Surfer, bodybuilder, university professor: Meet Greece’s real-life Wonder Woman Alexandra Kolla
“Competitive surfer” is just one of many hats Kolla wears daily.
In addition to her surfing career, Kolla is also a professional bodybuilder and tenured university professor in theoretical computer science and quantum computing.
Kolla comes to the campus two to three times per week to give lectures. Outside of that, she does research work from her home office and surfs during the breaks – sometimes even with her students.
Bodybuilding competitions crop up several times per year in her calendar too. To be ready for them, and to stay fit in general, Kolla usually spends an hour in the gym, five days a week.
While her gym workouts are often gruelling, Kolla says they are the easy part of being a pro bodybuilder. The hard part is the diet. There are strict calorie counts, and the menu - chicken, rice, turkey, vegetables and oatmeal – can get repetitive.
Sticking to such a uniform, oil-free regime is even trickier when Kolla is travelling to surfing competitions, as was the case at the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games.
“The last time I was in El Salvador, I had a (bodybuilding) competition the week after or something,” Kolla said. “So I literally cooked all my food, froze it, put it in a backpack, brought it here, and microwaved my meals all the time.”
Fortunately for Kolla, that strict diet is only necessary during competition season, and she usually tries to pack all her bodybuilding events into a two-month timeframe.
While surfing is her main focus, she has seen progress in her bodybuilding results recently too. In May, she got her best pro placing yet when she finished fourth at the IFBB Professional Miami Pro – Masters Bikini.
Dashing between beaches, gyms, and lecture halls, Kolla has a packed schedule that could keep three people well occupied. Still, she has no plans to cut anything out of it.
“Surfing, I'm never going to drop. It's my lifestyle,” Kolla said. “My job pays the bills, so I don't want to drop it either. Bodybuilding, I feel like I get bored at the gym without having a goal, and I know the gym is necessary at older age to be an athlete. So instead of just going to the gym, I happen to connect it with bodybuilding competitions.”
