Meral Ertunc-Super Trainer is Super Fit at age 47

Meral Ertunc has been the cover person for the Parrillo Performance Press on three separate occasions: in 1994 Meral first graced the PPP cover and created a sensation amongst our readers. Her unique combination of muscle, symmetry and sultry looks made her a standout amongst standouts. Her second cover appearance occurred in September of 2006 and again she was sensational, displaying curves, muscle, leanness and perfect proportionality.

The issue you are currently reading marks her third appearance. Meral Ertunc is a longtime fitness professional and owner of a wildly successful private personal training facility, Bodylines by Meral, located in Orlando, Florida. The diminutive Ertunc

stands 5 foot 2 inches and was born in Turkey. She has been successfully renovating clients for decades. “I am proud to say that some of my clients have been with me for fifteen years. I train all ages and all types; my youngest member is fourteen and my oldest member is a youthful 85.” Successful fitness professionals understand that in order to survive and prosper you have to obtain real results for regular people and do so on a consistent basis. Anyone can lure in new business, but few are able to provide members what it is that drove them to join a fitness facility to begin with: significant physical improvement, i.e., a radical decrease in body fat and a dramatic increase in lean muscle mass.

“I have been able to consistently generate significant results for all types of clients. To obtain results for different people with completely different wants and needs, I think it comes down to this: everyone is the same at a certain basic physiological level – yet everyone is totally different.” Asked to amplify on this seemingly contradictory thought, Meral offered an answer that was both general and specific. “Everyone is the same in that each person needs to engage in some form of resistance training and some form of cardiovascular training. Each person needs to practice a regimented approach towards diet and nutrition. Everyone is different in that background, personal circumstance, available time, physical limitations and ability mean that everyone needs and deserves a customized training and nutrition program – one that takes into account personal
differences.” Meral not only talks the talk, she walks the walk. At age 47 she is “in the best shape of my life.” This is saying something because “back in the day” Meral was a card-carrying IFBB professional and one of America’s finest female bodybuilders. Ms. Ertunc was so genetically predisposed towards bodybuilding that she captured the Virginia State NPC title after only six months of weight training. “I was such a neophyte,” Meral remembers, “I knew nothing about bodybuilding or training or nutrition; yet my genetics and a bit of elementary dieting allowed me to capture a really big title in my first competition.” As a result of her auspicious initial outing, Meral fell in with a crew of “real bodybuilders.” She got her facts straight about “real training and real nutrition.”

It was no coincidence that when she began training and preparing with this squad of topflight competitive bodybuilders (in the Washington DC area) she was introduced to Parrillo Performance Products. “I have been using Parrillo products since 1991 and since then not a single day has gone by where I have not used one or another of John’s amazing products. I am more enthused about Parrillo Products now than I was back when I was competing.” Within a year of becoming a competitive bodybuilder, Ms. Ertunc shot to the top of the national female bodybuilding scene. She captured the Washington DC IFBB Grand Prix event, took a controversial third place at the NPC Junior Nationals in 1991, and seemed on her way to IFBB superstardom when a freak accident temporarily derailed her bodybuilding career. “In 1992 I was preparing to audition for the then popular American Gladiator TV Show. I took a nasty tumble riding my mountain bike and broke my elbow.” The indomitable mighty mite was forced to take a year off and rehabbed and reconditioned her broken elbow. She reentered the competitive arena with a vengeance and won the nation’s toughest amateur bodybuilding competition: the NPC National Championships. “It was shocking and exhilarating to come off a potentially career-ending injury and win the biggest amateur competition in the country.” She secured one of her ultimate bodybuilding goals: an IFBB Pro Card. Meral went on to compete in top competitions including Ms. Olympia and the Jan Tana and Arnold Classic. Unfortunately for the uber-feminine Meral, women’s bodybuilding was undergoing an identity crisis, one that plagues it to this day: competitors became ultra-masculine. Meral noted wistfully, “I didn’t leave competitive bodybuilding, it left me.”

While Meral got better with every show, her look was decidedly feminine, natural, proportioned and dare we say sexy. The hard masculine look that was favored by the judges meant Meral Ertunc was SOL. The age of the grotesquely muscular female bodybuilder had arrived and while the judges were ignoring Meral, the public was going crazy for the exotic Turk. “I was modeling clothes and in high demand; each year I would sell completely out of my posters at the annual Daytona Bike week. The public loved my look while the judges were favoring women with 16 inch arms.” Meral moved to Florida in 1992. Initially she was “just visiting” and the plan was to immerse herself in bodybuilding for the NPC show then move back to DC. “I was living in suburban Washington DC when I decided to take a sabbatical and go to Florida for three full months prior to the NPC Nationals. I wanted to ‘hibernate,’ to dedicate myself completely to preparing for the NPC show. I told myself that this was a learning experience and that if I could place in the top five I would be ecstatic. I ended up winning and turning pro. I decided to relocate to Florida and soon was traveling the world competing. Turning pro caused me to take my physique and my approach to the next level. Pro bodybuilding taught me willpower, preparation tactics, fine tuning and the meaning of real work and real dieting. I learned a whole lot in a very short period of time and the whole professional bodybuilding experience provided me with knowledge and expertise that I still use to this day.”

Unfortunately in 1996 Meral contracted cancer. “I was in the best shape of my life. I won the nationals weighing 114 and then added size to compete as a pro weighing a full 126 pounds. I was in rock hard and ripped condition. I was on my way to Turkey to put on an exhibition when I was diagnosed and had surgery almost immediately.” Her world was turned upside down. “Suddenly I was no longer worried about contest preparation and judging standards, I was worried about life and death.” Thankfully she has been cancer-free for the past fourteen years. “The bout with cancer served as a demarcation point: my life up until the cancer and my life post-cancer.” Fast forward to 2010 and Meral is as sexy and lean and muscular as ever. “In a lot of ways, I am in the best shape of my life at age 47.” One glance at the photos accompanying this article leads one to believe that when Ms. Ertunc relocated to Florida she must have discovered the Fountain of Youth that Ponce de Leon fruitlessly searched for back in 1505. Meral currently weighs 115 pounds of pure muscle carrying an honest 11% body fat percentile. “People are shocked and amazed when they find out I am 47. I feel as if I am in my twenties. I owe it all to bodybuilding and the bodybuilding lifestyle.” To demonstrate just how youthful she looks, acts and feels, this past
November, on a whim, Meral entered a 13.1 mile half marathon. “I was in Miami visiting and saw that there was going to be a half-marathon road race. I decided to enter despite not having trained for it. I averaged 8:44 minutes per mile for 13.1 consecutive miles. I did fantastic, finishing ahead of lots of men. Inside the race packet I found a magazine called SoBeFit. The magazine was running a competition called ‘The Fittest Person of the Year.’ I decided to enter.”

Meral had to fill out a three page questionnaire that delved into her background, her credentials and her knowledge about health, fitness and all things related. In addition she had to send along a picture. Out of 3,000 initial entrants the magazine whittled the contestants down to the top 500. Meral made the initial cut and months went by and she forgot about the contest. “Out of the blue I received a phone call informing me that I was being considered for the finals.” Thirty men and women were gathered together and put through a “brutal workout” overseen by the SoBeFit judges. The judges found it incomprehensible that someone could be so fit and so good looking approaching age 50. Had the judges alone been the final arbiters Meral likely would have won. The judge’s scores were tallied and that accounted for half of the final score. The magazine readers were allowed to vote online for the second half of the final tally. “All the other competitors were in their twenties. I was thrilled to make the final cut and end up in the top twelve.” The winner was announced at a red carpet event sponsored by SoBeFit. A slew of celebrities attended. “It was thrilling to attend the finale. I was glad I had entered and happy that I did so well.” Meral feels that the main reason she looks so good at her age is her ‘take no prisoners’ approach towards training: “I train hard and I train all the time.” She follows a disciplined, Parrillo-based approach towards nutrition and supplementation. “John Parrillo is a genius and his products are the absolute best available anywhere. I use them and I insist my clients use them.”

Meral is a skilled cook that loves preparing delicious “diet foods.” She mixes commonsense food prep with an eye towards infusing diet foods with terrific taste. “If you hate eating diet foods then it is just a matter of time before you quit.” It is no coincidence that Meral has a kitchen in her training studio. “I spend a lot of time showing clients how to prepare great tasting foods. Once they are empowered with the ability to make meals, meals that they genuinely enjoy eating, results occur rapidly.” Meral uses Parrillo nutritional strategies on each and every client. “My approach is pure Parrillo; eat multiple balanced meals throughout the day; each meal should contain a serving of lean protein, some fiber carbs in the form of green vegetables and a small serving of starchy carbs. In between food meals I urge clients to consume Parrillo supplements.” Meral has her clients maintain a food log. She periodically takes a Parrillo BodyStat reading to determine the effectiveness of the training and eating. “I create grocery lists of acceptable foods and have sample meal plans based on caloric intake.” Meral doesn’t want clients to improvise. “Nutrition is 90% of the battle and my Parrillo-influenced methods work; the last thing they need is modification.” Meral has been so successful at renovating clients that she is extremely selective about who she will work with. “I will turn down a new client if I feel they are less than 100% committed to ‘the process.’ I am only interested in working with sincere individuals that are ready, willing and able to completely commit to the practices and procedures that I use; procedures that work every single time they are properly implemented.” Meral Ertunc cranks out renovated physiques with the regularity of an auto assembly line. Any client that stumbles into Body by Meral seeking assistance is lucky beyond belief. “I love what I do and I remain passionate about helping others help themselves.”

Meral’s Training Split

Monday: legs, shoulders, biceps, abdominals and calves

Tuesday: legs and abdominals

Wednesday: legs, back and biceps

Thursday: repeat Monday

Friday: repeat Tuesday

Saturday: repeat Wednesday

Sunday: off

For lower body exercises, I do 20-30 reps and for upper body exercises I do 20 reps.

Cardio: I love cardio. On Monday I like to take a five to six mile run. On Tuesday I ride my spin bike for 60 to 75 minutes. On Wednesday I will run again, this time stretching to six to eight miles. On Thursday and Friday I will Spin for 45-60 minutes. Saturday I will take a long run of eight to ten miles or cycle for 50 to 60 miles. Sunday is my rest and recovery day.

Meral’s Daily Meal Schedule

Meal 1  7:00am: Egg white Omelet, 100 grams of potato or ½ cup Oats

Meal 2 9:30am: Parrillo Cup Cake^™

Meal 3  11:00am: Tofu 200 grams, 3 cups mixed veggies, 1½ cups cooked multigrain rice

Meal 4  1:30pm: Parrillo Chew Bar^™

Meal 5  3:30pm: 2 cups of salad, 125 grams of chicken, 1 cup of cooked rice

Meal 6 6:00pm: Repeat meal 5 except protein is 150 grams of Tilapia

Meal 7 8:30pm: Egg white omelet made with lots of veggies

Meal 8  10:00pm: Parrillo Ice Kreem^™, 1 cup