Maple Grove Mom Wins Bodybuilding Competition
Go to any gym in the world, and you’ll find people trying to achieve any number of fitness goals.
But even those in top physical condition have workouts they don’t particularly enjoy.
“It’s just something that you have to do, but yeah, I do hate it,” said Joanna Pluszcz, referring to leg day.
Leg day can do that to a person, yet Pluszcz still makes her way to the gym nearly every single day.
For this Maple Grove mom, it’s a way of life.
“At the age of 40, this is where I am in my body,” Pluszcz said. “This is the first time in my life when I’m happy with my body. I obtained what I wanted.”
Pluszcz has a good reason to be happy.
In May, she won her division in the Ms. Natural Minnesota competition. It’s a bodybuilding competition where the competitors wear bikinis.
“The show I won is the natural clean show,” Pluszcz said. “So basically you eat clean, you train hard, and then you’re ready to go on stage.”
In other words, she accomplished the feat without the use of steroids and other bodybuilding supplements. All she had was determination and a trainer named Dusty Olson to help accomplish her goals.
Not a Beauty Pageant
Meanwhile, Joanna wanted to clear up misconceptions that people might have about the sport.
“It’s not a weight-loss competition. It’s not a beauty pageant,” Pluszcz said.
In order to win, she says this bodybuilding competition requires participants to have muscles, the knowledge of how to move on stage, and tricks to do on stage to look better.
A competitive athlete all her life, it’s only within the past five years that Pluszcz decided to take up bodybuilding.
“As I started competing, it was just pure athleticism and competitive spirit just to go and see how far I can go, how hard I can push it,” she said.
Now, she has a shelf full of trophies to highlight her accomplishments.
But most importantly, she’s programmed herself on how to live a healthy life.
“You learn a lot about healthy eating, about healthy lifting,” Pluszcz said. “You meet amazing people on the way.”
Pluszcz says that winning the competition doesn’t come with a reward of endorsements or modeling jobs. For her, she’s going back to being a mother of three.
