The Spirit of Competition
Four people from local hometown gym take NPC National Qualifier by storm.
Georgetown, Texas. A small local health club named Eagle Fitness that sits quietly tucked away in central Texas is producing some amazing physiques. This club has been touted by some members as Georgetown’s, TX. best kept secret in fitness. On Saturday August 1,2009, four people from there competed in the NPC Capital of Texas Roundup Bodybuilding, Fitness & Figure Championship in Austin, TX. This event is an NPC National Qualifier and three of these four people became qualified to compete at the national level for the next two years due to their victory this weekend.
These four competitors have been dubbed "Team Eagle Fitness" by some close friends at the club that they workout in and have become the pride of. The "Team" has become an inspiration to many who know the story of their journey to bring home the hard earned awards. Christi Carro, Michelle Thompson, Ivan Meraz, and Carlos Padilla are the "Big 4" on the "Team", with support from three other Personal Trainers at Eagle Fitness, Bill Carle, Marilynn Mathis, and John Carro along with the support of their families and friends. The story of this amazing group is a "When the going gets tough" one. It epitomizes what it means to pull everything together and keep going in spite of the hardships that life dishes up. If you are looking for an excuse to not do something don't look here. Even all the big ones can be overcome at any given time or situation. So here are their stories.
Christi Carro is also a Personal Trainer at Eagle Fitness. She competed in the Women's Open Light/Heavyweight Bodybuilding and in the Women's Masters Bodybuilding. Christi won first place in both classes putting her in a great position to also win the Women's Overall trophy for bodybuilding. She has competed before, the last time was 5 years ago. The program to get into competition shape is very strict, and went as well as can be expected until 2 weeks before the event when she was struck down with a bad case of Shingles. In most cases this could be the end the program, but not for her. Determination and very healthy lifestyle helped her rebound and still dominate on August 1.
Michelle Thompson is one of the unfortunately unemployed, but has been using the down time to burn off the stresses of her situation with exercise. This has an interesting side effect of producing a knockout physique. She competed in the Masters Figure Class, this was a very large class of 19 competitors. This was her first event and placed 11th in the midst of a very competitive field.
Ivan Meraz is also a Personal Trainer at Eagle Fitness. He competed in the Men's Open Middleweight Bodybuilding. Ivan won first place in that class.
Carlos Padilla is a family man, working 2 jobs to support his family. He competed in the Men's Open Lightweight Bodybuilding. He won first place in that class. About a month ago he was getting stretched pretty thin on sleep and almost threw in the towel, but managed to muster up what it took to also come home with a win.
These people are putting forth tremendous effort in the tough times we are all facing, and it does pay to put energy into your body. Now probably more than ever is when everyone should be investing time in themselves. You can manage stress, increase your endurance, and maintain an overall sense of well being with exercise. Believe it or not it is not a selfish act. With this form of self improvement you we can all be stronger, healthier, and happier. If you start a good exercise program today and stick with it you will be amazed with the returns you will reap in a month not to mention a year or even 10 years from now. This will help alleviate the chance of adding burden on those around us by being able to contribute strength to our ailing world. Not to mention the inspiration it serves up as a display of the human potential. One never knows what he or she is capable of without giving it a good try.
