Soldier Muscles His Way to National Competition
Army News Service | Esther Garcia | June 08, 2006
Ft. Sam Houston, TX. - Staff Sgt. Lawrence Marshall has always been interested in bodybuilding. He started lifting weights using bottles of bleach when he was 8 or 9 years old. Getting bigger, he thought, was a good way to ward off the bullies in his Chicago neighborhood.
Marshall turned his interest into victory last month, placing fourth out of 120 competitors in the Ronnie Coleman Bodybuilding Competition in Dallas.
?My goal is to become a professional bodybuilder,? said Marshall, adding that he hopes the Army will sponsor him in future competitions.
Marshall entered his first bodybuilding competition while stationed in Wurzbach, Germany. He had only three weeks to prepare, but took second place in his weight class.
Today he shares his passion for bodybuilding as a certified personal trainer for the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He stays in shape by eating six small meals Monday through Saturday with a ?cheat day? on Sunday.
?I eat everything baked or broiled. I eat nothing fried. My main meals are fish, chicken and turkey,? said Marshall.
Bodybuilding isn?t so much about getting bulky as eating healthier, he said. ?I teach my female clients that it?s about eating healthy and not about getting bulky.
?You are what you eat, so I try to always eat healthy,? Marshall said, but admitted, ?it was hard to go from eating cornbread and ?chitlins? to baked and broiled chicken and fish. My weakness is cheesecake. If you want to break my diet give me cheesecake.?
Marshall said the key to success is motivation. ?You can read a lot of books on diet, but the main thing is to stay motivated, stick with it and you will see long-term effects,? he said.
He attributes his own success to a combination of motivation and desire to help others. ?I want to inspire people to get into fitness, to work out and eat right,? he said.
Marshall is an instructor at the Anatomy and Physiology Branch of the Army Medical Department Center and School, and is assigned to D Company, 187th Medical Battalion.
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Copyright 2006 Army News Service. All opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.