Chantelle Huber is taking her competitive drive toward fitness and channeling it into the social realm.
Huber has spent three hours a day working out to compete as a figure athlete through National Physique Committee events for the past two years, and she's preparing to present herself at the Mrs. Colorado pageant in May.
But her latest focus involves less competition and more cooperation — in the social realm of fitness.
Huber and her husband, Tim, started Forever Fit Couples after getting married last August. Their mission: to inspire couples to make every day a fit day.
They introduced their idea to Summit County with their first event on Halloween: a scavenger hunt, in which costumed couples searched, and took photos of, various sites (and sights!) in Breckenridge, from a dude dressed like a lady to Fatty's huge pumpkin.
Since then, they've organized a full-moon snowshoe hike, which they plan to continue monthly. They also want to include families, and eventually singles, in their “forever fit” concept. In March, they'll incorporate families in a tubing and skating event, and within a year, Huber hopes to launch Forever Fit Singles, a type of “dating” site that would help place singles in teams based on compatibility.
Huber has spent three hours a day working out to compete as a figure athlete through National Physique Committee events for the past two years, and she's preparing to present herself at the Mrs. Colorado pageant in May.
But her latest focus involves less competition and more cooperation — in the social realm of fitness.
Huber and her husband, Tim, started Forever Fit Couples after getting married last August. Their mission: to inspire couples to make every day a fit day.
They introduced their idea to Summit County with their first event on Halloween: a scavenger hunt, in which costumed couples searched, and took photos of, various sites (and sights!) in Breckenridge, from a dude dressed like a lady to Fatty's huge pumpkin.
Since then, they've organized a full-moon snowshoe hike, which they plan to continue monthly. They also want to include families, and eventually singles, in their “forever fit” concept. In March, they'll incorporate families in a tubing and skating event, and within a year, Huber hopes to launch Forever Fit Singles, a type of “dating” site that would help place singles in teams based on compatibility.
The development of fitness
Born and raised in Wisconsin, Huber always has been into fitness. She fell in love with big cities after visiting nearby Chicago, but she wanted to live somewhere she could snowboard, so she moved to Denver to attend Metro State and University of Colorado.She studied sports marketing, with the goal of being a sports agent, which she is still pursuing. In fact, she's looking into Regis University to further her business marketing skills and networking.
Upon graduation, she built a reputation as a certified personal trainer in Denver. She has also worked as a kickboxing instructor, a paid intern for Altitude TV and a technician for Thundervision, the score board at Mile High stadium, where she also helped players prepare for reporters' questions through mock interviews.
After living in Denver for four years, she moved to Summit County on Jan. 27, 2009, to live in Tim's house. The two met at a gym in October 2007.
Pageantry
Tim was the one who encouraged her to compete in Mrs. Colorado. She liked the idea of how the competition focuses on more of the complete person — through poise, elegance, community involvement and goals — rather just on muscle.When Huber competes in National Physique Committee events, she's judged on symmetry, muscularity, femininity, overall condition and stage presence, but she spends months working out and eating a strict diet just to take the stage for 3 minutes.
She believes figure athletes are healthier than body builders, because, for one thing, they don't use chemicals to pump up their body. But she admits even figure athletes aren't always the healthiest.
Her rigid training and diet, which she's not adhering to now because she says her muscles are too large for the Mrs. Colorado pageant, has led her to stomach problems and immune system weakness.
When strictly training, she would wake up at 7 a.m., do an hour of cardio, eat a half cup of oatmeal with an egg white and a scoop of protein, then eat white fish and half a yam three times that same day, do 45 minutes of lifting and another hour of cardio and eat two more meals, including salad, broccoli, rice and lean meat. Though she ate six to eight times a day, she was taking in 1,400 calories and burning about 2,000. Oddly enough, she didn't become too thin; rather, her body adjusted and reached the point where she had to cut back on carbs in order to lose weight.
These days, she packs in 45 minutes of cardio in the morning and 30 minutes at night. She's also working with a coach on etiquette, poise, hair and makeup for the Mrs. Colorado pageant.
Though she has never entered a pageant, she has done well in competitions, such as Ms Galaxy, which included a timed obstacle course and swimsuit portion. About nine years ago, she qualified for the world championships related to Ms. Galaxy, but at the time, she couldn't afford the necessary travel to Florida and California for further competitions. The event no longer exists.
While Huber is focusing on personal fitness and competitive goals, she's also very committed to supporting everyone she can in leading an active lifestyle. She continues to brainstorm ideas for Forever Fit, including setting up a section where people can donate athletic gear to kids.
Her long-term vision involves expanding Forever Fit (couples, families and singles) not only statewide, but also nationwide, so people could attend events when traveling.
“We want people to be inspired by us but also push themselves to the next level,” Huber said. “If we bring fitness into the social aspect, it becomes fun rather than work … We want to get couples rolling in the right direction.”
