I have to admit some of my first inspiration to train came to me when I was about 14yrs old from watching those college comedy movies where the guys with the good bodies landed all those hot girls in bikinis! Well, only happens in the movies doesn’t it. I don’t live by palm tree lined beaches where its summer year round, girls didn’t rollerblade up & down my street, but above all, I was skinny. I knew I had to start doing something. Then came other & larger part of my inspiration & that was of course the one & only greatest of all time ‘Arnie’. After seeing him in the movie Commando, that’s what I wanted to look like, BIG!
I first started training when my father bought me a barbell /dumbbell set & showed me a few basic exercises that he learnt when he was young training at the local YMCA. After playing with those for a year I joined the local RSL club, very primitive when I think back now to how small the room was & some of that equipment makes me laugh, but that was my starting point.
I copped a bit flack from some of the guys around my area for doing weights until the annual school swimming carnival came round & when the shirts came off, the mouths shut for some reason & it helped to get me noticed by some of those bikini clad girls!! This gave me more incentive & I joined a larger gym where I learnt as much as I could from some of the older guys training there. After training for a few years & finding a lot of conflicting advice I enrolled in a heath & fitness course at TAFE where I earned an advanced certificate & qualified to be a personal trainer. I learnt the ins & outs of training & leading a healthy lifestyle while sorting out the propaganda from the truth. Those 21/2 years weren’t easy. I’d be at work at 6:30am (learning my trade as a plasterer) drive to the gym after work to train then drive to TAFE then get home by around 9pm but I l got addicted to that feeling you get when you train & I didn’t want to lose what I’d worked so hard to gain.
In 1999 & after a lot of encouragement from friends I entered my first show, the ANB Sydney titles. I won my weight division, U/90kg, and then later that evening won the best posing routine & the Overall title. Quite a feeing when it’s your first show & you don’t even expect to place!!
From there I have never looked back & have slowly climbed the ranks. After each show I have taken advice from the judges & training partners to build my physique to a level good enough to win the U/90kg & Overall Australian Title in 2006. Funnily enough though that unexpected first win gave me the best feeling & is my most memorable to date. For this I owe a huge thank you to Mr Robert Powell who without any trouble or payment kindly guided me in my first contest preparation with diet, posing & the incredibly difficult & psychologically challenging final week preparations. I wanted to return the favour & help out the federation in some way & now do so in the form of judging which I have been doing for the past 3 years. This is another angle of bodybuilding I really enjoy & gives a very different perspective on the sport.
I now run my own business, still in the building industry & apply the drive I have learnt over the years of training & the discipline over the years of competing to help me with my business success & day to day life.
Anyone reading this that trains seriously will be sympathetic to the comedy of mocking received from friends & family for these ‘habits or ‘rituals’ we perform at the same time every day. But that’s what makes a bodybuilder who he or she is, the determination, and aspiration to achieve & never give up. I personally feel these are great traits to have. So what if you live by routine, at least we know where we are & where we are headed. It’s got to beat going to the pub every night, right?
Though in saying that, I have to keep constantly telling myself “everything in moderation” as I find that I can become overly obsessive sometimes with my training & need to cut back & apply some of that focus back into my work. My other passion which puts some balance back is surfing. If I don’t get a wave in every week I can tend to get a little edgy. It’s a great form of interval training & I enjoy the freedom you feel out there & the water, wether the cold of winter or the warmth of summer it gives a cleansing feeling and always come home with the feeling like I’ve had a mini holiday. Just can’t get enough.
As always I am training very hard but my short term goal has been to bring up my weak areas to put me in the best position possible when I join Team Australia on the journey to Toronto Canada in June 2008 where we hope to enlighten the world to what The Thunder from Down Under can produce. My Long term goal is simple, to stay healthy & feel as young as possible & to be competing well into my masters era.
So, to all who are competing this year, I do not wish you good luck, but I do wish you all the best. Luck is for day dreamers & bodybuilding is not about luck. It’s about getting stuck into it. What you do in & out of the gym everyday & those last 12 weeks of prep. By the time you turn up to a comp in the morning, whoever is the best is already the best. They can’t drop the ball or stumble before the line. So get in the gym train hard, stay strict on your diet, sleep well to grow big & we will see you on stage in your best shape come comp day.
To finish off I would like to give thanks to a few people who have provided inspiration, training & diet advice & much needed support; Murray Graham (Mr Oz 2005 & the real drug free World Champ), Matt (Unreal) Steele, Mike (Mr Nice) Nysten, Mark Kostanti (former Mr Oz) Robert Powell, Kevin Riley & the staff at Horleys. THANK YOU ALL!!
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