In 1985, I started competing in bodybuilding
competitions at the age of 20. My first show was the Plymouth Rock and I took
2nd place in the light heavy weight novice class and won best poser thanks to
Vinny Greco who taught me how to pose and helped me put together a routine for
that show. I remember Vinny and I going into a warehouse in Watertown with
a stand up mirror and some music and we put together my first routine. This
warehouse soon because “Vinny Greco’s Powerhouse Gym of Watertown. This was the
gym I competed mostly out of. Vinny has since passed on, but his legacy will
last forever in a lot of people. I could go on and on about Vin...
After
the show I pretty much placed 2nd in every show I did going forward. The shows
back then were the Gold's Classic,
the Massachusetts States
and The New England's for national qualifiers. My first time placing 3rd in a competition was when I did the
Mass State couples in 1988. Around
that same time, I also got my first place, for the first time, in
the Cape Cod as a light
heavy weight
In 1985, the first
show I weighed 183lbs, then each year I competed heavier and in 1992 and 93 I
stepped on stage at 194
Back to the NPC Cape
Cod, this is when I first met Photographer Tony Annicone, he brought
me to the side after prejudging and had me do mandatory poses, as he clicked
away...
Fast forward it's
1993, I've been completing every year since 20, now 28 and I remember doing two
more show that year, the Mass States and the Gold's classic where I took 2nd in
the Mass and 3rd at the Classic
I was pretty much done
at this point and wanted to venture into something new that was still
individual, so I looked to boxing. I took onto to this pretty fast and by 1996
I was able to fight in the golden gloves as a cruiser weight and in
the semi finals, I knocked the guy out in 59 seconds of the first round, that
felt real good. I ended up losing in the finals to a decision. My record was
5-1 with 2 first round KO's
I stopped fighting but
stayed active sparring and teaching the sport to others. Up until 2004
where not being in the right state of mind on June 16, I drove my motorcycle
over a jersey barrier off the Leveret circle bridge. After that, I
wasn't able to stand on my feet comfortably (never mind box) for at least a
year.
So from 2004 to 2007,
I did nothing but drink a six pack a night and ride. Well, I did manage to
build a bad ass rigid bobber from the frame up
Then near the end of
May of 2007, on two separate nights, that were close together, I had a vivid
dream of the feelings I had when I was younger and dreamed about weights and
waking up and that's the first thing you think about... that's when you know
it's time. I know I didn't want to go out as a fat beer belly old man now at
the age of 42, I didn't want to go out this way when and I knew I could do this
again and go back to my roots
On
June 1st 2007, weighting 220 having a 38" waist and
about 180lbs of lean mass, I joined the gym. I knew that once I started lifting
weights I wouldn't feel like drinking.
The drinking stopped
and a year later I was 200 lb with abs. I like to think I put on 20lbs and lost
20lbs and met right at 200
Now we have the Internet, which we didn't have back in the day. I had
previously qualified for the
nationals, but never went... and I don't know why... So I go on-line and start looking at competitions and I said to myself, "I can
do this again". So in May 2009, at the Jay Cutler, I take 6th in the open light heavy weights, out of 9
Fast Forward to 2011. I competed in the Masters Nationals and took 7th place out of
24 in the 40+ class. Then I won my first whole
show, the NPC New Hampshire's, taking the opens overall and the Masters
overall. Next
I won the Masters overall at the NPC
New England's and 1st place in the open Heavyweights.
Remember that guy Tony I talked about earlier?
He recently found me on Facebook and sent me the pictures that he had taken at the NPC Cape Cod in 1988. Well he was also at the New
England's and he took more pictures...
Now check these out,
this is pretty cool...
With hair, I was 23 years old and weighed about 188 ... the
bald guys now is 46 years old and weighs 216! My son Anthony thinks I look
shorter!
I'm glad to be back to this sport and as of today, I still wake up and the first thing that comes to mind is my workout, so that tells me I'll be around for a while
sizeBIGGER
