By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Bonnie Moriarty has been interested in fitness since she was a kid, and at almost 50 she decided to compete in the Ultimate Fitness Events, bringing home five gold and one silver medal.
“My dad got me into it,” she said. “I’m fifth of eight kids and growing up, sometimes we watched him work out in the basement gym at our house. It was always a treat because that was his time and we weren’t always allowed down there mostly because he worried about little hangs getting pinched between the plates.”
After moving to Michigan in 1985, Moriarty, her parents, and three of her siblings joined American Fitness in Clarkston and got to learn classic style weight lifting.
“My heroes in particular were Franco Columbo, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno,” she said. “I always loved fitness and worked out through all of my pregnancies.”
Moriarty, a mother of four kids, wanted to stay strong and healthy, especially after having her fourth baby at 40.
“It took me a couple of years to get myself to go back into a gym,” she said. “I took up running in those two years before, but it wasn’t enough. I joined Anytime Fitness in Ortonville about six years ago. I would go at 4 a.m. so I would have time to run and lift weights and get home before the household awoke.”
Last year, Moriarty met Shawn Jennings at the gym, who runs UFE for the United States.
“My coach was prepping me for the UFE USA May show in Dearborn,” she said. “By March, I was working out in my basement because COVID had shut down the world. I was six weeks out from competition and it got canceled. So then we looked to do the September show in Dearborn, also canceled about 6 weeks out. That was disappointing, though not totally surprising because 2020 has been so crazy. I had a virtual meeting with my coach and team and we decided we would finish the 8 weeks left of prep and go for the Chicago show on Oct. 24.”
Moriarty competed in Chicago as a UFE Novice, Open and Masters 45 competitor in the categories of Fitness and Fitness Model.
“It was so great to finally see the stage and see all of the competitors so ready to finally do this thing,” she said. “Honestly, at close to 50 years of age and as a mom of four, I just wanted to see if I could ever have abs. The fact that I received five gold medals and one silver was delicious icing on the cake. I also received my Pro card in the fitness model category which shocked me because I didn’t know I would be eligible.”