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Shannon Meteraud
by gene x hwang - November 1999

Photo (c) 1999 Shannon Meteraud Fitness competitor Shannon Meteraud gained her pro card this year at the NPC USA Championships in Santa Monica, CA on July 30-31, 1999. However, she has been involved in fitness for quite some time, and has even beaten some of the sports most well-known competitors.

"I've always been pretty athletic. I cheered and played soccer since I was ten. I started working out with weights when I was about 17, and worked out on and off until I was 20. I started working in a Fitness Club and became committed to it. I used to flip through the fitness/muscle magazines and see the Fitness girls and read about the competitions. I would say to myself 'I could do that,' says Meteraud.

"At 24, my employer's girlfriend was training for the Galaxy; which gave me the opportunity to watch a competition. One night when she was training I decided to run the obstacle course to see how I would do. I had no prior training and it was dark! I ran a qualifying time for the finals. That convinced me that I would be training all year for the Galaxy 95.

"I did a couple of bodybuilding shows before for practice and in January 1995, I competed in the Galaxy. I won the obstacle course with the fastest time on the original Galaxy course and took runner-up to Mia Finnagen by one point. From there I competed in Marjo Selin's Superfitness in Maui and won. (This time beating Mia by one point.) The rest is history," she adds.


But like many other athletes, Meteraud could not have done it alone. "I'm very fortunate to get the kind of support I receive. My boyfriend trains and diets me. My training partners, two very dear friends of mine, are national level competitors, which helps tremendously because they know what I'm going through and vice versa. My mom and dad will go the extra effort and cook clean food separately for me at family dinners or special occasions. I couldn't ask for more support."

Photo (c) 1999 Shannon Meteraud Meteraud is quite comfortable performing before crowds and it shows in her excellent presence and the way she carries herself on stage. "I guess being a cheerleader all through grade school, High school, and college, helped me with being comfortable in front of crowds. I cheered for the Citadel, which at the time was an all-male military college."

As any sport that is relatively new and still evolving, fitness competitions are going through growing pains. Judging standards often confound both the athletes and the spectators, and there are more and more women competing.

"The competition has definitely gotten tougher and tougher. I'm getting older and/or the girls are getting younger. The physiques are getting bigger and harder. It's tough because the girls don't know what the judges are looking for. You can't possibly please all the judges. Some like more muscular bodies, while others feel it makes you lose femininity. It's hard to have a standard to go by," she explains.

"The routines are becoming very competitive. But then again different judges like different things. So it's hard for them to go by a certain standard. The mandatory moves do help though. I just wish they could come up with a fair form of competition that could be judge fairly and equally. That is one reason why I loved the obstacle course. You have the time to beat and that's it. There is no objectivity."

But the objectivity that is not there is something that is hard to impelement. As long as there are rounds where physiques are judged against a non-standard and often ill-defined ideal, the human factor will always result in some competitors being unhappy.

Photo (c) 1999 Shannon Meteraud But that isn't stopping Meteraud.

"I want to take it as far as I can go. Of course the ultimate in fitness is the Olympia. I would love to one day be competing on stage at the Fitness Olympia."

So how does one of the hottest new fitness pro train?

"I'm probably pretty average in strength. I feel my upper body is stronger than my legs. I do train heavy at times and I don't mind it because that means less reps. My weights vary with each workout. It depends on where I am in contest preparation," she adds.

When she is not preparing for a contest, Meteraud likes to keep things laid back. "I don't go out partying. I get irritated easily by the masses of people drinking and the smoke gets to me. We mainly go to movies or dinner at Outback Steakhouse (because the will cook "clean" food for us). On occasion we'll get up a game of putt putt or go bowling. Most people would find my social life pretty mundane."

But the Southeast isn't necessarily known for producing a plethora of bodybuilders or fitness stars, although Charleston, South Carolina, Meteraud's home, has more than you might expect.

Photo (c) 1999 Shannon Meteraud "The city is very historic and not so much health and fitness. The gym where I train is a whole different world. I've never been in a gym like Tres Gym. It is a very competitive oriented gym. The members are very diverse (students, professionals, athletes). Everybody helps everybody and the bodybuilding bug hits a lot of people there. Most of the athletes from Charleston train there. Travis Jervey (from the 49ers) trains there in the off season, as well as the strength coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. The gym also puts on a Bodybuilding Show (The Excalibur) in August and is a main sponsor of The Carolina StrongMan and Fitness Extravaganza. The support I receive from the people there is irreplaceable."

"I've lived other places I lived in Saskatchewan, Canada. (Long story). I've traveled a lot and have visited some beautiful places, but there is something about Charleston that keeps you here. Most Charlestonians don't ever want to leave. When I didn't live here I missed it immensely. I could do without the humidity and the hurricane season, but my family is here and the magic of Charleston has pretty much seduced me. It's in my blood."


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female muscle, shawna walker, larissa reis, michelle jin, wrestling, tracey toth, kira neuman, female bodybuilding, cindy phillips, britt miller, casey daugherty, lyris capelle, jill brooks, olga guryev, olga guryeva, kristy hawkins, cheryl faust, lindsey cope, lindsay cope, veronica miller