\n Nina Ross, who lives in Alderley Edge, has had quite the career, from sports nutrition lecturer to bodybuilder and coach, and now to sourdough teacher and business owner. One thread has run firmly through each role, however: a determination to succeed, whatever the odds.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u2018Sport has been a major element of my life,\u2019 she says. \u2018I taught sports nutrition and sports-related courses at Reaseheath College.\n<\/p>\n
\n I played netball at a very high level and reached England trials before a serious ankle injury ended that pathway.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u2018I loved the gym and would spend a lot of time there. Back then, women lifting weights was not particularly common, it wasn\u2019t a thing. People at the gym started asking whether I competed, and I honestly had no idea what they meant. A friend introduced me to a female bodybuilder and she invited me to a posing class; I asked \u201cwhat on earth is a posing class?\u201d. I nearly didn\u2019t go because bodybuilding didn\u2019t appeal to me. I had all the usual stereotypes in my head.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u2018But I went along and it turns out that a posing class is exactly what you think it will be, but I actually loved it and three weeks later entered my first competition, which I won.\u2019\n<\/p>\n
\n After that first win, in 2012, Nina qualified for a British women\u2019s bodybuilding final and was soon hooked.\n<\/p>\n
\n \n \u2018I think part of the attraction was that I had finally found a sport where I could see my potential through to the end,\u2019 she says. \u2018Earlier in life, injury or circumstances had always got in the way. I decided to push it as far as I possibly could, deciding I wanted to be the first female British athlete to get to Olympia. I entered several federations, won multiple rounds, qualified for finals and just kept winning.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018Suddenly people were asking, \u201cWho\u2019s this new athlete turning up and taking all the trophies?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018It was at this point I received a sponsorship offer from MyProtein, as a contracted athlete representing the brand worldwide. I travelled internationally, did photoshoots and worked alongside some of the biggest names in fitness. I became a brand in my own right.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n In 2016, Nina achieved her ultimate goal, qualifying for a place in the Bikini division at the Olympia Fitness and Performance Weekend, held in Las Vegas.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018It was the proudest achievement of my bodybuilding career. Ironically, Olympia itself was slightly disappointing. I\u2019d built it up to be this incredible experience, the pinnacle of the sport, but when I arrived it wasn\u2019t what\n<\/p>\n \n \n I expected. What mattered, though, was that I\u2019d achieved my goal. I had reached Olympia naturally, stayed healthy, never lost sight of my wellbeing and proved to myself it could be done.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018At that point, I felt I had nothing left to chase. Then I discovered sourdough.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n After spending much of her adult life focussed on nutrition and performance, Nina had avoided bread altogether for more than 15 years.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018I grew up in the era when carbs were the enemy,\u2019 she says. \u2018As someone who was interested in health and nutrition, I also became very conscious of ingredients. If I couldn\u2019t pronounce something on a label, I didn\u2019t particularly want to eat it.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n What initially attracted her to sourdough was the idea of good-quality, freshly baked bread but the more she learned, the more fascinated she became.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018I was intrigued by the science behind it, how ancient it was, and how something so delicious could be made from so few ingredients,\u2019 she says. \u2018The history alone fascinated me. People have been making bread this way for thousands of years.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n She started buying sourdough from a local bakery and began researching the fermentation process, yeast cultures and traditional methods. The simplicity appealed to her nutrition background, while the science appealed to her naturally curious mind. Nina\u2019s fascination deepened when she acquired a starter culture more than 100 years old from a friend whose baker father had passed it down from generations above. The living culture became the foundation for her own experiments and, ultimately, the business she would go on to build.\n<\/p>\n \n \n Nina began attempting to make sourdough herself. Early results were not encouraging.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018I failed so many times,\u2019 she laughs. \u2018Some of the loaves were absolutely terrible. I\u2019d put an 850g loaf into the oven and somehow produce what felt like a five-kilo brick. It was dense, heavy and completely inedible. This was in 2019, before lockdown had the whole nation obsessed with home baking.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n Her husband, Brad, eventually suggested she should give up.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018That probably became the catalyst,\u2019 she says. \u2018If anything, it made me even more determined. I don\u2019t ever give up.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n What followed was months of trial and error. Nina studied blogs and tutorials from around the world, tested different methods and sought advice from friends. Much of the information she found came from bakers working in vastly different climates and conditions.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018People would be baking in 40-degree temperatures somewhere else in the world, and I\u2019d be standing in a cold Cheshire kitchen wondering why my dough looked completely different,\u2019 she says.\n<\/p>\n \n Eventually, she cracked it and, drawing on the same discipline that had carried her through elite sport, she refined a method that worked consistently in ordinary British kitchens.\n<\/p>\n \n Once she had mastered sourdough, Nina realised there was a gap in the market.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018I wanted to create something simple,\u2019 she explains. \u2018A guide that anybody could follow. Something straightforward, practical and designed for people in the UK.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n She began writing down her methods and troubleshooting advice, determined to strip away the confusion that often discouraged beginners. Around the same time, friends started asking whether she would teach them.\n<\/p>\n \n \n What sounded like a simple request raised a problem. A proper sourdough loaf takes at least 24 hours to make, which isn\u2019t practical when devising a workshop that ideally runs to just half a day.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018I kept asking myself how I could turn a 24-hour process into a three-hour class,\u2019 she says.\n<\/p>\n \n The answer arrived in an unexpected way. A keen runner, Nina uses exercise as a form of meditation and reflection. During one particular period of frustration, she found herself thinking about how the workshops might work.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018I kept hearing this little voice saying, \u201cPen to paper.\u2019\u2019 On her regular runs, two geese would repeatedly fly overhead. Whether coincidence or inspiration, she took it as a sign to stop overthinking and start writing.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018It all came out at once,\u2019 she says. \u2018The course structure, the troubleshooting guide, the branding, everything.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n The geese even became part of the business identity. They\u2019re reflected in the branding of her company, a reminder of the moment when everything suddenly clicked into place.\n<\/p>\n \n Combining her experience as a lecturer with her passion for nutrition and her new love of sourdough, she launched her first workshops. The timing proved perfect; emerging from lockdown, people were craving connection, community and meaningful experiences.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018I realised the workshops weren\u2019t really about bread,\u2019 she says. \u2018They were about bringing people together.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n Today, Nina\u2019s business, Path of Yeast Resistance, encompasses workshops, online courses, corporate wellbeing sessions and a bestselling Etsy shop selling sourdough starters, kits and guides. Yet the focus remains unchanged; each class centres on conversation, shared experiences and the simple satisfaction of making something by hand.\n<\/p>\n \n \n \u2018We\u2019re not just nourishing ourselves, we\u2019re nurturing ourselves,\u2019 she says. \u2018People come in thinking they\u2019re learning to bake bread. They leave talking about the people they\u2019ve met, the confidence they\u2019ve gained and the experience they\u2019ve had.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n Workshops now attract everyone from families and friendship groups to businesses looking for team-building activities. Participants learn practical skills, enjoy homemade food and leave with dough to bake at home.\n<\/p>\n \n As with her teaching career, her bodybuilding success and now her sourdough enterprise, Nina has gone all in, no half-measures, no hesitation.\n<\/p>\n \n \u2018The discipline is exactly the same,\u2019 she says. \u2018The focus has changed, but the mindset never has.\u2019.\n<\/p>\n \n pathofyeastresistance.com\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nNina now runs sourdough workshops across Cheshire and online (Image: Courtesy of Nina Ross)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n
Not just about sourdough: connection, community and conversation (Image: Courtesy of Nina Ross)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n
Nina’s sourdough starter was a gift from a friend who’s family had been using it for over 100 years (Image: Courtesy of Nina Ross)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n
Nina is still passionate about exercising, but has added sourdough to her diet after 15 years of avoiding bread (Image: Courtesy of Nina Ross)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n
Nina retails sourdough starter, kits and her own guide to making sourdough loaves on her Etsy site (Image: Courtesy of Nina Ross)<\/em><\/span>\n<\/p>\n