8) The Bad Dream

I fucked it up.

Here’s what I had to endure before my dream came true.

I pushed for an opportunity at Physical Magazine, which was regularly on the GNC shelves. Once this guy responded to my email, I continued to press hard to stay in his ear. Finally, he gave me an opportunity a month before Thanksgiving.

I tried my best, but I did everything wrong, I swear to you. When I flew, I had too much sodium. When I got off the plane, I could already tell that I felt off, so I went and did a bunch of cardio. I did everything wrong up to this point.

I walked into the photo shoot, and the first person I see is Greg Plitt, RIP. Greg’s been on 300+ magazine covers and is one of the best of all time. Greg’s around 190 pounds, completely shredded, and has a girl hanging on his arm. He’s killing his photo shoot.

Both me and the photographer could see what’s going on. Greg literally thinks that I’m a part of the staff. Straight up. I’m about 30 minutes in and I say, “Look man, I know I’m not prepared. I don’t look the way I should. I’m going to use this to come back prepared. So I won't continue to waste your time.”

I was as soft as a marshmallow. I finally got my opportunity, it’s my turn to go, and it looks like I don’t have any fucking muscles. I literally didn’t have one ab line showing. I asked the photographer for his card. I told him if he gave me another shot I would come back looking ridiculous.

I went to work those next 6-8 months. When I flew to LA I was shredded to the bone. When I took my shirt off, he could tell that I was serious this time. I got through the shoot and murdered it. Lights-out, everything looked good. It took two more years for the cover to come out.

I went through the bad dream, worked for eight months, flew back on my dollar, smoked the shoot, and then persisted for two more years for someone to use the photo. The magazine finally came out in 2008.

How easy would it have been if I tucked my tail and just sulked back to Ohio? Fuck that. The main player in the industry saw me look like shit and I didn’t deliver. I lived through the worst part. I had the opportunity to persevere and kill.

I shot with Physical Magazine again. I remember absolutely murdering that photo shoot. That shoot alone resulted in four covers. When I went to pitch Arnold Schwarzenegger to be my business partner, I was on newsstands.

I don’t just kind of want this life. I fucked it up, but I came back and killed it. And now, 13 covers later, I still believe in me. This kid, from a trailer lifting sand weights, believed he could do it. I realized my dream after living through the worst possibility first. As hard as it was, I came out the other side a winner.