Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993 TAG: 9310200384
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON RICHERT STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Now, the Norfolk Southern road conductor proudly slips into the costume of bodybuilders before stepping into the contest arena. To music and before an audience and judges, he shows off the body he's worked hard to perfect.
"It's just a lot of hard work," he said recently, sipping a Coke while his daughter, Nikki, munched on french fries by his side.
"And you're pleased after you've done it all."
The fact that Stewart, who lives in Northeast Roanoke, won the Mr. Virginia title should please him. But when you consider that he only started muscle training seriously in 1990, his title and the giant trophy he received with it seem even more remarkable.
Stewart, 37, said he's always been an active guy - baseball and football as a kid, football in high school, a much-used Soloflex in his house. But "I felt like I just wanted to do more. I felt like I wasn't getting anything out of it, so I went to the gym."
Stewart began to shape the muscles that would bring him into bodybuilding competitions and found relief from his long hours on the railroad tracks.
He often spends 24 to 40 hours away from home, hopping trains from Roanoke to Crewe and Farmville and being on call much of the time. "It's a hard life for a family man," he said.
Stewart and his wife, Kim, also have a 2-year-old son, Trevor.
Adding the gym to his daily schedule wasn't an easy trick, and Kim "wasn't too keen" on his training at first. Even the family dinner time was messed up by his training. Kim found herself cooking meals her husband's diet - rich in chicken, fish, rice and potatoes - no longer allowed.
"She kept saying I wasn't going to get any money out of it or turn professional," he remembered. But he wasn't so sure. "New doors could open up," he told her.
The door he wants most to open would lead to a gym owned by Norfolk Southern. The company doesn't have a gym for its employees, nor does Stewart think it is considering buying one. But Stewart thinks it couldn't help but benefit from such an investment - and from making him the trainer.
"The railroad is safety conscious. And I would like for them to be also health and fitness conscious. . . . It could hold down injuries and be a morale booster for the employees."
For now, though, that door is shut. So Stewart is setting his sights on the Mr. America bodybuilding title. More specifically, Mr. America Over 40. To even be invited to participate, he must place in a state bodybuilding contest the year he enters.
Stewart says he won't participate until he's 40, because he feels his chances of winning are better against older body builders than the young ones.
While that contest is still three years away for Stewart, he can't afford to stop training. Instead, he'll begin his training diet and add more workouts to his week after New Year's Day. He'll hit the contest circuit in March.
"People just don't realize what goes into training for a contest," he said. Stewart puts in six days a week at his gym, New Fitness in Roanoke, and at gyms in Crewe and Farmville when he's on the train. Each workout averages almost two hours a day.
And there's that strict diet that forbids sweets and breads but demands six meals a day, plus plenty of protein shakes costing $63 for a week's supply.
While his training robs him of some family time, Stewart said, "It's a lot of fun . . . and it's all worth it."
Remembering his Mr. Virginia Masters Champion Over 35 title he won in Hampton, he said, "We were backstage, hugging friends. I got tears in my eyes. It all culminated in one big night, and everything I put into it - it was all worth it.
"Though I was thinking seriously it was something I wasn't going to do anymore, this is just what I'm good at."
by CNB