Montreal bodybuilding couple find balance in the competitive world of fitness

Montreal bodybuilding couple find balance in the competitive world of fitness

On any given day, you will find Adam Shore in the gym. So much so that it’s where he met his wife, Irina Dubrovina.

The couple are personal trainers, and when they’re not coaching clients, they take part in bodybuilding competitions.

They’ve each won national gold medals, more than once, and, for the pair, it was love at first lift.

“I saw him training someone, and he had a history of him doing a big deadlift PR [personal record] for his body weight, and I was just starting to train seriously myself,” said Dubrovina. “So I’m like, ‘Oh, my God! That’s the guy that I saw on the internet. I met him in real life, and I got very curious to get closer to him.”

This week, the couple is celebrating eleven years together, and they continue to inspire each other in and out of the gym.

“As I see him getting better, I also get better,” says Dubrovina.

“I really see her as a big role model for women, not just women, though, because you’ll if you hang around us long enough, you’ll notice that even men watch her train,” said Shore. “I really hope that her message and her mission goes far and wide.”

Dubrovina has come a long way after battling an eating disorder at 11 years old. Now she has a healthier mindset when it comes to fitness.

“The body is so much more than just those visuals and the sizes and numbers,” she says.

Dubrovina is a massage therapist, and Shore is a naturopath.

The couple hopes their positive mindset can serve as an example while debunking some fitness myths.

“You can’t eat carbs if you want to lose fat,” said Shore. “Anyone who says that, you should run, like, very far. We want to simplify the language of health and fitness, and result achievement.”

“The mindset is, again, it should come from love,” said Dubrovina.

Their next big competition is in October, and they’re now in preparation mode, hoping to take home another win.

Shore says their accomplishments are a team effort: “We happen to do well together because I think we put everything into it.”