Monica Brant (born October 26, 1970) is an IFBB professional figure competitor and a former fitness competitor. Brant won the 1998 Ms. Fitness Olympia. She first appeared on the cover of Muscle & Fitness in November 1994 and has according to her website has appeared on over 100 international magazine covers.
She was born in Fort Hood, Texas and raised on a 20-acre (81,000 m2) 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, Missouri, 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.
She was born in Fort Hood, Texas and raised on a 20-acre (81,000 m2) 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, Missouri, 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.
