09/15/2026
My Lifelong Journey with Bodybuilding and MS
It all started when I was 13 years old. Someone handed me a box of bodybuilding magazines, and the moment I saw pictures of Arnold and Frank Zane, I knew right then and there I wanted to become a bodybuilder.
That spark turned into action. I stepped on stage for my first competition when I was 17, and by the time I was 25, I had won the AAU Mr. Pennsylvania, Mr. Physique USA, and Mr. North America titles.
Then, things started to change. I began experiencing issues with my balance. I looked up my symptoms online and told my training partner, "I think I might have that condition called multiple sclerosis." He laughed it off and said, "You don't have MS, Paul, you just squatted 500 pounds." I looked right back at him and said, "Yeah, but I did it on a Smith machine, which didn't require me to balance."
In 1997, the doctor confirmed it: multiple sclerosis. At first, it hit hard, and I fell into a depression because it felt like a death sentence. But when I went back to the gyms, I realized something else—how completely inaccessible they were for someone in a wheelchair. So, I decided to change that. I opened Accessible Fitness in 2001, a gym built from the ground up to be fully wheelchair accessible.
In 2006, wanting to show what's possible for people with physical challenges, I decided to step back on stage. My son convinced me to do it—he was just 5 years old at the time. Having him walk out on stage with me to hand me my trophy, and then watching him flex for the cameras right beside me, is a memory that beats winning any show I was ever in.
