LEWISTON — Rachel Gendron was 17, working out at a southern Maine gym, when the gym’s nutritionist walked by.

“(He) said, ‘You have a great back — you should do a show.’ That’s exactly how it started,” she said.

Within two years, a few bodybuilding competitions later, Gendron was invited into the York Barbell Weightlifting Hall of Fame. 

Shortly after, she traded the barbells for heels.

And she’s kept on those heels — as well as what her boss teases is an “itty-bitty, teeny-weeny” Swarovski crystal-covered bikini.

Every few months, Gendron, 37, a trainer at GoZone Fitness, competes across the country in a subset of bodybuilding known as the figure division.

Think heels, little bikini, amazingly sculpted muscles, walking and striking poses.

“I just feel really good — I have a lot of energy,” she said. “I like to see my gains, I like to see my changes and I love doing photo shoots.”

GoZone owner and friend Debra Ann Sellinger said she loves watching the transformation before a show and all of Gendron’s prep.

“It’s just an art for her,” Sellinger said.

In June, Gendron competed in Fitness Universe’s amateur figure competition in Miami, coming in second in her age group. (She’s officially a “classic,” age 35 to 45.) 

Her next event, and the next shot at moving from amateur to professional, is Oct. 8 at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut.

Gendron and her husband, John, who’s now training for IRONMAN Maryland, have two children, ages 10 and 13. Both times, she was back in heels and bikini a year after their birth.

The competitions are serious business.

Her regular diet, which consists of six small meals a day with lots of fruit, vegetables and protein, gets more serious a month before a competition. Her six-days-a-week workouts kick up a notch.

The Monday before a weekend show, she’ll cut out sodium, and three days out, start drinking less water.

“Before I get on stage, somebody glues the suit to me, with glue, like right up to everywhere, and then they oil me,” Gendron said.

That “somebody” is a total stranger.

“You have no modesty when you get to these shows, everything goes,” she said.

Exactly 20 minutes before showtime, she’ll eat a rice cake with peanut butter and jelly.

“That’s to pop my veins, the jelly,” she said.

“It’s a wicked lot of pressure,” Gendron said. “I’m dying (during the competition.) I get myself pretty worked up.”

The winner gets a trophy and bragging rights. She participates in three events a year, in a league that drug tests. Gendron said she likes that the competitors are all-natural and enjoys the friendships she makes backstage.

“A lot of them have kids,” she said. “A lot of them have full-time jobs.”

Gendron, who lives in Lewiston, has been a trainer since March, teaching high-intensity interval training classes.

In a class last week, Gendron cheered on three very fit women while each of their heartbeats and the number of calories burned popped up on screens in front of the room.

“There we go, good job, guys! One more push! Finish strong!” she said.

She got down on the floor to lead a cool down and then the class headed over to her waiting computer.

Over 45 minutes, the three of them had burned 1,735 calories.

“We generated enough power to keep a laptop going for 22 hours,” she told them, to smiles.

Or, measured another way, they could eat five cupcakes. Not that they would.

“What I love most about training, I love seeing people improve,” Gendron said. “For somebody to do a push-up on their toes, not on their knees.”

kskelton@sunjournal.com