Bodybuilding Weekly: Yvonne Edmunds - Pumping Iron at Harbor Athletic

Yvonne Edmunds - Pumping Iron at Harbor Athletic
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Hardbodies News on 10 February, 2009 02:23:00
 
February 11, 2009
Yvonne Edmunds always ties her wedding ring into her shoelace to keep it safe
during her upper-body training. The extreme pressure of her lifting routine
might bend it.
Most of the women she trains at Harbor Athletic Club look at photos from her
bodybuilding competitions and tell her, "I don't want to look like that."
You won't, she tells them. The taut, bulging muscles that win her the top
prizes at regional and national competitions took 20 years of special lifting
and careful eating to develop. In fact, she only really "looks like that" during
the competing season, which runs from late spring to the fall.
She protests that she's gotten flabby now in the winter, but 150 pounds looks
lean and toned on her 5-foot-3 frame. Not bad for a 48-year-old mother of four.
Muscles swell before they tone down, and many women get turned off by the
initial bloat. "Women aren't used to that feeling of toned muscles. It just
takes a matter of time," she said.
Female gym-goers often focus on cardio and weight loss, not realizing until
their 50s or 60s how important strong muscles are to bone density, metabolism
and overall health.
"I don't think the health industry pushes it at an early enough age," she said.
Harbor Athletic Club has a women's-only weightlifting room, and Edmunds often
takes her clients there because it cuts down the "intimidation factor" of
lifting around men. She'll lift anywhere now herself, but she understands
others' trepidation, especially women who are just starting out.
She hated working out when she was younger and never played sports because of
weak joints and terrible hand-eye coordination. She only started lifting weights
because friends dragged her to the gym in her early 20s.
It was at that point that she had an epiphany.
"I just felt so good about myself," she said. After her first bodybuilding
competition, she realized she "really enjoyed the whole journey of it."
Her husband Paul coaches her and has been her biggest supporter through the
years. When he's spotting her, she tells him not to tell her how much she's
lifting: "I don't want to psych myself out."
She's lifted up to 80 pounds in a one-armed, bent-over dumbbell row. She's
working up to 100 pounds, and is already starting her training for the Masters
National Championships in Pittsburgh in July. She and her husband are also
promoting the May 16 Wisconsin State Fitness Championship at the Middleton
Performing Arts Center.
The special low-carb, low-fat, protein-heavy diet she follows in the months
before a competition is "painful" -- chicken breasts, tuna, protein shakes,
veggies, "maybe a few snacks, but like rice cakes, nothing fun."
"You feel amazing, but it's so hard," she said. "I'm just like everyone else --
I love to eat."
Harbor Athletic Club
harborathletic.com
Address: 2529 Allen Blvd., Middleton
Phone: 831-6500
Source:  Madison, Wisconsin 77square