It all started when she wanted to comfortably wear a sports bra while working out, not a baggy T-shirt. Kimberlea Jones had no idea that would ultimately lead her to win a national bodybuilding competition, become a personal trainer, and run her own workout classes.
“I’ve never been happier in a workplace,” Jones states. “I love the people, my clients, and my colleagues. It’s definitely my dream job.”
After a few months of boot camp, exercising and pumping weights at Fitlife Gym in Hawkesbury under the guidance coach and gym owner Marc Charles, she reached her goal. On her 50th birthday two years ago, she proudly donned the sports bra without the big shirt. She then went on to the Mike Clement Classic in Vaudreuil. She placed first in the master’s class, and third overall, giving her a ticket to Nationals. On August 5, 2023, she placed 4th in the 35-and-over category, making her a shoe-in to next year’s Nationals in Toronto where she will be judged in the Figure category.
“I have to look very muscular and feminine at the same time,” states Jones, who has no trouble walking on stage in a bikini and five-inch stilettos. “I’m basically a jacked-up-barbie,” she said, with a smile. But her sculpted body is proof of serious work and dedication to fitness and health.
The mother of two sons and three stepdaughters spends her days in running shoes and shorts at the gym, training and teaching others about the joys of fitness. Her 19-year-old son Jack is her gym bro. “He understands gym culture.”
She begins her training regimen six to twelve months before upcoming competitions.
That means six meals a day of broccoli, chicken and sweet potato. “I eat all the time to prepare (for competitions). People comment that I look like I’ve been at a tanning bed. It’s really the sweet potato oozing out of my skin, 3500 calories a day and I turn orange.”
proud to be wearing a sports bra and not a baggy t-shirt.
Jones grew up in Hawkesbury, but worked in Washington, DC as an acupuncturist and massage therapist for several years. Love brought her back to Hawkesbury when she reunited with high school friend, Anthony Assaly. Her academic credentials weren’t accepted in Canada, so she made the most of her situation and became a personal trainer at the gym.
Jones comes from an athletic family. She participated in many sports in high school, did triathlons, her dad played hockey until he was 72, and her mother, at 76, continues to walk three miles a day, does yoga, and attends her daughter’s work-out classes every Tuesday and Thursday.
You can connect with Jones by contacting FitLife Gym in Hawkesbury.
