Helle Nielsen was born and raised in rural Sønderborg, Denmark. She grew up on a farm. She majored in English and German in college. After that she continued her way into the fitness industry where she took a number of exams within the nutrition and training field. She was a gymnast from the age of three and competed in various other sports, including ballroom dancing, swimming, track and field, shot put, martial arts, horse-riding, boxing, biking, ballet and yoga.[5][4]
Bodybuilding career
Amateur
At the age of 17, a friend invited Helle to a powerlifting competition at a local gym. She was fascinated by muscles and the weights the powerlifters could lift. Inspired by Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls, she started her career in bodybuilding at that gym and trained there for five years. She started training seven days a week. She meet one bodybuilder at her gym and he agreed to make a diet for her. When she started she weighed 128 lb (58 kg) and within a year of training she had added 20 lb (9.1 kg) of muscle and wanted more.[4][5]
Helle quickly realized she had great genetics for bodybuilding. She attended the Danish Championships in Copenhagen, had gone through the program of contestants and where they came from. She noticed that there were 12 bodybuilders competing from the same gym. She went home, packed, moved to Copenhagen and joined that gym. After 7 months, she competed at her first bodybuilding contest, the 1998 Danish Championships, and won her first title. She also won the overall and heavyweight title at the Scandinavian Championships in the same year. In 1999, she competed at the World Championships in Australia.[4][8][5]
Professional
2003-2010
Trevino became the first professional female bodybuilder from Denmark since Lisser Frost-Larsen, who had last competed in 1984. In her pro debut, she won the heavyweight and overall at the Jan Tana Classic. A few months later, she placed fifth in the heavyweights at the Ms. Olympia.[5][9]
From 2011
After spending a few years building up her personal training business, Trevino in 2011 won the FIBO pro show and placed 11th at the 2011 Ms. Olympia. The following year she placed 12th in the Ms. Olympia competition, where. In 2012, she moved from Denmark to California, to train at the Gold's Gym in Venice.[5][7] In 2015, Helle won her third pro show, the 2015 Chicago Pro and qualified for the 2015 Rising Phoenix World Championships. At the 2015 Rising Phoenix World Championships, due to the retirement of Iris Kyle, along with Alina Popa not competing due to injuries, Helle was able to surpass much more seasoned professional bodybuilders, such as Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia and Debi Laszewski, and placed 2nd. At the 2016 Rising Phoenix World Championships, she placed 4th.
At the 2021 Rising Phoenix World Championships, Helle would again place 2nd to Andrea Shaw. At the 2021 Ms. Olympia, Helle would place 2nd, her best showing at a Ms. Olympia to date. Due to an injury, she could not attend the 2022 Rising Phoenix World Championships, the first Rising Phoenix World Championships she would not attend. At the 2022 Ms. Olympia, Helle would place 3rd. She would take the year of 2023 off and plans on competing again in 2024 and announced her coach for 2024 would be David DeMesquita, amateur men's physique contestant.[10][11][12]
Contest history
1998 Danish Championships – 1st (HW and overall)
1998 Scandinavian Championships – 1st (HW and overall)
