A new record has been set for future bouquet catchers after an impeccable leap and catch went viral on major media outlets.
Tiffany Walker, a professional body builder who usually watches from the sidelines, decided to partake in the bouquet toss at her sister’s wedding earlier this fall. However, it wasn’t so easy for Walker. Maybe it was her physique that intimidated the participants, because they made rules on where Walker could stand in preparation for the bouquet toss. But no one thought Walker, who stands a mere 5-foot-2, would have left the crowd with their jaws dropped after she leaped and swiped the bouquet from the air.
“I didn’t anticipate any of this … It wasn’t until I felt the bouquet that I realized I really caught it,” the Tallahassee native said.
In a recent press release by Bliss Consulting Services it was stated, “The video continues to peak on Twitter with 3.2 million views and The Shaderoom, with over 2.1 million views and counting. The videos have been featured on major NFL and NBA shows such as SportsCenter and ESPN.”
Walker has always been active. She ran track until she went to the University of South Florida, where she ran hurdles and graduated with her business degree. After graduation she served in the Army.
When Walker moved back to Tallahassee, she started doing marathons with Black Girls Run. While doing marathons another competitor who is also a local trainer in Tallahassee, Brittney Barnes, contacted Walker on Facebook in 2014 and said, “I really think you should get into body building.”
Now a certified pro body builder, Walker is on a break, but she plans to start training in a few months for her upcoming show in May. “She gets better and better each show. Tiffany is a natural born athlete. There aren’t too many people I can say this about. However, I was blown away; I knew she would go viral, but I thought it would be when she won Ms. Olympia,” said Walker’s trainer, professional body builder, Traci S. Rugged.
When Walker started out, her first personal trainer didn’t think she would have a masculine appearance overnight because most of the females who are bodybuilders have been training for years or take enhancers. Years later that same trainer, Timothy Durning, says Walker’s work ethic is incredible. “She’s a stud. She stands out in a crowd, always has, so being head and shoulders above the rest just seemed normal,” Durning said. Walker still trains with Durning doing workouts, posing seminars, and meal preps — especially during her peak week.
Walker has turned her leap into a logo which features a woman in a dress catching a bouquet that replicates the National Basketball Association logo but would represent the Women’s National Basketball Association. While Walker is in her “off season” she will be focusing on her clothing line Leap of Faith and also working on her faith-based apparel fitness line GYW (Greater is Your Walk), which represents her mother’s initials. Walker’s mother died when she was 8.
Walker can be found on Instagram at @run_lift_laugh_love_iffbbpro