Art Atwood Biography

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Art Atwood Biography

For those of you who are not familiar with me, I would like to take this time to give you a brief history of myself and fill you in on the stepping-stones of my career.

I was born on December 27, 1973 in a small city in Wisconsin. I grew up on competitive sports, mainly football and track. I started training with weights when I was twelve to increase my speed and power. I was very fortunate to have coaches and an older brother who were knowledgeable and committed to intense training. They were my major motivators and taught me the basics of weight training.

After senior year in high school, I focused on college and decided to put more energy into weights. At the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, I met my good friend and "nutritional mentor" Tony Frontier. He told me I had an excellent training program but my calorie intake and nutrition were too weak for the effort I was putting forth. At the same time that Tony had me eating huge quantities of food, he encouraged me to enter the Mr. Wisconsin. I entered the teen division and won the light-heavyweight and overall title, weighing 185lbs at contest time

After winning the 93’ teen Wisconsin, I didn’t compete again until 99’. During those six years: I managed fitness clubs and nutrition stores, learned all the information that I could about bodybuilding, nutrition, and supplements, and went to UWM for Exercise Kinesiology. I entered the 99’ Wisconsin to qualify for a national level show. I weighed in at 236lbs and won the super heavyweight title.

The year 2000 was an eventful one for me. I warmed up with the Mid-Illinois in Ottawa, Illinois. This was my first "big" show to have over 100 competitors. Jeff and Ann Johnson, were the promoters of this well organized and very popular show. I won the heavyweight and overall title at 237lbs. Two weeks later, I made some refinements and won the Jr. USA super heavyweight and overall title beating out heavyweight competitor, Victor Martinez. Eager to keep competing, a few months later, I gave the USA’s a shot and took seventh place. I thought I needed more size to compete at the national level, so I jacked my calories and training up and entered the Nationals at 252 lbs. A disappointing fourteenth place, convinced me to come in super hard like I did at the Jr. USA’s.

The next year, 2001, turned out to be one of the best years of my life. I entered the USA's at a ridiculously shredded 234lbs. I placed third but knew I made a couple mistakes and that I could come in fuller. I decided to compete at the Nationals only 4 months later. It was here in Atlanta where I finally earned my coveted IFBB Pro Card at a thick 244lbs.

It now was time to become a "Professional" bodybuilder. I didn't want to be another Pro BB just taking up space in a lineup. I made a decision to become the best! I wasn’t sure where to start on the pro level, so I hired contest prep guru Chad Nichols. With Chad's help and my pure determination, I decided to try my first "Pro" show that very next year. I just was curious of what would happen! Only 6 months after earning my pro card, I came in at a full, 255 shredded pounds and earned my very first IFBB Professional title, the Toronto Pro. It was a total rush to win my pro debut and beat out veterans like Markus Ruhl and Darrem Charles! After the Toronto, I made a promise to myself. I told myself that I would improve AT LEAST 10% every time I enter a show, no matter what!

Here are the current stats:

Height: 5'11"
Competitive weight: 278 - 287 lbs
Off season weight: 320 - 330 lbs
Chest: 61"
Legs: 32"
Arms: 23"
Calves: 21"
Current training style: Each muscle is trained every 5 days

Contest titles:

2006

Europa Super Show – IFBB, 5th
Montreal – IFBB, 7th

2005

Arnold Classic - IFBB, 14th
San Francisco Pro Invitational - IFBB, 10th

2004

Florida Pro Xtreme Challenge - IFBB, 5th
Hungarian Pro Invitational - IFBB, 8th
Night of Champions - IFBB, 9th
Toronto Pro Invitational - IFBB, 5th

2003

Night of Champions 7th place
Hungarian Pro 3rd place
Mr. Olympia 13th place
Russia Grand Prix 6th place
British Grand Prix 7th place
Dutch Grand Prix 8th place

2002

Toronto Pro 1st Place! (Pro Debut)
Mr. Olympia 12th place
London Grand Prix 7th place
GNC 12th Place

2001

USA 3rd place SHW
Nationals Super HeavyWeight winner (earned Pro Card)

2000

Mid-Illinois SHW 1st and overall winner
Jr. USA SHW 1st and overall winner
USA SHW 7th
Nationals SHW 14th (overlooked & missed my peak)

1999

Mr. Wisconsin SuperHeavyweight winner

1993

Teenage Mr. Wisconsin lightheavyweight and overall winner.

Several things I have learned over the past 15 years in bodybuilding:

Perfect and master the basics of weight training.
Consistently change your approach until you accomplish your goals.
To absolutely NEVER give up!

In addition to the knowledge I have gained, one of the greatest experiences from competing always seems to be the opportunity to meet some incredible and genuine people from all over the world!
Overall, I feel very blessed and fortunate to do what I enjoy the most:

train my body to the extreme, encourage others, and help people accomplish their goals.

(Below is a Q & A I did with Online Editor of Muscular Development, Dave “Jumbo” Palumbo):

DP:
What is your current job and what are you up to?
AA:
As far as job goes, I look at myself as a creator or visionary….I build things. I carefully study and seek out opportunities. Currently, I just joined forces with a supplement company that is creating a massive amount of momentum in the industry. People who really know me well, understand that I am all about innovation. I need to know and have all the cutting edge information out there on supplements, training programs and nutrition. There are too many “imitators” out there. How dull and annoying is that?! I live my life at the peak of emotion and need to be out there learning all the new technology so I can improve myself and share that information with others. I love to learn new things and always try my best to keep an open mind. If you keep your eyes opened and you look hard enough, you will eventually find the answer to all your questions!

I’m also expanding my supplement line Professional Supplements. We currently carry Pure Vitargo (www.purevitargo.com), which is a revolutionary muscle glycogen loading supplement. We have 3 more products soon to be released. They are very unique and powerful products that I could write 10 pages about, but will save it for another time!

I also own two supplement stores, consult/assist people opening new nutrition stores, and have my internet websites.

DP:
Who were your influences?
AA:
I started training with weights when I was 11-12 yrs old. My brother, Todd was an avid weight lifter and got me excited about training. He was and still is VERY supportive in my bodybuilding career. I had some really good coaches in high-school (Mequon, Wisconsin). They taught me how to really push myself and the hard-core basics of weight training.

Toney Frontier was the man who got me into BB competition. Met him in College at a bench press competition and he TOLD me that I was going to do the teenage Mr. Wisconsin and win. Tony taught me nutrition and brought me in to win the show at 185 shredded pounds. Before I met Tony, I never thought about competitive bodybuilding and he opened up my eyes and I saw opportunity.

Since Tony, I pretty much self-taught myself about the essentials of bodybuilding. I picked up many books on the sport (Arnolds Encyclopedia, Joe Weider’s Ultimate Bodybuilding to name a couple) I was so interested on how to improve my physique and wanted to KNOW everything I possibly could. For years I researched exercise, nutrition and training and how to bring out the best in myself. I ran GNC for 4 years and continued my research trying to master supplements and how they work with your body.

I first seriously thought I would eventually turn Professional in Bodybuilding when I won the SHW class and Overall at the 2000 Jr. USA Championships.

After turning pro in 2001, I sought the help of many people to learn all that I could about professional bodybuilding. Chad Nichols, George Farah, Milos Sarcev to name a few. When I would travel for bodybuilding, I picked the brains of Chris Aceto, Jay Cutler and many other top pros and gurus on the circuit.
I am a very competitive person by nature. Always looking to see if I could make a change to get to the next level. If I can improve 1/10th of a percent or just learn something new, then it will all add up in the end! I have an open mind, but I use research and science to back up what I follow through with. I don’t just take peoples advice, I need explanations and details as to why things work.
It is really exciting to travel and compete in Europe with all the other professionals. You get a unique opportunity to travel with other pro bodybuilders and see that you all are in it together. On stage it is always a battle but off-stage we are always joking with each other and having a blast! My favorite trip was in Hungary with Melvin, Dareem, Jonnie, and Kevin Horton. Melvin had us laughing so hard in a Hungarian goulash restaurant that the locals looked as us like we were nuts! Paul Dillett, Tommy Thorvildson and I are very well known to be able to throw down some mad Hungarian Ice Cream!! Think we had 50 cones between the 3 of us, no joke!

DP:
What impact you'd like to make on the sport?
AA:
Bodybuilding has given me so much in terms of accomplishment, determination, and pure discipline. Those qualities have spilled over into all aspects of my life. You really find out what you are made of in Bodybuilding. Are you a quitter or do you persevere? I want give back and contribute to the sport. I want people to remember me as one of the hardest working bodybuilders in the sport. I have good vision and drive and want to help people accomplish their dreams. It gives me great pleasure when I see people change their lives for the better and when they finally believe in themselves.

I often get this question and I am going to answer it here for all to see:

What are the biggest things that I learned in order to make rapid improvements in bodybuilding? (How can I gain large amounts of muscle MASS really fast?)

Train your body with ferocious intensity and really tap into all your muscle fibers to release their potential.
Recovery is critical to muscle growth. Post-workout nutrition/supplementation is vital! Focus on getting nutrients inside your body immediately after training and every 2 hours throughout the day.

If you want to learn fast, spend a whopping fifty bucks and learn EVERYTHING in my DVD! It will put you years ahead in muscle development. [ Order DVD here ]

I now live in sunny Dallas TEXAS and love it! If anybody wants to come and meet me, they are more than welcome to come down and visit me at my new supplement/tanning shop! Or feel free to send me an email at: artatwood@hotmail.com

Train hard, live your life to the fullest and God Bless!

Art Atwood