Natty 4 Life: Rob Terry On Finding Success, Misconceptions About Natural Athletes
Rob Terry is ready to showcase who he is and everything he’s achieved by choosing to be a natural athlete in the world of bodybuilding and professional wrestling.
Terry recently spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard ahead of the premiere of Generation Iron: Natty 4 Life, a new film documenting the life of a professional bodybuilder. Terry is featured in the film to tell his story about being a natural bodybuilder, including the pros and cons of being an athlete of his size as well as the misconceptions that come with it.
Terry explained that there are two different competitions, one with natural bodybuilders like himself and another where there wouldn’t necessarily be any stipulations or guidelines. He says they all go through the same routine as far as training, nutrition and diet, with the main difference being one group is enhanced and the other one isn’t.
There has always been a stigma that is attached steroids in both bodybuilding and professional wrestling and Terry says it’s something that affected him socially as well. He said that he got into the business right around the time WWE introduced its Wellness Policy but that still didn’t curb some of the awkward situations he was put in because of his size. Terry says he still got asked by other wrestlers what he was taking to create his physique in WWE and IMPACT, noting that the situation was tough but he tried to build relationships where he could so that people would get to know the real him and not assume he used performance enhancers.
“That’s a great question because it really did. Obviously like you said, steroids and enhancements were a big deal back in professional wrestling. [Wrestling] to an extent, is somewhat of a bodybuilding show as well, and when I got into the industry that’s when the Wellness Policy really took effect, even before I got there it [was being introduced]. Obviously, I was a big guy when I got signed to WWE and I didn’t know a lot of guys. I’d get along with them great but you get into the situation where [someone would say] ‘what are you taking?’, and I’m not that guy that would yell out ‘hey, I’m natural everyone!’ If someone is going to come up to me and ask me, I’m going to tell them what I am, and there were so many situations where guys would come up to me and want to talk shop and it was just awkward. That’s just one of those things with part and parcel of being a guy my size and a lifetime natural bodybuilder. It was tough. I had circumstances like that with my time in WWE and in IMPACT Wrestling. It’s just one of those things but you get through it and you build relationships, people get to know you and hopefully, they get to understand you as well.”
One of the biggest misconceptions about bodybuilders is that they are using steroids, and Terry agreed that it was a ‘normal’ assumption people made about a large number of athletes. He says his goal in the film is to not only show that he’s a natural athlete and what he’s been through but also show what he’s achieved and how it’s all related to his path in life.
“It’s just very normal for people to assume that if they see someone that’s in shape that they must have gotten there through enhancements. There are obviously athletes that might take that course, but I just want to showcase that I am one of those guys that didn’t. That’s basically my story in this entire film is just showcasing who I am, what I am and the choices I’ve had to make from day one and the opportunities that have come from me being a natural athlete. It’s one of those things where it’s a great opportunity for me to tell my story and how it really is because people in the wrestling world, they don’t really know what I was before I got into WWE. I primarily only got hired because I was a natural athlete, and nobody really knows that. I lost a kidney when I was eight years old, so getting into the unnatural enhanced side was never an option. That’s why I’m a perfect candidate to represent natural bodybuilding and everything that I’ve achieved has been a derivative from that.”
Generation Iron: Natty 4 Life explores the “inner workings of professional natural bodybuilding in an attempt to expose the truth behind the all-natural claim of the sport.” Rob Terry is featured in the film along with Mike O’Hearn, and Kai Greene and it is available on video-on-demand services including Amazon on Friday, July 31.
Read More: Rob Terry Talks Hulk Hogan Helping Him Achieve US Residency Status, Working With Robbie E In TNA
WrestleZone · Rob Terry On Finding Success, Misconceptions About Natural Athletes
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