Peter Fitschen - Journey To My 2014 Natural Pro Debut
My name is Peter Fitschen and I recently won my NGA Pro Card by winning the overall at the 2012 NGA Titan Classic. I have created this journal to document the next 2 years which will end with my natural pro debut in 2014.
I'm going to start off with a little background on myself. I started lifting weights in 2002 at the age of 16. I was a 125lb skinny kid who was too small and weak to be very good at high school sports. After about 1yr of training, I was up to ~150lbs. Here is a pic I found from the summer of 2003 when I was ~150lbs:
[img]http://imagecdn.bodybuilding.com/img/16473/progresspic/39649orig.jpg[/img]
I got up to 170lbs by the end of 2003 and began dieting for my first contest:
[img]http://imagecdn.bodybuilding.com/img/16473/progresspic/1591orig.jpg[/img]
I competed in my first contest, the NANBF 10,000 Lakes in April of 2004 where I took 2nd (out of 2) in teen and 4th (out of 5) in novice so I basically got beat by everyone, which is no surprise since I competed at around 145lbs.
[img]http://imagecdn.bodybuilding.com/img/16473/progresspic/1592orig.jpg[/img]
After the contest, I asked the judges what I needed to do to improve so that I wouldn't take dead last the next time I competed and they said to put on size. Being an 18yr old naiive kid, I took this literally and spent the next 2 years getting as big as possible. By April of 2006 I was up to a fat 210lbs:
[img]http://imagecdn.bodybuilding.com/img/16473/progresspic/1597orig.jpg[/img]
At this point I started prepping for my next contests. I hired Layne Norton, who was just an ameture bodybuilder starting his PhD at the time, to do my prep. He kicked my ass and got me in shape for my 2 contests. In September 2006, I competed in the NANBF Eagle's Wings bodybuilding contest. I took 1st in my novice class, 2nd in my open class, and won best poser. 3 weeks later I competed in the 2006 NANBF Best of the Midwest and took 2nd out of 8 in my open class. Here is a pic from a 2006 contest:
[img]http://imagecdn.bodybuilding.com/img/16473/progresspic/1603orig.jpg[/img]
After the 2006 contest season, I realized that I could actaully do well in this sport. I set my sights on my first pro qualifier in 2008. I kept my weight more in check in the offseason and topped out at 190lbs in November of 2007:
[img]http://imagecdn.bodybuilding.com/img/user_images/16473/progresspic/425502orig.jpg[/img]