Mitch Calvert
Local fitness competitor Joyce Wiedeman took a step forward at the recent Manitoba Amateur Body Building Association provincial championships in Winnipeg.
Wiedeman, who lives here in Fort Frances but commutes to Winnipeg to train with Elite Performance, took first place in the Masters class and second in the Women’s Fitness Short class at the event.
Wiedeman beat out one other competitor, Coco Kissack, in the Masters class, but took second in a strong field of eight participants in the Fitness Short class, where she had finished third a year ago.
Novice competitor Dallas Vickell took the Fitness Short crown.
“Somebody from Novice can come in and sweep it from under your feet, but I still won the class I was in and that’s what I had set out to do,” Wiedeman said from her Fort Frances home.
“It was actually really good, and I was happy with how I did,” she added. “Elite Performance made a big difference, and it’s actually pretty neat what they can do.
“There’s a science to it [dieting], and everyone is different, but they can tell by your conditioning what to do that last week,” Wiedeman explained.
“There’s still some trial-and-error, but it’s a lot easier with someone there to help.”
To hit the stage in peak performance with good vascularity and definition, Wiedeman said the last three days prior to a competition are crucial.
“You stop lifting and cardio three days before the competition, and just sip 500 mL of water the day before,” she noted. “Then I had only 300 mL of water from 6 a.m. [the day of the show] to when everything was over at 9 [p.m.] that night.”
Fitness competitors go for a slicker look than those in the bodybuilding division, and are judged on symmetry and their 90-second dance routine.
The symmetry round features competitors in two-piece swimsuits, with the judges looking for good muscle tone, posture, and symmetry between all the muscle groups, as well as keeping an eye on charisma, projection, and confidence.
The routine portion gives the athletes 90 seconds to perform a choreographed dance or aerobic performance to music of their choice, demonstrating athleticism, creativity, and personality.
Wiedeman also had planned to compete at the Ontario Physique Association’s Thunder Bay championships, along with Alana Pierce from Energy Fitness here, on May 30 but that event was cancelled.
Pierce plans to do a show in Sudbury later this month as a replacement.
“It’s not good for your body to diet, diet, diet,” Wiedeman stressed. “I’m taking a break because it’s really hard on the body to go from competition to competition.
“I’m off all my supplements and vitamins for a whole week here to take a much-needed break, and then I’ll start back up after that,” she said.
Wiedeman aims to compete in the nationals Aug. 15 in New Westminster, B.C., and still hopes to get into nutritional planning as a career path.
“We don’t have anyone who is specifically-trained on dieting for fitness competitions in Fort Frances,” she noted. “We don’t have it here, and it’d be nice if we could do a fitness competition here, too.
“We have the [Townshend] Theatre here, so it’s just a matter of having someone to plan it and a sponsor.”
