| My love for fitness began in elementary school when I was old enough to play sports with my older brother and his friends. I realized that I was almost as fast and as strong as the boys my age. As I got older, boys would comment on the shape of my arms and shoulders, but emphasized the size of my biceps. I started to take fitness more seriously in sixth grade when I found out that the Presidential Fitness Test was administered at my school. I asked my mother to buy me free weights and a weight bench to help increase my strength and endurance for the fitness test. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw my mom and my brother struggling to drag a box full of free weights into our apartment. That year, I achieved the highest score on the Presidential Fitness Test. I want to thank my mom for being so open to my request for free weight equipment at that age. I also want to thank my brother for motivating me to participate in our neighborhood sports. |  |
| During the next several years, my love for sports continued to grow. I participated in basketball, softball, track and golf and had less time to train with weights. My sophomore year of high school, I broke a track record for the fastest 220 yard dash. In my junior year, I was the first girl to compete on the boy’s golf team. I started weight training again so that I would be strong enough to compete against the boys. I was several years older, and I saw a much faster response to weight training. After graduating from highschool, I played basketball in community college and weight trained in my spare time. I majored in Business and Fashion Design/Merchandising my first three years of college, but my interest in health and fitness grew stronger. Therefore, I switched majors and graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelors degree of Science in Kinesiology. While obtaining my degree in Kinesiology, I finished my curriculum for Business and Fashion Merchandising.
During my senior year of college, I entered the 1996 NPC Maryland Fitness Competition and took third place. I entered the Bodyrock bodybuilding show three weeks later and took first place in the light weight division. Finally that year, I entered the Virginia Gold’s Classic Fitness and Bodybuilding Competition. I crossed over taking part in both fitness and middle weight bodybuilding. I placed first in fitness and won the middle weight class as well as the overall bodybuilding title. It has been up hill since then dealing with the politics that go with competing at the national level. I have a physique that is a little more muscular than the average fitness competitor and that hurts my placings. I have been told to stop training all together so that my muscles will be more flat on stage at the amateur level. I don’t want to decrease my muscularity, because I feel that it makes me more unique. I have worked hard to achieve my physique and I certainly don’t want to back track. It seems as though the judges want all the competitors to fit into size and shape categories. I have been told by judges the night before a show to smooth out so that I don’t come into lean. After taking their advice, I never feel like 100% on stage. There is no more individuality in the sport and all of the girls look the same. “Fitness” has become synonymous with “gymnast/beauty pageant” at the amateur level. Where is the motivation for me to compete in such a show? It is no longer a challenge for me, because the so called “fitness physique” is not appealing to me. I wish there was a category that actually judged fitness competitors truly on a muscular and fit physique, flexibility, endurance, and strength. The only competitions close to that are the Women’s Fitness Extravaganzaand Femsport’s Valkyriefest. I will continue to compete for the love of the sport , but I may dabble a bit into the bodybuilding arena so that I can come into a competition muscular and lean and not be scored down for it. But, I really love incorporating the strength and flexibility moves into my fitness routines. I may just come up with some really unique bodybuilding routines in the next year or so. So look out! |
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