ISABELLE MORISSETTE

Age:
41 years old

Relationship:
I am in love with the man of my life Daniel for 8 years now.

Fitness Category:
Bikini Master fitness athlete. Certified Private Coach.

Occupation:
I have my own little business of private house cleaning.

To conclude, at 41 years old, I can say that I am living the life I have always wanted and I am dictated to stay positive and share the best quotes day after day to inspire the person that is giving me their trust to follow me.

I grew up in a small town in the province of Quebec named St-Moise in the beautiful region of Gaspesie in the Belle Province of Quebec! All my youth I was an active young girl playing boy’s sports with my older brother Dave. Having to play hockey and act as a goalie, throwing myself the ball in baseball with him. I was the shy, somewhat sweet quiet little sister. At school, I was a little quiet Isabelle, the one who was often in the shadow of my little sister Miranie who was so pretty and popular and whom I admired so much. She also later had a career in the music world industry. In sports, I was enticed by athletics and also by Volleyball. Athletics is a sport where you constantly go beyond yourself, where limits are never reached. The other sport (Volleyball) where the team comes before the person, a girl sport where I had great skills. I have been invited to elite camps and have been chosen for the Quebec games twice in both sports. This period of my life had an impact on me.

Positively, I discovered my physical strength and my skills, and my competitive side.

Negatively, I had the painful experience of meeting a volleyball coach who would change a good part of my life and which I absolutely want to share with any coaches, the person in authority, the example of my story on the impact of words can cause.

When I arrived at Cegep de Rimouski, I had just turned 18. And yes, I was selected for the elite Volleyball team. My passion, my sport! After a few games in the season, I injured my ankle. A sprain. Lucky, I recovered quickly. When I returned, everything was fine. But in November, I will always remember, I was the victim of another sprained ankle. My coach at the time, a woman whom I admired, met me a little disappointed with my injury, she asked me the question that was going to have an impact on part of my life “Isabelle, why do you think you are still injured again?” I answered, “I jumped too high and I fell wrong.”  And she said, “Not my dear, you should realize that you are an athlete and that you should pay attention to your weight.” At 18, I never wondered about my weight. I was performing, I was good with my body. I was built, but I was fine with my 5 feet 6 inches and 160 pounds. She really insisted on the fact that I needed to lose many pounds because my body weight was way too high vs my ankle capacity to resist. Then, yes, I did not eat anymore. I lied to my parents whom I said I had dinner already. When I had to eat, I went to the bathroom to throw up. I had to let go of Volleyball. I was sick and suffered from bulimia. I consulted, I worked very hard and I was well supervised. But my sports life was over.

Now, I have a personal mission to share this story with all coaches and teachers so they can realize the possible impact of their words. It did change me, and now it’s over me, but still not far in my mind.

Then life, university, work. I focused on being a woman, a spouse, and a mother of a beautiful young girl who today is 11 years old. But sports, it was over.

After a few years, separation, back to school, career change. I finally met the man of my life. Being also a former Major Junior Hockey athlete, we had sports in our DNA. We decided to train 3-4 days a week together. Life was good. Life was simple and we were good to spend this moment at the gym together but without any goals other than well-being. At the age of 39, the crisis of the 40 years began to take hold of me. My work was not satisfactory and I needed to challenge myself. The desire to become an athlete once again takes hold of me. With my boyfriend, I made the decision to leave my job, which was asking a lot, and I founded my own small business. No more bosses, I was going to be my boss. But also, I was going to have time to train every day without mistakes and discipline in order to resume the shape. I even chose a trainer to maximize my fitness. My sports passion was back!

One month before my 40th birthday (Feb 2019), I took a contract with myself, a commitment, a challenge. I was going to present myself in September 2019 in shape at a regional Bikini Fitness competition. All my passion, my love of sport took hold of me and I worked harder than anyone else. I was strict with myself, I followed my training and food plan to the letter. Total disciplined and dictated to my goal. All summer I deprived myself of going out, drinking, and partying so as not to make me laugh and present myself with an acceptable physique. But if I knew that it was only for the challenges of me towards me. I must emphasize that my lover Daniel was a complete source of motivation for me. As much financially as he supported me, he too decided to join my lifestyle and lost 30 pounds during the first 5 months. I even drew the attention of my Popeyes supplement store who made me a place in their POPEYES athlete team program, with the great kindness of the president himself Philippe-Antoine. For a no-name who hadn’t done anything yet, can you imagine the motivation and the pride?

September 28, 2019, was the big day. I was nervous but also satisfied with my shape condition. I’ve skipped the posing stage training work in the last months prior to the event. Who would have thought it was that difficult, but I was ready! I thought I was going to be matched with the rookie’s category. I was advised with my physique to register directly in the Master category. That was stress, that was pressure, so many beautiful and pretty magnificent women so intimidating, but at 40, I was a lot more confident and I was there for me, my boyfriend, to achieve my goal.

Verdict: Third place for Bronze: ISABELLE MORISSETTE! A fairy tale, really! Can’t explain the feeling, it was unreal!

Since this evening of September 28, 2019, fitness was no longer a sport, it is now my passion, my way of life (or lifestyle). It is my life!

For very personal reasons, I changed the trainer – a friend of ours who from my beginnings, saw my progress on my social networks and had the desire to train me. Together we have had a plan since November 2019. I had to live a real offseason, gain mass, and work on my weak point, my glutes.

Remember my youth challenges stage, I was 117 pounds, I have been a woman from 115 to 120 pounds for over the last 20 years. Today, since that night, I change all my alimentation and keep working 6 days a week at the gym. In May 2020, my weight was 137 pounds.

Most honor my coach who gave me trust in myself and made me eat like ever before to reach my goal. We are a team and I trusted him all year. Big shout out to Frederick Charland who himself has won in the past Physique athletes competition here in Quebec.

My goal was clear, by the end of 2020, GOLD was my GOAL. That is step #1. Only, seem all the events are canceled. Mine was supposed to be on Oct 17^th, 2020 and it was canceled.

Then, if I do win (ok I will) I would love and go this time, live the experience of the nationals, and see what I could miss in order to reach and work on my ULTIMATE dream, to become a PRO master! Last time, I was qualified to go, but I am a strong believer, we must follow the step one by one. I won Bronze, not gold. The feedback from the judge was all about posing quality and my glutes. So work needed to be done. I am currently also realizing another dream, all the last 7 months, I was following courses live on Webex to become a certified trainer with the ATARAXIA school. I did get the best scores on the final 3.5 hours exam of all the classes. So I am certified and already have 20 customers. That is only the beginning! I have my brand, my logo and I am really proud to help others to reach their goal. So, am I a determined woman? I hope to have my chance to share my story, make an impact, tell the message that our actions and words can have a positive and really a negative impact on young athletes and anyone in life, and hope, inspire other women like me.

On my Instagram, I have been conquering the hearts of more than 15k followers in 2 years with my passion and my story. A local newspaper also wanted to know more and I also published it in October 2019 following my 3rd place.