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The metallic sound of weights breaks the morning silence. In a corner of the gym, a woman moves with precision, focused, repeating each exercise as if each rep held something more at stake than just the body itself. Andean music plays in her headphones. Outside, the European climate imposes its cold, orderly rhythm. Inside, the memory of Peru beats strong.
Yeny Bal was born in Arequipa, grew up among volcanoes, traditions, and deep roots. But today, from Europe, she has built a new life where motherhood, discipline, and sport intertwine with an identity that is non-negotiable.
She is a mother, a migrant, and a bodybuilder. But above all, she is a woman who has learned to stand on her own.
This is Yeny Bal’s story.
Between Weights and Memories: A Strength Born in Peru
Being born in Arequipa is not just a geographical location; it is a way of seeing the world. Yeny grew up sheltered by the imposing presence of the volcanoes, especially El Misti, always present, the clean air, and the feeling that the world was vast, yet attainable. From a young age, Yeny developed a quiet curiosity, a need to go further, to discover what lay beyond the known.
Her childhood was marked by a close-knit family, where values were not taught through speeches but through actions. Solidarity, respect, and perseverance were not abstract concepts but daily practices. To accompany, to help, to share. In that environment, she learned that strength can also be silent.
That blend of deep roots and the desire to move forward built a firm identity. One that would later allow her to adapt without losing herself.
The Guide Who Stood Up to a Tourist to Defend Her Ancestors
Before bodybuilding, before Europe, Yeny was a tour guide in the Colca Canyon. Her job was not just moving tourists from one point to another. It was explaining Peru, making them feel it. And, when necessary, defending it.
One time she saw a visitor take a deformed skull from a pre-Inca tomb and put a cigarette in its mouth, laughing. She exploded. She gave him a lesson in front of the other twenty tourists. They all apologized. He acknowledged his mistake as something he would never forget. That moment reinforced her connection to her roots and her ancestors.
That scene — a small woman standing up to a foreigner to defend the memory of her people — is the best picture of who Yeny Bal was before sport found her.
From the Andes to the Heart of Europe: The Leap into the Unknown
When Yeny was working at a travel agency in Arequipa, a Dutch guy walked through the door asking about the Colonial Tour. He wanted to practice Spanish, get to know the city. She looked at him and thought something she would never say out loud: “Wow, what would a baby with those eyes look like…” He was there for a short time, practicing Spanish as part of the team. Little by little, he started getting closer to her, and one day he invited her to the movies. Her bosses nudged Yeny like someone giving a loving push of encouragement: “Go on, live a little.” One even explained to her that if he put his arm around her shoulder, she shouldn’t be scared. “It’s normal,” she said. “That’s how they are.” And that’s how, with that invitation, a new chapter in Yeny’s life began: one full of love and companionship.
The movie night arrived. The film was playing. He put his arm around her shoulder, looked at her, and kissed her. At that exact moment, the earth literally trembled. A real earthquake, yes, the kind you see on the news. All of Arequipa ran out screaming. Everyone. Absolutely everyone. Except them. They stayed embraced in their seats while she could only think: “What a kiss.”
– That day I understood that some love stories begin in the most unexpected and magical way – Yeny tells us.
Leaving Peru to Be Reborn: The Leap of a Migrant Who Didn’t Know She Would Be an Athlete
Europe appeared as an opportunity, and Switzerland was her first destination. Living there was a transformative experience that taught her to adapt to a new and diverse environment, to value organization, punctuality, and discipline. Little by little she learned to balance her Peruvian roots with new ways of thinking and living, combining tradition and modernity in her daily life.
In Switzerland she began her new life as an athlete, running two hours a day. Until her body said enough. At the gym, a French woman approached her and told her she had motivation and consistency, that she should try bodybuilding. Yeny knew nothing about it, but she said yes.
That is where her love for bodybuilding was born, a path that taught her discipline, perseverance, and strength of will, while keeping her connection to her Peruvian roots alive. Leaving Peru made her grow in independence and organization, balancing her life as a woman and a mom, proving that roots are not lost when you expand into new worlds.
Ten Times on Stage, Four Countries, and a Promise Kept
Bodybuilding did not arrive as a plan. It appeared gradually, almost as a natural extension of her discipline. First came sport, movement, the need to stay active. Then, the gym became a more serious space.
Her first competition was brutal — she came from a Catholic family with taboos, she’s 150 cm tall, getting on stage in a bikini was everything she had been taught not to do. She felt fear, shame, doubt. But she went up. France — Top de Colmar: second place, Switzerland: second place, twice, Italy: fourth place, Spain: third place, Netherlands: third place during the pandemic.
Ten competitions in four countries. But the toughest was none of those. COVID arrived. Months of preparation without guarantees, without knowing if there would be a competition, without knowing if all the effort would yield a result. Doubt set in. Keep going or stop? Yeny made a decision: “I’ll keep going until I’ve burnt my last bullet.” Two days before the deadline, it was confirmed. She traveled, she got on stage. Third place.
10 competitions, 10 times I stepped onto the stage. And one single decision that changed everything: I would not give up.”
Behind Every Dream There Is a Team
Yeny is not alone on this journey. Behind every kilo lifted, every drop of sweat, and every goal conquered, there is someone who believes in her as much as she does: Joel Gata.
Joel is not just any coach. He is a professional athlete who understands what it means to push yourself to the limit because he lives it himself. But he goes much further: he is her guide and her unwavering ally. He designs every training program tailored to Yeny, controls her diet in detail, and pushes her to always take one more step. And as if that were not enough, he also has his own sportswear brand: “Focus Evolution”, with which Yeny trains and competes, showcasing style and attitude. In addition, this year he celebrates something big: the fourth edition of the Gala Focus Body Show, held every year in October, an international bodybuilding competition that he himself organizes and that is already leaving its mark on European fitness.
It is not just about exercises and meals. It is about having someone who looks you in the eye and says: “You can do it, and I will be here to help you achieve it.” That combination of discipline, nutrition, quality equipment, and unconditional support is what turns Yeny’s dreams into realities. Because when you have a champion believing in you, it is impossible not to become one too.
Cooking Twice a Day: The Routine of a Mom Who Also Competes
Being a mom changed everything. Every morning, Yeny gets her daughter ready for kindergarten, leaves the house in order, and then, only then, she trains. Two hours, two and a half hours. Every day. No excuses.
Her life is in constant construction. New challenges, new goals, new adaptations. She will soon start a Dutch course.
She values the tranquility, the order, the quality of life that this country offers her. It gives her peace knowing she is building a stable future for her daughter. But there is also a part of her heart that always misses Peru: its people, the warmth, the spontaneous laughter, her family, her customs. Living between two worlds is not a contradiction. It is a richness.
If you ask her to describe Peru, she doesn’t hesitate: soul, magic, and respect. Soul in its people. Magic in its landscapes. Respect for the land that saw her born.
Her biggest dream is not to win a competition. She wants to study coaching, specialize in sports massage, help others heal and grow. She wants to show her daughter that being strong is not only physical.
To Peruvians outside Peru, she says never forget where you come from. That our culture, our traditions, and our values are a treasure we carry in our hearts no matter where we are. That they should never lose their joy for life, their passion for what they do, and the strength to be themselves.
Yeny is under 150 cm tall. But when she steps on a stage, when she defends a pre-Inca tomb, when she sets up a Peruvian nativity scene in Friesland, or when she trains to Quechua music while her daughter sleeps, she seems much bigger. Because Peru does not stay behind when we migrate. It stays with us.
We invite you to support her and follow her on social media
Here is the link to her coach Joel Gata
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