Ashland mother of 4 pumped about debut at Arnold's festival
ASHLAND — someday, when Heidi Michelle McFrederick’s four daughters are older, they’ll understand where mom got the inspiration to put herself out there like a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.
And from a tiny voice in her head that said it’s OK to show off the results of her hard work, a physique she’s transformed like the homes she flips with her husband, Jake.
“I don’t mess around,” said McFrederick, 32, a contestant in the amateur bikini competition at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, set for March 4 to 7 in Columbus. “I love exercising, I love working out and I love working in the yard — anything that’s sweaty and dirty.
“I want to be a good influence on my kids. I try to instill in them the importance of a healthy and fit lifestyle.”
McFrederick, a lifelong Ashlander, burns fat from her petite frame (5-foot-2, 105 pounds) by simply trying to keep up with the activities of her four girls: Erika, 13, Alyssa, 10, Daisy, 7 and Lexi, 5. But once she decided to enter the Arnold, she realized she had to take her fitness regimen to a different level.
“This is the first time I’ve ever done anything remotely like this,” she said. “I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for 13 years. with four kids, I was working out whenever I had time, but once I made the commitment to compete, I’ve been faithfully working out and the workouts have become more intense.
“I work out every day without fail. I could be sick or tired, but I’m very faithful to my workouts. not having babies anymore, I have a little more freedom.”
In addition to circuit classes at the Y and some weight-lifting and cardio at home, McFrederick has been training online with fellow Ashland native Jen Hendershott, one of the world’s top fitness professionals and a two-time winner of the Arnold’s Fitness International title.
Hendershott is training 13 women for fitness, figure and bikini competitions at the Sports Festival. But McFrederick might be the only one whose entourage could be mistaken for a Hannah Montana fan club.
“She’s like this girl who has gone unnoticed,” Hendershott said from her home in Burlington, N.C. “All she has to do (for the competition) is show up. There weren’t many changes I made at all.
“I think she’s just phenomenal, especially for someone with four kids. Yeah, she has the look and the body, but she’s also very energetic and has a good head on her shoulders. More than anything, she’s doing it for her kids. Kids deal with so many complexes, but she’s showing them how to live a healthy lifestyle.”
McFrederick and Hendershott’s brother, John, are longtime friends and that’s how she got to meet his famous sister. McFrederick has even done promotional work as a “demo doll” for Hendershott’s line of Phat Girl Nutrition supplements.
“She’s this cool combination of a good friend and amazing businesswoman,” McFrederick said of Hendershott. “She’s adamant that we represent each other well. Neither of us wants to look bad. She’s calmed me into thinking everything will be OK.”
Support from her family hasn’t been a problem either, even though the exposure McFrederick will get on stage will be different than any of them has ever experienced.
“I’m not a shy person when it comes to things like this — getting dressed up and ‘glammed’ up,” she said. “It’s not a shock to the kids and my husband has been very supportive. he thought I should have been doing something like this for years.”
Jake McFrederick, whose family runs the Olde Parsonage home furnishings and fixtures store in Ashland, is already a winner because of his wife’s decision to compete. by working out with her, eating healthier and taking some of the same nutritional supplements, he’s lost 25 pounds since August.
“I can be sitting on the couch, watching the Cavs and feeling guilty, or I can join her for workouts,” he said. “I’m excited for her. She’s always done a good job of being a wife and mother; it’s good to see her do something for herself.
“She’s beaming all the time. with some people, the smile would just be for show, but she’s truly a loving and happy person. I think that will show through in the competition.”
The Arnold Sports Festival is recognized as the largest multi-sport festival in the nation. It’s a four-day event that welcomes 17,000 athletes and competitors and 170,000 fitness enthusiasts to five Columbus venues.
There are 80 women entered in the amateur bikini contest, up from 31 last year. All of them paid a $100 entry fee. no matter what happens when she takes the Veterans Memorial Auditorium stage on March 4, McFrederick already considers it money well spent.
“I’m trying not to go in with any expectations,” she said. “I’ll be one of the older girls, but I hope to gain experience, soak it all up and see where it takes me. I’m embarking on a new chapter in my life and hopefully it will inspire other people.
“A lot of moms, after four kids, would say, ‘There’s no way I’m going out in public in a bikini,’ but I’m trying to prove that thinking is all wrong. It’s not so much a bragging thing; I’m trying to inspire my kids, and other moms. It’s a struggle to stay in shape and have time for yourself. I want to teach them to love themselves and their body image.”
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Ashland mother of 4 pumped about debut at Arnold's festival