Chelsea Mooney of Whitehorse won a national bodybuilding competition recently. The CPA National Pro Qualifier was held on Nov. 27 at the Delta Toronto Airport and Conference Centre.

After a six year break, Mooney returned to competing in 2019 and qualified for Nationals at a competition in Vancouver, winning her class and the overall title at the competition. She planned to compete at Nationals in 2020, but like most things, it was cancelled due to Covid-19.

Mooney said she’s put in many years of training to get to this point.

“I’ve been training this way since 2009. As far as training for nationals, I train year-round, but for my contest prep phase I typically do a 16 week strict diet, cardio, and weight training program. This year was a bit different though. Nationals was originally scheduled for the summer and I had started my prep much earlier this year. However, once it was postponed I had to reverse course and make adjustments to my diet for a few months before starting a strict diet again, so it felt as though I went through two different phases of contest prep this year. It is a very challenging process both mentally and physically, and a significant amount of time is dedicated to training and food prep each day. As such, it was a long and difficult year for me, but it was definitely satisfying to see the end result when I finally got the chance to step on stage.”

Mooney explained how she won the overall title.

“My category is called Figure and we compete in different classes based on height. The first time you step on stage you perform a brief posing routine of your choosing, and select a few poses that best showcase your physique. From there, you line up on stage with the other competitors from your height class and perform a series of compulsory poses called quarter turns. This allows the judges to compare the different physiques and determine whose physique best meets the criteria for the figure category. If you win your class, you perform a comparison posing round against the winners of the other classes in order to determine the overall winner. At nationals, the winner of the Overall figure title earns an IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilding) Pro Card. At this particular competition I won my class, the overall figure title, and earned my IFBB pro card.”

Mooney described how it felt to win the overall title.

“It was very surreal. It is definitely an incredible achievement and I felt very proud in that moment. It was always a dream of mine to win my IFBB pro card and I am still processing the fact that I finally achieved this goal. When I returned to the competitive stage in 2019, I had decided that the ultimate goal for me would be to turn pro, and I have worked incredibly hard over the past few years to try and make that happen. With the intense preparation there are certainly days where I really struggle with the physical and mental demands, especially in the final few months. But there is nothing more gratifying and rewarding than to know that the hard work paid off, and that it was entirely worth it to push through all the pain and struggle in order to realize that goal.”

Mooney is now qualified to compete professionally.

“Previous to this win, I was always competing as an amateur. Like other professional and amateur sports, you cannot compete for money at the amateur level, whereas the professional league affords this opportunity. There are a number of professional level competitions that I could choose from in a number of different countries.”

As for what’s next for her, Mooney said “I think I will work on making some improvements over the next year, and during that time, I will make a decision on a date and location for my first pro show.”