She manages a household consisting of six young children and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers husband, six budgerigar parakeets, five cats, and two Mexican Fox squirrels while successfully training and competing in bodybuilding competitions. When you add a toned muscular physique, strength, and steely discipline to the superpowers she already possesses as a mother and wife, Edna Boehmer is a real-life Wonder Woman.
On May 6, Boehmer earned the first place trophy in the Masters over 35 Class-A bikini category of the 2017 National Physique Committee (NPC) Battle on the Bluff Bodybuilding Contest. She also took home the fifth-place trophy in the Bikini Novice Class-A category. The event took place at the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica, Miss. The NPC, started in 1982, is the premier amateur physique organization in the world.
Boehmer has been involved in bodybuilding for only a year and a half. The Battle on the Bluff contest was her second time competing. Her first competition was the 2016 NPC Battle on the Bay Bodybuilding Contest in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she placed 16th overall out of 200 competitors.
Boehmer said she was pleased and proud of herself when she won her Battle on the Bluff trophies.
“It was a long preparation, almost a year of trying to build muscles, eating lots of protein just to get muscles growing. I was so happy and proud of myself,” Boehmer said.
Having six young children to raise and keep-up with motivated Boehmer to start training and competing in bodybuilding. She also credits a friend with helping her get started.
“My family kept me motivated. Since I have six kids, I have to stay in good shape and healthy,” Boehmer said. “Also, a friend of mine motivated me to start training and competing in bodybuilding. She does bikini competitions as well.”
Her husband, Shane Boehmer, is a structural engineer working in the Memphis District Structural Engineering Branch. Shane and Edna celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary in June. Shane attributes his wife’s bodybuilding success and the academic success of their four school-aged kids to hard work and discipline.
“My wife is very busy with teaching our children, exercising and taking care of our home. We have four children in school and all four were on the honor roll in their respective grades,” Shane said. “She spends time daily with each of the children teaching them and helping them with their school work and preparing them to enter their new grades.”
Despite an extra busy family life, Edna still manages to workout. She’s setup her gym in the garage of their home so she doesn’t have far to go to get-in her workout. She says that good time management and the ability to set and restructure priorities allows her time to workout.
Edna said she gets greater motivation when she starts to see results from her workouts.
“When I see better results and toned muscles then I stay motivated to exercise and eat healthy,” Edna said. “I feel that building muscles, eating clean and shaping my body are the greatest benefits of bodybuilding. I eat lots of foods in order to grow my muscles. It's a lifestyle not a diet. The more you do it, the more you see great results and then it motivates me to continue doing it.”
Edna’s advice for working out, eating and staying motivated is to change your routine periodically.
Edna said, “My advice is if you don't see results, change your meal plan and workout plan every four to six weeks that way you don't hit a plateau.”
Edna has no intention of plateauing. She’s determined to continue the lifestyle that enables her to both successfully manage an ultra-busy home life and win on the bodybuilding stage.