Brandi Ragan wears many hats, and carries each one of them with positivity and determination.
URBANDALE, Iowa — It’s dawn at Flex Factory in Urbandale, but Brandy Reagan is up well before then — that’s the case every day.
“My morning routines are a little ridiculous, because I get up at 3 o’clock in the morning to go to the gym before I go to school,” Ragan said. “That started motivating a lot of people to also work out before school because teaching is a very draining profession.”
Ragan is a 29-year-old middle school science teacher at one of the area schools in Polk County. Along with that, she dominates social media with content creation.
It’s 250,000 followers on Instagram and 500,000 followers on TikTok, type of a domination.
She’s been at that, along with teaching, for seven years. Her seventh year had some tough moments, calling it “one of the toughest years for [Ragan],” as she was teaching a new curriculum.
“I was teaching all new things that I hadn’t taught the previous year, so having to learn new standards, learn how to teach new things,” Ragan said. “I was always kind of straight up with my students. This is new. I’m learning, you’re learning, we’re working together on this.”
What helped weather the storm and make year seven, in fact, heaven, was showing up at 3 a.m. every morning at Flex Factory, taking on competitive bodybuilding. Showing up every morning helped her find her coach, Stefany Bieghler.
“There was days that she said she was struggling,” Bieghler said. “And I’m like, ‘Hey, let’s talk about it. Where do we move from here?'”
Bieghler hammered the importance of communication with clients. With Ragan, though, came positivity and determination to be the best in a new chapter of life.
Well, on the first Saturday in June, that’s exactly what she was. Ragan was the Bikini overall champion at the IFBB NPC Duel of Champions, along with taking home first place honors in the True Novice division, Novice and Bikini Open.
That first weekend in June will go down in history, Ragan said after wrapping up a leg workout at Flex Factory.
“It was probably the best weekend of my entire life,” Ragan said. “The whole community and the experience was absolutely fantastic because everyone there knows what it’s like to go through the process of cutting weight and working out even when you’re exhausted.”
Just like Ragan’s brand, central Iowa’s teaching bodybuilder has much more to prove in this new chapter.
“I get to help and encourage and inspire so many people, which is my end goal,” Ragan said. “So I’m pretty dang proud of myself for what the business and the brand that I’ve built around myself.”
If you think Ragan is done, think again. Ragan’s next competition is in Chicago this upcoming November.
