JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WJAC) — A local gym owner recently did something she never expected to when she entered a bodybuilding competition in Ohio.
From running a gym for 12 years, to helping clients like the Johnstown Tomahawks reach peak performance, Kelly Morgan knows fitness.
But at 52, Morgan took on a challenge she thought she never would before, bodybuilding.
"Never, ever, ever did I think like this is something that I would ever even consider doing, between the level of discipline and lack of drinking and all of the above, I thought like, ‘there's just no way, there's no way ever.’ Not to mention, I have no desire to have minimal clothes on and walking around in five-inch heels.”
At 52 years old, Kelly Morgan has plenty of experience in the fitness industry, owning four gyms around the Johnstown area.
But in April, she entered a bodybuilding competition, placing 3rd in masters, 4th in novice, and 5th in the open category.
Morgan never imagined she would do something like this, and her high placement comes after entering a higher division than she was supposed to.
"I entered in the wrong category. I should have done the true novice because that's people who've never competed well. I didn't read the fine print, which I should have."
After unexpected tragedy struck Morgan, when her husband died in December of 2022, she says bodybuilding has given her a new focus.
"I spent 2023, the best way to describe it is distracted. At the end, I was like, ‘I need to do something to just kind of pull my focus into something else.’"
Morgan says she knows her husband would be surprised but proud of this recent development.
And she says one of the best reactions to her performance came from her son.
"He kept saying, ‘that's my mom, that's my mom.’ He said, ‘you walked on there like a boss. Like you've been doing this your whole life.’ And I was like, ‘well, this is what I’ve been training for over the last three and a half months.’"
Morgan planned for this competition to be one and done but after saying she made some rookie mistakes she wants to improve on, she'll be competing in Pittsburgh in September, but she emphasized that this is not a new career path for her.
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