Hot and Hard: Danielle Reardon

The 'High School Bodybuilder' at Wesley Chapel High School in Florida

A few years ago, a homemade video appeared on the forums of a ‘High School Bodybuilder’ called Danielle Reardon. The clip (which as far as I can see is no longer available to watch) consisted solely of Danielle talking to camera. She talked, as far as I remember, about her future goals in the sport, her love of the lifestyle and the thrill she got from competing. I remember thinking that she was rather eloquent and came across as being very sure of herself and what she wanted. And I also remember thinking, Hang on! She’s talking about having competed. How can a teenage girl possibly have competed already?


Well, that's first place, thinks the girl in the glasses. Maybe I can get second.

To Brits like me, the idea that a high school (or secondary school as we say over here) would have a bodybuilding contest is, well, a little far-fetched. As a teenager I might have dreamed that some of the girls from the hockey team, the ones who frequented the weights room anyway, would do a bit of flexing for me, but it never once occurred to my overactive imagination that they would stand on the stage at the school in bikinis as competitors in our school’s bodybuilding show.


Miss Wesley Chapel 2008

It seems high school bodybuilding not only exists, but is well-established in some schools, at least in some parts of the US. The shows are essentially fundraisers for some sporting activity or another at the school, and involve boys and girls. Not surprisingly, perhaps, these shows have attracted rather a large amount of criticism. One member of the American Council on Exercise has said that teenagers experimenting with nutritional supplements, crash dieting or pre-contest dehydration is ‘a recipe for disaster. Emotionally, psychologically, physiologically, their bodies are not ready for it.’



But Danielle didn’t appear to have any of these issues. She seemed well-aware of what she was committing herself to, and did so simply because she had decided that the lifestyle bodybuilding entails was the life that she wanted to lead. And that is exactly what she has done.



Born in 1990 (!), Danielle hails from Florida. She attended Wesley Chapel High School, and competed in their annual bodybuilding show every year she was there, winning it in both her junior and senior years. It was totally energizing, she says, I loved the spotlight.





In 2010, she competed as a Figure competitor at NPC shows, and continued to do so in 2011, winning the short class at the Sunshine Classic and finishing 14th at the Nationals that year. But, now 21, it was becoming apparent that all those years of bodybuilding as a teenager meant that Danielle was simply too muscular to succeed in Figure at the highest level, and right from the get-go she had made it her ambition to be at that level, so she decided to move up to Physique.



Danielle at the 2012 NPC Southern States

The improvement in her results were immediate. She won her class (short) at the Mid-Florida Classic, finished 2nd at the NPC Southern States, and consequently qualified for the Nationals. There, she won her class. At the age of 22, she had her pro card.




Danielle wins her class at the 2012 NPC Nationals, obviously

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that this young woman is on the verge of becoming a phenomenon. What better advert could there be for the Physique division? And what better way could there be for Hot and Hard Week to end?

Hot and Hard: Larissa and...

Is it me or does everybody want to get a picture with Larissa Reis?





Larissa and... Heather Dees


Larissa and... Ingrid Romero (left) and Laurie Schnelle (right)







Larissa and... Jessica Scofield




Larissa and... Natalia Melo






Larissa and... Maria Luis Baeza



Larissa and... Katka Kyptova (left) and Nanda Croft (right)




Larissa and... Monica Martin




Larissa and... Oksana Grishina


Unfortunately, despite evidence to the contrary, Larissa herself can’t be in every picture. But the good news is you can now take Larissa everywhere you go with this new T-shirt. Never be without Larissa in your photos again! Details on her website.



And if any of you lovely readers can identify any of the women with Larissa that I haven't been able to, please let me know who they are.

Enjoy! Hot and Hard Week concludes tomorrow.

Hot and Hard: Joele Smith

2011 saw the debut of the Women’s Physique Division at the NPC Nationals. Far from suffering from interest, 106 competitors entered. Some of them were former bodybuilders, downsized for the new class, while many others were former figure competitors who had added a little more muscle. One of those was Joele Smith from Mississippi, who had been competing in figure for a little over a year.



Joele was into dance, gymnastics and sport in general while growing up, but didn’t begin serious weight training until she was at Nursing School in Mississippi. I had to find something to nourish my need of physical activity, she says. Then I met my husband, Randy, and he introduced me to serious weight training. I loved it! He had a background in bodybuilding and taught me everything I know about weight training.



After a couple of friends from the same gym began to compete, and with Randy’s encouragement, Joele first competed in May 2010 at NPC Steel World (!) and won the overall title in the Figure Division. If she had had doubts about doing more competitions, that first victory wiped them all away: I was hooked!



But Joele’s ride to the pros was not without its bumps. She failed to place at two of her next three contests, and by the time the NPC Nationals came around in 2011, she had been about to give up competing. That she didn’t was thanks partly to her husband and another trainer’s powers of persuasion, and partly to the fact that the new Physique division was being introduced at that show.




Joele was one of 30 (30!) competitors in the tallest of the three height classes. After a patchy Figure career, she was an unlikely winner, but win she did, and although she missed out on the overall title, she’d won her first Physique show, and was now a pro, one of the first six women to be awarded professional status in the division.



And last year she took to the stage in four high-profile pro shows and placed in the top 6 in all of them. And set up Physique Pro Fitness, which she hopes will help other women (and men) reach their fitness targets.



I’m well aware that to many female muscle fans, ‘Physique’ is a dirty word. Many feel it’s introduction was a thinly-disguised attempt to bang another nail into the heart of female bodybuilding, and on that point I quite agree. But intention is one thing and outcome quite another. Have a bit of faith! Female bodybuilding will survive.



Some women, Joele for instance, fit right into the Physique class. She wasn’t a success as a Figure competitor, and is unlikely to ever have the muscularity to succeed in the Bodybuilding division. Physique is where she belongs, and if it hadn’t been brought into existence, she may well have given up competing. Take a good look at Joele. Wouldn’t the sport, in fact, wouldn’t the world be a poorer place if that had happened?

Joele’s website
Physique Pro Fitness website

Enjoy one of Joele's 2012 appearances, the IFBB Europa in Orlando



It's all good. More heat tomorrow!