Today you’re going to meet Bruno Martel. From Quebec, Canada who went from being a 125 pound skinny teenager, afraid of getting beat up by the high school bully, to a 170 pound ripped and jacked rock star!
(Note: Bruno plays Bass Guitar in a Heavy Metal Band)
Just check out Bruno’s “Before” and “After” pictures below and read about how he got involved with bodybuilding and built his body. I’m sure a lot of guys will be able to relate to his story… I sure can because I too was bullied as a teenager, and that was a big motivator for me to get involved with fitness from a young age.
How I Started Bodybuilding…
I was your typical high school teenager… 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing a whopping 125 pounds. In other words, I was a skinny kid. I used to play baseball and skateboard, but I never got interested in lifting weights, until I made the decision to date the wrong girl in school… Big Mistake!
Because of this “relationship” I had with the girl, one of the biggest bully’s in the school was jealous of me and you can figure out the rest of the story; threats, intimidation, physical contacts, and getting pushed around. So like a lot of young guys, I decided that it was time to build some muscles… just in case! 😉
My early motivation to lift weights came about simply because I was afraid of getting my ass kicked by the bully at school.
I had a couple of friends who were already training at the gym. One guy in particular was a Canadian Judo champion. He was a serious lifter and often asked me to go to the gym with him, he said that I would love it, etc. In the past I always said “No Thanks”, but now with my new found motivation, I reconsidered his offer.
I asked my mom if I could join the gym, but she didn’t want to pay for the membership because it was expensive and she wanted to know if I’d actually stick with it, or if this was just going to be another fad.
So to test out my commitment, she bought a set of adjustable dumbbells for me to begin with at home. No real workout program, no specific diet; just lifting dumbbells… But surprisingly, I fell in love with lifting and found that after a couple of weeks, my body was responding to my simple dumbbell training routine. Of course I’m sure a lot of it was because of the “Newbie Gains” that people often make when they start working out. But I made good progress non the less. It was enough to impress my mom and show her that I was serious about working out and she then agreed to buy me a gym membership!
Like a lot of students, I found the school day would drag on forever… But knowing that I was going to the gym right after school gave me something to look forward to. I was so excited about going to the gym and working out using real gym equipment!
I got consumed by the bodybuilding lifestyle. For the rest of high school my main focus was on going to the gym. It motivated me to get through the day. And I stuck to my routine of working out consistently for 10 years!
But as I got older and entered the work force things got a bit more complicated. I hooked a job working with a video crew as a cameraman. This job involved a lot of time on the road, eating out in restaurants, and not a very consistent schedule. While I never quit working out, my efforts and consistency was nowhere near as good as it was when I was in school.
Lack of sleep, lack of good nutrition and lack of serious training led me to become out of shape. I wasn’t really obese, but you know, soft chest with man boobs, round belly, etc. After 3 years of this crazy lifestyle, the job demands became slower and I had much more time for me take care of myself. A new era of my bodybuilding journey was about to happen.
While doing my research on the web trying to find how to structure my training and my diet to get back on track, I found Lee Hayward’s YouTube channel. I must have watched everyone of his youtube videos, and this helped me to get more serious about how I trained and ate for building muscle and losing fat. The thing I like about Lee is how he explains things simply and makes it easy for me to understand exactly what to do. I then decided to take the next step and subscribe to his VIP Coaching Program, which opened my eyes to more advanced tips and strategies for maximizing my progress. Lee really helped me plan out a complete bodybuilding diet and workout training program that allowed me to gain muscle and lose my belly.
In the 3 years that I’ve been coached by Lee and now I’m in the best shape of my life. In fact, I’ve made so much progress over the past few years that I’ve decided to go back in school and get a degree in Kinesiology at the university to once again increase my knowledge of fitness even more.
That’s how I got involved with following the Total Fitness Bodybuilding lifestyle… And by the way, remember the bully at school… He didn’t beat me up after all. But I should “thank him” because he was the one who triggered my passion to workout! 😉
Bruno Martel
If you would like to make a “Before” and “After” transformation like Bruno did and build lean muscle, increase strength, improve your self confidence, and feel comfortable in your own skin – just let me know and we can schedule a time to chat and come up with a realistic action plan that’s right for you…
