David Candy IFBB Pro Bodybuilder, 2007 NPC Bantamweight National Champion

My journey towards an NPC National Championship first started in 2005. I had won the Bantamweight class at the 2004 Junior Nationals, and for 2005, I decided to try my luck at Nationals. I took second place in the bantamweight class to Roland Huff. After taking second place, I realized that winning a National Championship and an IFBB Pro Card was a realistic possibility, and I trained the entire next year in hopes of accomplishing that goal. At the 2006 Nationals, I came in as a lightweight and took 3rd place but lacked the overall size and crispness to take the top spot. After the show, Roland approached me and introduced me to his trainer Jeremy Minihan. Jeremy told me that he expects a 100% total commitment with strict adherence to diet and training even in the “off season,” but that if I listened to what he had to say, he would almost guarantee me a Pro Card in 2007. I was a little hesitant at first because I had been doing so well on my own, but eventually I realized that I lacked the knowledge of what it took to go from a top level national competitor to a national champion.

With that in mind I decided to train with Jeremy for 2007. He was in Oklahoma City, and I in Pittsburgh, so we communicated via phone and email weekly. I learned that although my back had always been one of my strongest bodyparts, without shredded hamstrings and glutes and tie-ins from the low back into the glutes, my back poses could never be as dominating as they had the potential to be. Over the next year, Jeremy had me focus on my hamstrings and glutes, as well as my deltoids, which lacked cannon-ball like roundness when viewed from the front. For the first few months following Nationals, Jeremy had me eating massive amounts of calories and carbohydrates to put on mass. After getting up higher in weight than I had ever been, I then started to diet back down in preparation for the 2007 USA Championships. After getting down to within striking distance for lightweight and looking better than I ever had 4 weeks out from the competition, Jeremy told me “You’re not hard enough. You’ll do well, but I can’t guarantee you’ll win. You should drop to bantamweight.” After trying so hard to put on mass, I was crushed to hear that, but Jeremy had proved by that point that he knew what he was talking about. I asked, “How am I going to get down to bantamweight in four weeks?” Jeremy replied, “I’m gonna’ have to find out what it takes to kill you and then back it off a little.”

I came into the USA with conditioning far better than anyone else in my class…but I took second place. Jeremy and I were shocked along with several members of the audience that we encountered, but the judges said that my muscles were not full (round) enough. On any given day it’s hard to tell what the judges are looking for, but Jeremy and I used the defeat as a learning experience and fuel for the fire to train even harder for Nationals 16 weeks later. We continued to pound my glutes and hamstrings, but since I was already lean, I backed off my cardio and kept my carbs and water higher all the way through the competition in order to get that full appearance that the judges were looking for. I trained with Jeremy in Oklahoma City the week prior to Nationals so that Jeremy could monitor my physique daily and adjust diet and training as necessary. I once again weighed in as a bantamweight, but after carbing up, I stepped on stage looking 10 lbs heavier than I did just 16 weeks prior. When I turned around to hit my back double biceps, I flexed my glutes and hamstrings, and there was an audible gasp from the audience. The next night at the finals I stood on stage with the top five bodybuilders in my class and waited as one by one they called the 5th through 2nd place finishers, praying not to hear my name. Finally, my name was called as the 2007 Bantamweight National Champion and new IFBB Professional.

Jeremy asks a lot out of his trainees. He’ll push you to your breaking point, and then past it…and then he’ll push a little further. But if you can make the commitment and give it your all, he will deliver the results.