Finding Flextime at the 2008 NPC Heart of Dixie

Prudence Moe represented ON-ABB at the NPC Heart of Dixie

2008 NPC Heart of Dixie bodybuilding, fitness and figure competition draws a mother of three, other competitors from all around the Southeast.

August 17, 2008

By DAVID FERRARA

Backstage at the Davidson High School auditorium in Mobile, a 33-year-old mother of three took tiny sips from a bottle of water as she prepared to step under the lights at her first bodybuilding competition.

The broad shoulders and the sharp contours of Heather Humphries' arms jutted out at her sides, the rest of her body barely covered with a thin blue rhinestone-studded bathing suit.

Her husband, Keith Humphries, stood quietly nearby with a towel, as she prepared to go before the judges at the Heart of Dixie Bodybuilding Competition. Her body would be analyzed for symmetry and leanness.

She started working out 11 years ago just to lose weight, she said, and never really stopped.

She weighed 205 pounds when she began exercising, and she's since lost 53 pounds, including a drop of 30 pounds in the last several weeks.

About 14 weeks ago, she started a regimen strictly of chicken, fish, lettuce, broccoli, eggs, water and diet pills. Nothing else. No carbs. Had to stay lean.

"I have had babies," she said. "I work 12 hours a day. And this is the single most difficult thing I have ever done."

She owns Collision Experts, an automobile repair shop on Government Boulevard in Mobile.

Her husband is a registered nurse.

"The roles are kind of reversed," he said.

For Heather Humphries, a typical day leading up to the competition looked something like this:

Arrive at work around 6 a.m. Leave work at 6 p.m. Head to the gym. Lift weights for an hour. Get on a bike or a treadmill for another hour. Then pose — stand in front of a mirror and squeeze every muscle in her body for 30 minutes.

Men the size of bears — really, really strong bears, the kind with six-pack stomachs and veins bulging from their biceps — did push-ups around the corner as she walked barefoot onto the stage with a group of other women. An intense odor hung in the air — a mix of tanning lotion, sweat and cooking spray, coated on their bodies to make the skin shine.

This year's show, the 28th in the Mobile area, drew 63 competitors from across the Southeast. The sport isn't as popular as it was back in the late '80s, when there were twice as many competitors and about 1,500 spectators, promoter Jason Greene said, but it's gaining popularity again.

As for performance-enhancing drugs, the competition doesn't test for them. Greene said some of the diet pills the bodybuilders take would confuse the tests.

Steroids, he said, are not approved. However, "I'm sure they're being used."

The competition is divided by height and weight. For the women whose bodies aren't as muscular, there is a "figure" competition.

"Of course, the guys love it," Greene said. "And every woman on earth wants to look like these ladies."

Heather Humphries stuck to the bodybuilding portion of the event.

"I can build muscle mass," she said. "A lot of women can't. It's just the way I was made."

Source:  Mobile Press-Register