JOHN: Where I grew up houses had garages in the back. The road back there was called an alley, which is where the trash cans were at for the garbage men to pick up. Some garages would have basketball rims on them and we would play basketball and tag football back there. It was safer than the streets.

     Growing up there used to be an advertisement for some muscle building product that showed a muscular guy kicking sand in a skinny guys face. I was that skinny kid!

BEN: Ha! When did you start to see a shift in your physique? What would you say were some of the main things that were responsible for you turning that corner? And when did you become interested in competing on stage?

JOHN: I started seeing the difference in 2010 when I got certified as a personal trainer and was taking courses on nutrition. That education was the reason I was able turn that corner. Competition actually started with a few coworkers. We would get on the scale every month for bragging rights. They ended up quitting that and I started to loose motivation so I researched some local shows and did my first competition in 2014 at the age of 53.

BEN: Awesome! And what a way to get started, even if it’s in your fifties! When I worked in Corporate America decades ago there would be guys literally in their early 30s who looked really bad and were not taking care of themselves at all. These guys had basically given up. On that note, what do you think about the culture in this country with regards to health and fitness and the sedentary life of most people? And what would you say to guys out there who think it’s too late for them?