biography

From an early age I’ve always been interested in sport. Right from the start at school I had my own football team which I called Hot Shot’s. We regularly entered the six aside matches including the County Championships. Unfortunately whilst playing I damaged my knee which needed an operation and this put pay to my football dreams.

After a spell of recuperation, it had heeled well I started playing a less physical sport, snooker. I soon felt an urge to do something physical again and I took up karate. Quickly I found I had a skill for this and soon I got my brown and white belt. The nest step was to qualify as a black belt, but I found the karate started taking to much of my time and I wanted to pursue my other passion of snooker. I dedicated myself to the game and soon got sponsorship and found myself playing full time with a view to building a long-term career from the game. I entered and won many national competitions but I just felt I was unable to play my best in the big competitions.

I stopped playing snooker at the age of 19 and moved in to business. I opened my own record shop as I have always loved music. To this day I still have my own fully equipped home studio. I hit a low point when I couldn't keep my shop open due to the recession in the early 1990’s. This was the time for a whole fresh new start.

I gave up smoking and started to eat much healthier foods. At first I was just doing a bit of exercise, just push-ups and sit ups but it didn't take long before I realized this is what I loved. I joined a gym and soon got a training partner named Julian. After 2 years of hard training my friend decided he was going to enter a bodybuilding show, he entered and won it. It was amazing to see him do so well and it inspired me to have a go myself. Just a year later I entered the same show and came 1st. This was the turning point. I had found my forte and I was hooked from that moment on.

From this day on I was training, eating and resting 24/7. I slowly gained more and more muscle as I worked my way towards my ultimate goal of the British Championships. I soon qualified for the British Championships in Nottingham and on my first attempt I came 5th. At this point I decided to make bodybuilding my fulltime career. This let me to open my own gym, shortly followed by my own Sports Nutrition Shop. This allowed me to focus all my efforts on bodybuilding and reaching my goal of becoming British Champion.

My dream from was to became the best amateur bodybuilder in the country and to win the British Championships. The following years led me to some very close wins in the finals coming 3rd, 4th and 3rd again. The last year was very disappointing as I was in my best condition ever and I really  felt I should have won. Many of the judges had placed me first but due to an overall average I came 3rd again.

Not one to ever give up I just had to try again so a year later I qualified and finished another respectable 3rd. Consistently finishing in the top 3 in the country was a great achievement but I had my heart firmly set on lifting that first place trophy. I switched tactics and spent the next year putting on more size. I gained more muscle and moved up from light heavy to heavyweight category. In 2009 following yet another first place win in my qualifier I only placed in the top 10. With the new category favoring my weight I was able to go on stage at 99kg and looked great.

I am now training hard for the 2010 season and at last I feel I have a really genuine shot at winning. I have now been bodybuilding for over 18 years and have loved every moment of it. This year I have started to put all this experience to good use and have begun to train people as a personal trainer. I have been able to offer all my expertise on safe training, great nutrition and have already seen many successful bodybuilders come from my gym, many of whom will again be competing in the 2010 UKBFF British Championships.

Train strong!

Mark

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