Photography by Brian Buchsdruecker
Clothing provided by Lululemon

Forty-one-year-old World Champion fitness model Laurie Dickson has some advice for the quitters.

“Find your passion and stick to it,” says Dickson.

It sounds funny coming from a woman who has sampled half a dozen sports in her life, but she means it.

Fitness has always been Dickson’s passion—from teaching aerobics to her high school football team to competitive trail riding to winning world championships in motocross with detours into running and competitive mountain biking—and she is motivated to share her passion for fitness with everyone around her. For Dickson, sharing her passion and inspiring others began with a personal journey and recent success.

Dickson entered her first fitness model competition in 2001, just seven months after her son was born. Friends had encouraged her to take up bodybuilding for many years, and Dickson saw for herself that their instincts were correct soon after she picked up her first dumbbell and realized that her body responded well to weight training. By 2004, competition brought her to third place in the amateur bodybuilding category at local and regional Canadian competitions. In 2005, Dickson took fifth place in the Western Canadian Championships, and in 2006 she reached eleventh place in the Emerald Cup competition held in Seattle, Washington. Not bad for an amateur, but definitely far short of Dickson’s ambition.

Dickson turned forty years old in January, 2007, her breakout year. That year marked a difference in attitude. It was a tough year. Dickson went through a separation and found herself without a place to stay in Cranbrook, British Columbia, a community with one of the lowest average vacancy rates in Canada at the time. For a while, she literally had no idea where she and her two children, seven and four, were going to live.

Dickson had always been confident, but now she felt that she had nothing to lose by giving her all. She patched her life together in the best way she could, as people in difficult circumstances often do, and invested that supercharged confidence in her training and her nutrition regime. By September, 2007, she placed first in the FAME Fitness Model category, first in the UJENA Fitness Model category, and first overall in the FAME/UJENA Fitness Model category at the competition held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. More importantly, she earned her World Natural Sports Organization (WNSO) pro card.

Two months later, Dickson competed at the WNSO North American Championships held in Miami, Florida, for the first time as a professional fitness model. She placed second in the Pro Fitness Model category and third in the Pro Muscle Model category.

Dickson was inspired to build on her success. She explains that when she turned pro, she did not want to squander the opportunity; she wanted to help others understand the value of setting fitness goals and achieving them.

In June, 2008, Dickson competed in the WNSO World Championships, where she was awarded first place in the Pro Masters Fitness Model category and fourth place in the Pro Muscle Model category.

Dickson said that she felt like she “owned the stage” and that that was the reason for her success. Once again, confidence in herself made all the difference in the result. Dickson attributes her boost in confidence in 2008 to job satisfaction and a nice place to live. In other words, she bought a house in Cranbrook, and she enjoys what she does every day.

A personal trainer for the past two years, Dickson describes her business as “highly successful” with twenty full-time clients and a huge waiting list.

“I help people and show them what they are capable of with motivation, desire, and passion,” says Dickson.

She describes her personal training sessions as forty-five minutes to an hour of intense work, and, although she teaches one-week boot camps as well, she most enjoys working with clients one on one and takes the responsibility seriously.

“Individuals have their own goals and hurdles. They rely on you and trust you,” she says.

Dickson finished the year with her most difficult competition yet, placing third in the Elite Pro Fitness Model Open category at the Ultimate Fitness Expo, going up against thirteen elite competitors in their twenties and thirties.
As thrilled as Dickson is with her success, she sees it as the means to an altruistic end.

“I want to motivate kids and go around to schools and talk,” she says, describing a program that she has already begun to implement in Cranbrook. Focussing on children in grades four and five and into junior high school, Dickson sees raw potential that sometimes requires nurturing.

“There are kids out there who are so athletic but lack the wherewithal to do anything with it,” she says.

Dickson is used to being a role model. She remains motivated to succeed in her sport for the sake of her own children.

“It’s not all about me. When you become a professional fitness model, it’s no longer about you, because, whether or not you know it, you’re a mentor.”