He once weighed 108kg. Now Xola Magwaza has made history
SANDTON — Xola Magwaza once weighed 108kg and was struggling with depression after his football career ended. Now the Sandton athlete has returned from Singapore with three gold medals and a Natural Universe title, adding another international achievement to a comeback built through natural bodybuilding.
The 38 year old competed in four categories at the INBA/PNBA Natural Universe, winning the overall men’s physique title and earning a professional card. According to the Sandton Chronicle, he became the first South African to win a Natural Universe open title. His latest success follows an overall Sports Model victory at Natural Olympia in 2024, where he earned his first professional card.
An earlier appearance on The Enhanced Pod provides a picture of the life behind those results. The episode’s description recounts a period of daily doughnuts, withdrawal and depression, followed by his commitment to competing without performance enhancing drugs. It also describes a stretch of 499 days without what he called a cheat meal, illustrating the intensity of his preparation.
Recorded before the Singapore competition, the podcast explored his recovery, his decision to remain natural and how he understood discipline. At that point, the September contest was still ahead of him. The latest result gives that earlier conversation a different significance: an ambition discussed before the event has become an international title.
Magwaza also told the Sandton Chronicle that pandemic restrictions and financial pressure had contributed to his difficulties. With gyms closed, food became a source of comfort before he resolved to change his circumstances.
He credited his wife’s support and sacrifices as crucial to his achievements and admitted that hearing his name announced as the winner still surprised him. His success now spans two different categories on two major natural bodybuilding stages, a substantial distance from the period when he was withdrawing from the world.
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