Cambridge bodybuilder not giving up

In addition to learning a great deal from her first taste of competition, the fitness instructor with Exclusively Women's Fitness Centres also discovered that she has the backing of many.

"I'm very popular because I've been in the papers. Pictures from the papers and the articles are posted up around all the gyms I go to (she instructs at several Exclusively Women's centres). Everybody wants to know how I did and have lots of questions and lots of compliments, so it's very nice. That's a huge reward."

She entered her first-ever event in April at an Ontario Bodybuilding Association meet in Stratford and followed up days later in Toronto in the Fame competition, taking part in both the bodybuilding event and a concurrently held model search.

In Stratford the 38-year-old Eckert was second for masters and fourth for heavyweight (more than 115 lbs).

At the Fame event she again finished fourth and didn't qualify for masters which in that competition was for those at least 40.

"I wanted to do better but that's the way it is," said Eckert, who was later told by judges that she needed to work on her symmetry, with her build too straight from her shoulders to her hips.

"They're looking for a more rounder figure which I guess is more feminine, even though I consider myself feminine but in comparison I'm very, very straight.

"If I want to progress I've got to build my shoulders, build my lats, make my waist smaller, make by glutes bigger."

After that rundown of what Eckert needs to change, she added, "I still look good," punctuated by self-effacing laughter. "The way I look at it, (I told myself) 'You're pretty good.' You're proud of yourself, you know what I mean."

She started off training for competition in September with 13 per cent body fat and weighing in at 147 lbs. She cut that back to 2.6 per cent body fat and dropped down around 125 pounds.

Fifteen years ago, Eckert left her job as a social worker to become a fitness instructor, so she wasn't exactly starting off in September with a body badly in need of being rescued from bad lifestyle decisions.

To approach the rigorous standards demanded of bodybuilding competitors, Eckert had to go on a strict diet, though not necessarily a healthy one over the long run. Yet while she will not be competing for another year, she is finding it difficult to return items to her diet, like fat, which can be beneficial when eaten in moderation.

"Anything that I put in my body that's off what I call the top 10 food list, I get extremely bloated and uncomfortable. I'm going to have to take it one step at a time. You know it's hard because I know I can do what I want because I'm not going to compete for a year, so I can relax. But my body's not allowing me to."

There are other events she could enter in the next few months but she is taking the year to re-shape her body in order to have a shot at a first-place finish.

In addition to needing to alter her basic shape, Eckert hopes that the lessons learned this first time around - how to pose, how to smile (constantly but never directly at the judges), etc. - will give her a better shot next year.

While she can eat more freely in the months ahead, she wants to stay within 10 pounds of her target competition weight of 125 pounds to avoid having to go to extremes to work the weight off when a competition nears.