Lorelei Sowa

Imagine that you are the mother of three young children and that you are actively involved in their school programs. Imagine that you are a busy wife but also a personal trainer with clients and varying schedules to accommodate. Imagine that you are a professional figure competitor with high ambitions and a rigorous training schedule. Imagine that you value charity work and feel that helping others achieve their potential to be one of life’s greatest priorities. Now imagine that you somehow manage to accomplish it all and you might know what it’s like to be Lorelei Sowa, our current Model of the Month.

"I currently do quite a bit of volunteer work for my children's elementary school as I am a big believer that charity is EXTREMELY important, but that it starts at home.  I have run the Field day event for 685 (+ or-) children at Buttonball elementary school.  The work involves coordinating parent volunteers, developing fun active games for the children and providing food, entertainment and water for the day.  It is usually remembered by most of their kids as their favorite day of school.  Additionally, I help out when I can on a program called Natures trail.  It is an opportunity for the kids to go for a short 1/2 mile hike in the woods behind the school before school.  The goal is to get the kids moving and excited about the day while enjoying nature.

Because my children are so heavily involved in sports, I find these two school events enough for now due to the increased demands on my time juggling football practice, soccer practice, baseball practice, gymnastics, brownies, horseback ridding and violin.  Balance is always about delicate shifts, and I try to maintain balance at all times.  I will admit that sometimes I am better at it than others.  When I can do more I will do more.  In the past, I have done more organized volunteering, such as being president of a women's group in Newtown CT (WIN) and running meals for wheels.  I have also done candy stripe sort of work in Johnson County hospital in Overland Park when I used to reside in Kansas.  I even taught CCD for church two years in a row before I started working outside the home.

While I consider motherhood, my 1st priority in life, I do work outside the home as a personal trainer at Alpha Fitness in Manchester, Connecticut. I have run a free talk there on healthy eating while dining out and run a book club once a week on a health related topic of a new book out which is open to everyone!

 I currently have included two clients who I train twice a week for the past year for free as they would otherwise not be able to afford a trainer.  I get so much from these two clients, I feel they are the ones giving back to me.  One of them is an 18 year old girl who has struggled much of her life with body image.  It is so rewarding when I get the thank you from her mother who tells me she has never been happier in her life. Perhaps I gain so much joy from this because I too was once an overweight teenager struggling to find my way.  I weighed 170 at the age of 15 and definitely could not run a mile.  I was overshadowed by my two older sisters, the beautiful athletic gymnast, and the brilliant academic one.  I felt so worthless.  I never dated (just like my client) and stayed home from school dances to eat cookies.  Did I ever know about emotional eating!  Oprah had nothing on me.  When I got the opportunity to train my current teenager, I was so impressed with her willingness to show up twice a week, EVERY week for a year.  At first results were slow.  It has been so much fun to watch her grow up, loose 20 pounds, start getting A's in college and getting a boyfriend.  I am sure all of these things might have happened on her own, but it is fun to think I might have been a positive influence in her life in some small way.  She has definitely inspired me to work with more teenage girls who are also just trying to find their way.  So much of heir lives is so unhealthy, that I just want to be one positive influence in their life.

I am not sure how I got into health and fitness myself, but a huge part must be my own mother.  She began running marathons at the age of 50 and has since run 15!  I am currently trying to get her to lift more, but happy she is active in any capacity.  I used to run quite a bit with her, and even ran the Walt Disney marathon myself in 1999.  It wasn't until I was around the age of 33 that I really got hooked on bodybuilding.  I was inspired by a girl in my gym, Barbara Traverso, who put me in touch with my current trainer, Doug Dorsey, that I really made any real changes in my body.  I would love to say I still had pregnancy fat to loose, but at this point my youngest daughter was three.  At some point, I woke up and realized that unless I made some real change in my life, I was going to have to be content with being a dowdy housewife.  Since contentment with what I know I can change never sits well with me I chose to make a change. Doug definitely took me further than I ever dreamed of going, and even brought me to my first figure stage in New Haven Connecticut at the Robert Fulton show in June of 2005.  I took third in the show, but was I ever hooked.  I knew I could do better, so I have not given up since!  I got my WNBF pro card at the Nancy Andrews show in May of 2006 just one year later. 

"I am sure all of these things might have happened on her own, but it is fun to think I might have been a positive influence in her life in some small way"

I have found the pro division challenging, but each and every show I come out inspired to keep going.  I am sure at some point, I will age myself out of competition, but hopefully no time soon.  If and When that happens, the journey along the way has been so amazing and the transformations in me have been life altering.  I have learned more than I had imagined and have experienced desire in a way I thought not possible.  When People speak of passion, I now think I understand.  Physical challenges battle so much more than fat. The mental transformation in many ways has been so much greater than the physical. I am in constant gratitude."

Lorelei Sowa

Because of her commitment to physical excellence, inspiring others and leading by example, Lift for Life is honored to name Lorelei Sowa as Model of the Month.

Lift for Life.com Model of the Month

Lorelei Sowa

Lorelei Sowa: myspace

Alpha Fitness: www.goalphafitness.com

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