Decent: Body transformation achieved in six months leads to two bodybuilding titles for Naperville man

It’s the stuff movies are made of. Dad devotes six months of his life to changing his lifestyle and goes on to win the first bodybuilding competition he enters.

Fitness instructor Reo Ross did just that, setting quite an example for the clients and members he sees at Lifetime Fitness in Burr Ridge.

Last October the 34-year-old Naperville man weighed 248 pounds. By the time he competed April 13 in the NPC Amateur Bodybuilding Championship, he was down 59 pounds.

But it’s not just about losing weight. Although he couldn’t compete in the classic physique competition unless he was under 232 pounds, he still needed to build muscle and learn how to hold poses, which are much more difficult than they look. In the end, he took first place in the Classic Physique Open Class C and second in Classic Physique Novice.

“As a fitness trainer, I was already watching what I was eating and drinking. It just became more advanced and I got a coach,” Ross said. “I upped the intensity of my workouts. … I changed my diet, and everything was calculated for the size I was and how I wanted to look.”

Initially, Ross cut his calories down from about 2,600 a day to 2,000. In the last 10 weeks before the competition, they dropped to 1,500.

“I only ate ground turkey, brown rice, sweet potatoes, green veggies, oatmeal and eventually added peanut butter. I’d eat five to six times a day,” he said. “I wasn’t hungry because protein prevents you from wanting to snack. With a coach to help, it didn’t feel scary.”

He trained two to three hours a day, six days a week. His pool workouts didn’t involve swimming but weightlifting.

“I used dumbbells in the water, hard plastic ones with vents in them,” he said. “It’s very tough in the water. You have to do it fast to move them.”

Ross admits he was a little skeptical when he started but as a fitness instructor himself, he believes if you stick to a plan you can achieve any goal. He took progress photos every week.

“It was crazy to see yourself change,” he said. “You don’t recognize yourself. It still blows my mind I achieved as much as I did.”

With a personal cheering squad of 40 people, Ross said he felt like a superhero at the competition, which took place in Merrionette Park, near his hometown of Blue Island. There wasn’t much a fitness culture when he lived there as a kid although he did play high school basketball, he said.

When you’re learning how to compete in bodybuilding, you begin with something called a relaxed pose, which isn’t relaxed at all, Ross said.

“You have to contract every muscle and turn round taking quarter turns,” he said. “Then you do your favorite classic pose. You have to hold each pose for three to four seconds, which is difficult because you have to breathe through an open smiling mouth while taking short breaths expanding your diaphragm but not your belly.

“In the finals I had to hold a 60-second individual pose in the classic physique section, which I designed myself. I did have a feeling I would win.”

Spurred on by his initial success, Ross hopes to move on to an amateur national qualifier. Once last weekend’s judges send feedback on what he needs to work on, he’ll start preparing.

“If I could ever turn pro, that would be fantastic,” he said. “I have the itch to compete again.”

Ross also is starting his own bodybuilding team, although not all clients dream to take things to the level he’s pursuing. He says this about people looking to improve their fitness.

“All ages can get fitter. I’ve worked with people over 70,” he said. “The hardest thing is to leave the house. … I ask people to think of an event they want to get fit for, like a vacation. Putting (something) into weeks is more (achievable) than talking about something months out. It puts a fire under you. Having a goal is huge.”

Hilary Decent is a freelance journalist who moved to Naperville from England in 2007. She can be reached at hilarydecent@gmail.com.