RESERVE — Margot Frederick has always been fit.

As a high school and Division I college volleyball player in her native Ohio, then as a coach, Frederick tried to stay in shape.

She also is a competitor.

So when one of her fitness mentors suggested she enter a body-building competition, it didn’t take much to convince her.

“She said, ‘You talked about entering, you should do it,” Frederick said. “I thought about it and said, ‘I’ve got to do this.’”

It did take much to get her there, however.

Frederick, the head volleyball coach and middle school guidance counselor at Riverside Academy, spent nine weeks — not to mention a nice chunk of money — preparing herself for the Louisiana Muscle Warrior Games sponsored by the National Physique Committee held Sept. 3 in Lake Charles.

Frederick, who is 31 but could easily be mistaken for one of her Riverside students on a given day, competed in the bikini division, which involves achieving a certain body shape, developing certain muscles and showing them off with specific poses. She competed as a novice against three other women of her size (she’s just under 5-foot-1), and against four in the Open Class. She finished second in each competition.

“I was very happy with that,” she said.

It was a lot of work.

First, Frederick got in touch with the same fitness guru who had helped her get ready for her 2014 wedding to Kevin Kitchen. Then she began working. Hard.

Frederick’s daily routine included rising well before dawn to do 30 minutes of fasted cardio workouts and high intensity training. She ran sprints at her apartment complex parking lot, or she would run up and down the levee or do stairs.

“I had to get in 50 minutes of cardio every day,” Frederick said. “So I would do 30 minutes in the morning, then 20 minutes after my work in the weight room. I kind of made myself little obstacle courses.”

In the evenings she put in 40 minutes of weight lifting, using smaller weights with more repetitions.

In between, she ate six small high-protein meals throughout the day to maintain her metabolism, giving up all sugar and all salt and nearly all fats.

“It was a lot of Tilapia and chicken, a lot of egg whites,” she said. “Then, everything you eat has to be measured because you’re only allowed four ounces. I’d get to eat a little bit of hamburger if I was going to do a leg day.”

The goal, Frederick said, is to cut body fat. She went from a weight of 121 to 105 with a body fat percentage under 10 percent.

“It’s all about achieving a certain aesthetic, an ideal look,” Frederick said.

Frederick also had to do her actual “game day” prep. She took classes to learn how to pose to show off those muscles. She had to hire someone to do her hair and makeup. She paid for a tan. Then there was the suit.

“Just the suit cost $310, and that was a cheap one,” she said. “Really good suits go for $600-800.”

When all was said and done, Frederick probably spent more than $1,000 for this one competition. It was all worth it, she said.

“I wanted to do it to see how far I could push myself,” Frederick said.

“It was kind of like an opportunity to compete again and have another challenge. I had been working out but with no light at the end of the tunnel. There was no goal. So I was like, why am I doing this? I needed something to work towards.”

Frederick said she had great support, not only from her husband (who also assists her with coaching the Riverside volleyball team), but also from the faculty at her school.

There was some criticism of a few of the photos Frederick posted on her personal social media pages.

She removed those.

“I’m doing this as a personal fitness journey,” she said. “I was proud of it. I took some of the pictures down but, by the time I got to the competition, I was like, I don’t care. I’m proud of myself. I want to show this off. It was a huge undertaking. It was a good lesson for my kids.”

Riverside Academy principal Perry DiCarlo said Frederick’s fitness journey is a great inspiration for him and the students at the school.

“One of the things I’m most impressed with is the goal-setting and the willingness to achieve it,” DiCarlo said. “I wish I could pass that on to all the kids — and the adults — around here. It was pretty hard to do. I’m sure there are people who will question it, but I hope that’s what they see. I’m comfortable with it.”

That’s good because Frederick already is thinking about what she will do next.

“I do like to have a goal in mind,” she said. “The first week after I was like, what am I striving for now? What’s next? The next step would be figure competition, which is more about developing muscle. I would have to be leaner than I am now.”

For now, though, Frederick is concentrating on her volleyball team, which is off to a great start to the season.

She took over the team last year, taking the Lady Rebels to the State Tournament.

Heading into the weekend, they were 9-1.

Said Frederick: “Right now I’d like to spend time with my husband and get back to a level of normalcy. And eat some brownies.”