Ryan Behr,

Figure Competitor

ActivewearUSA.com Ambassador

Ryan's Blog

"Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile." ---Vince Lombardi

I am a competitor, through and through. Whether it's in the weight room, on the track, or playing a game with the family at Thanksgiving, being a competitor is part of me. Within the last two years, I've taken my love of weight training and clean eating beyond where I'd ever imagined, and started competing in figure. I'm now a national level National Physique Committee (NPC) competitor and train and eat clean year round.

For as long as I can remember, I've participated in sports---gymnastics, figure skating, track and field, volleyball, collegiate cheerleading---but I haven't always led a healthy lifestyle. Like many college age females are prone to do, I started monitoring my food intake and took it to unhealthy extremes, spending every waking moment in the gym, ignoring muscle aches, pains, and injuries.

Upon graduating high school, I maintained healthy habits and focused my energies on following a better diet and relationship with the gym. I taught kickboxing, step aerobics, yoga, and resistance training, but I was in a serious relationship and put on more weight than I was comfortable with. I'd seen another girl my age at the gym and saw she was training for a figure competition. I hired a trainer and followed the eating plans she gave me, but didn't see much in the way of results. I was frustrated! I'd devoted several months of following the training and eating regimen, but knew my body was capable of so much more!

I met Jason Phillips, my current trainer, in April 2008 and have trained with him ever since. It wasn't just a physical transformation I've experienced in my time with Jason as my coach. I discovered so much more about myself in the last two years than I'd known I was capable of. I left a toxic relationship. I bought my first home! I reconnected with my soul mate---one of the most incredible human beings I've ever met---and married him in April 2010.

I'm strong---physically, emotionally, and mentally---and my physical strength is only a small part of that. In training with Jason, I believe I've become what Vince Lombardi refers to as a leader. I was made into a leader. While I'm not going to win every competition I enter, no one can take away the effort I put into it, the price I pay to achieve the goals I set for myself.

Thanks for taking the time to read a bit more about me!

"It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you're on the way." ---Vince Lombardi