Many of us look at our favorite athletes from the outside and have the tendency to believe that they’re just incredibly blessed with genetic gifts that the rest of us quite simply don’t have, which is true. However, what we don’t see is the blood, sweat, and sacrifice they make on a day-to-day basis that allows them to reach heights that mere mortals can only dream of.
In the case of NPC bodybuilder Abdul Gibbs, his pursuits in the sport have spanned over a decade, and now he approaches the biggest show of his life to date in the NPC Team Universe. Gibbs hopes that all his years of consistent effort will pay off in the form of an IFBB Pro Card. Abdul and I recently had a chance to talk and discuss life, bodybuilding, and what it takes to pursue greatness and you can find all of the details right here, in this Rx Muscle exclusive interview.
Q.) I want to start by talking about life before bodybuilding. Growing up in South Carolina, hard work became a part of your DNA at an early age. Do you think establishing a strong work ethic early on helped lay the foundation for what you would later need to be successful in bodybuilding?
A.) Oh yeah, without a doubt. To be honest, I didn’t know much about bodybuilding growing up. Just like every other kid, I was aware of who Arnold was, but that was about the extent of my bodybuilding knowledge. I grew up doing physical work around the house. Things like splitting wood, helping with the chores, and playing sports kept my mind and my body constantly active.
Q.) Would you say that you had a muscular physique before you ev
er began training?
A.) I can say that I was blessed with good genetics, and before bodybuilding was ever on my radar I was fortunate to have big arms, big legs, and round muscle bellies. I played both football and basketball throughout my youth and I believe that really played a big role in my leg development because they’ve always been very muscular.
Q.) What made you decide to begin weight training?
A.) You know what? That’s a funny story. I moved from South Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia around the time I was twenty-one. I decided that I needed a change in my life, so I went off to explore some business opportunities. I started dating a girl in Atlanta that was absolutely gorgeous and one night we decided we were going to go out to the club for the evening.
At some point during the night I had to use the bathroom, and she waited for me outside, but when I came out I saw her surrounded by a group of guys who were all trying to put the moves on her. I stepped in the middle of the group and put my arm around her, and they just blew me off until someone asked “Oh, are you with him?”
Right there, in that moment, I said to myself “If I were just a little bit bigger this would’ve never happened”. So the very next day I went to the gym in my apartment complex and got to work. I actually built some pretty impressive triceps there, but I outgrew it pretty quickly. That’s when I went out and joined my first gym.
Q.) When did you first discover the competitive side of the sport?
A.) After I joined the gym I realized that I really didn’t know too much about proper training or nutrition, so I decided to hire a trainer because I wanted to make a serious commitment to achieving my fitness goals. As I began to put in the necessary amount of work and make the correct changes to my diet to facilitate gains I started to see my body transform. Slowly but surely I was adding size and reducing my body fat to the point where I would begin to get compliments from total strangers about my physique.
One day after we had completed a training session my trainer asked me if I had ever thought about stepping onstage and competing. At the time that was a totally foreign thought to me. I never pictured myself as a bodybuilder, but he encouraged me to take the leap and told me that if I followed through with it he would too. We both dieted hard for that show and I ended up taking 3rd in my class and from that point on I was totally hooked.
Q.) At this point you’ve been competing for over a decade now. When did you shift your goals from just enjoying the competition to really making a concerted effort to earn your pro card?
A.) Initially, the competition really was all about fun for me. I enjoyed pushing myself to new heights and watching my body transform, but I didn’t set my sights on becoming a pro until relatively recently. I had always been told at every show I entered that I had a ton of potential, but I always just passed it off. It wasn’t until 2010 when I won my class for the first time at the Music City Classic – Brandon Curry’s show – that I even entertained the thought that it was possible.
I decided that in order for me to do what it took to bring my physique to the next level that I would need to take some time off to grow and refine my look. I stepped back onstage in 2013 where I won the overall at the Florida Cup, and since then I’ve been focusing all of my efforts in the gym to bringing the best possible package I can to the stage with the hope of walking onstage as an amateur for the last time.
Q.) How has the sport helped you in your career as a trainer?
A.) Knowledge is power, and I learn something new every single day. I’m constantly working every day trying to not only become a better bodybuilder, but a better trainer as well. I want to model myself after some of the great trainers in the sport like Charles Glass and Lee Haney – who actually used to train me.
I learned so much from Lee about training, professionalism, and how to teach others as well. Being a trainer allows me to bottle all of that valuable information and pass it on to my clients.
Q.) What’s the most valuable lesson that bodybuilding has taught you?
A.) In a word, patience. Everything worth having is worth working hard for – muscle included. You can’t make a muscle grow overnight. It takes time. Think about rainwater flowing down the side of a mountain. From a distance it might not look like much is going on, but in all actuality that water is slowly changing that mountain through erosion.
Building muscle is along those same lines. Progress doesn’t come from a single meal or a single training session. Instead it comes from sustaining those efforts over a long period of time. If you’re not patient you’ll never reap the benefits of all that bodybuilding has to offer.
Q.) Is there anyone you’d like to thank for helping you along the way?
A.) I would like to thank all of my family, friends, and supporters who have been with me from day one. No one can be successful on their own. I would never be able to make it without them. I would like to thank my training studio, House of Pain. I have to thank the great Lee Haney and IAFS personal training for being a mentor and role model to me. And I would also like to thank JAG Fitness as well.
Q.) If someone would like to contact you for training or for sponsorship opportunities what’s the best way for them to get in contact with you?
A.) I can be reached through my personal website www.abdulgibbs.com, or I can also be reached by email at [email protected].
Bodybuilding is the ultimate sport of deposition. We deposit time, energy, money, ego, relationships, and everything else under the sun all with the hope that if we deposit enough in bodybuilding’s proverbial bank that one day we’ll finally have enough to reach our goal. We hope that if we deposit enough blood, sweat, and sacrifice that the bodybuilding gods will show favor on us and allow us into the select fraternity that only the elite of the elite have been allowed to enter. In just a few short weeks Abdul will find out if he’s deposited enough to make the leap into uncharted territory or if he’ll slide back down the mountain like rainwater. Erosion? Or deposition?
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