Monica Brant - Figure and Fitness Competitor

Full Name: Monica Brant-Peckham
Birthday: October 26
Place of Birth: Ft. Hood, Texas
Current state of Residence: Texas
Occupation: Fitness competitor, Figure competitor, personal trainer, and fitness model.
Marital Status: Married.
Height: 5'4"
Weight (In Season): 127-130 lbs. (Off-Season):135-130 lbs.
Eye Color: Hazel
Hair Color: Blonde (recently turned brown with blonde highlights)

Monica Brant (born October 26, 1970) is an IFBB professional figure competitor and a former fitness competitor.

Originally born in Ft. Hood, Texas and raised on a 20 acre ranch in a small town outside of San Antonio called Castroville. Her mother is a professional horse training business and Monica started learning how to help her around the stables, riding and showing ponies and horses since the age of 5. By the time she was 14, she was giving riding lessons and training horses on her own with occasional advice from her mom. Along with volleyball and track in high school, she competed in many events: Western Pleasure, barrels and pole bending, English Pleasure, dressage, and Hunter/Jumper.

After Monica graduated, her love of horses took her to a fine arts college in Fulton, MO, where she studied basics and equestrian science for her first year. Unable to return for further studies in Missouri, Brant took classes at San Antonio College in Texas, and gave riding lessons at nearby stables. She also did promotional work for Budweiser, waitressed, and competed in bikini contests for extra funds.

In 1991, Monica started lifting weights with a friend and saw a photo of Marla Duncan winning a national competition. Her beauty and physique impressed her enough that she wanted to try what she was doing - Fitness Competitions. Up until 1995 she only competed for fun, not as a money making career. In 1994 she was honored with a Muscle & Fitness cover. This helped Monica realize that she had potential to earn some actual money in the fitness industry. She kept competing and in April of '95 moved to the Los Angeles area. Once she arrived, Brant dove into what would become her career and competed in the IFBB organization two to three times per year.

After competing four times, in 1998, she won her first and only Fitness Olympia and made number 45 on covers of magazines, books, and calendars worldwide. Brant says that she had a wonderful time traveling across the country and internationally, and have met some really incredible people everywhere. After placing second twice after her 1998 victory, Monica retired from fitness competition citing the demand on gymnastics in order to win were too great for her.

Monica returned to competition in 2003 with the announcement that figure competition would be part of the sport of bodybuilding.

Brant's training consists of simple compound movements with mostly free weights (she rarely uses cable exercises); she also rarely uses machines. She focuses on her shoulders, Back, and legs when it comes to weight training and limits the time on training her Chest and Arms. She typically trains between 4 and 6 days a week in the off-season.

Contest history
1991 Fitness USA Preliminary 1st
1991 Ms. National Fitness 14th
1993 Fitness USA Preliminary 6th
1994 Fitness USA Preliminary 1st
1994 Ms. National Fitness 6th
1995 Fitness USA Nationals 9th
1995 IFBB Jan Tana Pro Fitness 1st
1995 IFBB Fitness Olympia 7th
1996 Fitness International 2nd
1996 IFBB Fitness Olympia 7th
1996 IFBB Night Of Champions 4th
1996 IFBB Jan Tana Pro Fitness 2nd
1998 IFBB Fitness Olympia 1st
1999 IFBB Ms. Fitness Olympia 4th
2003 Figure International - 2nd
2003 Figure Olympia - 2nd
2003 Show of Strength Pro Championship, Figure - 2nd
2004 Figure International - 2nd
2004 Figure Olympia - 3rd
2005 Figure International - 2nd
2005 Figure Olympia - 3rd
2005 Sacramento Pro Championships, Figure - 3rd
2005 San Francisco Pro Championships, Figure - 2nd
2006 Figure International - 2nd
2006 Figure Olympia - 3rd