Bodybuilder excels in competition while helping others improve their lives

Alex Dejordy won a gold medal in his first bodybuilding competition. Photos submitted

By Tom Victoria

Alex Dejordy always wanted to be a superhero. Years after first setting that ambitious goal, he has the body that would make Captain America and Superman green with envy.

The Rhode Island bodybuilder won a gold medal in his first competition this spring.

“As of recently, Mother's Day,” he said. “That was my first bodybuilding competition, 26 years old. I've always wanted to step on stage. Never stepped on stage because I used to be extremely insecure and shy and depressed and very, very negative in my life. And then I met fitness. Fitness changed who I am.”

Alex was a teen when he got hooked.

“When I was about 17, I got into fitness and health,” he said. “I was a junior going into senior year and I knew that I always wanted to be jacked. Ever since I was a young boy holding on to my superheroes — Batman and Spider-Man — I knew that I had to look like them. It just took me a long time to start and I didn't know how to start.”

But that changed for Alex.

“So when I was 17, that's when I picked up the weights and it was the best choice I've ever made,” he said. “It's been a nine-year journey of me sculpting and building my body. I competed in a local bodybuilding competition. I placed first place in my division and I received a gold medal for that.”

Alex was recognized at the PCA (Physical Culture Association) event Rhode Island Muscle for looking like he just walked off a pedestal in a museum.

“I did men's physique,” he said. “That's the name of the division that I did. In men's physique, they judge you based off of your proportions, your symmetry, your muscularity, your posing, your stage confidence and how good you look on stage. And I did quite well with that.”

Alex credits the effort he put into fitness for winning a gold medal.

“I give all the credit to the work that I put in prior,” he said. “For nine years, I worked hard on sculpting and building my body. I had a lot of mentors via YouTube and in real life, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael O’Hearn, Jeff Seid, David Laid. Those are all early mentors of mine. Some of them are still mentors. They taught me how to work out. They taught me how to do bodybuilding. I taught myself through them.”

Alex attributed work and genetic makeup for his success.

“It was the hard work that I put in beforehand of building my physique and, of course, hitting the genetic lottery, which helped a lot with my proportions and my symmetry,” he said. “Genetics play a big role in it. No matter how much you build your physique, you can never get your physique to look a certain way unless you're genetically gifted in that way. Muscles either grow or they shrink. You can't change the shape of muscles.”

Alex said his body is suited for bodybuilding.

“Luckily, I have great genetics, where I have a high metabolism, where I'm very lean naturally,” he said. “My muscles have good shape. My frame is very athletic, wide shoulders, small waist, and that was a huge aid in my success in the bodybuilding career. So it's my hard work and it's my genetics.”

Alex was confident he would secure the medal.

“As soon as I stepped on stage, I knew that I was going to win because I saw the rest of the competition and I saw that they weren't as good as me,” he said. “I just knew that I was going to win my division. I came in third place overall. The guys who beat me, they beat me rightfully. They were bigger than me and they had a better condition than me.”

Alex has just begun.

“I'm competing again in September and in October,” he said. “I'm going to go for my pro card, so that way I can compete nationwide. I'm going to show up with better posing and a better physique and a better mindset.”

Alex described the steps a competitor can take to alleviate stage fright.

“When you're on stage, you slow down your breathing and you visualize the posing inside your head,” he said. “You find the judges and you look at the judges, but you're not distracted by them. The only thing that you're focused on is the posing routine that you've been doing for the past three months inside your head. The posing routine is on play, and I'm doing the posing routine while it's on play.”

Alex said one component of the venue can be an issue.

“If anything, the only thing that distracts me is the stage lights,” he said. “When you pose before stage, you're in a room with average lighting. When you're on stage, the stage lights are quite blinding. They're quite distracting.”

However, Alex remained focused on his routine.

“I like to do visualization before the event,” he said. “I would visualize myself on stage with the audience, with the noise, with the music while I was doing my posing routine in the gym by myself. That prepared me quite well. When you're on stage, the only thing that you think about is your posing routine. Before you step on stage, the only thing you think about is your posing routine.”

Alex works out throughout the week.

“I train hard about five days a week,” he said. “I split up my muscle groups into pushing movements, pulling movements and lower body movements. I'm hitting every single muscle in my body. I train with a rep range of about 10 to 12 reps with high intensity. I'm reaching failure. Most sets, I have to have a training partner to make sure that I don't drop the weight on myself and die. So it's very intense workouts.”

Alex said pushing his workouts and diet are crucial to the training regimen.

“I've been doing this for nine years, so I have to come up with new ways to stimulate my body to grow,” he said. “I could get a beginner to build their muscle because they're a beginner. I could get a beginner to build muscle easily with any form of resistance. Because they are new, they will build easier. I have to find new ways to destroy my body, so that way it builds my dietary routine.”

Alex consumes plenty of protein.

“I eat 200 grams of protein a day on most days,” he said. “I eat one pound of bison a day. I eat a lot of red meat, which is counterculture. Eating that amount of red meat is beneficial. If you're training like a savage, and I'm training to a point where that red meat becomes utilized, it's just completely beneficial for me.”

Alex has a structured meal schedule.

“I eat about four to five meals a day,” he said. “My meals are structured as I'm cooking breakfast in the morning. I'm also cooking my meals for the day, cooking my lunch and my early dinner. And when I get home, I have whatever I want to eat. I'm trying to build muscle right now, so I'm eating a bunch of calories in excess so that way I can build muscle and recover.”

Alex stays hydrated, spends time outdoors and avoids getting upset.

“I drink about half a gallon of water a day,” he said. “I take protein shakes. I'm on creatine. I do vitamins and minerals, and I get a lot of natural sunlight. And I don't stress about anything. Stress is the number one ager. I try to stay cool, calm and relaxed. Some methods on how I stay cool, calm and relaxed, I exercise, obviously. I practice thought refocusing, which means that if a negative thought comes into my mind, I practice the skill of turning that negative thought into a positive.”

Alex also is a fitness trainer.

“I like to train clients in person,” he said. “I'm a part-time personal trainer at a local gym. I have about 30 clients and it's the best job in the world.”

Alex does online training as well.

“If you want to get in the best shape of your life, I'm your guy,” he said.

Alex decided to help others after reaping the benefits of fitness himself.

“I found who I was and my purpose through health and fitness,” he said. “Health and fitness has helped me more than anything I could ever imagine. All I'm doing is returning the favor because I know the value of health and fitness. It got me out of a very dark place. I used to be that person that couldn't raise his hand in class. I couldn't talk to girls. I had a stuttering problem. I had a blushing issue. I was extremely self-conscious and afraid of people.”

But Alex turned that around.

“And then I started lifting weights,” he said. “I found value and I found confidence in myself and that changed my life. I'm giving that feeling back to the world by teaching others to do the same.”

As a youth, Alex was first inspired by his toys.

“I was a boy playing with my action figures,” he said. “And my action figures, they look like bodybuilders. I was playing with Batman, Spider-Man, Superman. I always knew from a young age that I had to be strong. I had to look like my action figures. And that stuck with me for my whole life. I mean, what boy doesn't want to be a superhero when they grow up? And I learned growing up that superheroes don't just look the part, but they act the part. A superhero is somebody who embodies the character and the physicality of a hero.”

Alex said fitness led to him becoming a well-rounded person.

“I learned that the fitness is part of it, but your character and your reputation is the other part of it,” he said. “Bodybuilding taught me how to be a person who is consistent, disciplined and hard-working. I applied that mindset to my clients and it's a rewarding feeling when you get somebody to be happier and healthier through fitness and health. That's what a real-life superhero does is he's somebody who gives back to the world.”

Alex said folks have to learn how to deal with life’s challenges if they want to succeed.

“People have a hard time identifying the positive in the suck of life,” he said. “What people don't realize is that the suck of life is your ultimate proving ground to make yourself a better version of yourself. If we just retreat every time, we're never going to learn and grow. People don't know how to suffer anymore. People don't know how to embrace the suck anymore. You have to find the purpose in suffering because to suffer without purpose is meaningless.”

Alex said a lack of purpose leads to negative outcomes.

“When you have purpose for suffering and going to work every day and you hate your job, then you can put up with it,” he said. “And you can put up with it with a good attitude because you have an end goal in mind. People lack purpose. A lot of what I do is I do mindset coaching as well with young people and older people, but especially the youth. They're lost, they're confused. They have bad role models, bad idols. There's nothing more dangerous to a man than his lack of purpose. Because then he's just aimlessly wandering through life, living out of hedonism and his pleasurable impulses. He's not being productive and he's being a bad influence towards his younger brothers.”

Along with continuing to win competitions, Alex wants to expand his reach.

“I want to have my own gym one day,” he said. “I want to have a brick-and-mortar gym, a haven of fitness and health and mindset coaching. I want to have a chain of gyms that offer that service. I want to step on more stages with bigger audiences and brighter lights and more judges. I want to become a greater role model within my community. I want to be a homeowner. I want to excel within real estate online coaching. I want to be a father of many children and I want to give motivational speeches one day.”

Alex also practices martial arts.

“I do Brazilian jiu-jitsu,” he said. “I believe in self-defense. I believe that every man and woman should have the capacity to defend themselves and those around them. Because I'm fit and strong and flexible and mobile and powerful, it makes me so much more of an asset towards myself and those around me. Now I can protect people. I'm very good at martial arts because I'm very fit.”

Alex said those skills come in handy.

“When I was in college, I broke up a lot of fights in the bars,” he said. “I went to Michigan State. I saw a lot of violence with drunk people acting dangerous. Because I'm fit and strong, it allowed me to have the confidence to do so. I prevented harm from happening to other people through my fitness.”

Alex’s coaching keeps him motivated to do his own workouts.

“What keeps me motivated is the fact that I need to be a man of my word,” he said. “I have clients. I tell my clients to go to the gym when they don't feel like it. I tell my clients to eat right when they don't feel like it. I tell my clients to do everything that I normally do. So if I wake up one day and if I don't feel like doing it, that never manifests because I know I need to do it. So my clients and my reputation keep me motivated.”

Alex dispensed advice to aspiring bodybuilders.

“The first thing we need to do is find my Instagram page and reach out to me,” he said. “And once they do that, the second thing they need to do is find somebody who's willing to go on this fitness journey with them. Everybody deserves to be healthy and fit. Everybody deserves to be strong. Everybody should know what it feels like to have muscle. And everybody, deep down, wants that. Find a friend and convince them on this journey and get started, do it together.”

Alex said people need someone else to hold them accountable.

“I work with a lot of people who work with me because they need my accountability, my fellowship, my coaching outside of the gym,” he said. “They will never find themselves in the gym if I'm not there. People need a friend, a companion to start difficult endeavors with in the beginning, and then they realize it's not that difficult. Bodybuilding is actually extremely rewarding, very fun.”

Alex made fitness a family affair.

“My dad, who's 60, I got him into lifting weights about a year ago,” he said. “He's already making tremendous results. He's getting stronger. He's not chiseled like a young man, but the fact that he's stronger and moving better with less pain, he loves that. The fact that he's able to walk down the stairs without knee pain like that to him is like having a six-pack, and I love seeing that.”

“Everyone can get in the best shape of their life. They will never look like me and I will never look like them. It is an individual journey that makes a big impact on the individual and the individuals around us.”

Alex recommends those entering bodybuilding competitions get a coach.

“I recommend getting a coach because a coach is going to have a separate set of eyes and perspective on you that you are not going to have on yourself,” he said. “A coach is going to come with a perspective that is 100 percent constructive and is going to help you perform better. If you want to compete to the best of your ability, you need that extra perspective and extra eyes to help you become a better version of yourself.”

Alex attributed his success in part to having a coach.

“For my show, I did all my workouts and nutrition on my own,” he said. “However, I had a coach that taught me how to pose and have good stage presence. If I didn't have that coach, I would have lost because I wouldn't have had the confidence and I wouldn't have had the posing routine down. So definitely work with a coach.”

Alex said anyone wanting to become fitter needs to do one thing first.

“Their first step in getting fit is to define what their fitness goals are,” he said. “Once you define your fitness goals, whether it's weight loss, building strength, building muscle, toning, it's all the same approach. We have to stay active every day, meaning that we have to find ourselves moving quite often throughout the day. We have to have a balanced diet of protein, carbs and fats, preferably more protein. And we have to drink plenty of water. We have to remind ourselves what our fitness goals are. That's the first step.”

Alex outlined the following step to take.

“The next step after that is finding somebody within your circle with similar fitness goals and tackling it together and learning from somebody who is in the position you want to be in in terms of fitness,” he said. “And that goes for everything within life. Find somebody who's in the position that you want to be in and ask for their service.”

Not everyone can look like Alex, but everyone can improve their fitness.

“Everyone can get in the best shape of their life,” he said. “They will never look like me and I will never look like them. It is an individual journey that makes a big impact on the individual and the individuals around us. Fitness is for everyone. People who are not fit are less happy. Period.”

Alex finds time to spend with his pet and making content.

“I love to walk my dog,” he said. “My dog's on a fitness routine. I have a Goldendoodle. His name's Copper. He is getting older, but we keep him young by exercising every day. He walks every single day with me. He has a good diet of a high protein diet and he drinks plenty of water. I love doing martial arts in the morning. I love creating social media content. I love speaking in front of the camera.”

Alex stays busy in his free time.

“I love meeting new people,” he said. “I love going to the gun range and shooting big guns. I love hiking. I love rock climbing. I love to jet ski. I find my time in my day to be productive by doing the things that I like to do.”

Alex reiterated the need for people to have purpose.

“I can't stress it enough,” he said. “We have to solve whatever causes us pain and suffering. Whatever causes us to be miserable or causes us to be sad or depressed, it's our duty to solve that. And then once we solve that, it's our obligation to teach others to do the same. I'm just speaking from experience there that's changed my life and I think that's very important nowadays.”

Alex’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexdj_fit/