the front porch FIT


Bodybuilder Christine Eriksen showing her form


Compete to


C


hristine Eriksen was always physically active growing up, routinely exercised throughout out her life and was a runner for


more than 30 years. But it wasn’t until about six years ago that she began working with a personal fitness trainer and strengthening her body by lifting weights. “I was always about 20 pounds heavier than I wanted to be,” says Eriksen, “so my goal was to get leaner and build more muscle definition.” It was at the


encouragement of her trainer that Eriksen set her sights on a local body building competition. It was a notion she thought at first was utterly ridiculous – especially for a lady in her late fifties. “I didn’t know if I had the confidence to do that,” she says. In April of 2009, Eriksen took the stage with seven other


mature competitors in the Masters Women’s Bodybuilding division at the Empire Classic Bodybuilding, Fitness, and Figure Championships. Although she didn’t place, she was proud of her achievement. “It was a real step out of my comfort zone,” Eriksen says. “I’d


never been a performer, and surely hadn’t been on stage in a very small bikini in front of fifteen hundred people. My goal was just to do the best that I possibly could.”


April / May 2012 11


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