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Staff Sgt. Christopher Wescott: Building strength, character
June 23, 2011 3:03 PM
Staff Sgt. Christopher Wescott represented Clovis in the 2011 Musclemania New Mexico State Championships in May in Albuquerque. He won first place spots in the junior heavyweight, junior overall and men???s open heavyweight categories.
A staff sergeant with the 27th Special Operations Security Forces Squadron at Cannon Air Force Base, Wescott said he joined the Air Force because he wanted a career instead of living paycheck to paycheck in his aunt???s basement.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Wescott, a patrolman for the 27th Special Operations Security Forces Squadron, performs bicep curls at the Cannon Air Force Base fitness center. Wescott has been competing in bodybuilding since 2009.
USAF Photo: Airman Ericka Engblom
A native of Philadelphia, Wescott got into bodybuilding when he was 16 years old under the tutelage of his barber. Since 2009, he has competed in several bodybuilding competition winning various awards.
When did you join the Air Force? Why?
I enlisted on Dec. 11, 2006. I joined because I graduated high school with no further plans and I ended up working ???paycheck to paycheck??? while living in my aunt???s basement. Even though I was only 17 at the time, I knew that wasn???t the life I wanted to be living and if I did not do something fast, the latter would have become reality.
Tell us about your hometown
My hometown is Philadelphia.... West Philly to be exact. The populous is roughly 99.9 percent African American (lol). The houses are small, neighborhoods are dangerous; I actually got robbed a couple of times at gunpoint and they stole my sweater and cheeseburgers (yes, they stole my dinner). It definitely made me a stronger person in the long run. People complain about Clovis and the housing here but I love it when you compare it to west Philly!
How did you get involved with bodybuilding?
I got involved in bodybuilding progressively beginning when I was about 16. I wanted to get huge arms like my barber and he ended up teaching me a thing or two every day with this rusty weight set in his basement. After that, I started saving up my paychecks and eventually I invested in a weight set and flat bench. When I joined the Air Force, it seemed like everyone lifted weights to pass the time in South Korea, and I learned a lot from my peers. I really wanted to compete so I pretty much forced myself one day by going online and purchasing a plane ticket, registration and hotel for a show in Miami. I had no choice but to train for it since I just put almost 1,000 bucks into it!
What other bodybuilding awards have you won?
Musclemania Universe 2009 (4th place) ... Musclemania Universe 2010 (3rd Place) ... NPC Lackland Classic 2009 (2nd Place) *Qualified for Team Universe ... 2011 Musclemania New Mexico (1st Place x3)
Where do you train?
I train at the best facility in Clovis; Bodies in Motion. The management, Mr. Cleare and Ms. Lana, are amazing and motivating. The gym is cheap, clean and open 24 hours everyday.
What does your training regimen involve?
I truly believe in changing things up constantly. I train Monday through Friday for no longer than one hour. After weight training, I usually do 20-30 minutes of cardio and that consists of sprinting, or an uphill walk. Every week I change my repetition scheme up, so for example, week 1 I will keep my rep range somewhere between 6-7 reps. Week 2 I will raise the reps up to about 15-20 and week 3 will be 10-12 reps but I will incorporate a lot of intensity movements like drop sets, super sets and rest-pause.
Have you competed in other events?
Besides bodybuilding, the only other event I competed in was a power lifting competition at my last base (Lajes, Azores, Portugal) and I took 1st overall.
What is your main goal in competing?
My primary goal in competing is to inspire others. We live in a time where it is socially acceptable to eat fast food and consume alcohol on a daily basis. It???s crazy because people look at me like a mutant when I eat chicken and broccoli; they even tease me. I ask myself ???it is sad when people tease a person for eating healthy???? I just want to inspire others and show people this art.
Does your Air Force background affect the way you compete?
It sounds cheesy but yes, the Air Force does influence the drive that I have. Since boot camp, they instilled the core values "Integrity First, Service Before Self, Excellence In All We Do". Integrity plays a big role because when I feel like cheating I have to remember that I carry the name of my trainer on my back and even though one cheeseburger may not hurt me, I wouldn???t do that if he was looking. Excellence is another once because in order to have a good physique, you have to have a complete physique. With that being said, muscles like calves, hamstrings, rear delts and even quads can easily be overlooked, so while striving for that excellent physique, you must remember those body parts even though they suck to train.
What is the most enjoyable part of the sport?
The most enjoyable part of the sport is the pain! All the hours you put in, all the cooking, cleaning, cardio, hard-core training and dieting makes it enjoyable. What is joy without pain?! When you hear your name called out for 1st or even top 3, its a sigh of relief because of all the pain you went through.
What is the most challenging part of your sport?
Definitely the most difficult part of the sport is time management. You have to balance family, friends, work, cardio, training and even the behind the scenes stuff that people don???t realize such as cooking, cleaning, posing and college. I work 13-hour shifts and after cardio, training and all that stuff, I barely find time to sleep! I usually get about three to four hours and a 30 min cat nap before cardio.
What five songs do you listen to when you train?
The top five songs that I love to train to are
Wow! I crave cheeseburgers and Ice cream after competitions! Second to that is pizza. I never noticed that cheeseburgers were my 1st chet until last month when I drove into Sonic.
What type of junk food that can you not do without even when you train?
When I diet, I diet! I never cheat on a diet. The closest I get to cheating on a diet is having a Triscuit or a rice cake when I am not supposed to.
What do you tell yourself before you compete to motivate yourself?
When I compete I sometimes get psyched out by other competitors so I remind myself ???Just worry about Chris! Stop getting psyched out, you got a body too!
Do you carry good-luck charms?
Hands down my #1 good luck charm is my old Nike Velcro strap hat! I feel naked when I don???t train without it. When I compete, I wear the hat all around the venue. If I leave the house to go workout and I forget it, I???ll turn around and go get it; its that serious!
What advice have you heard that you follow to this day?
Best advice I ever heard is from my trainer Dewayne Malone: ???If you can believe, you can achieve"! There is NO excuse for failure, if you want to make it to the gym after a long day of work, you will not let anything stop you!
What movie can you watch over and over again?
Not sure if it counts, but ???Seinfeld???!!! I am a huuuge Seinfeld fan! I will watch every season DVD until I get to the 9th and then start over again. I have been doing this for about 3 years now.
Complete this sentence: My friends call me ...
Friends call me crazy! 13 hours of cardio a week, 20 hours of lifting and three hours of sleep a night!
Tell us about your parents:
My parents were never in my life, my dad was never there and my mother put me out when I was 16! I was my own parent and it turned me into what I am today!
In an alternative life, I would have been a...
I would have been a Dragon ... or a Unicorn! Lol
What???s your favorite TV show past and present?
TV shows hands down is ???Spongebob??? and ???Seinfeld???!
What award do you value more than others?
My achievement medal from Korea is an award that I value more than others. For most people it is guaranteed as long as you stay out of trouble, but I had a couple of small mishaps that earned me a bad performance report so I had to work 10x as hard as everyone else to get that medal. Its almost impossible to get one I you had a bad performance report so by defying the impossible I think was a great accomplishment.
What's your idea of a perfect day?
My idea of a perfect day is sitting on a beach with good friends, a football, some food and sunglasses. That???s how I spent most of my summer in Portugal last year and I wish I had it back.
What is your theme song?
My theme song is probably ???Baby Gangsta??? by Big K.R.I.T. I am NOT a gangsta, but in the song he described how a little kid had to teach himself the ropes of life, grow up too fast and he ended up turning out to be a success. It gets me all red when I hear it.
Tell us about your greatest individual accomplishment.
My greatest individual accomplishment would be making Staff Sergeant my first time. I had a really bad performance report in 2007 and it makes it a lot harder to promote. I studied day in and day out, but I was not expecting to make it. Most people can???t make it with a bad report so yeah...
When I get into my car the first thing I listen to
Is an artist named ???Miguel". I usually get in my car around a.m. so all that rap won???t do me any good. His song ???Sure Thing??? is a work of art.
After a long, hard day, I love to...
Turn the lights off and lay on my couch. The couch is a universal symbol for laziness or relaxation so I usually end up falling asleep on it.
The most unique place I???ve ever traveled is to...
The Azores. Most people don???t know about it and its not even on most globes/maps! Its a small chain of islands off the coast of Portugal and the Air Force has a small base there. It was the perfect place to be and I took that place for granted.
Who is your favorite entertainer?
My favorite entertainer is Demitri Martin. He is a funny comic and very underrated.
What is your greatest fear?
My greatest fear is failure... simple.
??? Compiled by Cannon Connections staff writer Gabriel Monte
From Building strength, character | junior, heavyweight, championships - Cannon Connections: News
Following two photos from Christopher Wescott
June 23, 2011 3:03 PM
Staff Sgt. Christopher Wescott represented Clovis in the 2011 Musclemania New Mexico State Championships in May in Albuquerque. He won first place spots in the junior heavyweight, junior overall and men???s open heavyweight categories.
A staff sergeant with the 27th Special Operations Security Forces Squadron at Cannon Air Force Base, Wescott said he joined the Air Force because he wanted a career instead of living paycheck to paycheck in his aunt???s basement.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Wescott, a patrolman for the 27th Special Operations Security Forces Squadron, performs bicep curls at the Cannon Air Force Base fitness center. Wescott has been competing in bodybuilding since 2009.
USAF Photo: Airman Ericka Engblom
A native of Philadelphia, Wescott got into bodybuilding when he was 16 years old under the tutelage of his barber. Since 2009, he has competed in several bodybuilding competition winning various awards.
When did you join the Air Force? Why?
I enlisted on Dec. 11, 2006. I joined because I graduated high school with no further plans and I ended up working ???paycheck to paycheck??? while living in my aunt???s basement. Even though I was only 17 at the time, I knew that wasn???t the life I wanted to be living and if I did not do something fast, the latter would have become reality.
Tell us about your hometown
My hometown is Philadelphia.... West Philly to be exact. The populous is roughly 99.9 percent African American (lol). The houses are small, neighborhoods are dangerous; I actually got robbed a couple of times at gunpoint and they stole my sweater and cheeseburgers (yes, they stole my dinner). It definitely made me a stronger person in the long run. People complain about Clovis and the housing here but I love it when you compare it to west Philly!
How did you get involved with bodybuilding?
I got involved in bodybuilding progressively beginning when I was about 16. I wanted to get huge arms like my barber and he ended up teaching me a thing or two every day with this rusty weight set in his basement. After that, I started saving up my paychecks and eventually I invested in a weight set and flat bench. When I joined the Air Force, it seemed like everyone lifted weights to pass the time in South Korea, and I learned a lot from my peers. I really wanted to compete so I pretty much forced myself one day by going online and purchasing a plane ticket, registration and hotel for a show in Miami. I had no choice but to train for it since I just put almost 1,000 bucks into it!
What other bodybuilding awards have you won?
Musclemania Universe 2009 (4th place) ... Musclemania Universe 2010 (3rd Place) ... NPC Lackland Classic 2009 (2nd Place) *Qualified for Team Universe ... 2011 Musclemania New Mexico (1st Place x3)
Where do you train?
I train at the best facility in Clovis; Bodies in Motion. The management, Mr. Cleare and Ms. Lana, are amazing and motivating. The gym is cheap, clean and open 24 hours everyday.
What does your training regimen involve?
I truly believe in changing things up constantly. I train Monday through Friday for no longer than one hour. After weight training, I usually do 20-30 minutes of cardio and that consists of sprinting, or an uphill walk. Every week I change my repetition scheme up, so for example, week 1 I will keep my rep range somewhere between 6-7 reps. Week 2 I will raise the reps up to about 15-20 and week 3 will be 10-12 reps but I will incorporate a lot of intensity movements like drop sets, super sets and rest-pause.
Have you competed in other events?
Besides bodybuilding, the only other event I competed in was a power lifting competition at my last base (Lajes, Azores, Portugal) and I took 1st overall.
What is your main goal in competing?
My primary goal in competing is to inspire others. We live in a time where it is socially acceptable to eat fast food and consume alcohol on a daily basis. It???s crazy because people look at me like a mutant when I eat chicken and broccoli; they even tease me. I ask myself ???it is sad when people tease a person for eating healthy???? I just want to inspire others and show people this art.
Does your Air Force background affect the way you compete?
It sounds cheesy but yes, the Air Force does influence the drive that I have. Since boot camp, they instilled the core values "Integrity First, Service Before Self, Excellence In All We Do". Integrity plays a big role because when I feel like cheating I have to remember that I carry the name of my trainer on my back and even though one cheeseburger may not hurt me, I wouldn???t do that if he was looking. Excellence is another once because in order to have a good physique, you have to have a complete physique. With that being said, muscles like calves, hamstrings, rear delts and even quads can easily be overlooked, so while striving for that excellent physique, you must remember those body parts even though they suck to train.
What is the most enjoyable part of the sport?
The most enjoyable part of the sport is the pain! All the hours you put in, all the cooking, cleaning, cardio, hard-core training and dieting makes it enjoyable. What is joy without pain?! When you hear your name called out for 1st or even top 3, its a sigh of relief because of all the pain you went through.
What is the most challenging part of your sport?
Definitely the most difficult part of the sport is time management. You have to balance family, friends, work, cardio, training and even the behind the scenes stuff that people don???t realize such as cooking, cleaning, posing and college. I work 13-hour shifts and after cardio, training and all that stuff, I barely find time to sleep! I usually get about three to four hours and a 30 min cat nap before cardio.
What five songs do you listen to when you train?
The top five songs that I love to train to are
- 50 cent ???Don???t Push Me???
- Eminem ???Til I Collapse
- Jay-Z ???Watcher 2???
- Meek Mill ??? Shine???n???
- Cassidy, Lil Wayne, Fabolous ???6 Minutes Of Death???
Wow! I crave cheeseburgers and Ice cream after competitions! Second to that is pizza. I never noticed that cheeseburgers were my 1st chet until last month when I drove into Sonic.
What type of junk food that can you not do without even when you train?
When I diet, I diet! I never cheat on a diet. The closest I get to cheating on a diet is having a Triscuit or a rice cake when I am not supposed to.
What do you tell yourself before you compete to motivate yourself?
When I compete I sometimes get psyched out by other competitors so I remind myself ???Just worry about Chris! Stop getting psyched out, you got a body too!
Do you carry good-luck charms?
Hands down my #1 good luck charm is my old Nike Velcro strap hat! I feel naked when I don???t train without it. When I compete, I wear the hat all around the venue. If I leave the house to go workout and I forget it, I???ll turn around and go get it; its that serious!
What advice have you heard that you follow to this day?
Best advice I ever heard is from my trainer Dewayne Malone: ???If you can believe, you can achieve"! There is NO excuse for failure, if you want to make it to the gym after a long day of work, you will not let anything stop you!
What movie can you watch over and over again?
Not sure if it counts, but ???Seinfeld???!!! I am a huuuge Seinfeld fan! I will watch every season DVD until I get to the 9th and then start over again. I have been doing this for about 3 years now.
Complete this sentence: My friends call me ...
Friends call me crazy! 13 hours of cardio a week, 20 hours of lifting and three hours of sleep a night!
Tell us about your parents:
My parents were never in my life, my dad was never there and my mother put me out when I was 16! I was my own parent and it turned me into what I am today!
In an alternative life, I would have been a...
I would have been a Dragon ... or a Unicorn! Lol
What???s your favorite TV show past and present?
TV shows hands down is ???Spongebob??? and ???Seinfeld???!
What award do you value more than others?
My achievement medal from Korea is an award that I value more than others. For most people it is guaranteed as long as you stay out of trouble, but I had a couple of small mishaps that earned me a bad performance report so I had to work 10x as hard as everyone else to get that medal. Its almost impossible to get one I you had a bad performance report so by defying the impossible I think was a great accomplishment.
What's your idea of a perfect day?
My idea of a perfect day is sitting on a beach with good friends, a football, some food and sunglasses. That???s how I spent most of my summer in Portugal last year and I wish I had it back.
What is your theme song?
My theme song is probably ???Baby Gangsta??? by Big K.R.I.T. I am NOT a gangsta, but in the song he described how a little kid had to teach himself the ropes of life, grow up too fast and he ended up turning out to be a success. It gets me all red when I hear it.
Tell us about your greatest individual accomplishment.
My greatest individual accomplishment would be making Staff Sergeant my first time. I had a really bad performance report in 2007 and it makes it a lot harder to promote. I studied day in and day out, but I was not expecting to make it. Most people can???t make it with a bad report so yeah...
When I get into my car the first thing I listen to
Is an artist named ???Miguel". I usually get in my car around a.m. so all that rap won???t do me any good. His song ???Sure Thing??? is a work of art.
After a long, hard day, I love to...
Turn the lights off and lay on my couch. The couch is a universal symbol for laziness or relaxation so I usually end up falling asleep on it.
The most unique place I???ve ever traveled is to...
The Azores. Most people don???t know about it and its not even on most globes/maps! Its a small chain of islands off the coast of Portugal and the Air Force has a small base there. It was the perfect place to be and I took that place for granted.
Who is your favorite entertainer?
My favorite entertainer is Demitri Martin. He is a funny comic and very underrated.
What is your greatest fear?
My greatest fear is failure... simple.
??? Compiled by Cannon Connections staff writer Gabriel Monte
From Building strength, character | junior, heavyweight, championships - Cannon Connections: News
Following two photos from Christopher Wescott
