Up Close With Fitness Celeb, Lori Harder

As part of a new series, I will be featuring a variety of Fitness Celebrities who are transforming the fitness industry with their talent, beauty, and amazing skills, to inspire those of you thinking about competing or making a change in your lifestyle.

This week I am featuring Fitness America Competitor and Oxygen Model, Lori Harder. Lori Harder is a natural on stage and is sure to be one of the favorites going into next week’s Fitness America Pageant.  See how this 28 year old balances her busy schedule and is helping motivate and train others wanting to make a break into the world of fitness.

Name: Lori Harder

Age: 28

Claim to Fame: Consistently placing in the top five at every Fitness America Pageant I have entered in the past three years. Also recently being featured in several Oxygen spreads.

Hometown: Marquette, Mi
How did you get involved in the fitness industry? I remember watching Fitness America Pageants on TV and saying I was going to do it one day. Years later after going about it the wrong way, I came accross a camp put on by Cathy Savage covering all things competing. I hopped on plane to go see her and never looked back. My world was changed!

Occupation: Personal Trainer and Fitness Model

On your time….How do you balance your time between family, work, and your fitness career? I have to stay organized and schedule time blocks for work, grocery shopping, meal planning, working out and making sure to mark down times or days just for my loved ones. In this career there is ALWAYS something to do. You need to make certain things a priority and just learn to turn it off during your down time or you will go crazy! I have learned that skipping one thing on my list can throw my whole week off.

In your fridge? I try to switch it up but you can be sure I will always have Grilled Chicken, Quinoa, Brown Rice, Grapefruit, Sweet Potatos, Eggs, Greek Yogurt, Bluberries, Oatmeal, a laundry list of spices and Parmesan for when I need some cheese in my life. I like variety and cooking so this list could go on for a while!
What keeps you motivated? Knowing what is on the other side of a fit lifestyle. I come from a very inactive, heavy background and I remeber the feeling of being unhealthy, depressed, unhappy and wanting to blame everyone else for it but myself. It really spilled into every avenue of my life. I will never go back to that. I just want all people to know the power of food, activity and positive thinking.

What is your proudest moment? Each goal I have reached has been important to me. I used to never finish things I started, but now I know I am the only person who has control over my happiness and what I get out of life. Every time I compete I am so happy that I got up there and did my best to do better than the last time. I also am so proud and grateful for the opportunity to be featured in Oxygen magazine since it has been my source of inspiration for so many years.
Is there anything left that you still want to accomplish in the fitness industry? Yes, it is never ending. I want to compete in Fitness next year (not just Figure and Bikini). This is scary for me to even say out loud since I haven’t the first clue about it besides the fact that I love to watch it. I am doing yoga 2-3 times per week to try and prep for it. Also, I would of course love to keep on Fitness modeling, since it is by far some of the most fun I have ever had!
What advice would you offer to someone looking to compete? Never quit. The only difference between you and the person doing what you want is that they never stopped trying after each failure. You learn nothing from the wins, but you learn everything from the failures.

Anything else that you have in the works, (magazines, books, sites, appearances, etc.) or anything else that you would like to share about yourself. I just got back from shooting at Oxygen Magazine again!  I will also be competing at this years Fitness America Pageant in Vegas. I am so excited because I have been coaching six girls thru Cathy Savage Fitness that are new to the FAP stage! I can’t wait to see them up there. I also just launched my website recently for training and fitness modeling. www.LoriharderFitness.com. I hope to stay busy in the industry and keep helping people reach their fitness goals.

Be sure to check out Lori Harder on stage this weekend at the upcoming Fitness America Pageant in Las Vegas.  For more information about the show, check out Fitness America.com