NB teen takes first at bodybuilding competition

By Danielle Strenke
Jacob Gilkerson works hard at everything he does. The North Branch senior will graduate early, maintains three jobs and has most recently become a champion bodybuilder.
Gilkerson led the field in the teen division at the Iron Man - Iron Maiden Midwest Amateur Bodybuilding Championships, held the weekend of June 22 at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
He was competing against teenagers through age 19 from across the midwest, as well as several from other parts of the country.
Gilkerson did not become interested in bodybuilding until he developed asthma in ninth grade. ìI was a runner,î Gilkerson said. ìI did cross country and track, but I couldnít run anymore. When I started dropping those sports, I started lifting weights and bulking up.î
Gilkerson found weight lifting as the ideal activity to keep himself in shape. It was not until last fall when he began to really concentrate on working out enough to take his recreational activity to the competitive level.
In October, he met Jason LaPlante, a personal trainer at Ballyís. LaPlante recognized the possibility that Gilkerson could advance to the competitive level in bodybuilding, and started working with Gilkerson.
ìHe had been in bodybuilding competitions, so he helped me work on training and diet,î Gilkerson said.î
So as Gilkerson began to spend hours a day in the gym, he also learned about the diet regimen he would follow before competition in June.
The diet consists of eating nothing but chicken, rice and green beans for the eight weeks leading up to the contest. The skinless chicken can be grilled or pan-fried, but with no butter, oil or sauces. ìYou can also have yams ñ sweet potatoes ñ thatís like the treat,î Gilkerson said.
Gilkerson said it was extremely hard to stick with a diet of just three main foods, considering he needed to eat six times throughout the day. ìI had to bring it to school and eat there,î Gilkerson said. ìIt wasnít small portions either, it was full-size meals.î
As the diet bulked him up to around 205 pounds on Gilkersonís medium-sized frame, the last week before competition was used to help him lose some of the weight and better define his muscles.
During the last week before competition, the diet varies, with three days of eating only protein and three days of eating only carbohydrates. ìThe protein takes the energy out of the muscles and makes them flat, then the carbs bulk them up and brings out the definition,î Gilkerson said.
All the hard work and rice cakes paid off for Gilkerson, as he received a first-place ranking from every judge at the Iron Man competition.
He said being up in front of a packed audience showing off his muscles for the first time wasnít difficult. It was being surrounded by other bodybuilders who had not showered for a couple of days as well, because they all needed the skin-tanning lotion to be absorbed.
At the competition, Gilkerson performed a one-minute routine to the song, ìIce, Ice Babyî during which he tried to complete as many good poses as possible for the panel of judges.
ìAfter that, itís a fun pose-down in front of the judges,î Gilkerson said.
When the final round is completed, the individual judges rank each of the competitors, first through last. Gilkerson received a first place ranking from every judge.
With the teen championship under his belt, Gilkerson is now qualified to compete in various national competitions throughout the next two years.
He said he will probably spend the next year working out, bulking up and preparing for one of the national competitions next summer or fall.
Gilkerson said he was one of the few at the competition who did not use drugs to enhance his appearance. ìItís an untested competition, so they donít test for steroids or anything,î he said. ìGuys will shoot stuff directly into their muscles to bulk up. I donít want to mess with anything like that.î
Gilkerson will be a senior at North Branch High School this year, and will have enough credits to graduate in March. He hasnít made a decision yet about attending college, but hopes to open his own landscape company one day. ìIíll maybe do bodybuilding as something fun through college, but I donít see it as a job,î Gilkerson said.

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