Jeannie Paparone
by
Hans February 2003
photography by Gene X
Looking
at Jeannie Paparone's tight, perfectly sculpted bodybuilder's physique,
complete with a to-die-for six-pack, most people assume she's not a mother.
So when Jeannie, a Las Vegas personal trainer, talks to new moms about
getting back in shape after having a baby, she often gets the same reaction
from them. "You don't know what it's like," they say.
"Yes,
I do," she replies. "I have a five year-old son."
Last
November, Jeannie's son, Louis, was in the audience at the Dallas Convention
Center to see his mom compete in the NPC Nationals, the toughest amateur
show in women's bodybuilding. In razor-sharp condition at 5-foot-4 and
132 pounds, the 34 year-old Jeannie looked stunning, with a spectacular
v-shaped back, a tiny waist, chiseled pecs, and sweeping, ripped-to-shreds
quads. She won the middleweight class and with it a pro card - an incredible
achievement for a woman who had had a baby just five years earlier.
"I
tell moms you can get back in shape after having a baby if you put your
mind and body to it," she says. "Then I just say, 'Look at me!'"
Jeannie
had begun competing back in 1994 at the age of 26 and placed a promising
seventh in the middleweights on her Nationals debut in 1995. She already
had her sights set on going pro, but when she and her husband Dion decided
to have a child, she put bodybuilding on hold. However, she carried on
working out throughout her pregnancy and stayed in such good shape that
even when she was nine months pregnant, most people in the gym had no
idea. Believe it or not, Jeannie even worked out the morning she gave
birth in October 1997 (some squats, some biceps, and half an hour on the
Stairmaster). That afternoon she went for her doctor's appointment, and
in the evening, two weeks early, she gave birth to a healthy 6-pound,
10-ounce baby boy.
In 1999,
when Louis was two years old and entered school, Jeannie decided it was
time to think about competing again. In 2000, after an absence of five
years, she promptly re-qualified for Nationals and placed eighth at the
USA in 2001. A year later she came back with a radically improved physique
and placed second at the USA in her hometown of Las Vegas in July, and
then went one better at the Nationals in Dallas in November.
"It
still hasn't sunk in," Jeannie says with a laugh two months after
the show. "My husband is more excited than I am."
Louis
is Jeannie's biggest fan. "He tells his friends, 'My mom is bigger
than your mom!'" she says. "He loves going to my shows and seeing
me onstage. A lot of times I hear him in the audience shouting, 'Go mommy,
go!'" He has even started emulating his muscular mom: when Jeannie
does her abs at night, Louis does them along with her ("it helps
with his counting!"). Sometimes, after seeing her pose when she's
getting ready for a show, Jeannie catches Louis in the bathroom doing
a front double-biceps in the mirror. "It's so cute!" she says.
Jeannie
Paparone is a bodybuilder's bodybuilder. Mention her to other athletes
and they'll start gushing about her beautiful shape, flawless symmetry
and phenomenal condition. "She's awesome," says national-level
heavyweight Heather Policky. "I remember the first time I saw her
at the USA I couldn't help but stare at her, then at Nationals I was doing
it again. I am definitely a fan."
Jeannie
grew up in Chicago, Ill., where she was a gymnast from the age of seven
years-old until she graduated fro high school, and was picked as an all-state
gymnast. As a teenager, she had a muscular build but was also anorexic.
Then she saw pictures of Cory Everson and Rachel McLish for the first
time in the magazines, and fell in love with their muscular look. "They
looked powerful and confident, but at the same time very feminine,"
she says. In 1991 she started bodybuilding, and did her first show three
years later. Jeannie met her husband Dion in the gym, and together they
eloped to Reno, Nev., where Dion, a crane operator, had found a job. Six
months later they moved to Las Vegas.
The
physique Jeannie presented onstage in 2002 was vastly improved on the
previous year, improvements she puts down to changes she and Dion made
to her training and diet. In particular, she started doing an hour of
cardio each morning, which helped to cut up her legs. Then, after the
USA, where she was, as she puts it, "veiny," she added more
carbs into diet, which resulted in a fuller look at the Nationals. "She
was perfect," says Elena Seiple-Perticari, who competed against Jeannie
in the middleweights at the Nationals. "She had no flaws or weaknesses.
I was honored to be onstage with her."
With
her outstanding muscle density, Jeannie's future at the pro level looks
bright. She plans to make her pro debut as a middleweight at the Night
of Women's Bodybuilding in New York in May 2003. "She should do very
well," says Sandy Ranalli, the head judge at the Nationals.
But although
she is now a pro, life hasn't changed much for Jeannie, who, like millions
of working moms, has to juggle her different roles. She is up at 4 a.m.
(3 a.m. pre-contest so she can get in an hour's cardio), eats, wakes Louis
and takes him to school, and is at the gym by 6.30 a.m. She squeezes her
own training, usually in the afternoon, and her six meals in between training
8-10 clients a day.
Jeannie
hopes her example can be an inspiration to other women, particularly new
moms. She is working on a website, which will have nutrition tips and
exercises for moms during pregnancy and after pregnancy (it will be online
by March 2003). She also wants to do a workout video and a video on "a
day in the life of a female bodybuilder." To Jeannie, any woman can
follow her example and have it all, a successful career, a family, and
a great body. "I don't do very well with excuses," she says.
"I believe it's a way out. If you're motivated, you can achieve anything
in life by being positive."
You
can mail your letters of support to Jeannie at jeanniesfit4life@aol.com
To
See a complete Photo Gallery of Jeannie Paparone, Join the FTV MEMBERS
AREA!
|