Bret Bradshaw

I can remember the exact point in my life in which I decided I wanted to become a bodybuilder, or rather, had to become a bodybuilder.

While watching the 1982 rendition of Conan the Barbarian for the first time, Arnold Schwarzenegger, adorned in black and white paint, takes on the bad guys in their hideout with his sword. During this scene, I had an epiphany.

I had to be just like this guy. I was 12 years old, and had never been so impressed with anything that I had witnessed up until that point, except listening to Metallica for the first time, of course, which inspired me to pick up a guitar and start down the life long path of music.

From then until now, my passion for the beauty that the human body can convey with proper training and a healthy lifestyle has not faltered. I began working out in the small apartment complex gym where I lived in San Diego, CA, as well as reading everything about bodybuilding I could get my hands on.

I remember watching Pumping Iron not long after this, which didn't help to dissuade my newly found passion to grow huge muscles.

After moving from the apartment complex a few years later and training in my garage and my high school's weight room for the duration of my high school career, I finally joined my first real gym after graduation.

World Gym in San Diego, CA had some of the biggest dudes I had ever seen, and I jumped into training with all sorts of equipment that was new and impressive to me without hesitation. Not long after, Canadian competitor Marc Nadeau took me under his wing and showed me the importance of squating and training with proper form, and I was finally introduced to the tough training that bodybuilding requires.

After moving from San Diego to Ventura for a short while, I landed in Las Vegas, NV, home to the Mr. Olympia competition, in 2002. There was nothing like seeing the various IFBB pros and top NPC competitors in my gym, as well as going to the top bodybuilding show in the world every year. In 2005, NPC competitor Joe Perroni began training me, and I began preparing for my first bodybuilding competition.

The 2006 NPC Nevada State in Reno, NV was one of the scariest things I had ever done.

I couldn't believe I was actually expected to walk out in front of a crowd full of people wearing some small pair of ridiculous posing trunks, but I did it anyway, and after winning my class, I became instantly hooked to the rush nothing but competition can provide.

Since that night in Reno, I have competed in another 8 bodybuilding contests, never placing lower than second at an NPC national qualifier, and placing in the top 10 at the NPC USA a total of three times, with my highest national level placing to date at the 2011 NPC USA after working with Shelby Starnes and John Meadows.

Bodybuilding has instilled in me a sense of direction and discipline that I apply to everything in my life, and that I seek to impart in the young individuals I work with every day at an adolescent treatment factility in Las Vegas, NV.

The key to success lies in one's passion for their chosen field, and bodybuilding encompasses a multitude of components that one can seek to develop to the fullest. Bodybuilding is an amalgamation of sport, art, and science, which is what makes so many individuals so passionate about developing their physiques and living a healthy lifestyle.

My goal is not to build a physique to garner attention from others in everyday life, but to be a living piece of art that one can appreciate for its own intrinsic value for the brief moments that I am on the bodybuilding stage.

My body is not me, just as an auto enthusiast's car is not him or her.

My body is merely the sum total of my efforts to bring to the audience something that can be appreciated seperately from who I am, and remembered for the inspiration it has hopefully given others.

A huge thanks to Leanne Avery for giving me the opportunity to be featured on Inspirational Bodies.

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