Desiree Alfano
by Gene
X Hwang - August 2003
Desiree:
Desiree Alfano did her first figure show in Modesto, CA and won her
class. She currently lives in Oakland, CA and has been training for several
years.
"At
an early age I loved activity, this was evident by my desire to become
a ballerina, and continued to work very hard until unforeseen occurrences
took over. I had injuries and surgeries , and as a result I ended up in
Physical Therapy for a few years. This seemed to set me in motion to always
be a very active person, and never intimidated by gym environments, even
if I was the only girl there. From the age of 17 on I was always training
in some way or another. By the age of 21 I was training on a schedule
which I kept up consistently, constantly learning from others all I could
soak up," says Alfano.
"I was never on a proper diet and wanted to take the leap to eat
more to try to lose unwanted fat that was just not coming off no matter
how much cardio I pushed myself to do. And then I met Kenny at Max Muscle
in Walnut Creek when I walked into his store to buy a tanning package.
He had pictures up of before and afters of people he had helped to achieve
their goals. That day changed my life by giving me the tools to work with,
in the diet he gave me and the confidence that was inspired by the encouragement
to be my best, by not only Kenny but his better half as well Gina Camacho.
They are now very close friends that I could never thank enough. Skip
La Cour also helped with a lot of focusing and mental exercises that got
me through at some very challenging moments.
"I finally entered my first figure competition on July 19th in the
Central Valley Classic, and with the support of all of these people and
my sister Emily I took first place in my class. I love being a part of
this sport now, and enjoy so much being around other strong girls both
physically and mentally, challenging themselves and achieving new goals.
I used to feel out of place being a girl with muscles, but now I feel
right at home in the Fitness Figure community thanks to the supportive
people.
"Now I plan to move on to the next show, making as many improvements
as possible to move onward and upward. With more and more girls getting
involved it seems to be more accepted, even by other women who have families
and demanding careers not at all involved in the sport. When they let
us know that we are an inspiration to them it is the ultimate motivator.
Men also seem to be more in tune to the fact that this is not just a phase
and is only going to increase in popularity for a myriad of reasons. As
a result some men are our biggest supporters, and are able to share their
expertise with us and allow us to be our best.
"All in all, this journey has helped me grow inside and out. I have
learned valuable lessons about others but most importantly about myself
and the kind of person I am and strive to be. At times I felt as if I
was fasting and things became very clear, this enabled me to make wise
choices in all aspects of my life."
Hopefully
those choices will see Alfano continue to make an impact in figure, and
maybe even bodybuilding. With her genetics and body type, she should be
able to continue to improve and refine her physique to impressive levels.