WOMEN’S BODYBUILDING: JUANITA BLAINO
November Accomplishment: Nationals Heavyweight and Overall Winner
Age 43
Height 5’7
Weight 167
Contest History/Highlights 2010: Nationals 2nd Heavyweight; IFBB North Americans 3rd Heavyweight Over 35; Masters Nationals 5th Heavyweight; 1994: USA Championships 10th Heavyweight
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GOOD RESPONSE “I started out running track in high school, wasn’t until I went to college that running track you became more involved with the weight lifting part. Eventually got to a part where spending more time in the gym than out on the track, and my body responded so quickly.”
CALL IT A COMEBACK “I was competing off an on from 1988 through 1994. At the time I was still going to school, still working. School took me a little bit longer than normal because had a daughter at that time. I was still going to the gym but wasn’t looking to compete again until my daughter got to an age where I could spend the time that I needed. I started training to come back in August of 2009 feeing like this was an accomplishment that I needed to do.”
EARNING A LIVING “I work as a patrolwoman with the County Sheriff’s Department. My day starts at about 6 o clock in the morning to get up and get my daughter ready for school. From there I head out to the gym, do what I have to do there and on days that I have to come to work, I work a 10-hour shift. I get home at 1 in the morning, eat, go to be and get back up at 6 o’clock to do it all over again. It isn’t easy, but I have to make a living.”
MUSCLE WOMAN “In the summertime it’s kind of interesting because we wear short sleeved shirts -sometimes the little kids see me and are like ‘Oh show me your muscle!’ I tell them ‘It will cost you a quarter’. So they start scrambling and saying ‘Oh I got to get quarter!” I charge them and I take it but eventually I give it back to them.”
JUST DO IT “My motivation is just to keep getting better and better. I want to be able to step on stage at the Olympia and compete with the best women in the world and see how I stack up. Wherever I place, the goal is just to get better. With my job, there are times when I am in court or in a situation where I have to miss a meal, even miss a workout – but I don’t view that as an excuse. I have to work with what I have, and I’m determined to show that it can be done.”
