THE POWER WITHIN
From new motherhood to world stages, bodybuilding champion Dani Archer shows what happens when you refuse to give up.
All the signs suggested Dani Archer should give up on her bodybuilding dream. The first competition she entered was cancelled due to the first COVID-19 lockdown, so she got back into it a year later only to be thwarted again by the 2021 lockdown.
In 2022, pregnancy shifted her focus entirely. When her son Mason reached the toddler phase, the Pāpāmoa mum decided to return to training. But she’d barely begun when disaster struck. Poor wee Mason fractured his femur, pulling her away from her training and seeing her spend more time at the hospital than at the gym.
For many of us, this laundry list of setbacks would have seen us abandoning the dream. Instead, Dani focused on the one positive sign that came her way during this time, tenuous as it may have been.
“When the New Zealand Bodybuilding show was announced, I thought, ‘It’s a sign, I’ve got to do it!” she laughs. So, she did.
Competing in the Fitness division, it was Dani’s first time onstage, and nerves got the better of her.
“I was really nervous when I stepped on stage,” she admits. “I had no idea what I was doing because it was all really new.”
Again, rather than focusing on the nerves, she looked for the positive, viewing the New Zealand competition as a warm-up to the FMG World Championships, which were being held on Australia’s Gold Coast. There, it was a different story, where she performed with confidence, winning her Pro Card in Bikini Athletics and the Fitness division.
“I burst into tears,” she recalls of the moment they called her name onstage as the winner and awarded her the coveted Pro Card. “Getting that was on my vision board from the start of the year.”
This achievement marked her transition from amateur to professional bodybuilder and was the culmination of a five-year journey and triumph over all of those obstacles. But, for Dani, it’s another beginning.
“The Pro Card means you’ve met the standard for the division. Essentially, I hit the boxes for what they were looking for in a Bikini Athletic athlete,” she explains. “What it means now is I have a lot of work to do. I was at the top of the amateur, and now I'm coming in at the bottom of the pro level. Some of these women have been pros for years, and the muscle on them is insane. It's phenomenal. It’s inspiring.”
Dani got interested in the sport shortly after beginning Cross Fit training, and female bodybuilders began popping up on her social feeds. She began following various athletes and found herself drawn in and wanting to participate.
“Bikini Athletic is quite different compared to your stereotypical bodybuilding,” she says, of what drew her to it. “It’s nice tans, you’re not orange, and you’ve got your hair and make-up done. You’re not holding strange poses on the stage and you get to wear nice sparkly bikinis.”
Dani grew up dancing, so the competitive nature of the sport also appealed, she says, adding, “I really enjoyed stepping back into that competitive mode.”. She didn’t know anyone training for the same competition here, so she began reaching out to the athletes she was following as a way in and to get that connection to the sport she was growing to love.
“I developed this mentality in my prep of ‘All they can say is ‘no’. If they don't reply, I'm still where I was, but there’s a chance they might reply and then I can move forward’,” she says. “I know it can be hard putting yourself out there, but don’t be afraid to reach out.”
She found the local community welcoming and supportive in encouraging the then-newbie into the ranks.
“I connected with a whole lot of girls around New Zealand who are competing, and it was great getting to the comp and finally meeting them because we’re messaging all the time and cheering each other on,” she smiles. “If someone’s having a bad day, you lift them back up. There’s that real connection and support there.”
Dani credits the support of her family, husband Dwayne and son Mason, with much of her success.
The world champion bodybuilder and mother also runs her own education business, Study Nook, which provides structured literacy and maths lessons for students with learning needs. She credits her focus and discipline from competition prep with helping her manage the demands of both her business and family life effectively.
She’s excited to be starting her Pro career, but for Dani, the real victory has been much more personal.
“I feel like I’ve regained my confidence in myself,” she says. “You lose that a little bit when becoming a mum, and I definitely lost myself postpartum. Now, I feel like I’ve found myself again.”
Then she smiles and says, “You can be a parent, and you can still be you.”
