A full semester of classes can stress out the average university student, but second-year political science major Teagen Heise balances much more. A load of classes, a job as a certified personal trainer, a member of Point Loma Nazarene University’s Speech and Debate team, a social media presence, a deep personal faith, and as if that wasn’t enough, becoming a competitive bodybuilder.
What started as a childhood love of staying active and playing basketball, lacrosse, volleyball and rowing turned into a love for weightlifting when she was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma and had to shift to a sport with less cardio. She credits her mom as an inspiration to keep going, who she says had a very similar athletic journey.
“She was also a personal trainer,” Heise said. “She has done very similar things to what I’ve done. But my mom was way more athletic than I will ever be. Iron-Mans … marathons, she is a sicko. Love the woman, though.”
Wanting to take her new love of weightlifting a step further, Heise started bodybuilding at 18. After competing for a year, she took a year off due to the start of college. Nutrition and eating strategically are a huge part of bodybuilding, and being more restricted in dorm kitchens led Heise to decide to take a small break from the competition stage.
Heise knew she wanted to pursue weightlifting on a more serious level at a point in her life where she felt alone and in a negative place. After a difficult breakup, a fight with her mom and her twin sister away studying abroad, she said she was struggling with depression. Her way back to finding herself included two things.
“I started to love life again through weightlifting and through God,” Heise said. “My life started to look a lot brighter. I started to feel emotions again. I started seeing color. Like, the world became beautiful again.”
Heise’s coach and mentor of about two years, Sean France, sees a lot of himself in her.
“I was surprised with her maturity level, timeliness and her ambition for such a young age,” France said. “I was always the same way, so she reminded me a bit of a younger version of myself … I can absolutely speak to her speed of implementation, transparency and work ethic – which are all well beyond her years and well ahead of 99% of individuals I have worked with in my career.”
She’s now back to bodybuilding training and is now a certified personal trainer.
“Once I got my certification, it was like, ‘let me educate people,’” Heise said. “Every time I teach a woman how to properly eat, how to track her macros, I think an angel gains her wings. I think the world becomes a healthier place when a woman understands how to lift and how to exercise properly and how to fuel herself to feel good.”
Heise wants women to know that the gym does not have to be a scary, negative or judgmental place. That is what she focuses on in her social media — making the lifestyle of healthy eating and lifting more approachable. She wants to leave a better impact on the people who come across her page, which is part of the reason why she chose to major in political science.
Heise is also a member of the speech and debate team, which she fell in love with during freshman year and figuring out her desired profession from there.
“[Heise] is very smart, dedicated, goal-oriented, and personable,” Skip Rutledge, speech and debate coach and professor of communication at PLNU, said. “With no debate experience at all, she joined PLNU’s debate team last fall and immediately became one of the best and brightest in our activity. For her, the sky’s the limit.”
Heise says she wants to be an attorney, though she’s not sure what specific field yet.
“My dad always wanted me to be a politician or work in that field,” Heise said. “He would tell you that I’ve been arguing out of the womb… I’ve always been a very opinionated and bold person. Even as a kindergartener, I’d pick fights because you’re not going to bully my sister.”
She also shares how her faith and relationship with God have impacted her worldview as she journeys through the different stages of life, both in the classroom and the gym. She says she’s developed a sense of gratitude lately, developing a sort of ‘I get to…’ mentality.
“I get to go to school. I get to pursue higher education… I get to go to these classes. I get to look out, and I get to see the ocean. I get to wake up at 4 a.m. I get to be tired from my workout. I get to have a body that’s able to move. I feel like God is with me in everything that I do, and I feel like there’s no room to complain because, at the end of the day, I am so privileged to be in the position I am. So whenever I get the opportunity to help people or change any mindset, that is what I do.”
Heise’s life is, like any athlete, much more than just bodybuilding. Though weight lifting and personal exercise are her passions, they are not her only passions. Heise’s goals are only getting bigger, on the competition stage, the debate stage, the weight room, and the classroom. She has the experience and resilience necessary for whatever heavy lifting comes next – literally and figuratively.
