CANADIAN PHYSIQUE ALLIANCE July/August SUMMER ISSUE | Page 60

"Blessed"
After seeing the women she was competing
against, Sagadraca said she was surprised to
win.
"It's very unexpected for me," she says. "I'm
just so blessed."
The judges told her that she has the right
face and a proportional body. On top of
that, her confidence showed.
"So if you go to that stage and be confident
... even if you have a nice body if you don't
know how to actually show it to the judges
... you won't get any points."
Sagadraca performed a routine on stage for
judges. She wore heels and a sparkly
turquoise bikini.
Elle Joyce Sagadraca works out at the Iqaluit
Aquatic Centre gym twice a day, seven days a
week.
She gets up at 6:45 in the morning and does
45 minutes on the stair machine, goes to work
at her job with the government of Nunavut,
then goes back to the gym after work for a bit
more cardio and weights.
All this work helped Sagadraca earn the
confidence — and get into the shape — that
allowed her to win in two categories at the
2019 Cobourg Naturals bodybuilding
competition in Cobourg, Ontario this past
weekend.
She won a gold and silver medal in two bikini
competitions. 
"I do live in the gym," she says, "sometimes I'm
just like, 'I should just bring my luggage here.'"
She follows a strict diet of vegetables and
meat, and works online with a coach out of
Toronto.
"It's my passion"
Sagadraca discovered her passion for
bodybuilding after moving with her family
from the Philippines to Iqaluit four years
ago, when she was in high school.
She started to gain weight.
"It was like, 'Oh there are so many foods.' So
I just kept eating and then like some people
were like, 'Yeah, you're getting big.'"
Sagadraca started working out when she
went to St. Lawrence college in Kingston,
Ontario three years ago. She realized some
people workout to compete, and Sagadraca
said she liked the idea of being motivated by
competition.
Now, it's not just a hobby for her. "I love
what I do," she says. "It's my passion."