All the years of lifting and dieting is paying off for Caymanian bodybuilder Robert Thompson Jr., who captured his second Pro Card last month in San Pedro, California.
Thompson won the International Amateur Open Men’s Bodybuilding Heavyweight trophy during the WNBF 2022 Kaged Amateur and Pro World Championships, which were held last month at the Warner Grand Theater.
However, knowing the event featured athletes from over 52 countries, Thompson told the Cayman Compass that winning wasn’t necessarily the first thing on his mind heading into the competition.
“I had just finished the Cayman show (Drug Free Athletes Coalition 2022 World Final)… where I placed second,” Thompson said.
“After that, I already had in my mind that I wanted to go to California. I honestly went there with no intentions. I went there with an open mind and humbleness. I was on stage with top quality athletes, from all over the world.”
Despite already having his DFAC Pro Card, Thompson entered as an amateur because the WNBF does not recognise other federations in their events. However, Thompson still needed to perform better than six other competitors – and perform he did.
Not only did he win the heavyweight division, but he also went on to claim the overall title against all the other divisional winners.
“It was a really good feeling,” Thompson said. “It was nice to go over into another federation and be recognised as a professional. My hard work is not in vain. It was a very heartfelt moment, and it was something that I am very thankful for… this is my passion, and this is my calling.”
Why bodybuilding?
Football, basketball, swimming, or cricket are the sports most kids coming through Cayman’s schools are exposed to, which usually results in them sticking with it into their adult years. It was no different for Thompson, who said football was his passion, until it wasn’t.
“I played football my entire life,” he said. “I played Division I soccer in Atlanta, but I sustained a meniscus injury and my physiotherapist recommended that I went to the gym and, at that point, I hated the gym, but because I loved football so much, I did it.”
Little did he know, a greater passion lay ahead – something that first placed him outside his comfort zone.
“I started to work out my legs and realised that I was actually good at this,” Thompson said. “I started to do deeper research, watching videos on YouTube and I was approached in the gym in 2018 about stepping on the stage, but being in [underwear] on stage was not my intention, so I derailed from it.
“I was approached again, and I decided to take a step in that direction and see what it had to offer, and it has opened up doors that I didn’t realise at the time.”
In his first-ever bodybuilding competition, Thompson took first place in the heavyweight division and third overall. He then went on to win the 2019 Muscle Mayhem contest in Cayman and then travelled to Miami that same year to claim the heavyweight and overall title during the DFAC World Finals, to earn his first Pro Card.
Making the best of difficult times
As Thompson’s competitive bodybuilding career just began to gain some momentum, it came to an abrupt halt when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
However, he used the time away to open Lift Studio Gym in 2021 with co-owners Damenian Maxwell, Anthony Chin, Amadello Mena-Hebbert, Matthew Powell and Nicholas Ross.
He started personal training to assist others with reaching their mental and physical goals, noting that he understands feeling like you’re not good enough.
“I know what it feels like to not know how the gym works, to feel overweight, to feel like you’re weak, to not have confidence,” he said. “So, I decided that…I wanted to give back to the community in relation to the things that I personally went through.
“I wanted to change people’s lives and during that process I’ve helped people lose hundreds of pounds, I’ve transformed people into basically a new person.”
Before returning to competition in early November, during the Cayman Islands DFAC 2022 World Final, Thompson helped four people get into shape and convinced them all to compete at the same show.
“During my preparation from my own bodybuilding competition I took on two girls and two guys and had them compete and they did well. One of them placed first in novice, another placed second in their physique category. To see them happy and to see the changes that they had made, it really instilled a lot of happiness within me.”
Thompson noted the importance of men supporting and motivating other men, stating it could save a life.
“A lot of us have egos, especially men,” he said. “We don’t like to say that someone else helped us and I think that’s something we have to break out of. Breaking out of that can save someone else’s life, breaking out of that can instill confidence in another person.
“I had a client that had a lot of insecurities, and this helped him; even though it’s a physical aspect, or a bodybuilding show, it helped him with other variables in his life that he didn’t think was possible at the time.”
As for anyone who wants to get into the sport of bodybuilding, Thompson advises doing some homework first.
“I would say to take this slowly,” he said. “Get into watching gym videos, educate yourself in relation to how a gym works. You can find a gym friend and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
“I’m always available to support. If you have any questions or just want to get going you can reach out to me on my Instagram
@robertjr_dfacpro.”
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