I got started in bodybuilding when I was training in the off season for wrestling. I got hooked on bodybuilding in highschool. I put on 25lbs or so of muscle in what seemed like overnight. I made such gains over one summer that when I came back to school people were accusing me of substance abuse. That made me feel good because I hardly even knew what protein supplements were...I enjoyed bodybuilding so much, I quit wrestling and pressed on to be bigger and stronger than ever.
In college, I met my best friend (known as JimmyChitwood on the forum) and we started training together. We had very similiar bodybuilding backgrounds and goals, so we clicked right away and before we knew it, we were training in togas, carrying platic swords to the gym and tearing our shirts off at the end of our workouts. We fed off of each others madness, and packed on large amounts of muscle doing it. I reached my peak in college at a solid 195lbs.
I have since fallen away, and come back, and fallen away. Well, I supposed thats somewhat attributed to the natural ups and downs of life, but I am bound and determined to stay in the gym regularly. I got back to it in January of '08 with a vengeance and set a goal of winning a transformation contest at my local gym. My specific goal was to lose over 40lbs of body fat. I placed first in my age bracket in the tranformation contest and that sparked the fire. My next goal was to get into competition condition and I did that and made my stage debut in Oct of 08, placing 2nd in the middleweight novice division. I noted the improvements I needed to make and came back to the '09 season bigger and leaner, winning two first place class wins and one second place class placing. My goal is to continue to improve and win my pro-card in the 2010 fall season.
I love the atmosphere. I feel good while im in the gym, and while I am a bit more conservative in my old age, I still have a good time. Most importantly, I enjoy the personal satisfaction of making a healthy improvement to my body.