On November 10th, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Truman Ward, won a fourth consecutive Natural Olympia medal at the Natural Olympia XX in Las Vegas.
The Ordinance School instructor stationed at Fort Lee Virginia offered strong affirmations when interviewed in the Traveller:
“I cannot be broken; I cannot be persuaded; and I cannot be brought off-steer when it comes to nutrition for something I want so bad.”
“I’m not going to lie. When I walked off stage, for a second or two – and I’m not a crier – I did feel a little trickle in my throat when I realized I became the four-time world title holder for sports model.”
Ward stated that he doesn’t see his 44 years as a disadvantage. He doesn’t buy into the old vs young narrative. All the competitors are on level stage to compete, “I’m usually the one who ends up holding the first-place trophy.”
“I am kind of used to it,” he said. “It’s not that I’m cocky, but it just so happens I’m always the oldest dude. That’s just how it works out. I don’t pick my competition.”
The victory was hard-fought. Ward consumes around 10 virtually carb-free meals and trains 3 times daily in the week leading up to the show. All of this of course must be balanced with his full time work as an instructor at the Ordnance School’s Metalworking and Recovery Department.
“You’re hungry and miserable,” he said. “The only thing feeding you, sustaining you, is the thought that you’re going to be on stage in about six weeks.”
Sports Model divisions are judged based on muscularity and symetry, as well as other unorthodox criteria such as vocal presentation. Leading up to this show, Ward said it would be his last- but now he says ‘maybe,’
“I say ‘maybe’ because I enjoy discipline, I enjoy the support I get from not only my family but also my colleagues, supervisors and chain of command. “I enjoy having a strict regimen. I enjoy the way my body responds on a daily, monthly and yearly basis.
“And winning the competition is the final cherry on top. It doesn’t define me, but it sure as hell doesn’t hurt that at the end of all that training and dieting, I can walk away with another title to my name.”
