Laughlin IP works to enter body building ranks

  • Published
  • By Technical Sgt. Joel Langton
  • 47th Flying Training Wing public affairs
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  For most people, an hour-long cardio session in the morning is a great workout. However, for soon-to-be professional body builder Capt. Jessie Olson, 86th Flying Training Squadron, its one hour down with two more to go. 

She hits the gym in the wee hours of the morning, and then checks in again a bit later in the day. She lifts for two hours and then practices posing as she strives to sculpt her body for the next competition. 

Captain Olson has been in several competitions and has finished second twice in meets that weren't pro-qualifiers, barely missing first place. When she nabs that elusive first win in a pro-qualifier, it will put her in the professional category. However, she's won several impressive firsts in different categories, winning first in the military bodybuilding and open women's bodybuilding categories. 

"When I win a pro-qualifier, it will allow me to compete in more shows and will just open more opportunities for me," she said. 

She's focused on natural competitions, where competitors face several levels of scrutiny from a drug test to a polygraph, and are screened and questioned for and about steroids. The T-1A Jayhawk instructor pilot said steroids aren't even a temptation for her.
Although it's been a long journey for her to be verging on entering the professional ranks of bodybuilding, her supervisor says she's an inspiration to the student pilots in the 86th FTS. 

"Her dedication to body building and to maintaining a high standard of physical fitness is an inspiration to our students and encourages them to maintain their own fitness standards even in their busy year of pilot training," said Maj. Steve Kohut, 86th FTS assistant director of operations. 

Although very athletic much of her life, sporting a slightly crooked nose from a rugby scrum gone bad, it was becoming an instructor pilot that gave her the confidence to try body building. 

"When I became an instructor pilot that showed me I could accomplish whatever I put my mind to," she said. "So, I thought to myself, what do I want to try next and this was it."
She didn't start out as a hard charging sports-lover. "I was lazy," she said. "But my mom pushed me into swimming, competitive rollerskating, you name it, I tried it." 

When she got to college at University of Northern Illinois, she was a top rugby player in the Midwest, but really enjoyed weight lifting and power lifting. She won a few power lifting competitions, but really fell in love with body building because it challenged her as a whole person. 

"I have to use my mind to research the foods, plus I have to work hard and have discipline to be careful with my diet," Captain Olson said. 

When Olson began preparing for her first meet a year ago, she worked to drop 40 pounds, going from 165 to 125 pounds. 

She dropped the weight with a brutal regimen of spending 15 to 20 hours per week in the gym. On top of that, she was on a carefully-crafted diet, that varies between 1200 and 1700 calories per day, depending on what point she's at in her training. 

She admits to being a bit meticulous and that's evidenced by the fact she tracks everything in her life that is involved in her body building. She can give you the number of calories she ate months before, and the workout she did that day. 

Despite the high-toll the body building lifestyle demands, the rewards are numerous. "I'm stronger and faster that I was several years back, thanks to the more consistent weight training," she said. 

She's got amazing strength, the 26-year-old is able to bench press her 125-pound body weight 20 times and she said she's "just healthier." 

"I'm a fiend about reading labels now when I'm shopping," she said. "I'm very careful about what I put in my body." She's got a small refrigerator under her desk to keep water and healthy snacks in. I just feel better because I'm putting good stuff in my body and working it out hard. It's a great feeling when you see results from your workouts."