Personal trainer finds her element in body building
Deidre Dillman, 27, of Prairie du Chien, recently won the amateur figure class in the Minnesota Mayhem Natural Body Building Championships. This was her first time in a body building compeittion, though she plans to enter more in the future and hopefully achieve professional status.
By Correne Martin
“I just like being strong; it’s part of me. I need to do it. It’s my lifestyle.”
Deep down, that’s how personal trainer, turned body builder, Deidre Dillman, feels. She’s been known in the Prairie du Chien community since her high school and college days as a decorated cross country and track athlete.
“I’ve always been a runner. It’s just kinda my thing,” she smiled.
These days, at the age of 27, Deidre is a personal trainer and strength trainer for Suppz Gym in Prairie du Chien. She’s been there about four years and, while she loves getting others pumped up about being healthy and strong, she’s personally chased gradually greater goals for herself.
She’s always enjoyed lifting heavy weights. “I love it. It’s helped me with everyday things, my self confidence,” she said. “I’m all about the pump. I wanna get to a 300-pound back squat.”
Over the past few years, Deidre has tried crossfit and power lifting. She challenged herself and others in competitions for both and placed a couple times.
“But I got injured, I wasn’t getting stronger, it wasn’t fun and I felt like I just wasn’t fitting in,” she shared.
Until, it seemed, fate stepped in.
At a power lifting competition, as Deidre was registering, the worker put a body building wristband on her, mistaking her for a women’s body building competitor. Though she ended up completing the contest in her intended category, afterward, a buddy, Ryan Clark, told her all about natural body building and she decided that was the path she wanted to follow. She started more hardcore power lifting and body building training with another friend, Rob Paczok, and set her sights on the Minnesota Mayhem Natural Body Building Championships in Duluth, Minn., Oct. 1.
Natural body building means Deidre uses no supplements and no steroids. Her muscle mass and physique is thanks only to strength training and eating a 95 percent clean diet all year-round. Contestants have to take a polygraph test beforehand to assure they’re all-natural.
To prepare for the amateur division, aside from extra time in the gym, Deidre taught herself how to pose by watching lots of YouTube videos. Then, she chose an upbeat song, Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse,” and put together a routine for Minnesota Mayhem, all on her own. She said she felt confident going in because she knew she had worked extremely hard.
And, it turned out, her confidence was accurate; she kicked butt. She won her class in front of about 200 people in the audience and earned a huge trophy as well as a sword.
“You have to do a certain number of poses. You strike a pose, walk a few steps, strike a pose, dance a little, strike a pose. Then, you stand up on stage with the others to be judged on symmetry, poise and muscle mass,” Deidre explained. “The winner is determined in the morning and, in the afternoon, you get to walk the stage alone. It’s mainly your moment to shine.”
She said she felt completely comfortable on stage.
“I was totally in my element the whole time. I felt like I finally found my calling,” she noted. “The judges said I was the only one smiling during all my poses. I was on cloud nine.”
The top two winners in each amateur class were supposed to be awarded their professional card. However, there were only four women in Deidre’s “figure” class, and five women were needed in order for the top two to earn their pro cards.
“I didn’t get the pro card but I got some awesome hardware. I knew if I went in and didn’t win it, it would be a learning experience and that I could always try again,” she stated.
Because of her success and her ecstatic new spirit about body building, she plans to try again. In May, there will be another competition in Duluth called the Diva Classic. From here on out, she will have free entry into any of these contests, put on by Leif Anderson, too. This is thanks to being named the winner of a drawing at Minnesota Mayhem, in which she had to create a certain number of hashtags on Facebook and Instagram in order to be entered.
“I’m ready to spread my wings. I’m gonna get myself a posing coach. I’ve been networking with lots of others,” Deidre said.
She said she wants to get her pro card so she can start competing for cash. She also hopes she can continue to motivate her personal training clients at Suppz Gym, as well as others who are following her story.
“Everyone always says, ‘I’ll never look like Deidre.’ Well, I didn’t just wake up like this. I’ve worked my butt off for a few years,” she said. “Every day is not an ass-kicking workout. I’m active every day, but it’s because of what I do outside the gym and in the kitchen that matters. Consistency is key and diet’s 80 percent of it.”
Deidre added, she also couldn’t achieve her goals without a great support system. She said she owes thanks to her mom, Mary Dillman, her friend and workout partner Karen Shields and her trainer Rob Paczok.
Her mantra has certainly rung true lately. In addition to her body building championship, she and her contest experience are also featured in the November issue of “Finetix Fitness Magazine.”
To keep up with Deidre’s journey, you can find her on Facebook and Instagram.
