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Kim Kilper

by Hans
Photography by James Cook


At the age of 23, most female bodybuilders are still doing their first few local shows, figuring out the basics of contest prep and getting used to being up onstage in a posing suit. Not Kim Kilper. Just a few weeks after turning 23 in June, Kim, an elementary school teacher from St. Louis, Mo., was competing at the Junior Nationals for the second time - her 11th show. A former Teen National champion, she already also has a string of state-level titles to her name. In other words, she's been around.

Kim's impressive resumé is the result of the enthusiasm for bodybuilding she's had ever since she was in junior high. She started working out in her parents' basement as a 12 year-old (a basement that is now full of her trophies), joined a gym at 15, started competing at 18, and won Teen Nationals a year later. And for Kim ­ unlike many previous teenage national champions - that was just the beginning.

With so much competitive experience at such a young age, Kim has a very bright future ahead of her in a sport where most women peak in their mid-thirties. At Junior Nationals, where she placed eighth in the heavyweights, everyone was talking about her million-watt smile and her beautifully shaped 15-inch arms ("I always get comments about my biceps," she laughs). At 5-foot-4 and around 145 pounds in contest shape, all she needs is a little more thickness and muscle maturity and she could soon be contending for a pro card.

"I am very excited about my future in bodybuilding," she says. "I think that starting out at such a young age helps me tremendously. I think that I will have better muscle maturity than most girls my age and all of the experience on stage will help me as well. I think that I have the size I need to be competitive - I am just going to really focus on my conditioning so I can bring in the whole package."


Kimberly Kilper was born and raised in the suburbs of St. Louis. She was an athletic kid, doing gymnastics in elementary school and later on just about everything else - cheerleading, softball, volleyball, track and soccer. When Kim was 8 years-old, her brother Greg, who is four years older than her, started working out in their parents' basement and showed her pictures of female bodybuilders in the magazines. "He was like, 'You need to look like that!'" she remembers, laughing. At that age, Kim had no idea whether having a muscular body was "feminine" or not - but she was drawn to it. When she was 12 years-old, she and her sister Robyn started working out together in her parents' basement just like Greg had. "Without him I would never have become a bodybuilder," Kim says.

When she was 14, Kim went to her first show, the Missouri State in Springfield, where she met Kim Chizevsky, who at the time was about to de-throne Lenda Murray as Ms. Olympia. It was a big inspiration to the teenage girl from the same state. "Meeting her in person was amazing," she says. "I was so inspired by the amount of size she had. It was so neat to see a woman have that much muscle and still look pretty."

A year later, Kim joined the gym where Greg worked out, stepped up her training, and started to put on size. The same year, Greg competed in the Missouri State himself, and, of course, after seeing him up onstage, Kim couldn't wait to compete herself. At the age of 18, just after graduating from high school, Kim did her first show, the 2000 Caveman Classic in Stanton, Mo., and won the Teenage overall, overall novice, and middleweight open. Later that year she did the Missouri State, winning the teenage overall and placing second in the women's open.

Doing so well in her first two shows was a big motivation for Kim, but it was after she won the middleweight and overall at the Teen Nationals in Pittsburgh in the summer of 2000 that she knew she had the genetics to be a national-level bodybuilder. "It really pushed me to go on and do more," she says. In 2001 she did Junior Nationals for the first time and placed 9th in the middleweight class ­ a pretty impressive national-level debut for a girl just out of her teens. "It was an eye-opener," she says. "Seeing the level of the women I was up against, I was just happy that at 20 years-old I had the size to stand up onstage with them."

After Juniors ­ by which time she was studying elementary education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis - Kim took time off to add more size. Moving up to the heavyweights, she got a string of first places: the 2002 Northwest Arkansas Classic (heavyweight and overall), the 2002 Vince Taylor Classic (heavyweight and overall), the 2003 Mike François Classic (open heavyweight), the 2003 Battle of the Bluff (heavyweight open), and finally the 2003 Missouri State (heavyweight and overall). Kim quickly got used to beating women who were much older than her. "I was always the youngest," she laughs. "They'd all be like, 'How old are you?'"

Kim now has her sights set on a top five placing at the Junior USA and Junior Nationals in 2005, which gives her plenty of off-season time to improve. She says she plans to focus on improving her overall conditioning and in particular tightening her hamstrings and glutes. Eventually, of course, she would love to turn pro. "That's my ultimate goal," she says. One person who definitely won't be surprised if she does is Greg, who said from day one that his kid sister would be a pro and could not be more proud of her. "He always brags about my accomplishments and supports me throughout the season," she says.

Kim also has some big ambitions outside bodybuilding. In 2003 she completed her master's degree in educational administration, and after teaching for a few more years hopes to become a school principal. Juggling being a bodybuilder with working as an elementary school teacher means her life gets pretty hectic (pre-contest she gets up at 5:00 a.m.). But although it is physically and emotionally demanding, Kim says her schedule works out great  - she is finished by 3 p.m., leaving her the rest of the day free to train, and she has the summer off to focus on competing. "It's actually the perfect job for a bodybuilder!" she says.

The other cool thing about teaching elementary school is the inspiration Kim gets from seeing the kids' reactions to her. Kim says the fifth-graders she teaches are fascinated by muscle ­ just as she was when she was their age. "They love it," she says. "They are so interested and are always asking questions and asking me to flex my arms for them. I guess seeing a girl with muscles is a twist." Kim says she loves being a role model for the kids and showing them they can be anything they want. "It's such a positive influence on them, especially at that age." She even has a couple of fifth-grade girls who tell her they want to be bodybuilders too ­ so if in a few years you hear about another teenage female bodybuilder from St. Louis, don't be surprised.



You can email Kim at kimberlykilper@yahoo.com


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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