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Photo by: Jarrod Thompson / Staff Photo | Published: July 03, 2007
"I live for working out": Nurse seeks national fitness titles
By Terry Date, Staff Witer
The Eagle-Tribune
LONDONDERRY | Bird song, early commuters and first light signal daybreak. But fitness devotee Chrissy Burton has been awake since 3:30 this morning in early June, bouncing from bed after four hours sleep.
The usual for this fitness champion.
A little rest goes a long way for Burton, 37, a Londonderry resident who runs 15 miles a day, adheres to a strict protein-rich diet, and lifts weights until her muscles quake.
She also works full-time as a personal trainer and another 24 hours a week on the post-surgical floor at Lawrence General Hospital. And she is married.
It's a balancing act, for sure, but Burton is dedicated and determined.
"I live for this," she said. "I live for working out."
To achieve peak shape for the 2007 Contra Costa NPC Figure, Fitness and Body Building championship in California on May 12, Burton was under trainer's orders to skip exercise, except walking, for the last two days.
"It was unbelievably hard not to do anything," said Burton, who talks fast and, sometimes, for emphasis, wags her head side to side.
The former Lawrence cheerleader and competitive ice skater survived the inactivity to become the overall winner in the figure category, which emphasizes a feminine, defined muscular look.
This achievement comes just three years after Burton began sculpting her body. Through her Spartan regimen of running, weightlifting and diet, she reduced her body fat level from 34 percent at the beginning to 5 percent at the California competition. A typical person's body fat ranges from 18 to 26 percent.
Burton will compete in the master's, 35-and-older, championship in Pittsburgh and a national championship in Las Vegas this month.
A victory in either earns the 5-foot-2<1/2>-inch, 110-pounder her professional card, a ticket to product endorsements and magazine spreads.
Her coach likes Burton's chances.
"Not to be cocky, but I think she's going to take the masters," Billy Eacrett said. "We're working toward the nationals."
Eacrett owns Training Effects in Londonderry where Burton works out and coaches her own clients.
Around the gym hang framed photographs of famous sports moments, including New England Patriot kicker Adam Vinatieri's game-winning field goal in the 2002 playoffs against the Oakland Raiders.
On the back wall a large banner reads "Train Hard or Go Home." Rock and roll plays over the sound system.
Personal trainer Michael Stoddart says he's never seen anyone in his 15 years in the business as dedicated to fitness as Burton.
"She's a beautiful woman, with beautiful hair, eyes and teeth," he said. "On stage, her glutes come into perspective," he said.
For all her hard muscles, she has a soft side.
Scotty Stebbins, 54, of Bow, had some health problems that made him nervous about working out. But as a client of Burton, who as a nurse can monitor his condition, he feels confident.
She sometimes stops by his Londonderry workplace while on runs to check on him and see what he's eating.
Burton traces the roots of her drivenness to life experiences.
First, growing up in Lawrence, her father was a disciplinarian who demanded that she and her sister cook and clean exactly as he told them. Even the floor had to be swept to his specifications, she said.
Another occurred on Oct. 20, 1989, in Haverhill, Mass., when she left figure skating practice in her car and a truck struck her head-on. An ankle injury left her unable to work, skate or do aerobics for more than a year.
With her recovery, came renewed dedication.
"I have this determination about me," she said. "I have to do something well, and I have to complete it."
By 9 a.m this day in June, she had trained three clients, run 5 miles and worked out under the guidance of Eacrett | tugging weighted-down cables, lifting dumbbells, lunging across the floor and doing sit-ups with her feet on a ball.
Most people love how they feel after the workout. Burton likes the feeling before, during and after the workout.
"She loves to feel the burn," said Eacrett, who puts her level of excellence on a par with that Scott Pellerin, the former National Hockey League player Eacritt trained for 11 years.
Club member Garry Martin, a jovial 52-year-old from Windham, is the anti-Chrissy. He hates every minute of his biweekly workouts and marvels at Burton's dedication.
"It's unbelievable; it makes me sick," he says.
Lisa Sussman, 45, of Londonderry, a club member for five years, says it's difficult for women to achieve Burton's defined build because they naturally carry more body fat having evolved to carry babies.
"I would definitely love to look like her but not to put in that kind of work," she said.
Burton, who says she loves to eat, doesn't waver from her strict diet including egg whites, oats and protein powder at appointed times of the day.
With a notable exception.
After winning the Contra Costa title, she and her husband and another couple went out to eat at a pancake house.
"I had my French fries," she said. "They could have been covered in dirt and I would have eaten them." |
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Chrissy Burton
PO Box 4404
Windham NH 03087
603-894-4378
603-505-1739
chrissy@chrissyburton.com
Personal Trainer, Registered Nurse, Figure Competitor
Co-Owner of Infinite Fitness & Personal Training Windham NH
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