Photography, Nature, Writing Prompt
50-Year-Old Fighting for Cover of Fitness Magazine
January Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Self”
Embracing fifty with guts, adventure, laughter.
In 2020, I entered the Ms Health and Fitness Contest — at age 50! The prize was $20K and a chance to be featured on the cover of the magazine. My motto was “Want to see a real ordinary person on the cover of a fitness magazine?” I promoted myself as a “50-year-old kid at heart” (an ordinary middle-aged woman trying her best, without forming biceps the size of coconuts!) along with the movie tagline — “There’s Something About Mary” (minus the yucky hair gel)!
It was an online competition but it was a great challenge to “fight for 50!” and empowered me to put myself out there during the voting process. Asking for votes is intimidating—it was awkward, caused me great anxiety and it was tougher than a grueling fitness workout!
I placed 4th in the first group phase and was the only Asian woman and non-white person in the top 5 of my round. While I didn’t grace the cover of the magazine, I’m happy I exposed myself to try something new that scared me that I never thought I’d attempt, because I followed my self-mantra, “Try, Mary, Try!”
What I loved most about the experience was the kindness and encouragement I received from the people who believed in me and voted. Today I remain grateful for those cheerleaders — simply taking the time out of their busy days to vote meant so much to me — even though I didn’t win.
The photo featured is the one I used for my profile shot for the 2020 Ms Health and Fitness competition. I was with a few girlfriends that day and we were laughing hard while I was trying to get the pose right. Initially, I tried over a dozen times to balance on the paddleboard on the lake while doing the pose, but it was too wobbly!
Truth — I faked it and put the paddleboard onto the sand to get the shot. That day, we were playing around — each of us women “yoga posing” for photos to post on our Facebook fitness group. At that time, I hadn’t heard of the contest, but when I did — I knew which photo to use!
Challenge yourself (or fake it ‘til you make it)— like nobody’s watching.
You can read about my full experience below. If you’re considering entering the current Ms. Health & Fitness competition, you may find the articles helpful.
Check out The Fun & Funny Fitness Bitch Series. For 2023, my personal fitness challenge is sharing bits and pieces of my fun and funny fitness adventures that I hope will resonate with readers by making them laugh, cry, nod, or inspire them to start their own fitness journeys. Here’s a link to all stories in the series to date.
Can you tell a story in six words inspired by a photo taken by yourself?
Check out the Submission Guidelines to apply to be a writer and submit to the Six Word Photo Story Challenge publication.
