BRONZEVILLE — La’Drissa Bonivel’s interest in women’s bodybuilding began as a little girl growing up in the city’s Ida B. Wells public housing development.
“I saw some women bodybuilders on TV, and I was like, ‘Wow I want to do that,’” said the 41-year-old Bronzeville resident.
She said the faces on her screen didn’t resemble her own.
“They were all white,” she said.
The fitness guru said she never planned to compete, but she got into the game after someone suggested she give it a try. Bonivel had been working as an analyst in the banking industry until 2002.
“I was miserable, so I set up an action plan to exit corporate America,” Bonivel said.
After graduating from DePaul University in 2000 with a degree in finance, Bonivel said she wanted something to occupy her time. She was already working as a yoga instructor, something else she got into from watching television as a child.
“After I graduated college, I had a whole bunch of free time. I was bored,” she said. “I started hitting the gym real hard.”
Fifteen years later, Bonivel has won local and national competitions. She started in bodybuilding, but has since transitioned into a different category — women’s physique, where she doesn’t carry as much mass, and has had to slim down. She was the 2015 International Federation of Bodybuilding San Jose Pro winner. She also took home first place at the 2011 NPC USAs, and fifth in the 2015 Arnold Classic Physique.
Bonivel had been building up her clientele over the years, going to their homes and teaching out of other gyms, but she wanted her own space. ProFit Studio, 3700 S. Indiana Ave., opened in August.
“This is essentially my beginning, my stomping grounds as I was a child coming up,” she said about the neighborhood that she works and lives in.
Walk-ins are $25, and people can also purchase a five-session punch card for $110 or a 10-session punch card for $210.
“When I was a little girl, my dad used to tell me that I was going to have to create a job in order to be happy,” she said. “He was like you’re just all over the place, and he was right.”
The fitness instructor is about getting results and customizing each training session. She’ll work with parents who have to bring their children. She’ll even go as far as emptying out the refrigerator and cabinets.
“For my urbanites,” as she likes to call her regular clients, “helping them transform as far as going to their house, through their cabinets, through their refrigerator with the trash can, like ‘Nope, nope, nope.’ I will go to grocery store with them if they need me to. Whatever they need, I try to provide.”
She offers personal training, boot camp and group training. She also writes nutrition diets for clients. Bonivel works with those who are competing as well.
The business isn’t taking her away from her sport. She’s preparing for the 2015 Olympia Women’s Physique, part of the Sept. 17-20 Mr. Olympia competition in Las Vegas.
“I’ve been training hard,” she said. “I haven’t missed a beat. I haven’t missed a workout. I haven’t missed a cardio session.”
Bonivel said she loves helping people and that she believes that she’s walking in her purpose because she sees the milestones her clients make.
“I am in my season, I am in my groove, this is what I’m supposed to be doing,” she said.
Courtesy of: DNA Info