Anja was born in 1965 in Stuttgart in Southern Germany, where she grew up in the nearby town of Böblingen. Langer grew up in a house near a forest and at a young age she did a lot of outdoor activities. Because of this she developed a passion for nature and the outdoors. As an active child, her first passion was gymnastics. She competed at the age of eight in several gymnastic competitions and was successful. She also took part in horseback-riding competitions since her family own two horses and became part of a horseback-riding club. During this time Anja became more involved with different types of sports that captured her curiosity. She tried diving at the age of fourteen and jazz dance soon after. It was during this time, at the age of fifteen that she was introduced to bodybuilding by her first boyfriend.