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By Kevin Richardson, Founder Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™
On a hot tropical day in February, 1989 a young teenager walked into a gym in Trinidad, West Indies,
eager to begin a quest to a higher degree of physical perfection. At the age of 14, he had already
dedicated five years of his young life to the study of martial arts, but now he wanted something more,
he wanted to be a bodybuilder. With the enthusiasm that only one so small in years could muster, he
went up to the counter of the gym and introduced himself to the instructor on duty, who at the time
seemed larger than life itself and with arms bursting out of his several-sizes-too-small-shirt. Back in
those days, training in a gym was almost always under strict supervision for your first several months,
and so he was asked to fill out a form stating among other things what his goals were.
When the instructor took back the form, he looked over it for a second and then laughed a bit to himself.
“You want to be a bodybuilder, son?” he asked almost incredulously.
“Yes, sir,” the boy answered, somewhat troubled by the negative tone.
The instructor then gently put his arm around the narrow shoulders of the young teen and began to
explain that genetically it simply was not possible for him to be a bodybuilder. Standing at a gangly 5
feet and 11 inches tall, he weighed in at 125lbs soaking wet, and he constantly had to readjust the sides
of his tank top, since it kept falling off of his shoulder.
The instructor pointed gracefully at the pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lee Haney prominently
displayed on the walls and explained that with the boy’s lean and painfully thin body, there was simply
no way that he could ever metamorphose into the likes of the titans on the wall. Fuming silently, the boy
nodded in polite response to the statements laid out in front of him, more out of respect than anything
else, and it took every iota of energy for him to hold back the tears of frustration that he felt building at
the back of his eyes.
He would not listen to this man, as accomplished and knowledgeable as he seemed, he would press
on, and so he joined the gym in spite of being advised that he would be better suited to a basketball
court, than a weight room. He never strayed from his path, not even when so many offered drugs and
so called ‘training aids’ that would help him overcome his weaknesses. Instead he stayed true to his
path and persevered through the brutal workouts that the elders of the gym inflicted upon him, without
anything to sustain him but his meticulous attention to his diet and his will.
Five years later, at his third bodybuilding contest, at a weight of a shredded 199lbs, he began pumping
up backstage under the guidance of his coach, and he turned to see a familiar face pumping up not too
far away, it was the very same instructor that had told him that he could never be a bodybuilder and
here they were about to share a stage together. Focusing inwardly, he allowed himself to forget any
such ideas of competition and instead again focus on his own preparations and presentation, and in so
doing his old instructor was forgotten.
Later that night, after being announced in fourth place and walking off of the stage with an immense
feeling of personal accomplishment after successfully competing as a heavyweight while still a
teenager against so many that were very much more enhanced than he was, he realized that the very
man that he first met did not make it to the top five. Instead of celebrating, the young man sought out
his onetime mentor and congratulated him on a job well done, since he was indeed in great shape at
the time, and nothing more was said.
Nothing else needed to be said, but since that time, the young man went on to win several titles and
achieve some degree of respectability in the physique world, all without the help of any anabolic type
drugs. But even more importantly, he went on to help so many others realize that the only limits that
exist are the ones that we allow imposed upon ourselves.
Having helped so many overweight men and women that were convinced that they would never be able
to have the physique that they dreamed of see their goals to fruition, and having helped so many others
that thought themselves doomed to never be successful bodybuilding or fitness competitors due to their
own genetics, walk off so many stages with trophies in hand, and smiles on their faces, he does not at
all believe in limitations. Only that some people start off in a place that will take them longer and make
them have to work harder to get where others are.
Almost twenty years after first walking into that gym as a lanky teen, I can hardly say how proud I am
not to have accomplished what I have, but to have been able to help so many others do the same.
Warmest regards,
Kevin Richardson
Founder Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™
Naturally Intense Personal Training NYC
Visit our Official Website at www.naturallyintense.net
Check out our blog at www.naturallyintense.net/blog
Information contained in this article is not meant to treat, diagnose illness, nor substitute for medical counsel and is intended for purposes of information and education only.
Consult your physician before modifying your diet or starting any exercise program.
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