Introduction into bodybuilding: When I was young, I always liked contact sports like boxing and kickboxing. When I was 16 or 17, I started amateur boxing, but I was skinny. My trainer told me to start lifting to put on weight and build up my arms, because you get hit on the arms a lot and it helps if they are bigger.

I started training and, as it would turn out, I have good genetics for bodybuilding. My arms started growing like crazy, and all I was doing was chinups, pushups and dips. People started asking me if I was training for bodybuilding, but I said, "No, I'm just boxing." They would say, "Wow! Your arms are huge for your body!" So then I started lifting weights, and I bought some books and magazines to learn about training and dieting. I began to really like it and, after six months, I entered and won my first show. Now I love it. I'm so happy to be a bodybuilder!

Role Model: Shawn Ray was the guy I most wanted to be like. He's not too big; but he's not too small; he's just perfect. Plus, I like his attitude. He would always smile, he's well-spoken and he was also a great poser. So when I first started bodybuilding, I said to myself, I want to be like him.

Now my role model is Milos Sarcev. he is my trainer and my friend. He is like a big brother to me and he's taught me so much, not just about training and dieting, but how to enjoy bodybuilding. He's taught me to enjoy bodybuilding no matter what the result of a contest. I am just so happy to be competing and doing what I love, and he is the same way. He's a real inspiration to me, and I feel fortunate to know him and his family.

First Gym: Iron Gym. It was really an old fashioned gym. There were no machines, just free weights, and the barbells were bent. When you'd drop the dumbbells, they sound like they were going to fall apart. But everyone there trained heavy. They weren't worried about symmetry or shape, just getting big and strong.

Current Gym: Powerhouse in San Juan mostly, but also a smaller gym on occasion. Powerhouse is a good gym, and they have a good combination of free weights and machines. I mostly use free weights, but I do like some of the machines, too, like the Hammer Strength and Cybex machines.

Favorite Bodypart to train: I love training every bodypart, but my favorite is hamstrings. It's such a beautiful muscle, especially when you're doing a side-chest or side-triceps pose. So I really enjoy training them. People think I'm crazy, but I do five or six different hamstring exercises, from squats to deadlifts, to walking lunges. I do all thse things while concentrating on my hamstrings in addition to different kinds of leg curls. Sometimes I spend and a half training them.

Proudest Achievement: My nephew, Charlie, has Down syndrome. I wanted to take him down to the gym and show him how to train. Everyone at the gym said to me, "Why are you even trying?" They didn't think he could do anything.

Sometimes I couldn't communicate to him with words, but I'd show him how to do things by example: breathing, form, contracting, up and down. then he really started to like it, and he's gotten really good at it. He uses great form and everything. It makes me feel so good to see how happy it makes him! I love him very much, and he's my number one fan - he has all the magazines I've ever been in.

Toughest thing aobut being a bodybuilder: Being noticed and judged all the time. When you're a baseball player, unless you're really famous, nobody notices you. You don't stand out. As a bodybuilder, you are so much bigger than everyone that you stand out. Wherever you go - to the bank or to the supermarket - people notice you. Some people tell you how good you look, but other people start talking about steroids.

It bothered me when my son came home from school and said, "Papa, a bunch of boys from school said the only reason you got big is because of steroids." So I said to him, "Well, what do you think? And he said, "Well, you eat six or seven times a day and you train so hard every day and you take a lot of protein." It bothers me when people tell my son that they don't respect what his father does. They respect baseball players, but bodybuilding is harder than baseball. Baseball is about having a talent and playing a game. But with bodybuilding you have to train and diet and get enough sleep and take supplements and do cardio. Bodybuilding is not just a sport - it's a lifestyle. You have to live it all the time.

Best thing about being a bodybuilder: The people that you meet as a bodybuilder and the mutual respect bodybuilders have for each other. Everyone is so supportive within the community; it's a great feeling.

Philosophy: Bodybuilding is a lifestyle. It's not a contest. I want to be a professional bodybuilder all my life, to live this way all my life.

Goals: I want to be the best bodybuilder I can be, not to win contests, but for me. It would be great to be Mr. Olympia, but I can't say "I'm going to win" or "I'm going to be in the top five." you never know what the judges think. I want to show everyone how good I can be. I just want to always get better and show everyone how good I can be. I don't want to get bigger, just always getting better.