Mike Thompson's Journey
Pro-Men's Physique Champion/Personal Trainer/Competition Coach
The morning was still cold in March 2014 when I left the house, accompanied by my family, to go to the Julie Rogers Theater in Beaumont-Texas, where I won my first competition in the category of Men's Physique. Less than a year earlier I had competed for the first time. I was already in my late 40’s, competing against young guys in their 20’s and 30’s. Competing was never my goal when I started consistently practicing bodybuilding, but I have to admit that the feeling of accomplishment for all my years of hard work and mental discipline were encouraging and rewarding.
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My first encounter with bodybuilding took place when I was twelve years old. My father brought home a set of weights made out of plastic and filled with sand. During my college years I kept building my body, but it was not until I moved to Texas, more than a decade ago, that I decided to focus on building my physique the natural way. Natural bodybuilding is hard work. It requires mental discipline, clean eating and consistency.
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For me, bodybuilding became more than a sport. Externally, it is like an art, e.g. sculpting, where the chisel is your determination and discipline, and the clay is the body; internally, bodybuilding is a mental
therapy, where you try to reflect your mental and spiritual state by transforming and modeling your body.
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For me bodybuilding is a way to help others accomplish their goals and win the experience that for me has been so transformative. I told my clients that the physical part is proven to come, but it is in the mental growth where the joy resides.
I overflow with all kinds of positive emotions when I see my clients progressing in the transformation of their physique and developing a new mental security. That joy is a trophy that no competition can give; it is a trophy that you bring home every day after pushing yourself a little further.
It has been a long time since I saw that set of plastic weights filled with sand. But I am glad they were part of my live, because with this discipline, this art that bodybuilding is for me, I can help others to achieve their goals and reach their dreams.
