Local bodybuilder Lorene MacGregor has returned from the International Drug Free Association (IDFA) Classic with a fifth place finish. The competition took place in Calgary on June 30.
"It's a competition that has a variety of elements to it," she said. "There's a men's bodybuilding competition. The women's side of it has what's called a figure athlete and a fitness model aspect. Each one looks at different elements in that particular category."
MacGregor competed in the figure athlete in 2009 at the Western Canadian Championships in Kelowna where she placed tenth.
"The figure athlete requires more of a lean body with more musculature," she said. "Because I wasn't as lean as I was before, my trainer (Lori Dixon from Cranbrook) recommended that I go in the fitness model category."
MacGregor was entered in the Master's Fitness Model category, which was for women over 40. She was pleased with her effort, given that she was the oldest women entered at 50.
"I just really felt good," she said. "I felt good and healthy and strong. I didn't place first, I placed fifth. I just felt really good about how I performed."
MacGregor urges any women or men that are middle-aged or over to get out there and become active for the "health" of it.
"I need women of all ages how important it is to get out and do the yoga and the zumba classes, but I want to encourage women to get into the weight room as well," she said. "Building muscle creates more of a furnace in your body to help with that inevitable fat issue. If you build more muscle you'll have a leaner body."
There are many benefits to body building, says MacGregor.
"I just turned 50 and I feel fabulous," she said. "I feel healthy; I feel fit. Exercising is one part. Eating is 80 per cent of it. That saying, 'You are what you eat' is so important. In the end, it's the eating that creates the muscle and trains the efficient body to work."