Tami Wooden

by Gene X Hwang

January 2005 - With the new year in swing, we take a look at someone who's been out of the competitive spotlight for a bit, but who always had quite the following and for good reason. Tami Wooden was known for her incredible thickness and density and at just 5'3" she packed on an impressive amount of muscle. Well, she's been in the gym still and it's in her blood. We caught up with her to find out who Tami Wooden is.

"Well I have always been around athletics. I grew up around track and football with my Dad coaching.

"When I was five I remember being amazed by the legs on the sprinters. I began athletics as a sprinter and softball player from 8-13.

"We lifted weights a little, but nothing organized. I played more softball at the international level through age 16, then switched over to tennis and went onto college to play for the University of Arkansas. We lifted weights some there but we weren’t supposed to get too big. Actually if we weighed too much, our punishment was we wouldn’t get to practice. I wasn’t really interested in getting big... yet. I just wanted to be the best athlete I could be."

However, when she was injured from overtraining with tennis at college, she remembered seeing a magazine with Rachel McLish in it.

"I thought that was so pretty and strong. I said I want to do that - we had totally different body types - and I have always been lifting and learning ever since!"

Before that look at Rachel though, Wooden idolized men because women’s sports and athletes weren’t shown much in the media other than tennis.

"I loved the strength and quickness of Walter Payton, the power of Dick Butkus, and the strength and power of Emmitt Smith," she says. Then she saw Rachel McLish and Pumping Iron II a few years later with Bev Francis and all the other athletes.

"I loved Bev’s strength. The blondes always inspired me too - Raye Hollitt, Hannie Van Aken, Cory Everson, Anja Langer and so many others with their beauty and strength!"

Tami definitely had the drive to do strength training and bodybuilding because she like to be strong and go after things and has always been quite independent.

"I think muscle is beautiful and I love having goals. Actually the adrenaline release of throwing some heavy weights around - well, it is quite empowering!"

Within the sport of bodybuilding, Tami has realistic sights. "My goals in the sport…well for any athlete is always to be the best in our sport. I have come to terms with that in the mid 1990’s that I was going to do the best then that I could. I gave it my best but knew that being a pro wasn’t in the cards. But now I am back for a little more competition because I missed it. I don’t necessarily miss the losing and not feeling good that I didn’t do better, but I miss the prep, the focus, the posing and feeling pretty. So I have decided to compete some more." No doubt many others will be happy to see Wooden on stage again flexing her impressive physique and see what some more years in the gym has accomplished to polish her already impressive physique.

Outside the gym Tami enjoys reading and learning - two things she knows quite a bit more than you might expect.

"There is just so much to learn out there. I will be starting my PhD this coming year in Educational Psychology. I have two Masters degrees, one in Sport Science and the other in Psychology. I love tennis and golf but don’t get to play as much as I like. I love the mountains, especially Tahoe and Yosemite! I love to see happy things, like cute clothes, Siberian huskies and Disneyland!"

Of course with the last seven years not competing, she continued to train.

"I did learn a lot of new things being a strength and conditioning coach that I have implemented into my own training. I either warm up, superset or cool down with balance and stabilization training, which is challenging in another way. More multi planar training which breaks up the one plane of motion training that we do with bodybuilding. I will try to incorporate some active rest weeks doing circuit training and/or hiking just to let the mind and body recover a bit," she adds.

As for the traditional lifts, while Wooden does not do 1-rep maxes, she does some impressive poundages including benching 80 lb. dumbells for five reps, squats with 240 for 15, shoulder presses with 60 lb. db’s for six reps, and dips/pull-up dips with a 45-lb. plate for 10 reps. Not bad for seven years off!

"Being strong is great! Muscle is beautiful and healthy! I love to practice what I preach! As a strength and conditioning coach/teacher, it's my passion - it allows me to be a role model to men and women athletes - hopefully more women, because we don’t have enough role model strength athletes out in the general population.

"It’s very sad the only role models that are seen are mostly the skinny and unhealthy looking models that have no muscle on them at all. What about the little girls that have muscle growing up? Are they left to feel bad about themselves because they don’t fit into the mold of unhealthy skinny and large breasts as the only look to have? Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this, but what if someone doesn’t fit that mold. This is a very important topic and it is sad that the young girls have to go through this."

Very thoughtful and insightful comments which show that Tami has a true passion not only for herself and a muscular women, but to help change the attitudes toward women and girls with muscle.

She's also a realist: "I’m sure there are those that don’t like the look, but it’s okay! Some people like fat people, some people like skinny people and some people like muscle people. The responses though actually are pretty positive and supportive. My reunions have been cool with support from former teammates and the guys I used to beat at whatever sport we were playing," she adds with a smile.

" I just want to continue to promote strength and health to all! I do hope that we are able to get more representation in the magazines for this - it is so important for the future of health and well being of all the young girls, young women and all women in the world! Of course the men too!"

Tami Wooden's Stats:
Age: 44
Height: 5'3'"
Off-Season Weight: 162 lbs.
- Arms: 16½" (17¼" pumped)
- Calves: 15.75"
- Legs: 24½"
- Chest/Back: 43C
Last competition: 1997 NPC Nationals - 13th place

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