So I was reflecting back on my own personal fitness evolution. I was about 8 years old and I was playing basketball . It wasn’t pretty but I was playing. Sports was my introduction into fitness. I made it my mission to find out about all the athletes and their training. I read about football players, basketball players, tennis players, surfers, etc. I read about the training regiments and what made the stars excel.
This is when I realized that strength training was a major part of everyone’s program. They all didn’t just practice their sports, they did other things outside of their sports to help them improve. Lynn Swan did ballet to help improve his flexibility and balance. Martina Navratilova did strength training to help improve her hitting power and stamina. So what to do? First, I needed to decide what I was trying to improve. I didn’t really know but I knew that I wanted to be strong.
In comes, Joe Weider. Joe was the editor of Muscle and Fitness and a major stud when it came to bodybuilding. He knew everyone and everything and I made him into my mentor. I read every magazine and everything I could about him and his theory of fitness. I tried it all. I never thought of my body as a machine that could be fine tuned to increase performance. I started to “work out” every day and I saw a noticeable improvement in my strength and the shape of my body.
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After some time, I dumped my hoop dreams and began to play softball. My strength allowed me to hit the ball farther and have an amazing arm. Somehow, I knew this was the beginning of my journey. I slowly began to explore other avenues of fitness and fell in love with the sport of bodybuilding. I watched contests on tv, joined a gym and eventually began working at the gym. It was 1988 and I did my bodybuilding contest and placed 5th. I realized that I was in over my head. I was 5’6″ and 130 pounds. I was fluffy compared to the other women who averaged about 5’9″ and were the same weight…which was a heavyweight by the way. Time to evolve! I began working on sculpting other people’s bodies and never left that passion behind.
My passion has driven my fitness evolution. As time has gone on, my interests have varied and now I am on to the next chapter of my life…cyclist/triathlete. How have you evolved? How have you adapted to your strengths?
