Sondra Hopkins entered the professional fitness industry in July 2004 with the opening Fit Life Studio, and upscale and intense fitness training studio outside San Antonio Texas, with husband Patrick. Though she had never guided anyone but herself to their fitness goals, she was quickly encouraged and dove into her studies to receive her first training cert. After nearly a year of feeding a thriving fitness training business, Sondra became pregnant at age 34 and gave birth to her son Cooper in May of 2006. So too was the birth of Sondra's new mentality of personal growth and her new competitive lifestyle.
Five months after having Cooper, Sondra won the Transformation of the Week on Bodybuilding.com and started her year-long journey of training to enter her first Figure contest in early 2008. With the help of trainer/nutritionist Patrick, Sondra won her Figure Masters Class at the NPC West Texas Classic in March, then a fourth place Masters finish at the NPC Ronnie Coleman Classic in April. With such a successful start in the competitive arena, it opened the door for yet another endeavor – fitness modeling. Photographers such as the notorious Dan Ray, of Muscular Development, Jeff Kutsher of Flex Photo and a handful of others were now posting her photos all over cyber space.
Juggling a new child, fitness training clientele, photo shoots and a competitive bodybuilder husband, Sondra started the second half of her first competitive year by placing second in her Figure B Class and first the Masters Class at the NPC Rock Fitness Extravaganza in October then on to the NPC Texas State Championships in November to take fourth in her Figure D Class and qualify herself for Junior Nationals. By late 2008 Sondra was definitely making a splash: she was listed as a Featured Athlete on the prestigious fitness website Figure Athlete, was offered an administrator position for HotJuice.net and entertained a number of fitness sponsorships from supplement companies.
The Sondra Hopkins splash from late 2008 has frenzied into a rogue wave of popularity and demand in early 2009. Photo shoots for Onyx and Imagezz Photography, fitness podcast interviews, supplement and clothing-line promotions and online fitness training will only drive Sondra to new levels of determination and expectation. The wave is coming, catch it and be empowered!