PHOTO BY RICHARD NAGLE,
NIGHT OWL PHOTOGRAPHY http://www.nightowlphotography.us
Name: Byron Hicks
Date of birth (or current age): 3/30/77
Home town: Montgomery, Illinois
Height: 5'11"
Contest Body Weight: 207 LBS (Class: HW)
Off Season Body Weight: 264 LBS
Name of training facility: Jakked Hardcore Gym, Montgomery, IL http://www.jakkedhardcore.com
Most recent win: Novice Men's Heavy, 1st Place and Overall, Open Men's Heavy, 2nd Place
Midwest Ironman Figure & Fitness, December 8th, 2007
Tell us briefly about yourself. Any general information you want to provide about who you are, what you do, family life, special interests etc.
I was born and raised in Elburn Illinois . As a kid, I was always physically active and into sports...mostly karate, baseball and football. I spent a good deal of my childhood up to my late teens learning martial arts, mostly Tae Kwon Do and I currently have a 3rd degree black belt. While I was still in high school I first started with power lifting but didn't like the injuries that followed. But I always enjoyed weight training and notice that I was able to gain size easily. Initially training helped keep me in top condition for other sports . Today, I currently own and operate my own business, Jakked Hardcore Gym in Montgomery, Illinois. My wife Tami and I both train people at the gym. Right now, I train people for general fitness and strongman and have 3 members on my strongman team "PowerCorps" competing in the "Chicago's Strongest Man" in April of this year. Our gym is a real gym and we're serious about training. In the future, I would like to work with more clients who are looking to get into bodybuilding or are involved already, but looking to take it to the next level.
PHOTO BY RICHARD NAGLE,
NIGHT OWL PHOTOGRAPHY http://www.nightowlphotography.us
How many years have you been training?
I've been training pretty much since freshman year of high school when I was involved in football and haven't stopped since.
Why did you get into bodybuilding?
I attended Kaneland High in Maple Park, Illinois where I played football. As I said before, I really enjoyed weight training when I was in high school and noticed that I was able to gain size and mass easily. I really got into lifting at that time and continued to weight train in the off season because I saw that my body responded well. I was always a chubby kid and the weightlifting helped me to keep that body fat down. In high school my lifting was more to keep in shape for sports. After I graduated high school, I started working full-time doing construction work framing houses. I enjoyed lifting mostly as a hobby and I was very committed to going to the gym in general, but didn't have any goals beyond that. It was after I attended some of my first shows in Ottawa Illinois and The Iron Man a few years back that the whole bodybuilding world and the possibility of competition started to open up for me.
How many competitions have you done?
The Iron Man in December 2007 was my first show.
What is your main motivation to compete?
Bodybuilding and the idea of competition became more of an interest to me just a few weeks before I was involved in a serious accident back in May 2001. I had just made up my mind to compete in April of 2001 and was working toward that goal. Then two weeks later I was involved in a very serious car accident that left me hospitalized and unable to walk. When I started to recover and could get out of the hospital bed, I was in a wheelchair and had to use a walker to get around once I was able to get back on my feet. When I finally returned home from the hospital, I couldn't even get up the stairs to get to my own room in my home. It took me 3 months to walk again on my own without a walker. I was very frustrated just trying to do the basic activities of daily life. That was hard to go from one minute being healthy and used to training, and the next not being able to walk.
At the same time, after the accident, it gave me time to think about what was important to me. And I realized being and the gym and weightlifting was something that really made me happy. I wanted to do something to get myself back in shape again, so I made a very basic workout room in my house with a chair and a set of 10# dumbbells. I did any exercises that could be done seated since my leg and hip were so badly injured. I did 4 sets of 20 reps of every exercise I could do. My left shoulder had such bad nerve damage, I could barely do a side lateral raise two times with the 10# dumbbell. I was really scared at how weak I had become and I had lost a lot of weight. My back had atrophied along with the rest of my muscles. I went from 250 pounds before the accident down to 197 pounds in one month. When I finally was released from the hospital and went home, I hit my lowest weight of 189 pounds. The good news was I was ripped, but I had also lost all of my muscle along with the body fat. I always try to look at the positive side things so, knowing that I could gain weight easily, I took it upon myself to learn the right way to train, gain healthy weight and eat well. I did a lot of reading of books and research online to better understand how to build myself back up. I also took time to get certified as a personal trainer while recovering from the accident. When I finally was able to make some gains again, I decided that I wanted to pursue my goal of competing again. I sat down and told my wife Tami to make sure she was agreeable with it. We have two sons and pets in the house that need attention, and training to compete takes a lot of commitment and time. She understood and was completely supportive because she knew how important it was to me.
So I would say my main motivation to compete came from the fact that I wanted to accomplish what I had set out to do before my accident. I wanted to take back something that I thought might have been taken away from me and prove to myself that I could still do it.
PHOTO BY RICHARD NAGLE,
NIGHT OWL PHOTOGRAPHY http://www.nightowlphotography.us
Who did you work with throughout your contest preparation, if anyone, and how did they help you?
I started working with Chuck Sanow at USA Gym in Bridgeview. I was referred to Chuck by a friend who trained with him for another Iron Man competition a few years back. Initially, I first spoke with Chuck about wanting to open up my own gym and doing personal training. I wanted to get his advice as to how to do that. It was shortly after that I decided I wanted to do a show and I heard that Chuck was the best guy to go to if you want to compete. I started working with Chuck in 2006 and chose to do the Ironman in December 2007. I had a year and three(3) months to train for it. I was in shape when I started with him and had a great upper body but I didn't think I was really ready to get up on stage or compete. My lower body needed a lot of work and I wasn't sure I would be able to do the work to make the necessary gains on my legs due to my injuries. I trained with him every other week on my legs mostly until it was closer to the show, then I worked with him one day a week at USA for the 11 weeks prior to the show. I did the rest of the training at my own gym. Chuck worked with me on everything. He developed my pre-contest diet and worked with me on all of my posing and helped me to develop my routine.
What was the hardest thing about preparing for this most recent competition?
The hardest thing was dieting through the holidays. That was probably the hardest thing, going through Thanksgiving. To make the dieting easier for me, I made sure that I didn't see any food that I wasn't supposed to have. I had my own fridge at home, and kept my food separate from the rest of the family. My wife Tami was very supportive and was always making sure that she and the kids weren't eating anything around me that wasn't on my plan. Tami ate everything I had to eat along with me and didn't put the food for the kids in front of me . Also, the body aches were hard during dieting and up to the day of the contest. My joints were dry and tight feeling and that was extra painful on my hips mainly because of the scar tissue from the accident.
PHOTO BY RICHARD NAGLE,
NIGHT OWL PHOTOGRAPHY http://www.nightowlphotography.us
What kept you motivated and focused on your goals prior to your most recent competition?
The main thing that kept me motivated and focused was my determination to get back the one thing that was taken from me by the accident, my goal to compete. For a while after the accident, I thought it was something I may not ever be able to try. So, that was my whole motivation. My goal for this show was as simple as setting foot on stage and I felt like I won by just doing that. The chance to be able to do something that I thought was taken away from me. I felt like I was able to gain a lot by accomplishing this. I tried to make positives out of everything that happened after the accident and I was glad to just be there and able to get up on stage.
Why do you think you won over the competition in your most recent show?
I wasn't a judge, so I'm not sure. It probably came down to conditioning, but everyone has their high points and I think I was well conditioned. But to be honest, there was a lot of good competition that day .
Tell us about your off season training, nutrition and supplementation program. What does that look like typically?
Off season I lift heavy, but not as heavy as most people would think due to my injuries. I have to be very careful due to that. I haven't been leg pressing at all since the accident until I started working with Chuck Sanow. Before I started working with him, I couldn't even do leg press and I had to work through that. I usually train 4-6 days a week and generally do each body part once a week, except for legs. I do legs 2 times a week to catch up and build them back up since the accident. I like to mix up my training routine. I do drop sets and rest pauses and try to vary the exercises each time I train. I never follow a specific program and no workout is ever the same. I don't write it down, I don't track things and I always do something different mainly for the purpose of shocking the muscles to get them to grow.
With off season nutrition I eat whatever I want...but within reason. I eat mostly home cooked meals, red meats and turkey. I hate chicken, (unless it's fried (laughs). I always make sure I have full breakfast of at least 6 eggs with oatmeal or waffles. During the off season I mainly focus on eating at home and I don't go out for fast food often. As for supplements, I usually just take a basic multi-vitamin and protein shakes in between regular meals.
PHOTO BY RICHARD NAGLE,
NIGHT OWL PHOTOGRAPHY http://www.nightowlphotography.us
How were you doing the day of the show? What were some of your thoughts and concerns that day?
I was really tired and dehydrated. I was feeling miserable. I felt bad. But I had a lot of people coming to support me from my family, friends and the gym and knew I had to go on. After the morning show, I called Chuck to ask him what I could eat. I was feeling really weak and my hips were really sore from the scar tissue from my injuries. At the end of the open class in the morning, I was in a lot of pain. I had to massage my leg to try to get it to stop cramping. After the morning show, I went back to my hotel and laid down for about 45 minutes. My legs were cramping and it hurt really bad. It was so painful I wasn't sure I could do the night show. But I didn't want to leave the show as a bad experience. I wanted to finish and have a good time. I talked to Chuck and he suggested drinking a little water and pedialite to help with the cramping. In the afternoon I felt much better and was ready for the night show.
What worries did you have the day of the show?
I think I had the usual first time show worries...the usual stuff. I was concerned about my posing, how would I look? Wearing little trunks on stage. I wasn't sure how that would be. But I was so tired and dehydrated that all those things were the least of my worries. All the little things that I worried about never happened.
What did you pick for your music and why?
My music was a mix of a few songs, but mostly it was an Anthrax song, "Hy Pro Glow" mixed with other songs. I know the song, and it had a good energy and good crowd appeal. That was the one I liked and went with it. Plus, Im a "Metal Head" too, so that helped.
PHOTO BY RICHARD NAGLE,
NIGHT OWL PHOTOGRAPHY http://www.nightowlphotography.us
Tell us about your in-season training, nutrition and supplementation program.
My diet was very simple. High protein, low carbs. I didn't have much trouble following it. The one thing I hated was eating tuna in the morning. That was rough on some days. To make it tolerable I used to eat yogurt as part of my breakfast and, to make the tuna tolerable, I would take a spoonful of tuna and then a spoon full of yogurt at the same time to wash it down. I was able to eat a whole can of tuna in four bites and then ate the rest of the yogurt to wash down the after taste. To give the ground turkey some flavor, I used a lot of seasoning that was salt free. That made a big difference in making the food taste better. Mrs. Dash was good and there were lots of flavor options available.
In your opinion, what does it take to achieve a goal someone sets for themselves and win?
You have to believe in yourself. You can't listen to other people who tell you what you can't do. Don't listen to other people who are negative. Anything can be reached if you really want it. You just have to believe in yourself if you want to do it. It helps a lot having people around you who support you in your goals too, like my wife Tami. She was a huge help. I also believe that anyone who can do this, who can train for a competition and get up on stage has mastered themselves and done something that most people wouldn't be able to do already.
What advice would you would give to others working to compete in an NPC sanctioned show?
Anybody who enjoys working out and interested in bodybuilding should try to compete in at least one show. Just to do it. It's a good experience just to compete. Anyone who gets on stage and competes has already accomplished their biggest goal already. Also, Find a REAL GYM! A gym where people are there to work not socialize. There aren't many out there these days, atmosphere makes all the difference. If you want to be serious about your training, you need to separate yourself from the big corporate warehouses. You need to find a place that will "build you up" or "tear you down," whether you want it that day, or not. Suggestions: USA GYM, Bridgeview , Flex Gym, Ottawa and of course Jakked Hardcore Gym, Montgomery.
PHOTO BY: RICK DREW http://www.rickdrew.com/ironman07/
What are your future plans? Preparing for any upcoming contests?
Now I'm more motivated than ever. I am planning to compete again. The day of the show, I weighed in at 207 pounds, and that was under where I thought I'd be. I weighed 223 pounds the Wednesday before the show, then on the day of the show, I came in at 207 pounds. I was really surprised to have dropped that much in such a short time. My goal now is to add more weight, about 8-12 pounds of lean mass and see where that puts me for my next show . I would rather not give a specific show at this time, I just don't have any definate plans at the moment. It will be at about a year before I step on stage again, that much I do know.