SYDNEY MINES, NS — An international magazine cover is the goal of a Cape Breton-born bodybuilder who is winning a growing number of votes in an online competition that pits some of North America’s most active athletic enthusiasts against each other.
Savannah Silver, a Sydney Mines native who now works in the health care field in Fort McMurray, Alta., was runner-up Tuesday overall in Muscle and Fitness HERS magazine’s Ms. Health and Fitness competition.
She aspires to advance to the next round of the contest, which ultimately comes with a cover shoot for the magazine, which reaches 500,000 readers with each issue.
“Actually last year, my girlfriend told me about it,” Silver said of signing up for the race. “She said, ‘I saw an ad and I want to sign you up,’ and I said, ‘No, no, don’t do that.’ And yet she signed me up.”
Read more
Although her entry was a surprise, she was delighted to learn she had been accepted for the competition, which raises money for wounded veterans, and was able to finish third in her group. This year her goal is to achieve the best result.
“It’ll be on the cover of HERS and you’ll get $20,000, but I’m more interested in the cover,” she said. “This is an international magazine. That would be huge. That would be amazing.”
The cover of an international magazine could also help her launch a professional career in bodybuilding. She currently competes regularly as an amateur, but will be part of a professional qualifying show in August that could take her beloved hobby to a new level.
“I guess you could say I love competing in bodybuilding. I make bikinis. So it’s like the least amount of muscle … the most feminine look, I guess you could say.”
Silver, now 37, has been a bodybuilder since 2015, when she saw the transformation the hobby made on a friend of hers and wanted to get it.
“She looked like a Barbie and I was like, I want to try this and see what happens.”
Savannah Silver
- From: Sydney Mines
- Age: 37
- Lives: Fort McMurray, Alta.
- Occupation: Registered Nurse
- Hobbies: Bodybuilder
- Pageant: Mrs. Health and Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Magazine HERS
- Prize: $20,000 and the cover of the magazine
- Quote from the competition: “I am 37 years old, mother of a four-year-old boy, bikini competitor and nurse. I believe that health and fitness go hand in hand.
- Vote here.
- You can register a free daily vote and donate dollars to the cause for additional votes.
Bodybuilding has also become a great way to offset the stress that comes with life, especially for someone in the healthcare field like a registered nurse.
As such, there aren’t many days that she doesn’t spend hours in the gym pursuing a hobby she has come to love. If there’s a day she’s not there, you can bet she regrets it.
“It just felt like home,” she said of the gym. “A lot of people don’t want to go to the gym, and I’m the opposite. I hate taking days off from the gym. If I miss the gym I feel almost anxious.
She even likes the structure outside of the gym that comes with bodybuilding. This includes rigorous food preparation and time management skills.
“It takes a bit of time, but it’s also nice because at least you have a bit of structure to the day, I think.”
As of Tuesday, she was second in her group in the online competition, which includes other bodybuilders, athletes and exercise enthusiasts.
The first incision will be made on May 11.
Friends and family in Cape Breton and Alberta have been sharing details about the pageant and voting in recent days.
“Hopefully I have a little bit of an advantage because where I’m from Cape Breton, I have a lot of friends in Cape Breton and I have friends here. Maybe that will help me because two different places.’
Go online to https://mshealthandfitness.com/2023/savannah-s to vote.
You can register a free daily vote and donate dollars to the cause for additional votes.
– Greg McNeil is a multimedia journalist at the Cape Breton Post. Follow him on Twitter @CBPostGreg.