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Sandra Bueckert

Sandra Bueckert knows that fitness can change a life because it certainly changed hers. In 1982, sixteen year old Sandra Bueckert discovered bodybuilding; standing in a grocery store check-out line, she idly picked up a copy of Muscle and Fitness Magazine. “Could women really look like that?” was her first reaction. Bodybuilding for women was a relatively new idea at the time; the women in the magazine were feminine yet athletic looking, unlike the stick-thin fashion models of the day.

From that day forward she lived and breathed to train. She hung around her high school's weight room, waiting for the football players to clear out so she could sneak in to use the equipment.  In those days, strong, well muscled women were considered unnatural and unfeminine, but "I didn't give a damn what people thought", Sandra says now.

The more her body responded to the training the more she wanted. She made lots of mistakes but she was hooked on having the power to control her body and her life. “Over time, and by my own hand, I built my body into something that was strong and capable."

Looking for better training she joined an all-male gym. "From the minute I stepped into the place, I knew what feeling out of place was like, and I will never forget it," says Sandra. Even so, she still fondly remembers the intoxicating smell of sweat in that gym: "It was a high."

Her knowledge came from sweat, hard work, trial and error, reading, certification courses and her own progress. To attest to her level of knowledge and dedication, Sandra has won numerous competitive titles as a drug free athlete. In 1986, four years after she first opened a muscle magazine, Sandra became the junior Canadian bodybuilding champion. In 1988, she captured the Southern Alberta middleweight title and won the middleweight class and the overall female bodybuilding title at the IFBB Alberta provincial championships. She then placed second in the Western Canadian bodybuilding championships.

In 1989, One On One Personal Fitness Instruction was started with twenty three year old Sandra offering instruction in her client’s homes or, more often, at the gyms where her clients were members..

In 1995, after her first son Clyde was born, Sandra weighed over 200 pounds. For many years, she remained over weight. “As a mother, I felt guilt.  I bought into believing that being a mother meant that all of my time (when not working) went to my family,” says Sandra. She now considers those very difficult times to have been a gift. “When women come to see me, I understand the struggles that they face.” 

As a well known trainer, the comments made behind her back were that she was fat and finished. She knew she had a decision to make. She could go into the abyss of obesity and not care anymore or dig deep and reclaim herself. Sandra can rattle off many of the healthy reasons for losing weight. What was her true motivation? Revenge; she knows what it’s like to be written off and not be taken seriously by friends and family. It made her a better trainer, because she understood what her client’s were going through.

After a fifteen year lay-off, Sandra was ready to step back into the competitive arena.  On April 30, 2005 Sandra won the women’s middleweight and overall female title at the WNSO regional bodybuilding championships. This comeback was even more of an achievement given that post children, Sandra lost 50 pounds to reclaim her competitive fitness level. She was featured as the CTV television athlete of the week on June 11, 2005.  In 2006, Sandra was appointed the head judge by the Canadian International Natural Bodybuilding Association.

At forty-five years of age, Sandra Bueckert is a leader in the field of health and fitness. Besides being a fitness expert for CTV, Sandra has been interviewed by QR77 Radio, CBC Radio, Global’s Breakfast Television, The Globe and Mail, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce magazine, Cityscope magazine, Avenue magazine, IMPACT Magazine and the Calgary Sun. Sandra’s fitness studio was featured in a 12-week series by the Calgary Herald. Sandra has also appeared twice on the front page of the Calgary Herald Real Life section.

Having spent over 22 years in the trenches working with women as a fitness trainer, Sandra has witnessed the damage that the preoccupation with weight has had on women and young girls. She decided to fight back and in 2009 launched the W.O.M.A.N. Conference (War on Misinformation and Nutrition), an initiative to encourage, educate, motivate and inspire women to consciously look at their thinking, eating, and exercises habits.

“We women are spending an inordinate amount of time eroding our self worth. For a multitude of reasons, we have made food into our enemy. Some of us use fitness and nutrition to punish ourselves rather than to enhance our lives. Creating the W.O.M.A.N. Conference is my attempt to draw a line in the sand and to say enough. We need to be kinder to ourselves,” says Sandra.