Wellness Journey to Success!

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Photo by D-ray Photography

My Facebook account has been abandoned. Spider webs hang from my bathroom ceiling. Over the last few months, I’ve neglected much of my to-do list to complete my goal of participating in a bikini bodybuilding competition. My “I’d like to try this” turned into a part-time profession as I concentrated on bodybuilding, diet and cardio to achieve my objective.

In May 2024, I shared the wellness journey I’d been on since 2019 and how it had morphed into bodybuilding. Even as a 66-year-old great-grandma, I was able to build muscle through hours of lifting weights and cardio workouts on the elliptical, rowing machine and cycle to drop pounds. If I watched TV, I did it while walking laps in my kitchen.

My bodybuilding coach, Jill Buchert, worked with me for about a year honing my muscles and guiding me through a diet focused on consuming lean proteins, cutting down on carbs such as sugar and starchy veggies and filling my plate with spinach, broccoli and cauliflower. I hit 135 pounds on a five-foot-nine-inch frame, numbers not seen since my time as an Ensign in the Navy.
I chose the National Physique Committee pageant in Dubuque, Iowa, for my competition. A friend had competed and shared that the experience was a good one for her. My husband and I had lived in that area for three decades before we retired to Kansas City and decided to add a family vacation.

Three months out from the competition, my coach upped my weightlifting schedule from once a week on the weight machines to twice a week. One set was with three specific exercises on the machines each with 15 reps completed three times. We easily fit three different rounds of exercises and sometimes four during each hour of weightlifting. I added a third day of free weights at home. When I wasn’t lifting, I focused on 90 minutes to two hours of cardio each day. I fixated on lean protein to ensure I hit 130 to 140 grams a day. Downing six tablespoons of egg whites at lunch was made tolerable with water and a squirt of Mio. Every few weeks, Jill would measure key spots on my body and the inches and the pounds came off.

One of the things I hadn’t studied was posing on the stage in a bikini that barely covers your important parts in front of a hundred or so people. And, you have to walk in five-inch high heels. I hadn’t worn heels for decades. I ordered a pair and added metatarsal pads and grips to make them somewhat comfortable. To learn to balance and walk with confidence on these flagpoles, I wore them in my home at every opportunity: fixing meals, loading the dishwasher, changing the sheets. Think June Cleaver. I added extra hours to my gym workouts so Jill could coach me on striking the required poses. This was the time I felt the most apprehensive about doing a pageant, but I stayed with it.

Ten days from the competition, Jill put me into Peak Week, which is loading your body with water and then denying liquids at the end to ensure it dehydrates to highlight your muscles. Carbs were eliminated; only fish was consumed because it’s easier to digest. I took in three gallons of water on the Sunday before the show. Bathroom breaks were planned on the half hour. Then, I gradually shut off liquids until I stopped drinking at noon on the Friday before the show. The morning of the show I had nothing to eat or drink. I had hit 117 pounds.

Judging went quickly even though more than a hundred slots for men and women competitors were reviewed. They can include figure, bikini, physique, classic, fitness and wellness, and they can be further divided by experience, age and height.

I took third in the Masters division. When I posed on stage, the crown cheered so loudly that I blew kisses and waved. What I didn’t know is that my husband had told the MC before the show that I was a great-grandma and to include it as I walked on stage. Let’s just say the crowd went wild for the contestant who was decades older than others on the stage. Some might have been furious with sharing that tidbit with the audience, but I loved it. Who knows? This great-grandma might try bikini bodybuilding again in 2025.