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: 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!

Thighs of the Day: Monica Mowi

I started doing Aerobics when I was young. I met a local fitness competitor who had a daughter and that inspired me. My mother never worked out and this woman looked great and had a daughter who also got involved in fitness. I thought to myself, if this woman can workout and have a daughter and look this good, that is what I want to do.

Once upon a time she was Monica Wieckowski, teenage fitness competitor from Sweden. And even then, her legs were just that little bit more developed than the rest of her.



It didn’t take long before I turned into a gym rat. By the age of 14 I already had the desire to compete. Since I was tiny back then I aimed at fitness, even though it was bodybuilding that I had a passion for. I did three fitness shows in Sweden 1999. However I was too vascular and lean, and therefore didn’t place very good.

Monica Wieckowski got a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Nutrition from the University of Stockholm and moved to the USA to do her PhD, but didn’t complete it.

Another reason I chose to move to the U.S. is people here are not nearly as judgemental as they are in Sweden. Swedish people in general are very conservative. They are very judgmental about females in bodybuilding. Bodybuilding is very looked down upon. Even supplements like Creatine are considered taboo. Here you can do whatever you want and people don't condemn you for it.



Still, she wrote a book, in Swedish, ‘Functional Foods for Health and Energy Balance’, an academic book, not for popular consumption. And she got bigger, and became Monica Mollica, and got interested in web design to the extent that she started her own business, Rebel Design Studios.

I took a class on it while I was in school and I became very interested in it. I do not have any formal training other than that. I went out and bought a bunch of books on it and taught myself. I like to learn. You should see my apartment, it looks like a library!

(So the glasses are not just for effect! I’d always wondered about them.)

And as Monica was developing her mind, her body was also developing. She sculpted a highly-muscled, symmetrical physique. Her conditioning remained remarkably consistent. Though she never competed, her abs always seemed to be visible, as did the cuts in her legs, which remained her standout body part.



My diet is always the same. I eat a typical bodybuilding diet: chicken, broccoli, cottage cheese. I wouldn't look this good year round if I didn't stick to the same thing all the time. Besides, I LOVE cottage cheese and I don't know any other way to eat. No cheat foods. When I moved from home, I always had to get my own food. I never bought junk. So I never have cravings.

Monica Mollica became Monica Mowi, her website, www.mowifit.com. She remained (and remains) unavailable for sessions. Instead, she made some wrestling clips (real, not staged) and sold them via the website to her adoring fans. She filmed her training too, as well as erotic posing clips. Her fame and adoration increased.

I’m an early riser; I usually go up around 6am and head directly to the gym. For me, I have the best workouts in the morning. Then home to eat and starting my working day; as a webmaster I’m responsible for several websites, including my own, so I do a lot of web/video work. And as a dietary consultant and writer, I also spend a significant amount of time writing and reading scientific publications.



Those women who I admire and who are professional right now are in their mid 30s. I have time to do it right. I feel no pressure to jump in to a show. Besides, I don't believe I have to compete in order to be considered a bodybuilder. Bodybuilding is a lifestyle and it is the lifestyle I choose.

She has never competed, and yet I’ll bet every female muscle head knows who she is. She doesn’t do sessions, yet invites you to desire her body with her sensual posing. She is an intellectual, an author and a creative 21st-century businesswoman and at the same time the muscular dream-girl of thousands.

I follow my own path and I am very strong-willed. I've always known what I wanted and I've always pursued it. It doesn't usually fit in with everyone else, but who cares?! Who wants to be like everyone else?



I think it’s fair to say there are not too many like Monica (whatever surname she’s using!). And there are not too many with thighs like those either.

Enjoy!