Cindy Popowich Eager and Able to 'Get 'er Done'

Cindy Popowich, 40, finished second in the fitness model, 40- plus category at the world federation of bodybuilding and fitness (WBFF) event in Mississauga in September and added two more silvers in the masters 35-plus and open divisions at the Ultimate Fitness Experience event in Hamilton in October.

November 17, 2008 

To clarify, Cindy Popowich doesn't necessarily need to show off all the muscle that comes from pushing tires and hauling her kids on a sleigh with a cinderblock.

Sure, it's fun to flex and pose, all shredded muscle; just don't take her weights away, she says.

Figuring she had already won by just getting there, Popowich, 40, finished second in the fitness model, 40- plus category at the world federation of bodybuilding and fitness (WBFF) event in Mississauga in September and added two more silvers in the masters 35-plus and open divisions at the Ultimate Fitness Experience event in Hamilton in October.

Her results qualified her for the UFE elite MVP Quest event this week, but she's staying home.

As host and chief organizer of the firefighters ball this weekend, she has been working on the event for the past year. She even sewed the tablecloths to ensure the right décor.

So she can live without the competing, but she needs the training.

"For whatever reason you can't show, it's OK. You can take my weights away; then I'll have problems," she says.

"These are my husband's co-workers. I'm very proud of this event."

She also figures carrying on with that quirky, regimented diet of body builders and fitness models -- the egg whites, chicken breasts, fish every three hours -- could have hurt her. She has been dieting hard since September.

"I would have started getting ill or feeling the effects. We are now into November. You can't run away from the bugs in November. It's not a time to chance it when I have two kids."

The kids and her husband figure prominently in Popowich's story, as does the fact she turned 40 in the fall.

A self-described skinny and weak kid, Popowich began lifting weights in 1989. She channelled her intense workouts into bodybuilding, eventually winning the Sudbury women's open championships in 1995.

"I had a title and I just felt 'I am someone now.' I am not a skinny little kid ... I had my own thing. I had my gym family who I was so close with and my family was all there to watch me, too. They were so supportive."

She wondered what was next. She needed to add more muscle than is naturally possible. She chose to stay clean and become more

involved in promotion. She trained and dieted for the high.

"Every summer, I was ripped. I had a low body fat to show (muscle) and to be in the whole vibe with everyone else."

She married Tyler Popowich, a firefighter and part-time air ambulance medic, worked as a homemaker and began raising their son, Ayden, now six, and their daughter, Avery, now three.

In March of 2008, she began staring down the fact she was soon turning 40.

"For six years, I'd been at home, raising my kids, which has been an amazing blessing. But I sort of lost sight of me somewhere. I am mommy and I am wife, both of which I'm proud of, but I found myself falling into a very dark place."

She promoted her last event in 2002.

After discussions this past winter with Tyler, she explained how happy she had been in the gym, fit and strong.

"He's, 'Well, get 'er done.' And that has been my little motto ever since. Get 'er done."

She never intended to compete. She just wanted to be "rock hard for myself on my 40th birthday."

But fate is funny, she reflects. Judging a show in Sudbury, she was asked to work in London. A photographer pegged her for a photo shoot. Another promoter saw the photos and asked her to enter his show in the 40-plus category, where she ultimately came second.

And from there, things snowballed. There is renewed life in her fitness modelling career. She appears in the latest issue of Oxygen magazine. She credits friends like Chris Mercer and Mini and Rob Gregorini for their help. As her modelling tan fades to winter white, she plans ahead to 2009, to events in Vancouver, the U. S., and in cities in southern Ontario.

It all began for Popowich at The Gym, the club where she has always trained. She manages to get in 45-minute spurts around her husband's shifts. Her trainer's 'Palace of Pain,' or 'House of Horrors' involves rolling tires, hammering blocks and other boot camp drills. Sometimes it's tough to marry those strength workouts with the showy side.

But despite the image of slick, tanned bodies, another image of Cindy Popowich lingers, not just her abs of steel or the unique firefighter's uniform she wore during the show in Hamilton.

"I'm doing it on my own," she says. "I'm doing it with my husband. We're doing it as a family. This was a decision, under my roof, with my husband, (with) his 100 per cent support.

"We find ourselves sometimes on a Sunday night after putting the kids to bed there we are at at 9:45 p. m., cooking me 12 chicken breasts, 12 cups of rice and storing everything in the fridge, preparing my salads so that I'm literally dipping into the fridge, and then during the day I'm cooking the elaborate meals for them."

Not to mention having her cake and eating it, too.

Source:  Sudbury Star (Ontario)