Rx: What do you feel your calling in this sport is?
VR: My calling in this sport was NOT to win titles and compete; it was to mentor people and give a voice to people that didn't feel they could speak up. I don't think I would have been able to do that and compete at the same time. I wouldn't have been able to be an advocate and voice for the athletes and the fans if I had been competing. As your life experiences goes on your calling becomes more and more clear to you. Sometimes you don't know where they are leading you and then once you arrive it all makes sense. The life experiences I have had have made me even more passionate to pursue my calling. So now I am committing all of my time and all of my energy to being that voice and that advocate. Over the years many have tried to silence my voice and discredit me. I am not a dog - I am a wolverine and if you back me in a corner I am going to fight!
“I came to the United States with my father in 1999. That same week I started working with my uncle in Manhattan. Around that time I saw the first Flex magazine and I saw this guy with HUGE arms, and his triceps were amazing. I couldn’t get that out of my head and from that moment on I decided I wanted to look like that.” LEO PACHECO
Yes, I can’t deny it; it’s another story of one man with a dream in his heart pursuing it with
determination until it becomes a reality. However, when I first laid eyes on Leo Pacheco in New York’s new bodybuilding haven, ‘Complete Body & Spa’ (formerly 19st gym and Better Bodies) he gave me no clues that I was in the presence of a future Pro. Sure, he had an amazing physique but he wasn’t the type who strutted around the gym with a ‘look at me I am a bodybuilder’ sign on his back (c’mon we all know the type!). He was quiet, unassuming and just kept his head down and did his job – whether it was training himself or one of his many clients.
Once in a while, during periods of flipping through the pages of our favorite magazines or websites where we see the incredible muscular imagery and catchy article titles, we need be reminded that perhaps less thought should be given to esoteric things like bench pressing and well-shaped calves and more be focused on what we as individuals are truly capable of. Upon initial examination of pictures of IFBB Pros Ben White and Nicole Ball, one cannot help but be captivated by Nicole and her piercing blue eyes or amazing contoured delts and thighs. . . or Ben's Oak Tree-like arms, replete with their own network of snaking veins and capillaries. When you look at the sum of their parts, what's more impressive than their titles, celebrity, and humungous musculature is their accomplishments that have nothing to do with bodybuilding.
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On stage, Jeff Black looks just like another bodybuilder. If you saw him at Jr. Nationals last year, you might even say he needs to improve his posing because he doesn't look stable in his side poses.... Yeah, everyone is a critic. But, you know, you should never judge a book by its cover. Imagine having bones so brittle they just break. Imagine being an 11 year-old kid walking through a store with your family and your leg breaks. For no reason, it just breaks. Imagine that kid growing up to be a bodybuilder? You're kidding right?
How Ron Noreman fought his way back from hip replacement surgery (in just five months) to win the 2010 NPC Empire States Masters Overall.
Ron Noreman is as much a bodybuilder as he's not a bodybuilder. A lot of guys fit their lives around bodybuilding. Sometimes to the degree that if something doesn't fit they don't make a concession; they live their lives in the gym and make as much a living as they can in and around their doing such things as personal training, diet counseling, contest prep, selling juice, webcam, or whatever it takes. Bodybuilding comes first.
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