By Jill Cousins
Sanford resident Janet Nelson was 19 years old when a friend brought her into a free-weight gym for the first time. In her own words, she was “overweight and soft,” and when she attempted to do a bench press, she couldn’t even lift the bar.
But something about weightlifting appealed to Janet, and “it became the bug that bit me,” she says. She entered her first bodybuilding contest at age 21. In the 1980s and ’90s, she won several titles, including Ms. Orlando in 1993.
“I failed,” Janet says of her first contest, “and I went home feeling dejected. But I brushed myself off and went back into the gym. Perseverance is my middle name. The determination was there.”
That determination was clearly evident in Janet’s astonishing bodybuilding comeback in 2011. After taking a 15-year hiatus while raising her two children, Janet returned to bodybuilding at the age of 51 and amazingly won two titles. She was crowned overall champion at the Ms. Orlando Metropolitan championships at Lyman High School in April, then captured the Over-40 championships and placed second in the lightweight division at the Ms. Florida State competition at Dr. Phillips High School in August.
No one is prouder of Janet than her 16-year-old daughter Rheannin, a sophomore at Seminole High School.
Rheannin was a competitive gymnast for about 10 years. She stopped competing a few years ago, but found another outlet for her talents when she entered her first fitness competition at age 14. With Janet choreographing a routine that showed off Rheannin’s strength and acrobatic gymnastics skills, Rheannin captured two titles in 2010: Ms. Teen Fitness Florida State and Ms. Teen Fitness Sunshine State.
“I always want to make her proud and make her happy,” says Rheannin, who enjoys an extremely close relationship with her mom. “When I get advice from her, it gives me more confidence.”
Meanwhile, by watching Rheannin compete, Janet suddenly found herself inspired to get back into bodybuilding.
“When she was on the stage at the Florida State show [in August 2010], I thought, ‘That looks like fun. I want to do it again,’” Janet says. “It refueled my desire to return to competition.”
Janet had actually been involved in gymnastics as a young girl growing up in Philadelphia. Mesmerized by the sport when she saw Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut compete in the 1972 Summer Olympics on TV, Janet began taking gymnastics lessons in a local school program.
Her career came to a crushing halt at age 13 when, while performing a vault, Janet broke her leg in two places. Her mother gave her strict instructions: “No more sports!” With nothing constructive to occupy her free time, Janet began “hanging out at the street corner with the bad kids.”
Fortunately, Janet turned her life around after moving to Florida at age 19 and found her true calling in the weight room. “I started to develop confidence,” she says. “I started to feel that I could achieve anything.”
While she was training and competing, Janet also became a certified personal trainer (she is also a paralegal, who worked in the legal field for 10 years). Even though Janet took some time off to raise Rheannin and son Kyle, now 21 and a student at the University of North Florida, she never gave up her dedication to fitness.
Janet has been committed to living a healthy lifestyle, combining nutrition with her vigorous training schedule. But despite the pressures in the world of bodybuilding, she never succumbed to steroid or drug use.
“I’m all about good health,” Janet says. “I took the long road. It’s about making healthy choices and living my life. Everything I achieved, I worked hard for.”
Rheannin couldn’t be prouder of her mom – despite what some of her friends might think when they see Janet’s well- developed physique.
“My friends make comments – ‘Your mom’s a bodybuilder. I’m scared of her!’ But that’s normal to me. I embrace it,” Rheannin says. “I love her for who she is, and I also see myself in her.”
When she isn’t busy working out or training her clients, Janet enjoys speaking with young kids about developing healthy eating and exercise habits. In her personal training business, Janet has clients ranging in age from teens to senior citizens. They get the benefit of Janet’s 30 years of fitness experience, combined with her enthusiastic approach to a healthy lifestyle.
Exercising doesn’t have to be hard,” Janet says. “You just have to figure out what you like to do and stay with it for the long haul.
“I love going to the gym. It’s just what I do. I’m going to be the 80-year-old in the gym, without a doubt!”