I discovered bodybuilding by chance and very late in my life... After I had quit rugby, I felt the need to exercise. A friend of mine had just subscribed a gym membership. He asked me to go there with him and I did. I didn't quite like the idea to go to a gym. However that was my first time in a gym. I was 33 years old. My weight was 85 kilos (187 lbs.) and my height was 183 cm ( 6 feet). Believe me, I have never been really skinny. I must admit I was not very much impressed by the gym. I thought it was stupid to struggle with a barbell and two 10-kilo (22 lbs.) plates on the sides. I am honest. I kept on for several months. Eventually, I bought a gym-set to work out in my basement. Lonesome and in my basement - that was the very starting of my career as a bodybuilder. I had no knowledge. I didn't read bodybuilding magazines. I had been training insanely for three years. I had not been following any special training program. My only goal was to acquire a noticeable size. Later on I started to read bodybuilding magazines and got interested into any bodybuilding champion. I subscribed to a brand new gym in Dijon. It was the Athletic Gym and the owner was Jacky Biondi. The ambiance and the people were wonderful. There I started to work out hard and to diet properly. One year later, Jacky began to talk me into entering for a regional competition. The idea had never crossed my mind before that day! He pressured me so much that he got me persuaded. So I got it started! Thanks to his advice I won my first competition at Macon in 1994. I was 37 years old! My height was always 183 cm ( 6 feet ) but now my weight was 83 kilos (183 lbs.)! Today I can barely realize what I was able to do and the results I got…

During all these years, I've had the opportunity to meet, get to know and keep in touch with numerous athletes, men and women, from all races and all walks of life. A bodybuilder might sport a great physique, but is often considered like a "freak", some sort of mentally handicapped individual (lots of muscles but very little brain). Generally speaking, people who pass this kind of summary judgement are usually lacking the courage, discipline and mental toughness to succeed in improving and -ultimately- transforming their bodies. If they would only take some time to get to know anybody seriously practicing bodybuilding they might be pleasantly surprised! They might even revise their prejudice about them and view them not as edonists full of themselves, but simply as people willing to sacrifice and be rigorously disciplined in order to achieve their goals. Bodybuilding is very often a choice of life. Also, a lot is being said on how to fight racism or cultural intolerance; well, discriminating against bodybuilders simply because they look "different" is also a subtle and devious form of racism, in my opinion, and totally unjustified! Thank you for having patiently read my piece and keep in mind that: it's NEVER TOO LATE to start striving for a positive change in your life! In good health.