Joliet Entrepreneur Wins Second Men's Physique Championship
- Dawn Aulet, Editor-in-Chief
- Jun 4, 2017
- 5 min read
Photos by Dawn Aulet, Editor-in-Chief, The Tangled Thread
JOLIET, IL -- The road to winning any bodybuilding competition is one of discipline, determination and motivation.
Arron Sain aligns with all three of those concepts.
In fact, when Sain is preparing for competition, whether it be lifting weights or doing cardio, the sounds coming through his Beats could be music, but it is just as likely to be a motivational speaker. This seems like a logical choice, but Sain is also an oxymoron.
“I don’t believe in motivation,” he said. “In this light, it kinda proves me wrong and right.”
“Inspiration lasts longer than motivation. The inspiration is there every day because it’s inside of you.”
On June 3, Sain took home the first place award in the Titan Open Men's Master Physique Overall. The award is in his height class and age class of 35 and up.
“Winning this Saturday was basically a test to me...it's kinda like putting down a tool that a master of some kind of art hasn't used in a while," Sain said. "You don't know if you still have it or if you are still good at your class or if you still belong until you grab your tool and you don't even know what is going to happen until you start carving.”
"It's like seeing if you can still paint with the new generation."
The day after taking home the first place trophy, Sain said he realized it encouraged him.
"Saturday gave me confidence and it helped me in not doubting myself when it came to sculpting myself," he said. "If you want to still take this seriously, you still do belong."
In 2013, he won first place in his height class and overall at the Wings of Strength Championship.
In that competition, the overall prize was awarded when each of the winners in their respective height class compete against one another.
Bodybuilding competitions are divided into divisions -- men's physique, classic physique and bodybuilding. Sain competes in men's physique.
Between 2013 and now, Sain took a couple years off from competing because he wanted to work on his body.
"I took two years off, not purposely," he said "I was prepping for a couple shows and I felt that I wasn't perfect or that I did not look good enough."
"If I don't feel like I can compete at a high level against these guys, I am not going to go."
"Competition is competition. There is no way around that."
Sain grew up the second child in a family of four, on the east side of Joliet.
He had to fight his way to get home from school safely every day.
“There was times when we had to fight on the way home from school,” Sain said.
Despite the challenge when he was walking home, life when he got home was quite different. His family always had his back and his young life was filled with great mentors. Because of this, he grew up to have a job at Comed, where he has been for 10 years, and a few years ago, he was motivated to add competitive body building to his life.
”I was just walking down the aisle at Jewel and I saw the bodybuilders on the magazines," he said.
He commented to his life-long friend that he would like to do that just one time in his life.
"I think everyone has that moment at one time," he said.
Before he got to a place of a championship bodybuilder though, he figured out a couple things that were the secret to his success. Winning the bodybuilding championship is not just about how much you can lift. It also is about what you put into your body, both food and energy.
“Once you get into competition mode and you (adjust) your diet, your spirit is open,” he said. “You accidentally detox yourself.”
“The conversations I have with people (are) calculated because you are so open.”
Once he is in competition season, everything is planned out.
“Everything is second,” he said. “Every minute of the day is calculated.”
“When I sleep it’s calculated.”
The training begins about 17 weeks before competition and is graduated. Unlike what one might expect, the most intense part of the workout is not right before competition.
“The last week is basically just the week that science takes over and you just overloading yourself on water,” he said. “The last week is called peak week. That’s when you overload yourself on water and then you dehydrate yourself so your body dries out. You want your body to be as tight as possible, you want all your muscles to show.”.
For 16 of the 17 weeks, he did two hours of cardio and an hour and a half of weight training per day.
The Tangled Thread joined Sain at the gym - Anytime Fitness in Plainfield - about four weeks before the The Titan competition. In the middle of lifting, Sain broke out laughing.
“Sometimes it hurts so bad, all you can do is laugh,” he said.
Sain began to really pay attention to what he was eating all those years ago before the first bodybuilding competition. But because of his personality, Sain, who at one point attended culinary school, did not want to keep the secret to how he was eating to himself.
“All this time, I was just cooking for myself because I was doing shows,” he said.
“Ironically, I would post what I was eating in Instagram, on Facebook and people would be like, that’s not competition food.”
For Sain, that was kind of the point. Regular competition food is bland and unseasoned. And Sain needed to keep his mind in the game.
“The whole time, what is happening is, your psyche is going crazy because you’re not giving yourself a break from that lifestyle,” he said. “I started experimenting so I would not binge.”
He ended up adding fresh herbs to the usual suspects - lean meats and vegetables
“I have to make sure that my protein is satisfying so I am not missing out on the carbs,” he said.
“You just add different fresh herbs. Man, fresh herbs will save your life because it adds another element to the dish.”
So, he began his own meal delivery service.. Insainly Fit Meals has not only been a great success, but has allowed Sain to give back -- helping people to take control of their own health, whether they are bodybuilders or not.
The unique combination of who Arron is - bodybuilder, chef and personal trainer - led his current manager, Melza Jordan to connect Sain with Jonetta Patton, who will be Sain’s manager while Jordan remains in charge of Sain’s day-to-day activities.
“There’s not many chefs that are bodybuilders, that are trainers, that understand the body the way that he does,” Jordan said.
Jordan has known Sain since he was a child and while it took him time to say yes to managing Sain (Jordan’s background is in music management - he is a percussionist like Sain), he did so because of Sain’s character.
“The only thing I knew is Arron wasn’t going to let somebody bet on him and lose that bet,” Jordan said.
When the two got to Patton’s kitchen, Jordan asked if Sain was ready. Sain did not realize until later that Jordan had never actually seen him cook.
On Saturday night, after taking home his trophy, Sain went to the store and bought six boxes of cereal.
"I was eating cereal all night," he said.
He intended to have pizza Sunday night. But Sain is never one to rest on his laurels.
"I go back on a diet on Monday," he said.
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