Maggie Corso Interview

Photo Credits:
Photos 1-3: Pavel Ythjall
Photos 4-5: RX Muscle


Maggie Corso wasted little time in her competing career in qualifying for Nationals, to compete with the best amateur competitors around. In fact, before competing with the NPC, she won her pro card for another organization in her very first show. I think we can expect to see Maggie continue to improve and make a bigger and bigger name for herself in the very near future.

Q: Can you talk about how you got started in the gym?
A: I started really young, in high school. I remember being in some wacky aerobics class. They would separate the girls from the guys. I couldn't jump around like everyone else so the gym teacher sent me over to the weight room where I immediately headed to anything that had anything to do with legs. As a small child I loved the look of gymnasts and their muscularity and I wanted to achieve that. I started pretty young but without a clue, so as I grew older I continued to train and then met my husband who is an avid trainer and in fantastic shape and he was able to help me in the gym. I got in pretty good shape by the time I was twenty-six. Then life changed, new job, new house, big commute, took time off, and had children.

Q: When you got back into it, what led you towards competing?
A: Well I started training again in 2010. I was about to turn forty and I decided "you know what? I don't like the way I look, my body is a mess." I started doing things at home and then I joined a gym not long after cause I needed to get back. I was at the gym with a friend of mine who had been a trainer in the past and told her the goals I had, looking at Oxygen Magazine and seeing Erin Stern on the cover and told her I wanted to look like that and felt with my past that I had a muscle base to build from and should be able to get there if I worked hard enough. She told me I was to old, that my joints would not support the weight I would need, I was a mom and didn't have the time, that these girls were young and spent hours in the gym and it wasn't my life. I said "you know what? Not for me, we are not gonna train together, I am gonna do my own thing." A year later I stepped on stage.

Q: A lot of people I interview say it becomes addicting after the first show, was that the case for you?
A: In a way, yes. I don't know that it was addicting, I definitely like the time where I am focused on what I want to do with my body. I am always in a state of non-satisfaction. I can look at my physique and see what looks good but then I tear it down because I know where I want to improve. The day I step on stage, there is nothing left to improve. You are standing there and have come to the conclusion of your training. I like that, I like having an end and meeting that end and going beyond that. When I walk off stage I have new things to improve on. But on that day I am proud of the look I have.

Q: Let's start with Garden State, you took fifth in your class and first in Novice, are you more happy with the first or do you first think about how to improve the fifth?
A: It wasn't about placing. I had never done NPC before. It was my second show. In my first show I went into a natural bodybuilding organization. It was a different stage presentation. I took first and won a pro card. When I first walked off stage I said "how can I be a pro, it is my first show", I didn't feel I warranted that kind of rank and wondered how to improve myself. So I went to the NPC where I imagined would be stiffer competition and style. So when I stepped on that stage it was more exploratory. I watched the posing while I stood in line and did what they did. I was surprised with my placing because I wasn't happy with my condition or tan. I walked away confused wondering what they were thinking haha. It encouraged me to try again. It showed I had a place with the NPC.

Q: Then you took second at Muscle Beach. You looked much more confident, is that an accurate statement?
A: Yes, very accurate. I had the mentality that I wanted first or second so I could qualify for Nationals, I wanted that National experience, seeing what it was like. It is such a difference from a local show. I was more confident. Condition-wise, it wasn't my best, not as lean, but it was enough. It was the only show where I went in thinking I had to nail it.

Q: For the National stage, were you any more nervous?
A: Yeah I was. It was so big and new. I had no idea what to expect. It was a "wow" factor. The girls are big, at least ten pounds over me. I knew I wasn't gonna place well and it got in my head. You have a strict time where you have to be off in time. Things got in my head and I chalked it to a learning experience. I look forward to July and Team Universe and we will see how I do. I will do my best.

Q: Where do you need to improve?
A: My glute/ham tie in, more back development and more capped shoulders.

Q: So July is next for you?
A: Definitely in that show. The organization I have a pro card in has a show in April that I am kicking around in my head if I have the ability and can swing it travel wise.

Q: In the gym, do you get the attention or stares from people?
A: Yeah definitely. I train at home now but when we travel we go to a gym and pick one that is hardcore to avoid that. But when a woman trains at that level people look. There is a place for it but it is not when you are trying to train.

Q: If you could spend a day training with any person you have never trained with, who is it?
A: Erin Stern. She kicked me off wanting this physique. She trains like an athlete and I would love to do drills and sprints with her. That would be exciting.

Q: Anyone you want to thank?
A: My husband for supporting me. Without him I couldn't have done the shows. My family for picking up the slack and watching the kids and dogs. It is hard to be successful without that support. Pauline Nordin for being a good influence and sounding board. She always sets me right. Jennifer Robinson, an IFBB pro. She came out of nowhere when I had questions about the second NPC show and she appeared and had all these answers and was a friend, she was amazing. She helped with posing and it showed in that second show.