The story of an aspiring professional body builder

Jul 11, 2021 Features / Columnists, News

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Facing challenges head-on to achieve his goals….

“The key is discipline; you can never let negative comments affect you…. Don’t quit because of what other people think because nothing worth having is ever easy to get. The results are slow but once you continue you will get there.”

By Romario Blair

Kaieteur News – Setting goals can really add to the meaning and purpose of our lives since it often puts us in control of the directions we wish to take. While it is important that we set goals, it is equally important that we at least attempt them, despite the challenges that may come our way; after all, a small goal could eventually lead to success.

Inspired by the foregoing, Alexander Correia is currently in the process of building an outstanding career as a professional body builder. At just 19 years old, he recently won the Novice Body Building Competition for contestants under 143 pounds. But a few years ago, Correia’s goal was merely to gain some muscles so that he could avoid being called ‘the skinny kid in school.’
Dealing with migration
Correia spent most of his life in Venezuela but came to Guyana in 2016; a move, which, he said, took quite some adjusting to. He, during a recent interview revealed that while his nationality is Venezuelan, the English Language came very easily to him, as his father is Guyanese by birth. He said, “I grew up in an English-speaking home, though my mother was Venezuelan, so I learnt English at home and I learnt Spanish in school and out of school in the community.”
Though fairly versed in the English Language, he said that his family’s migration to Guyana was not as easy as he had anticipated. “We really came to Guyana to visit on vacation but then my aunt told my mother that we should stay and so eventually we did,” he recalled.
When asked how moving had affected him, he related, “I was sad, because I missed all my friends from school… We left everything we had there and started over.” He recalled too, “When I came here, I was judged a bit because persons had their own opinions about migrants. I was not familiar with the culture, and the language barrier was the biggest challenge. I still struggled to phrase appropriately to convey my thoughts.”
Goals driven by humiliation
As mentioned earlier, Alexander was passionate about gaining weight. In fact, from around the age of 13 he became practically obsessed with gaining body mass.

This obsession, he explained, surrounded the fact that he was often humiliated and bullied for being too skinny. “When I was in Venezuela, I wanted to start the gym because I was too small… I was picked on in school for being too skinny. Luckily, I came over here, and the bullying wasn’t as much as it was in Venezuela, but I still wanted to join the gym,” he noted.
Unfortunately, for Correia, joining the gym would not be as simple as he had thought. As he explained the challenges, he said, “When I came here and I saw a gym close to home, I told my parents I wanted to start there because it was close… when I asked my parents though, they hesitated because I was 14 or 15 then, and they were scared that all the working out would stunt my growth; so, I still didn’t get to attend the gym.”
Starting the gym
In the year 2018, at age 16, Alexander was finally able to join the N & L Fitness Gym, which is located in the Charity Scheme, a mere few minutes away from his home. But as he perused his goal, immediately there were some challenges, since he was also preparing for the CSEC exams at the time. “Sometimes I would come to the gym after writing exam and I would be mentally tired; it would be hard sometimes because I would want to sleep, but everything was driven by the bad comments and so that’s what kept me going,” he admitted.

His first goal, he recalled, was to get some muscles. When asked if it came easily? He replied, “I started seeing results three to four months after joining the gym, and the results were really small results.”
But this did not sway his dedication to the cause. “At this point,” he said, “my motivation was deepened even more than before, because the results were there… I didn’t want to stop.”
The relapse
In 2020, in pursuit of an associate degree in Exploration and Geology, Alexander enrolled at the University of Guyana. Unfortunately, this meant that he would have less time for his gym life. As he chronicled his relapse, he said, “I stopped going to the gym, because I couldn’t find the balance. I used to stay by myself on the West Coast of Demerara, so I had to cook, manage myself, study, and I had classes at 8am. So, because I used to live on the West Coast it was one hour of travelling…I had to leave home at 7am.”
He added, “Sometimes I would come home late and I didn’t have time to cook and so I would miss meals…so I decided to stop gym. If I had continued working out and missing meals, it would have been bad for my body.”
Gyming again
When the pandemic touched Guyana’s shores in 2020, Alexander got the break he was waiting for. With the university programmes now online, he was back home with a fresh schedule to work with. “When I came back home, I decided to continue going to the gym. By then I had a major relapse, and it was kind of discouraging, but I liked the gym and I decided that wouldn’t stop me. So, I trained and trained until I was back on track.”
According to Correia, he learnt about the Novice Body Building Competition in 2020. With little to no training, he was unable to participate that year. Fortunately, his trainer, Lyndon Kennedy, played an instrumental role in landing him a spot in the competition this year.
“My trainer, he told me about the competition…he was my biggest supporter at the time…we invested five months into training. Since the competition is a body building competition, it focuses on bodybuilding and the judges look at how well we can display our body… it’s all about display, so there were several poses that I had to learn. Luckily my trainer thought me all the exercises and forms because he was even in the competition at one point,” Alexander added.
Balancing goals
Balancing our goals can no doubt be tricky. For Alexander, balancing his studies and his goal of becoming a professional body builder has been quite challenging. He is confident though, that with determination, he will succeed one small goal at a time.
He said, “Presently I’m at the beginning stage of becoming a professional body builder. The Intermediate Competition will he held sometime this year, and I am looking forward to the next competition, because topping that will be my next goal towards becoming a professional body builder.”
As he commented on his academic goals, he said, “Once I complete my current programme at UG, I’m looking forward to becoming a mineralogist, mining engineer, petroleum engineer or geo-technical engineer.”
But his gym life will always be an important part of his existence. When asked what it takes to be successful in this regard, Correia quipped, “It depends on what you’re after, some persons want to gain weight, and some want to lose weight.” He pointed out, however, that “the key is discipline; you can never let negative comments affect you…. Don’t quit because of what other people think because nothing worth having is ever easy to get. The results are slow but once you continue you will get there.”
He advised too that “consistency is key, with the diet as well… You can’t let comments stop you, persons will always criticise but you need to be mentally focused and disciplined.”

 

 

 

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