as a month out from his national competition he was deployed with the AOS to Gisborne after a gang shooting in the town.
He said: “I wasn’t sure what food I would be able to get and what cooking facilities I had, so I took two kilos of cooked chicken with me”.
On an average day while training for the bodybuilding competition Gordon is often eating seven meals a day, so would take three or four meals with him to have while on shift.
Bodybuilding is an incredibly disciplined sport, with everything from your food and water intake to your sleep being tracked.
Both Hellyer and Gordon admit they’ve taken a container of their own food to social occasions to ensure they stay on track.
In the last couple of weeks before a competition, the pair shed weight, so the diet becomes incredibly lean - which can be tough, especially for a police officer.
“You really need to manage your energy levels,” Gordon explained.
“Your BAS [Body Armour System] scrapes against your skin, you can’t handle the cold and you even lose fat on the bottom of your feet, so even standing and walking becomes uncomfortable,” he said.
Hellyer agrees that those periods are tough.
“My team are amazingly supportive but those final weeks are hard work, so I often take a couple of weeks off prior to a big competition,” she said.
While the road to success has been tough, the pair love the challenge and the results.
“It is the ultimate test of discipline, but to see your body changing is fascinating,” Gordon said.
With the pair now “professionals”, their next goal is competing at the world championships in Canberra in October. In the meantime, they’re enjoying the off-season with less training and more food.
