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LoginFrom New Haven Register April 23, 2019
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LoginTheresa Schweers likens herself to a work in progress.
And, oh, what progress she has made.
The 60-year-old Wallingford woman, who took up the sport two decades ago as a way to better her health and physical appearance, recently turned in her best performance as an amateur competitive bodybuilder. Schweers took second place in the Women’s Physique Masters Over 35 class at 2019 NPC Powerhouse Classic at East Haven High School April 13 and came in third in the Open Class, which includes competitors from all ages.
A Massachusetts bodybuilder, Heidi Orlando, won boh Masters and Open classes. Lauren D’Allessandro, a bodybuilder from Rhode Island, took second place in the open class.
The Powerhouse Classic is sanctioned by National Physique Committee, a leading organization that oversees amateur bodbuilding competitions around the country. Schweers does her training in the at Montanari Bros. Powerhouse Gym in North Haven.
While the sport of bodybuilding is high competitive, Schweers said the only competition she has is with herself, achieving goals she has set for herself and then establishing new ones.
“I’ve always had a passion for fitness,” she said. “I strive to improve every year. I do it for myself; I don’t care what anyone else is doing.”
Schweers’ passion for fitness began after she gave birth to her first child in 1988.
“I was 105 pounds when I got pregnant with my first child, Matthew,” Schweers said.
When she gave birth nine months later, the 5-foot, 1-inch Schweers weighed 200 pounds. But through a combination of a disciplined diet and plenty of cardiovascular exercise, Schweers lost all but five pounds of the weight she had gained while pregnant.
But she still wasn’t satisfied.
“I always struggled with weight and even after all the cardio activity I did, I still had a pear-shaped body,” Schweers said. So she began working out with weights in 1999 at the age of 40.
At the time, Schweers worked out at Healthworks, a Wallingford health club.
“The guys in the weight room said, ‘you’re so intense, you’d be a natural,’” she said.
Nick Schweers, who was born a year after Matthew, remembers he and his brother going to the gym with their mother on a regular basis.
“It’s really a passion for her,” Nick Schweers said of his mother. “She’s not really into watching TV or going out; the gym is her life. She likes the way it makes her feel mentally.”
Nick Schweers said the truth is, his mother has two families: He and his brother and their father, Floyd. And then there’s her gym family.
“Almost all of her friends are people she has met at the gym,” Schweers said of his mother. “It really is a tight-knit community. I always like to say that my mom has found her tribe.”
Theresa Schweers has only competed in about a half-dozen bodybuilding competitions thus far, her son said.
In addition to competitive bodybuilding, Theresa Schweers also has a personal training business. Her email address for those in need of a physical trainer is trainwiththeresa@gmail.com.
Theresa Schweers said bodybuilding “is not a sport where you can get comfortable.”
“The older you are and the more fit you are, the harder it is to stay in shape,” she said.
