Rowena reminded me recently that Samuel had achieved a goal of his, being a body builder, and participated in a body building competition.
Let's back up a little before we get into the competition... As a young child, Samuel was diagnosed with Sensory Disorder. He needs deep pressure to get his "ya ya's" out. As a kid, we would wrap him up in material like a burrito and maybe lay on him.
Some days, he just needs that deep pressure, but as he was getting older, it became harder to do at home. We decided to try going to the gym when he was about 12 years old. That seemed to do the trick for him in meeting those sensory needs.
Fast forward 12 years, along the way, Samuel told me, "I want to be a body builder." There are body builders at our gym so I guess he thought he could do that. As I am not trained in how to make a body builder, we found him a personal trainer who is also a body builder, as well as a certified nutritionist, Mike Shmakov (@shmocky on Instagram).
After about 4 years of working out with Mike, Samuel was getting antsy to do a body building competition. Hence, Mike suggested he participate in the Governors Cup contest that was held December 4, 2021.
With that, here are some pictures of the Samuel posing in the competition (BTW, he took 6th place, out of 6, in the True Novice category):
All of the pictures taken by the folks who run the show are here in case you want to browse them.
Also, here is a video of his routine that I posted to TikTok.
In case you are interested in connecting with Samuel's trainer or want to go to the same gym, hit them up, they are The Fit Clinic - San Jose.
