Stanford University PLANET CARDINAL Flippin’ Awesome Pediatrician Trina Wiggins, 47, stays in practice with fitness contests.

People who've never been to a Ms. Fitness competition can watch one of Trina Wiggins's performances in a video at YouTube.

The rigorous floor exercise routine seems effortless for Wiggins, a 47-year-old pediatrician, the mother of 14-year-old twin sons and the step-grandmother of a 2-year-old. In a white mini flapper dress and a Tina Turner wig, she waits for her music cue and then approaches three white-painted steps.


To the pulsing strains of “Proud Mary,” she flings away most of the dress to reveal a fringed white bikini, and does a handstand into a straddle hold, using the steps as her pommel horse. In the next two minutes, she performs Chinese splits, one-handed push-ups, and runs of handstands, handsprings and backflips at a pace that rivals the one she kept as a teen gymnast.

Since 2003, Wiggins, '82, has been a stalwart in fitness—a competition circuit in which contestants must shine in three events: presenting a brief inspirational speech in an evening gown, showing a stunningly toned physique in bikini and heels, and performing an exercise routine that could make a Marine recruit flinch. Unlike female bodybuilding competitions, the emphasis is on flexibility, strength and grace, not muscularity per se. Among the sport's oldest competitors, Wiggins is also among its best, consistently finishing among the top 15 who win cash or other prizes. In September she placed 13th (among 41 qualifiers) in the Ms. Fitness USA contest and third in the International Flex Appeal contest.

Wiggins moved to Las Vegas nearly 11 years ago with her husband, Carl Allen, an obstetrician and gynecologist; and their sons, Marcus and Malcolm. The couple created a hard-charging life in which they sought balance between their professional lives and family time.


Wiggins earned her MD at Washington University in St. Louis, where she met Allen, and then went to Swainsboro, in southern Georgia. On her first day on the job as a pediatrician, someone in the hospital nursery spotted her and asked, “Who's that little colored girl going up the stairs?” Wiggins told her husband, “'Carl, I know we won't be here very long. I can't raise my children in this kind of atmosphere.'” Searching for a place to put down roots, the Allens sought “a city close to California where the real estate was cheap.” In Las Vegas, they built a house that included an exercise room equipped with a treadmill, an elliptical trainer and a stationary bike. One night, lying in bed watching TV, Wiggins saw a fitness contest on Fox Sports. “I said to Carl, 'You know, I can do that!'”


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