When a local fitness trainer puts her mind to something she gets it done – in spades.
Fyonna Vanderwerf is a role model as well as an example for women in their 40s as she reaches out and accomplishes her fitness goals. The female bodybuilder and fitness instructor at the Bracebridge Sportsplex recently returned from the Barrie Natural Championships, a provincial qualifying tournament, where she placed second for Figure Masters Tall and third in Grandmasters Figure 45. Vanderwerf decided to sit out the provincials this year but will come back with a vengeance in 2016 when she is aiming for both a provincial and national attempt.
She said the Figures Masters is about muscle development, looking healthy and the ability to hold isometric poses, which she said is particularly difficult on five-inch heels.
“It’s just about looking healthy and looking really strong and I think it’s very achievable for a lot of women,” she said.
The Grandmasters is for women 45 and older and, at 45, Vanderwerf said the women looked real with C-section scars and stretch marks.
“Nobody was perfect. There wasn’t a single person back there who looked perfect,” she said. “Everyone was real. They looked good but they looked real.”
The competition is a grueling process with registration and a base spray tan the night before, then a 3 a.m. wake-up for more spray, hair and makeup. Then the women wait until their numbers are called for prejudging. The finals are in the evening when the women do their routines; awards and presentations are after that so it does make for a long day.
But, in addition to her successful finishes, there was something special in the competition for Vanderwerf. She walked onto the stage, the music was beating throughout the routine, and a little voice shouted from the audience, “That’s my mommy!” Her husband Jeff had come with their five-year-old, Jude, to lend support.
“I’m telling you, it was awesome,” she said.
If that wasn’t enough, she was nominated for a Canadian canfitpro PRO Trainer award for 2015, an award celebrating excellence in trainers from Canada and abroad. This is the fifth time she has been nominated and last year she won for participant’s choice.
She also entered a Muscle Memory Magazine contest where she placed second based on public scrutiny. She turned the magazine into a fundraiser of sorts in honour of her friend and colleague at the Bracebridge Sportsplex Grant Murray who died the day of her Barrie competition after a failed double lung transplant. For each vote Vanderwerf set aside $1 toward organ donation, totalling $100 she will be giving to Murray’s sister during his celebration of life on Aug. 30.
“It kind of worked out well in a karmic way to have been in the competition,” she said. “We’re going to get some recognition for a guy who didn’t have any health but rocked it as much as he could.”
As for the bodybuilding, Vanderwerf said she would love to say that she works out 24/7, but she doesn’t.
“I’m one of those annoying people who are going to tell you I work out 45 minutes a day five days a week and I eat a minimum of 2,400 calories a day,” she said. “It’s about 80 per cent of the food that I eat and the other 20 is the exercise.”
She said getting enough sleep, having a family that supports her and a work environment that humours her is a large part of her success as well as taking care of her body.
“Five days a week that is the first thing I do … That is my No. 1 and I get it done,” she said. “Everyone should have four per cent of their day dedicated to their health at minimum.”
Courtesy of: muskokaregion.com