exercise-induced asthma<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cShe was also a personal trainer,\u201d Heise said. \u201cShe has done very similar things to what I\u2019ve done. But my mom was way more athletic than I will ever be. Iron-Mans \u2026 marathons, she is a sicko. Love the woman, though.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI started to love life again through weightlifting and through God,\u201d Heise said. \u201cMy life started to look a lot brighter.\u2029I started to feel emotions again. I started seeing color. Like, the world became beautiful again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heise\u2019s coach and mentor of about two years, Sean France, sees a lot of himself in her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was surprised with her maturity level, timeliness and her ambition for such a young age,\u201d France said. \u201cI was always the same way, so she reminded me a bit of a younger version of myself \u2026 I can absolutely speak to her speed of implementation, transparency and work ethic \u2013 which are all well beyond her years and well ahead of 99% of individuals I have worked with in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s now back to bodybuilding training and is now a certified personal trainer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I got my certification, it was like, \u2018let me educate people,\u2019\u201d Heise said. \u201cEvery 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 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\u00a0 part of the reason why she chose to major in political science.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[Heise] is very smart, dedicated, goal-oriented, and personable,\u201d Skip Rutledge, speech and debate coach and professor of communication at PLNU, said. \u201cWith no debate experience at all, she joined PLNU\u2019s debate team last fall and immediately became one of the best and brightest in our activity. For her, the sky\u2019s the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heise says she wants to be an attorney, though she\u2019s not sure what specific field yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad always wanted me to be a politician or work in that field,\u201d Heise said. \u201cHe would tell you that I\u2019ve been arguing out of the womb\u2026 I\u2019ve always been a very opinionated and bold person. Even as a kindergartener, I\u2019d pick fights because you\u2019re not going to bully my sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s developed a sense of gratitude lately, developing a sort of \u2018I get to\u2026\u2019 mentality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI get to go to school. I get to pursue higher education\u2026 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\u2019s able to move. I feel like God is with me in everything that I do, and I feel like there\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heise\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 \u2013 literally and figuratively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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