Life as a teenage daughter of 2 bodybuilders

Field Reports is a series of stories told by people in the Kamloops community, who pitched their ideas and produced the radio segments with the help of CBC Radio One. Tune in Tuesdays until the beginning of April on Daybreak Kamloops.

For 15-year-old Jordyn Maywood, it's normal to see her dad eat egg whites mixed with rice and pina colada protein powder as an "omelette" for breakfast.

Meanwhile, her mom spends about an hour over the course of each day writing down everything she's eaten.

It's all part of Darren and Maria Maywood's routine as bodybuilders — a sport Jordyn has grown to know well through her parents.

"Basically, their days are spent at the gym working out and then teaching other people how to work out," she told Daybreak Kamloops host Shelley Joyce.

"My mom does bootcamp almost every day, with the addition of another workout after that. If that's not enough, we also enjoy family walks after dinner, which sometimes turn into exercises."

The gym isn't just where her parents hang out, it's also where they work. "My parents actually own the gym," said Jordyn.

Path to bodybuilding

Darren began bodybuilding when he was looking for a sport that wasn't as hard on his body as football or wrestling.

"In the gym I could control what I was doing and then the stage was just a matter of flexing and learning the posing without having to worry about opponents and hurting myself," he said.

Maria's path to the sport began with her own mother, who was a bodybuilder when she was young.

"I was always inspired by her," she said.

But there seems to be less chance the sport will pass down to another generation of the family.

Jordyn says she doesn't currently have aspirations to start bodybuilding, and neither does her 22-year-old brother Broughton.

"He'd rather watch Star Wars with my dad than do push-ups with him," she said.

'Scary looking'

Jordyn said she often gets comments about how muscular her parents are.

"A lot of the time I hear that my dad's kind of scary looking and that my mom's even scarier," the Grade 10 student said. "It's funny to hear just because I know how sweet they are."

People also tell her that if they had parents who owned a gym, they would be ripped — but she knows from her parents that there's a lot more to it than that.

"When it comes down to it, it's a matter of the work you do, not free gym passes," said Jordyn.

'Do you just eat grass or only chicken?'

Maria and Darren do weekly cleanses to prepare for competitions.

"Basically they eat a few little snacks and drinks that provide nutrition to be healthy, but they have very few calories. Then in the lead up to a competition they start eating lots of food and then they scale it down," said Jordyn.

"My dad says it's basically about eating fewer calories than you burn."

Their strict diet has made some of Jordyn's friends curious about what she eats.

At school, kids ask questions like, "Do you just eat grass or only chicken?"

"People figure just because my parents do bodybuilding that I have to eat like them," said Jordyn. "Basically, I eat pretty normal. Well, maybe a bit healthier than other people."

Bodybuilding dangers

Jordyn also realizes there are dangers to the sport. In researching bodybuilding, she's learned about the risk of developing unrealistic expectations about appearance.

"Thankfully that's not been the case for my family," said Jordyn. "My parents put a lot of work into being smart about their training."

Darren and Maria's dedication to diet and exercise has certainly paid off.

In 2018, they competed together and placed first in the mixed pairs category at the Canadian Nationals bodybuilding competition.

Competitions have also given the Maywoods opportunities to travel, which Jordyn very much appreciates.

"Three years ago we even got to go to Spain," she said.