Krista Riddley

 

Krista has been a figure competitor for 2 ½ years now, but her journey didn’t start there.  Although she had never been athletic in high school or college – She was a cheerleader – She remembers working out, doing mostly aerobics (Jane Fonda audio tapes!)  since the 80s.  Krista  got into weight training while she was working overseas in West Africa in the 90s and really enjoyed it. Over the years in various African countries, she employed trainers, finally hooking up with a bodybuilding crowd in the last country she lived in, Zimbabwe. Krista found that she really enjoyed surprising the men in the gym with how much she could lift, was happy with how her body responded and felt really empowered.

 

When Krista returned to the US, she immediately joined a gym, and asked for the trainer with the most credentials. To her surprise, she got a competitive bodybuilder!  Krista gave him a memo which detailed her goals, basically to lose weight—those last 10 pounds that she'd been carrying around for more than 10 years--- increase muscle, and tone up. He said he’d never in all his years of training received a goals memo from a client.  They got going, and she saw poster for an upcoming bodybuilding, figure and fitness competition in the area, BodyRock. Out of curiosity, she decided to go check it out, as the only competition she'd ever seen was in Zimbabwe. Krista  came back from the competition and told her trainer that she might be interested in competing in figure, and wondered whether she could do it. He never hesitated or gave any caveats, just said let’s get started. A year later in 2006, Krista competed in two shows, the NPC East Coast Tournament of Champions and BodyRock. Krista couldn’t believe she was on stage at the show she had watched from the audience, out of shape, just one year earlier!  She didn’t place but was just happy to be there!  Krista did place in the other competition, The East Coast Tournament of Champions, 4th in Masters, and 5th in the Open Short Class. Not bad for her first figure competition!  Krista ended up taking 2007 off from competition due to surgery and rehabilitation of a torn ACL. Krista wondered if she could come back from that, but trained and dieted hard and ended up competing in three shows in 2008. Her best showing was at the OCB Eastern Seaboard States in Delaware, where she won the Open Short class, Masters, and Overall Figure title. Krista also got 2nd place in the Fitness Model division. She also competed and placed in the INBF Metabolix Natural North America, and the NGA Potomac Cup.

 

Krista's 45 and married to Wayne who is a marathon runner (he’s completed 28 marathons on his way to “50 before 50”). Their diets and training aren’t so compatible, but he’s her biggest fan and supporter. That is a blessing. Last year, Krista decided to join him and run a half marathon, after having done some shorter races together (5k, 8k, 10k) in the past. It was great fun and a nice change of pace.

In her other life, Krista works as a manager and advocate on humanitarian crises like Darfur and Congo, for an international non-profit aid organization. Krista really enjoys influencing policy makers to help make life better for the millions suffering in poverty, conflict and disaster around the world. But, it is “heavy” work.  Bodybuilding is a great outlet.

 

Krista has recently gotten her personal training certification from NASM and plans to begin training folks part time very soon. She's also setting up a website and a new business called Imagine Me Fitness, inspired by her own story – Krista NEVER imagined she could do this, but she did!  Krista wants to help others feel that same sense of accomplishment and empowerment. The site isn’t yet live but here’s the URL:  imaginemefitness.com  she'’ll post a note when it is up and running.

 

Krista's been working on putting on more muscle this off season, and she plans on being on stage again in 2009. At 45 years old, she's in the best shape of her life. Something to be proud of, and what a blessing! 

 

Krista is yet another example of a 40 something competitor getting better with age. She's got a fantastic attitude toward training and life. Continued success Krista!