Body Sculpting: My Friend Lori Reddy

I got an email from my friend Lori Reddy at the beginning of October asking if I would be willing to do a photo shoot of her shortly after she had fulfilled one of her long-term dreams: participate in the Newfoundland & Labrador Amateur BodyBuilding Association (NLABA)’s Figure category of the Physique, Figure & Bikini Championships.

Congratulations!

Not only did she follow-through on her goal with rigorous training and disciplined eating (even turning down my housemate Orinda’s famous chocolate-chip banana loaf!), she placed 2nd in the Figure Masters division, 3rd in the Figure Tall division, and was voted most photogenic overall by Judi Stone, the official photographer for the national bodybuilding competitions. Wow!  Here’s a photo from Saturday’s championships. I couldn’t make it as I was teaching intuitive painting at the Festival du Vent, so thanks to Jim Costello for allowing me to use two of his photos.

Lori Reddy (left), Tina Power (middle) and Nathalie Shea (right) Photo by Jim Costello – www.facebook.com/jim.costello2 & www.facebook.com/pages/Costello-Newfoundland-Photography/151239261659907

Who is Lori Reddy?

Although some know Lori as a savvy business person who used to work on Wall St., I’ve known her as a visual artist, musician (she played the flute on the Yagull album that I featured in my Spirit Calling Card videos), and hoop dancer.  As you may remember, we painted two murals together – one at Shakti Yoga Mount Pearl (see photos – now a dance studio) and one at Shakti Yoga on Torbay Rd. (see photos -now Yoga Kula Coop).  I’ve also organized a few art exhibitions with her, and she participated in the very successful Art To Go online auction that I organized as part of my Vienna Visionary Art Scholarship fundraising efforts.  Remember her now?

The Photo Shoot:

Although I’ve trained as a professional photographer (one the many chapters in my lifelong learning journey), people-photography is far from being a passion of mine. I simply don’t have a thick enough skin to hear people criticizing themselves (“I’m so fat…”, “That’s not my good side.”, “Look at all those wrinkles!”, etc.).  I much prefer being in nature or traveling with the camera. Trees are simply happy to be …

Sunday, however was fun. And with digital editing, I didn’t even need all those extra off-camera flashes and lighting umbrellas I got rid of years ago.

Plus the pressure was off – Lori’s prize as most photogenic of the 100+ participants there that day is a photo session with a local photographer. Great! I was free, therefore, to do the kind of work/play I enjoy.

My painting back-splash worked well as a photo backdrop (with a few extra layers of white cloth to hide the many paint stains).  I wanted white as my plan was to blend photos of Lori with a couple of her paintings that I also photographed that day….

and some of my own art photography (mostly from my time overseas in 2013/14).  What you see here is the result of 6 hours of creative work after the photo shoot.

Why this post?

I asked Lori if it would be OK for me to blog about her story and share my photos of her.  For me, this is a story of courage, determination, and following one’s heart despite the many challenges and judgements she may have faced along the way.  It’s also about reconnecting to lifelong passions – something I’m a big fan of.

I may not be into body building or rigorous exercise of any kind, but I can tell you that there were a few lazy mornings when I just had to remember what she was up to in order not to skip my morning restorative yoga and mini-trampoline dance routine.  After all, I no longer walk 10-20 hours a week as I had done most of my life and now benefit from Orinda’s great cooking on a regular basis.

In Lori’s Words:

I asked Lori to write about her experience for you.  Not only was this a whole new world for me, but as I said before, her journey itself was inspiring for me in many ways, and so I imagined it would be for you as well.

“I started lifting weights when I was 17 and loved how I would actually get sore – this would tell me that I worked a muscle to the point of it tearing and needing to repair which meant growth. Eventually, I started to buy fitness magazines in order to further research which exercises I could do for certain body parts (I was obsessed with getting biceps initially LOL) and then became very fond of the fitness models that were featured in the various issues – most notably Mia Finnegan and Monica Brant. It wasn’t until 20 years later, at the age of 37, that I considered entering into a competition. I had visited Mexico in February of 2014 for a month, and upon my return I started to put on a little weight from not being as active. I needed a new goal and decided that preparing for the competition in November fit in just perfectly.

A friend recommeded her online coach who I signed up with for my “offseason prep” – offseason prep is the period of time that you spend building and sculpting your body prior to trimming down (which is known as the period “contest prep”). This worked for a
couple of months, but I really felt that I needed to be coached by someone who I could sit down and speak with (my online coach was from the west coast in the US). I then decided to sign up with Kristian Alexander (owner of Inshape Fitness on O’leary Ave. in St. John’s), who is a friend and former highschool mate. Kristian worked with me during the late stages of offseason and then coached me through contest prep in both diet and fitness regimes.

My days looked like this – rise at 4:30, gym by 5:30 with cardio/stretching on an empty stomach. Home, shower, eat, work. Eat, then gym again around noon for weights and stretching. Eat again. Back to work, eat some more. During contest prep I would be back in the gym again in the evening for a second cardio session – then back home to eat twice more before bed. That’s 6 meals in a 12 hour period. PHEW. Small frequent meals meant no snacking and a steady source of energy throughout the day to keep blood sugars from tanking. During contest prep, my meals would consist of egg whites, sweet potato, oatmeal, cod, tuna, chicken and green veggies. No dairy, sodium, sugar, oils…..just bland food. Funny how you look at food as fuel only vs. enjoyment when you are so limited to what you can eat.

The hardest for me was seeing progress SOOOO slowly as I had already been
working out consistently and eating healthy. It was hard for me to shock my system. I also found it difficult during offseason training, as I was putting on muscle mass and gaining some fat as well – I felt HUGE at times. But I kept telling myself, this is what I am supposed to do – and I have a coach for a reason!! Listen to him! I also heard this said numerous times: “trust the process” – this is so very very true.

The other part that I found to be difficult was to not compare myself or my gains (or losses for that matter) to others. People post pics of themselves, their slender lean physiques (washboard abs!!!) on Facebook, Instagram – showing how much progress they have made. Looking at my own progress at times, I would find myself discouraged – why wasn’t I seeing the same results – then I would talk myself out of it and regain focus as to what I should be doing, not what that other person was doing! Communicating with my coach during times like these was super important to help stay on track.

Lori Reddy and Whitney Matthews Photo by Jim Costello – www.facebook.com/pages/Costello-Newfoundland-Photography/151239261659907 – and – www.facebook.com/jim.costello2

The day of the competition and waiting to get up on stage was also challenging. By this point I was anxious, excited, hungry and TIRED. But the moment when my number was called and I lined up with other competitors – at that moment it all felt worth it. I now had a calmness that came over me as the moment was finally here where I was able to display my hard work and dedication to the world and judges. I was smiling ear to ear and thought this is my one moment to shine so give it 200%. And I did.

I placed 2nd in the Figure Masters division, 3rd in the Figure Tall division and won most photogenic overall.

Will I compete again? Who knows. I am taking it one day at a time. Was it all worth it? 200%. I learned so much about myself and the process over the last 5 months that I would not have learned any other way.”

Congratulations Lori!

and thanks for the art & inspiration…