Hello fellow fitness doers,my name is Victor Sullivan. I am going to tell you a little about my life, and how I came to love bodybuilding. Fitness for me begun at a baseball field when I was four years old, not in a gym. I was always very hyper and energetic. My wonderful parents wanted this energy to be expelled during something productive. Being fast and small did have many advantages. It made me want to try every sport my small school had to offer. Baseball, basketball, and soccer were the only ones in sight, so to speak. Plenty and time and sweat were poured into all of them but baseball was the only one that really stuck with me. That was until high school when I discovered the weights my father had in his storage room. At the time a set of dumbbells and a bar were not too limiting.

 

Shortly after I started to discover some old books and magazines centered on fitness and bodybuilding. A whole new world was unveiling itself before my eyes. Classic pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Colombo, and Shawn Ray. So, I got started. I didn’t know how to get the same muscles as all the guys in the magazines. So I did what any 15 year old kid would do, CURLS, CURLS, and more Curls. During that first year of training I was slowly starting to learn the basics. There being more to working out than looking at pictures. But I gained some weight and started seeing results. Then, it was time for baseball to start. I couldn’t wait to see the impact my new strength had on my ability to play baseball. It turns out that all the working out and no emphasis on stretching causes injuries. My shoulder gave me numerous problems from the repetitive motion of throwing a baseball. So, I decided to workout in the summer and when baseball came around I would focus solely on that. Before baseball stared every year my coach would take all the ball players into the underdeveloped school weight room. It was very small and limited. It was equipped with a bench, squat rack, and a barbell. At the time there wasn’t a gym for miles, so this was the closest thing to a gym I had ever been in. It was my first time to squat and bench press anything in my life. This was the starting point for all my strength gains. At a whopping 95 lbs, I had my work cut out for me. But the gains were fast and consistent. I was very happy to bench my weight the first time I was ever under a bar. It was very exciting for me, due to the older kids failing in their attempts. Before I knew it, 135, 155, 185 on the bench were a thing of the past. And still being the smallest kid around I was able to hold my own in the weight room. At last I found my calling. After baseball that year I was able to workout all summer and gain some weight. I was kid who finally made 115lbs and was benching 225. It was surprising to many and was a ton of fun for me. Gains kept coming here and there over a year or so. Then I discovered kids talking about supplements. I had heard about Arnold and the freaks taking steroids. But proteins and energy bars, that were safe for high school kids to take. Before I knew it I started reading about something fairly new called Creatine. After reading and debating this with my parents I was on my way. Before long, my weight was 135 lbs and I was starting to near the 300 mark on the bench. It was my dream since my father mentioned to me about benching double your body weight. He always said all the juice monkeys maybe big, but it was more impressive when natural guys like us can do double your body weight.

 

Satisfaction came to me at the age of 17; a gym was built in my small town. Everyday after school I was there, living and learning about protein and diets to gain weight and stay strong. Finally getting my weight to 143 of fairly lean muscle, 300 lbs on the bench was mine for the first time in my life. And it made me feel really nice inside to know I did all this without the use of illegal drugs and steroids.

 

Time went by and I grew older and a little wiser in the world or fitness and bodybuilding. It being such a small town, my name was mentioned in the gym from time to time. Whether it was about strength or about diet when I was 21 it was time for me to settle down a bit and find a career. With my love for traveling, hiking, and working out I needed something that would allow me to do them all. I never wanted to waste my life working and paying bills. I knew this was a very important part of life but I wanted to make it fun and exciting. After trying college for a year or so it was getting stale. So I tried my luck as a firefighter. After waiting on a list for months and months I got a call. After tons of exams and physical agility test I was on my way to rookie school on a military base. 3 months in the mud and cold was not the fire fighting experience I was expecting. But after all the mind games and physical training it was time for the books. The instructors taught me what I needed to know to be a firefighter.

 

After graduating the academy it was time for the real world. Full of work and paying bills. But I found it exciting. I work 24-hour shifts that allow me to eat often as long as they’re no emergencies to deal with. And I train with the days off.

 

 Now that my training is great as it has ever been I wanted to give competing in a bodybuilding contest a shot. I did some research in Louisiana and tried to find a natural bodybuilding show, but I was unsuccessful. But it gave me 5 weeks to get ready for a show in Baton Rouge called The Red Stick Classic. All my training and dieting came down to one day. I entered 2 different weight classes. Novice lightweight and one big weight class for firemen, policemen, and armed forces. I won them both at 157lbs. After that they placed me against the middle and heavy weight winners for the overall. So at the end of the show I won the Novice overall.

 

A couple of months later I was in a different gym than my home gym in Livingston and ran into someone that started asking question. After my workout we started talking about fitness modeling. The guy told me about a man named John of BBpics.com who flies all over the U.S for photo shoots. I asked how to contact him. I was giving a number to call and I started talking with John directly. Not some answering machine that never calls back. John personally talked me through the whole experience. He is very one-on-one with his clients. So John and I set up a time for him to fly in and meet me. I picked him up from the airport and started talking about destinations to shoot at. Then next day we were all over the place shooting different styles and outfits, trying to find what worked with me the best. John made it very easy and comfortable to work with. Then next day we met with Tammy Renee’ and Amy Piro. Tammy is the President and CEO of World Physique magazine. She and John have been working together for 6 years. And Amy was the marketing Manager for Tammy’s Magazine.

 

The day went by with lots of fun and excitement. We all had a great time shooting for the magazine and we did some advertisements for new water called X-treme Ph. So, to all the fitness doers, not the ones who just talk. Put your mind to something and proceed. You can do it. Never be scared to ask questions. The only dumb questions are the ones you didn’t ask. Have fun and be true to the sport you love. Have fun and stay healthy. To all of you reading this I wish you all the love and peace that you can posses in a lifetime. Good luck