Kayla Rawlins does not wait for campus to wake up. The Michigan State University student is often moving before sunrise, squeezing in cardio before class, meals, projects, and the kind of training schedule that leaves little room for drifting.
For Rawlins, competitive bodybuilding has become more than a sport. After losing her childhood home in a fire in January 2025, the 21-year-old found something steady in the strict routine of training, meal planning, and preparing for the stage.
Bodybuilding before sunrise
Rawlins, a Digital Storytelling major at MSU, often wakes as early as three-thirty in the morning to finish her cardio before the school day starts. At 5-foot-1, she is already making her presence felt in a sport where discipline can matter as much as size.
Competition prep is the weeks-long period when bodybuilders train, eat, and rest with the stage in mind. In practical terms, that means more cardio, carefully planned meals, and a daily calendar that can feel packed before most students have opened their laptops.
“When you switch into that prep mode, you do everything on a schedule,” Rawlins said. “You’re not skipping a single day.”
A gym that felt like home
Rawlins did not stumble into the weight room by accident. Her parents were also bodybuilders, and some of her earliest memories come from the gym daycare, a place she remembers as familiar and comforting.
She grew up as a competitive cheerleader and began lifting weights in high school to get stronger. Soon, the training became something bigger. What started as a way to build strength turned into a serious goal.
That part matters. Bodybuilding is not just lifting heavy things and posing under bright lights. It is a long test of patience, repetition, and the ability to keep showing up when the motivation fades.
A hard year changes the goal
The fire in January 2025 changed Rawlins’ year in a way no schedule could fix. She had not planned to compete, but after the loss, she leaned further into bodybuilding because it gave her a target when life felt scattered.
“I kind of felt like I needed some kind of structure and a goal and a purpose to get me through the year,” Rawlins said.
That structure came with a cost. By the second half of prep, Rawlins said she felt depleted and struggled with brain fog, even as she still had to walk to class, attend lectures, and complete projects. College does not pause because a competition is getting close.
The stage in Kalamazoo
In November 2025, Rawlins competed at the NPC Western Michigan Bodybuilding Championships in Kalamazoo. After more than 20 weeks of work, the moment brought a difficult year into focus.
“You just feel like a princess because you did all this work for 20-plus weeks,” Rawlins said. “I was just on cloud nine the whole day.”
Rawlins placed first in all three of her classes and finished second overall. The results were impressive, but she said the deeper value was proving to herself that one painful event did not have to define the whole year.
More than medals
That moment also reached her family. Rawlins said her mother had stepped away from bodybuilding to have children, so watching her daughter take the stage carried a meaning that went beyond trophies.
The same was true for her friendships. Lydia Grembos, Rawlins’ freshman-year roommate and a fellow bodybuilder, celebrated with her after the competition by sharing Reese’s, a small treat that meant something after months of strict prep.
Grembos, who became more serious about bodybuilding in college, has often turned to Rawlins for advice on food, training splits, and the mental side of prep. “She has a very strong work ethic,” Grembos said.
Building a wider community
Rawlins has also built a community online by sharing her bodybuilding journey on TikTok. For a sport that can look mysterious from the outside, those videos offer a more personal view of the early mornings, cravings, discipline, and doubt.
As a digital storytelling student, she now sees a possible path after college. She wants to use film, video, or documentaries to share the stories behind bodybuilding and help people understand the people under the stage lights.
What comes next? Rawlins has started another prep cycle and is working toward her long-term goal of earning a professional card. For now, she says bodybuilding has changed how she sees herself.
The main report has been published by WKAR Public Media.
