Joining us today is Micah Buck. Congrats on a great showing at the NPC Colorado State Championships! What made you decide to compete in the Men’s Physique Division?
I came from a body building background with the ABA and throughout my service in the United States Marine Corps. Going into the Men’s Physique Division was a better choice for me than to do continue with the body building into the NPC. I have a multiple people, coaches, trainers, and fellow competitors tell me to try the Men’s Physique Division. They said that I have a very marketable look and would really look great in the Men’s Physique Division. So once I was Honorably Discharged from the United States Marine Corps in June of 2011, I decided to do a competition here in Colorado. The NPC Northern Colorado Championships was my first NPC Men’s Physique Division competition.
Can you tell us a little about the show in which you just competed?
The competition was tough. Lots of great guys with some really killer physiques, everyone was bringing their “A” game to this competition. The NPC Colorado State Championships is a huge show and always brings some of the toughest of the season in my opinion. Every competitor wants to claim that title of “Mr. Colorado” luckily enough I was able to step on stage and claim that title. This competition was actually personal for me. I had a few of my Marine buddies recently pay the ultimate price while serving in combat operations in Afghanistan. So I was definitely going to do all I could to take the title.
How did you feel after pre-judging?
After pre-judging I was honestly kind of relieved due to the fact of being first call outs and center in my call outs in both of my classes of the Division. I knew I had to keep it all tight though especially if I wanted to take the overall in the night show and finals. Had to stick with my proper amount of carbs, protein, and fats to make sure I didn’t flatten out or bloat. Overall feeling was great. I did what I came to do and I gave it my best. The rest was in the hands of the judges.
How did you feel about the final results of the show?
I felt great; I took first place in Novice C class and 1st place in my Open D class. After that it was against the other overall winners, and there I took 1st place and being the 100% Overall Champion and Mr. Colorado. I couldn’t felt any better. I came bringing my best and competed with some of the best in the state of Colorado. I honored my brothers and am honored to be Mr. Colorado.
What are your thoughts on the Men's Physique Division and what it may be able to do for your career?
The Men’s Physique Division is still young and is still growing. The image that I see is that of guys like Steve Cook, Greg Plitt, Obi Obadike, guys that are positive, encouraging to those around saying that anything is possible when you set your mind, heart, soul, and body to it and you will have action. It’s that “beach body” type of look but still having to train like a body builder and diet like one also to achieve that level of fitness and understanding.
Age:
23
Hometown:
Fort Collins, Colorado
Current city:
Fort Collins, Colorado
Years training:
7 years including my Marine Corps time.
Education:
ISSA Certified Fitness Trainer, ISSA Specialist in Sports Nutrition, ISSA ISSA Specialist in Exercise Therapy, ISSA Youth Fitness Trainer, ISSA Specialist in Senior Fitness, ISSA Specialist in Strength and Conditioning. Semper Fit Fitness and Core Strengthening Specialist as well. I am currently pursuing my degree for Exercise Physiology.
Occupation:
I am a Full Time Student, Full Time Master Personal Trainer and I’m the Owner/Founder of D2R Fitness “Dreams To Reality” it is a personal training and nutrition company, specializing in competition dieting and preparations. Making your “Dreams Become Your Reality”
Favorite type of training:
I like doing Strength and Power with Splitting it with High Volume Training.
Favorite body part to train:
Honestly I love training Legs, kind of weird I know but without great “wheels” (legs) you can’t make your upper body grow to the full potential of your genetic frame. Let alone no guy wants to have pencils for legs and be top heavy, just not aesthetically pleasing to the eyes.
Favorite exercise:
Super Deep Squats, and Close Grip Bench Press. Love that feeling of complete muscle fiber activation.
Rep range:
10-15
Number of sets:
4-5-8 depending on what I’m training.
Typical workout duration:
My workout times really depends on what body part or muscle group I’m training that day. Some days I’ll hit a really fast and High Volume workout being only 1 hour long and others I will take a bit more time and hit a similar kind of workout High Volume and Power that will take 4 hours sometimes.
Training split:
My Training split isn’t like any others at all. I don’t do the typical Chest & Tris, Back & Bis, Shoulders & traps then Legs type of routine. Some weeks I’ll do Strict muscle group isolations, like Chest one day, Legs, Back, Arms, then Legs again and then Shoulders. I hardly ever do any Cardio because of how much I practice perfect form and breath control. Matter a fact for the Mr. Colorado Competition I didn’t do a single day of cardio and was told my Conditioning was the best of stage for the Men’s Physique look.
Typical daily eating plan:
Due to my extreme ectomorph body type I can literally eat just about whatever I want for dieting. I do “If It Fits Your Macros” diet, in other words I have a set amount of “macros” – macronutrients - I have to hit in one day and that’s all I do I count my grams of Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats, and Calories. For instance my maintaining diet to keep current weight is 10,000+ calories with, 1400+ grams of carbohydrates, 124 grams of Fats, 390 grams of Protein. I just count my macronutrients each day
Favorite supplement:
Muscle Juice 2600 by Ultimate Nutrition.
BLOX – Green Apple by BPI
Hemavol – iForce Nutrition (best pump from a pre workout I’ve ever experienced)
What peaked your interest in training?
What really peaked my interest was the fact that I could achieve so much by simply just bettering my body to achieve my goals. I guess really it was when I started wrestling back when I was in grade school. I saw a change in my body after lifting for a few months and then just wanted to know what else I could do.
Who influences/influenced your training?
My main influences in my Father, my trainer and coach from the Marine Corps; TJ; she is this small 5 foot 3 inch 61 year old Asian lady that loves the Marines and helping Marines achieve greatness. She is a Judge for the ABA – Amateur Natural Body Building Association and the PNBA – Professional Natural Body Building Association with over 30 overall titles and wins. She is really the one that really got me started into training and competing. A lot of my workouts come from the Golden Age of Body Building, from guys like Frank Zane, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbo, Steve Reeves, Danny Padilla, Mike Katz, Dave Draper. All of these guys were a huge inspiration to me and the way of training and the mental approach they had. 110% all the time giving it your all no matter what.
Sports:
Wrestling, Spartan Races, Ultimate Frisbee, Fly Fishing, Hunting, Volleyball, Body Building.
Special interests:
I absolutely love MUSIC. I cannot workout or train without my beats. I really use my music to push even more through my workouts when it gets rough. Living a fit and healthy life really is a big thing for me. Always being positive and living life to the fullest is a HUGE “special interest” for me.
Physique, fitness, bodybuilding competition history:
Coming from a Bodybuilding background in the Marine Corps and then Fitness Modeling to the ABA and now NPC Men’s Physique Division. Most recently is the main ones since they have made a bigger difference in my life. NPC Northern Colorado Championships – 4th Place then NPC Colorado State Championships – 1st Place and Men’s Physique Champion, taking the Mr. Colorado Title.
Awards and/or accomplishments:
Earning the Title of United States Marine
Master Personal Trainer
4300+ Hours training clients in less than 1 year
Mr. Colorado Title
Next planned competition:
NPC Nationals in November in Atlanta, Georgia
What keeps you on track towards reaching your goals?
The fact that I have yet to achieve my full potential in this life and support I get from my family, friends, and how some people said that I would never make anything of myself.
Interesting fact or something you would like our readers to know about you:
I am 100% ALL NATURAL ATHLETE , I have never taking any kind of steroid or hormone boosting substance in my life and plan on being drug free forever. I have sustained multiple injuries and being declared by military and VA doctors to be 80% disabled. My ankles, knees and hips have slipping tendons and ligaments. MCL and ACL slipping through my ankles to my knees and hips, torn meniscuses in both of my knees, my lower back; L4, L5, S1 are fused together to the left side of my hip causing severe pain and make me have to wear a 7mm to 9mm lift in my left shoe to balance out. My middle back T10 and T11 are messed up and fused that causes shortness of breath most times. Both shoulders and Scapula’s have permanent damage that causes nerve damaged and numbness if I have my arms above my head for too long, even lying on my side causes numbness. My elbows and wrists have tendons that constantly slip out of place and I have to pop them back into place to be able to continue on. I have nerve damage on the left side of my face from shingles. PTSD from my deployment, my vision is worse from sand being scratched against my eyes and it being blown up in my face; my hearing is worsened do to explosions and being around aircraft engines during my career in the MARINES. My hands have arthritis and I can’t close my fingers straight together due to blown out knuckles and tendons in the wrong places. Do I blame them for all of this that happened no, not at all, I am completely thankful for the fact that I am still here and moving and living my life and my dream every single day. I was proud to serve and still am proud that I did. I will never forget or regret that. My motivation comes from individuals that push, the ones that want it so bad that you are winning to push past the body and commit the mind to push the body further than ever before to achieve what you absolutely want without a doubt. That is my motivation. To push harder and harder every day, just to see a change just to see progress no matter how small or large but progress itself and to be the professional. To be great and be powerful beyond measure, to be successful that you want it so bad that you are willing to push past exhaustion to achieve your goal that is it for me. For me to just help all around me no matter the cost to myself but to see the progress in that that is what makes me push on and become better. People like this are my motivation.
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/micah.buck
www.facebook.com/d2rfitness
Contact Information:
Micah F. Buck
D2R Fitness
Owner/Master Trainer
d2rfitness@ gmail.com
Subscribe to RxMuscle on Youtube