Once In A Lifetime

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I started working out in 1956, using the information from the pages of Iron Man as my guide. I had no long-range plan but to become stronger and have some visible muscle.

I have spent some time lately trying to put the pieces together from 1956 forward because I was chosen to receive the 2014 Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award. After I got over the shock of being chosen, I knew I would have to create a slide show encapsulating my life. If you have been to the event, you know that it consists of two to three minutes up on the big screens preceding the award and acceptance speech.

I began by trying to recall significant events and people, the turning points of serendipity that have shaped my odyssey. As the timeline began to fill out, I was startled first by the vividness of my recall of specific events and people but also the surreal feeling of stepping back and seeing my journey. I had never attempted to create any kind of a detailed biography before, and the process was a roller-coaster ride of emotions—the feel of a cold bar in my hands as I worked out in an unheated garage, the dampness of training in a friend’s basement. Hundreds of memories came flooding back complete with not only the details but the feelings!

Read the rest of the entry at John’s Blog