Leader of One, Leader of Many

This was fine until the head coach’s assistant, Coach Olsen, noticed that I smelled like weed and he banned us from the weight room. That was a huge disappointment for me because Coach Olsen was partly responsible for a lot of my muscle and strength gains. I wanted to work out so badly that I would sneak back in the weight room when the football team would go outside. The last time we tried, Coach Olsen chased us out of the weight room and banned us for life. After that, we had to make use of hand-me-down weights with the busted-up concrete plastic coated plates and work out in the front yards or basements of any friend’s house that had them.

After graduating, I started joining gyms. I kept the same strategy; find the biggest, strongest guys and workout with them. In 1998, I ended up at a local gym called The Pit Barbell Club. Ironically, I’d be in there high out of my mind, working out with many police officers, sheriffs, powerlifters and a few bodybuilders. I got very serious with my training, even planned to compete in a powerlifting meet. That came crashing down in October of 1999 when my brother, Karly, died of a drug overdose.

That day I realized that if I continued down the weed smoking and dealing path I was on, that I could end up in prison like many of my relatives or dead like my brother.

Family and Health Issues

On December 30, 2003 my daughter Jalia was born healthy and vibrant. I had purchased a brand new home, a brand new truck, and life was good. Two months later, Jalia had emergency
heart surgery at Riley's Hospital to repair her aorta. In 2007 while working for CSX, at a company health screening the nurse pulled me to the side and told me to go see a doctor immediately. My blood pressure was in the 150/100 range. I followed her advice, walked in the doctor’s office a couple of days later and told him... “I’m not taking medication for the rest of my life, what do I need to do?” He told me that stress, genetics, weight, diet and exercise are major factors in controlling high blood pressure. I knew I could control all but one, the genetics.

At that point, Jalia’s mother and I separated and I made up my mind to change my lifestyle for the better. I left that doctor’s appointment filled with all kind of emotions... primarily guilt and shame. I felt guilty because I knew that high blood pressure ran in my family. I felt that I was the cause of Jalia having heart troubles. I felt guilty because I was still selling weed. “What if I die like my brother?” “What if I go to prison?” “What will happen to Jalia?” “If I would have known how to take care of myself better could her surgery had been prevented?”

I felt ashamed because the doctor gave me medication to take, and being the person who looked fit, and was known to always workout, taking a medication was something that embarrassed me. From that point on, I made a decision to do everything in my power to ALWAYS be here for my daughter. To always be free. To stop hustling. To do everything in my power to be the best man, father and role model that I could be.

As fate would have it, around that same time in my life, a lot of the people I was dealing with were being sent to federal prison. I’ll never forget going to federal court for the trial of one of my cousins and during the break the prosecutor comes over to me and one of my other cousins, calls us both by name and tells us we are next. I was scared straight; by my doctors and by the prosecutors. From that point on, I’ve focused on a positive life.

During my next doctor's appointment, he advised me against powerlifting because of the added weight to my small frame, to stop taking pre-workout stimulant supplements, and to increase my cardio. I HATED cardio. I never did it. In 2008, my younger brother Larry was overweight and was told by his doctor to lose body fat. I took him to the gym with me a few times, and he never came back. Not long after that, he tells me he is doing P90X and he lost 30 pounds. I thought, “Big deal! You finally got off the couch, of course you’re going to lose some weight.”

P90X, Insanity and MY First Contest

Meanwhile, I was running, swimming, and lifting lighter weights for higher reps. Now my goals were different. I thought, “If I have to lose a few pounds and eat cleaner for my health and to get off medication, I might as well get ripped.” Larry stayed committed to P90X, and lost 70 pounds. When he sent me his before-and-after pics, and he had a hint of abs, I got jealous, thinking, “I can’t let little bro outdo me.” I went over to his house to see what this was all about. I followed the Insanity program, got down to 163 pounds and even earned a spot on one of their promotional infomercials. This led me to develop a following as a trainer.

I eventually chose to personally train just a few handpicked clients who wanted to work hard. I realized that I enjoyed teaching, speaking and working with crowds of people over training people in a one-on-one setting. One of my fellow instructors, Marlon, competed in his first men's physique competition. I was only aware of the bodybuilding aspects of competitions and I knew I didn’t want to do that. When he explained to me how men's physique works, with the limited posing and board shorts, I knew I could compete.

One of my goals is to be a fitness model, and I know that doing men's physique can be a great opportunity to get my name and face out there. Also, it would be one of those things that I would kick myself later for if I didn’t try. No more “what ifs?” for me!

I competed in my first Open Men’s Physique contest this spring and was thrilled to place 4th in both the novice and open divisions. In the remainder of this article I’d like to share with you the training and nutrition schedules that got me into my best shape ever and a few “contest” tips for any of you who might be thinking about competing.

My Training

I work a full-time job with a rotating schedule and I’m a group exercise instructor. I am aware that I can overtrain, so my workouts are short, hard and they vary weekly. I usually train two body parts per day while focusing on short rest periods between sets (less than one minute). Here is my current workout:

Cardio

I teach 8-10 group fitness classes for my off-season cardio, but 4 weeks out from a contest I add 30 minutes fasted HIIT training (in the form of Insanity Max :30). In the last 5 years or so, I’ve also added another twist to my routine, and that’s Hot Yoga. I believe hot yoga will be a benefit to many bodybuilders.

Diet

When it comes to “diet,” (I use that word loosely because I refer to my food intake as a nutritional plan) mine is really simple. I don’t count calories. I do, however, aim for at least 20-25 grams of protein with every meal to preserve and build muscle. I follow a handful of guidelines to keep me lean all year around and use sensible portion sizes. When it’s time for a photo shoot or contest, I dial it in more for about four to six weeks and carb cycle for two to three weeks. I believe by following this simple eating plan, it affords me the luxury of shortening my pre-contest prep. A sample off-season or lifestyle plan is as follows:

In Closing

For almost two years now, I have been a coal handler at our power plant. The job is dirty, dusty and dangerous with many hazards. Our primary job is to ensure coal flows into the power plant in order to produce electricity. I primarily operate a D9 bulldozer pushing coal into the coal feeders or using the dozer to stockpile coal for later use. The best part about this job is that we have a great supervisor and a full kitchen. My supervisor allows me to prepare meals on my breaks. Some of my healthy eating habits have rubbed off on most of our department. We work a swing shift so it can be a challenge to stay on a consistent workout plan.

That’s pretty much my life story. I believe that all my past experiences led me up to this moment. I’m excited about the future. I believe as long as I continue to put 100% into what I do, the man upstairs will bring people and circumstances into my life and those things will lead to greater opportunities.