05/10/2026
NY Pro-Am Part 1: The Results And The Moment I Realized I Loved This Sport!
Novice class : 1st place
Novice overall : 2nd place (lost to a great competitor and the guy who won the open)
Open overall: 3rd place (this one stung)
First thing I want to say is I don’t believe in that you vs you narrative . When I compete , I’m there to win and that requires beating the people standing next to me. And I hate losing more than I like winning. You can watch the video of me winning the novice class, after I found out I won, all I could think about was the open and where I was gonna place.
During the open posedown, I got moved into the middle almost immediately. From there, we went through round after round , pose after pose. In that moment, I realized how much I truly love this sport. That battle made every sacrifice worth it: the hunger, the cardio, the self-doubt, all of it.
I held that spot until the final few seconds, when I got moved over to the right. At the time, I genuinely believed I was battling for first and ended up taking second. The judges saw it differently, and that’s completely okay. The guys up there with me were incredible athletes, and I have nothing but respect for them.
Now a lot of people will view this mindset as negative , but it’s not . 3rd place is honestly better for me, because it fired me up. I would have been complacent with 2nd and complacency is where greatness dies. I’m proud of myself , truly, this was my first time ever competing but I’ll tell you I’m not even a little satisfied. Bet your ass every meal I eat, every rep I do, every second of cardio I do, I’ll be thinking of that pose down. And ensure the next time I’m in that situation, I’ll leave no doubt that my physique is the best on that stage.