TERRE HAUTE —
In your 40s, 50s or 60s and need motivation to get in shape and stay in shape?
Look no further than Clinton resident Bonnie Ave (pronounced “Ah-vay”).
The 4-foot-11 Ave made her debut in the grueling sport of amateur bodybuilding at the age of 57 in 2008, winning the women’s overall and women’s masters (over 40) divisions in the Wabash Valley Open at Indiana State University’s Tilson Auditorium.
She competed in the same women’s divisions in the 2009 Wabash Valley Open, placing second overall (to a 19-year-old) and first in masters.
Ave sat out the contest in 2010, although she continued working out at the 7th Street Health & Fitness Center in Clinton. Now she’s ready for her first competition since she turned 60. The Wabash Valley Open for women — along with the Wabash Valley Open for men, Mr. ISU and Ms. ISU — will take place at 6:30 p.m. March 26 at Tilson Auditorium.
A 1968 graduate of the long-since-closed Terre Haute Gerstmeyer High School, Ave was a varsity cheerleader for three years. But she didn’t have many opportunities to participate in girls sports at the time.
As she got older, she stayed active by riding a bicycle, but not competitively. When she reached her early 50s, the petite Ave had a bone-density test done. At 56, she had a follow-up test, which revealed she was at risk for osteoporosis.
One solution? Begin regular weight training.
“My doctor said my numbers were not good,” Ave recalled. “So I decided to go into bodybuilding.”
Ave, who weighs about 103 pounds and plans to diet down to 98 for the March 26 contest, said she considers being slim an advantage for her bodybuilding preparation.
“That’s a plus for me,” she emphasized. “I don’t have to lose a lot of weight. I eat six small meals a day — with a lot of lean protein, ‘good’ fat and low carbohydrates for the most part — and I’m never hungry.”
Ave said she trains all year, with the help of Tribune-Star news editor/fitness enthusiast Zach Taylor, “but we make it pretty hard in January, right after Christmas.”
An educational consultant for various school corporations around the Wabash Valley, Ave has one son, Neil Buddle, who lives in Fort Hood, Texas; and one daughter, Becca (Buddle) Kokubun, who lives in Denver. Ave is married to Basil Ave, a retired state policeman.
Ave appreciates the support she receives from her family, even her 86-year-old mother — Ruth Kratzer of Clinton — who had initial doubts about her daughter becoming a bodybuilder.
Ave isn’t looking to become Ms. Olympia or appear on the cover of national bodybuilding magazines — she’s not muscular enough for that — but she does enjoy the challenge of posing (once to the musical accompaniment of “Brick House”) and being the best she can be.
“It’s not about the winning,” she explained. “I have fun when I’m up there on stage. It’s just fun having my family and friends cheering me on from the audience.”
Ave said she’ll continue bodybuilding “as long as I’m able and as long as it’s still fun for me.”
You go, girl.
David Hughes can be reached after 4 p.m. by phone at 1-800-783-8742, Option 4, or at (812) 231-4224; by e-mail at david.hughes@tribstar.com; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
Sports
Related Photos
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Work it: Clinton bodybuilder Bonnie Ave demonstrates a side-chest pose during the 2008 Wabash Valley Open for women at Tilson Auditorium.
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Sports columnist/reporter David Hughes. Tribune-Star
Discussion
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