I started lifting weights at twelve years old; I didn't start because I wanted to look good but for protection. The town that I came from was a violent town in New York. I realized at a young age that I had to protect myself. I also started taking karatelessons around the same age, In a short amount of time I was on the verge of earning my black belt. Unfortunately the school that I was attending closed. I started to attend another karate school,but I had to start over from a white belt and lost interest. My lifting weights paid off, at the age of fourteen I entered a junior olympic weight lifting competition and won. I was the strongest fourteen year old olympic weightlifter in the country. How did I know that,that was my fifteen minutes of fame. I really got ripped off!
Although I never advanced in my olympic weightlifting, I continued lifting weights. Almost forty years latter and I still look forward to going to the gym. At the peak of my lifting weights I was able to: Bench press 365lbs, behind the neck presses with 275lbs and do bent over rowing with 200lbs dumbells. I was able to acomplish these feats of strength drug free. My body weight was roughly 210lbs when I performed these lifts.