John Phillips began his fitness journey at 15 years old after seeing the Mr. Olympia contest on TV and fell in love with fitness and body building. John played linebacker on his high school football team until an injury to his ACL sidelined him and ended his football prospects. This set-back was actually a set-up for John to focus on his dreams of becoming a bodybuilder. John entered his first bodybuilding competition in 1994 and took home a trophy for first place in The Middleweight category and the Overall Novice category! This early win validated his passion and fueled John’s desire to strive for more. This drive would take John on unexpected journeys to amazing highs and heart-breaking lows.Motivated by his success, John obtained his Parrillo Performance Certification as a personal trainer and started his own personal training business, offering both in-home and gym training to his clients.
In 2001, John won 2nd in the Middleweight contest in Cincinnati and placed 3rd in the Middleweight division the same year in Northern Kentucky. Unfortunately, John injured his tricep which required surgery and resulted in a prescription of pain pills. The pain pills started John on a descent into the depths of addiction for the next 15 years. After numerous unsuccessful treatments, John had a spiritual awakening and has now been in recovery for nearly a decade. When asked if John regrets this time in his life, he shared “I regret parts of it, but I’m very grateful for the journey; I’ve learned life skills, how to manage feelings; I have a lot of gratitude for everyone I met and all I learned along the way … it’s helped shape me into who I am today”.
While focusing on his recovery, John obtained his Barber’s license, but never strayed far from his first passion of fitness, continuing to work out and help others who reached out to him … both as a person in recovery and as a personal trainer.
In 2018 after a 17 year absence in competition, John returned to the world of body building and placed 3rd in the Middleweight division and 4th in the Masters’ division of the “Julie Palmer” competition. John shared that body building had always been something special that he and his parents, particularly his father, shared; that he returned to competition to honor this dream. John acknowledged “I put them through a lot in my active addiction; I wanted to do something to make them proud”. John recalls being on stage and hearing the cheering from his parents. Little did he know that it would be the last time he heard them cheering him on … they both passed away 3 months later, days apart from each other. John shared that he got through this difficult time, sober, by leaning on his network of friends. Today, there’s no doubt that John’s parents are proud of him and all he has achieved and are still cheering him on from Heaven.
Today, John’s mission in life is to help people … people who want to get and stay healthy, people who want to improve their lifestyle and become the best versions of themselves through healthy options in nutrition, exercise, and life choices.
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Pablo Picasso