Mary Ellen Jerumbo - "Pump Princess"

Early in life Mary Ellen developed a need for hard work and dedication, giving her the drive that continues even today, where she works seventy-five to eighty hours per week and never gets bored. She received her BS degree in Education from Northern Michigan University. During college she was involved in many leadership boards and activities. Mary Ellen was also a resident assistant and cheerleader. After graduating, she taught many different subjects, mostly in Physical Education. She enjoys every sport, anything that moves. She has coached many sports including: football, track, basketball, cheerleading, baseball, volleyball and soccer. During her educational career Mary Ellen received many awards including teacher and coach of the year. Mary Ellen has been a strength coach for many teams and is currently strength coaching the El Paso Rhinos Hockey Team. She has also coached many types of individuals, anyone from your weekend warrior to your Olympic athlete, stressing their sports specificity and nutritional demands. Her ideal motivation is “How do you find the champion within each individual.” She also loves to volunteer her time with developing youth, special education and activities throughout the community. She has also created motivational seminars for physician groups and professional teams.

How it Began

After graduating from Northern Michigan University, Mary Ellen accepted a teaching and coaching position in her hometown of Manistee, Michigan. About that time women´s bodybuilding was being introduced. Mary Ellen was always fascinated with strength and muscles. It was the perfect time for her to own that sport. After picking up her first Muscle and Fitness magazine in December of 1980, and seeing pictures of five women in high heels and bikinis competing in the first Miss USA Bodybuilding Championship, she instantly realized that competition was her calling. That is what she was destined to do. She immediately decided to fix up the local High school weight room and start her training. In addition, she drove 30 miles to another gym three times a week, where she could work out on women´s day and only after three months entered her first show. She placed second out of twelve women and was immediately hooked. With the economy depressing from 1980 to 1981, and the school district downsizing many faculty, the economy in her town took a turn for the worst forcing many to move to other states. She then flew to the Texas Rio Grande Valley and was offered many teaching and coaching positions. However, with the love of bodybuilding she decided to take a position in Mc Allen, Texas because of the Bodyshop Fitness Center owned by Don Asmus that was located there. At that time the gym was segregated into men´s and women´s facilities but Don saw real enthusiasm in Mary Ellen and allowed her to work out on the men´s side of the gym with all the world class equipment, giving women´s bodybuilding and lifting empowerment to flourish. After a couple years of successful winning and training, Mary Ellen went on to win a Miss Texas title and in 1985 she won the National Bodybuilding Championship. The gym was then sold and made smaller. It was then that one of the most recognized contest promoters, Bob Dickson encouraged Mary Ellen to move and train under his guidance and expertise at his new facility the Olympic Gym, in San Antonio, Texas. With several feats of strength Bob encouraged her to compete in power lifting which she then picked up in 1986. Her success in lifting came naturally to her. Even to this day Bob Dickson continues to be her number one mentor, friend and inspiration, she calls on him for his expert advice. Ultimately, her intensity and strength with the love for the sport had introduced her to her future husband, Scott Warman. She got married and moved to Huntsville, Texas where her new husband was the strength coach for Sam Houston University. With their union complete, they were immediately considered, and currently hold, the title of strongest married couple in the world. In June 1989 Scott accepted the strength coach position at UTEP in El Paso, Texas. After traveling around the world and earning many world titles, the couple decided to divorce, which brings us to present day where Mary Ellen currently owns the Backstreet Gym. Mary Ellen lives, eats, sleeps and thinks lifting, nutrition and health. She believes that when training 80% of the work is physical and 20% is mental. However, when it comes to competition, it is the exact opposite. Mary Ellen has overcome many adversities in her life and it is her positive motivation and spiritual outlook that continues to drive her day to day activities.

Currently she is being advised and trained by the biggest “Mutant Beast” in the bodybuilding world, Dave Palumbo. Dave's impeccable knowledge when it comes to training and nutrition is shown by his own physic and the numbers he has trained. She believes with Dave´s vision, and unsurpassed knowledge, he will help her reach new heights in bodybuilding and power lifting. She realizes that all her moves in life were centered around her first love “Bodybuilding.”

Mary Ellen came out kicking as a baby and is still kicking today. She tries to teach others not to get comfortable and let things go. Her rule in life has been, when you break your discipline things get taken away. As a child she was taught that if you didn´t do your job or if it wasn´t done right, you didn´t get your nickel. Nowadays, if she doesn´t eat right, for example, her Corvette gets taken away. She believes the worst thing for a fighter is to get civilized, “Don´t treat yourself to everything make it a reward. If you are in good health, get off your lazy ass and do one more repetition,” she says. Mary Ellen is not a personal trainer but an elite coach with training techniques driven by unsurpassed knowledge of 30 years. Bodybuilding is not a paycheck, it's her life.

What does Mary Ellen like to do in her free time? “Anything physical!”

She works out every day. To her the gym is like going to the playground, which is something that never gets old. When she walks in the door the enthusiasm builds and as she touches the hard cold metal, a rush of blood races to all her muscles. She works out 6-7 days a week and on the few days she does not work out, she jumps on her custom Harley-Davidson and goes for a leisurely ride.

Mary Ellen loves standing on the performance stage with all the lights shining on her, taking in all the details that surround her, like the smell of tanning gel on her muscular physic. Her biggest comfort is standing on center stage, her home and her place of Zen. When she is on stage she feels like “Nothing can harm her”, a nuclear bomb could fall and she would feel like “Nothing could touch her”. She has been an entertainer and performer: twirling batons, knives and even fire. She is also a competitive ballroom dancer.

Mary Ellen reveals that she could never sit down and read a book cover to cover, but she does love to read medical journals and science articles. While reading these articles she found out her ambition in life is to understand the morphological changes of aging, specifically how progressive resistance activity fights the aging process. In layman´s terms, to slow aging or halt time and reverse its effect through eating and working out.

In the end, Mary Ellen proves to be a motivated and dedicated individual both professionally and personally. She wakes up and has a moment with the Lord every morning. She asks herself, “What can I do better today?” And at night she has a moment with the Lord and reflects on those completed objectives.