The story behind Brad Loomis

WNBF Pro Bodybuilder
Owner/Operator of Healthy Bodies Fitness
 

           It was never my dream, or my intent to become a competitive body builder.  The thought of the sacrifice, dieting, the entire lifestyle of preparing for a body building competition did not seem worth the few minutes of standing half naked on stage.  I vividly remember telling a Dr. Friend while working out that I would never compete.  Who would have thought?

Humble Beginnings

            In 2000 I was fairly serious about weight training.  I was managing a small x-ray department and had worked in acute health care for 6 years.  I was serious about my health, I was strong, but I was out of shape.  One day while moving a patient, I was struck with tremendous back pain.  I learned that I had a fairly serious spine disorder that I was most likely born with.  After considering my options, I decided I would take this challenge very seriously and do everything I could to not undergo surgery.  I went through 2 months of physical therapy and learned what it took to make a strong, flexible core.  Then I applied all that information to my weight training.

            I was still floundering a lot, as most of us do, not sticking 100% to my program.  My back was better, but only about 90% of what I was before I learned of my condition.  Then in late 2001, opportunity knocked as I learned of a transformation challenge that was put on by AST Sports Science.  This was just what I needed to really buckle down and apply all that I had learned consistently.  I enrolled in the AST 2001 World Championships, made a plan, and begun a quest that would spark a passion in me so intense I would equate it to a forest fire.

The Birth of Healthy Bodies Fitness

            After the challenge was complete, I bought a struggling little gym in town, moved it to a better location and cut my hours down to part time so I could work my new business.  I dedicated all of 2002 to my new business, and body building.  I learned all I could about nutrition, weight training, and operating a small business.  I was passing my newly acquired knowledge to my clients, but more importantly I was applying all that I learned every day.  I quickly learned that body building was not about standing on stage and showing off.  It was about the journey.  It was about what you learned, experienced, and became as a person as you were living your passion.  It was time to experience this growth first hand and in December, I decided to do a show.  I would use the same tools I used for the AST 2001 Championships.  However, I would use the knowledge I gained from the AST Challenge to exceed what I had accomplished.  I created a nutrition and training schedule along with a plan that was so easy to understand, a monkey could do it.  I spent a good month calculating what food I would eat, when I would eat it, when I would train, when I would do my cardio, I planned out every detail.  Almost as soon as the calendar turned from 2002 to 2003, so I turned from fitness enthusiast to intense, competitive body builder preparing for his first show.

My First Competition

            The next five months would be tough.  Very early in my preparation my son was born prematurely.  Now I had to try to balance a very busy small business, semi full time job, preparing for my show, and now I had the demands of a family.  My time was hard pressed and I was struggling to maintain balance.  As the months passed, my physique was getting lean and hard and that motivated me to not give up, but the mind games starting creeping in and the energy levels started to drop.  I was not sure I could do it.  It was difficult to say the least, but I put the blinders on, executed my plan day in and day out, and with the help of my wife, my family, my clients, and my coaches I made it.

            I stood on stage on June 8^th 2003 and I was not nervous.  I was at peace, almost like I was at home.  I was prepared and there was nothing to be nervous about.  That day will stand out in my mind almost as vividly as the day my son was born.  My competitors and their families were literally shocked at the condition I was in.  My coaches had taught me well and I won the overall for the Novice Division for the ABA/INBA Northern Nevada Natural Body Building Championships.  I had beaten body builders who outweighed me by quite a bit.  I remember literally crying tears of joy as I was walking back to the hotel after prejudging.

The competition Saga Continues

2003 was tough and I had not planned to compete again in 2004, but now I was addicted and I wanted that feeling again.  My business was really thriving, I was being paid for my coaching, and I quit my full time job and started working weekends at a trauma center in nearby Reno Nevada to devote more time to my business.  With some minor adjustments to my original plan I had made in 2003, I started again in February.  Preparation was quite a bit easier this time around, but the result was the same.  I showed up ultra ripped and shocked a lot of people.  This time though the addiction had really set in and I did two shows in stead of one. 

            After 5 months of preparation, I traveled to Sacramento California to compete in the 2004 ABA/INBA Western USA Natural Body Building Championships.  I had to compete in the “open” division because I had won the overall the novice division the year before.  It was just as before, I was ultra shredded, competitors and spectators made comments about my incredible condition, and again, I won my class, the middle class, and went on to compete for the overall.  I could literally feel the overall title in my hand, but the winner of the tall class was almost as ripped as I was, but he had about 50lbs more muscle.  I really can’t blame the judges for choosing him as the champ.  The experience was incredible just the same though.