My name is Roger “ROCK” Lockridge. I am from Lewisburg, West Virginia. I started my bodybuilding on March 9, 1999. I treasure that day almost as much as I do my birthday. It means that much to me. I started at 125 lbs. and had virtually NO supporters. My family thought I was wasting my time, my mom signed up for me because she thought it was a phase, my doctor told me it was impossible, my P.E. teacher wouldn’t let me lift weights at school, I got picked on constantly at school because I was trying “the impossible”, and my girlfriend thought I was insane and eventually dumped me on my 18th birthday because she wanted to date someone bigger.

When I maxed out on bench press for the first time, I got 95 lbs. I couldn’t squat at all, and my personal trainer worked with me for the first few days and then basically abandoned me. The only motivation I had was a dream to be bigger. Despite having to walk every day, whether it was 100 outside or 10 below, a mile to the health club, I did it. After running, training, eating, sleeping, and living bodybuilding for 10 years, I got to a max weight of 230 pounds and in good shape.  I could bench 425 for a single and 225 for over 20.

In 2008, I suffered a shoulder injury at my job and couldn’t work or train so I fell into a depression.  I ate whatever and didn’t care.   I was 260 at my heaviest. After deciding to lose the weight when I overcame my injury, I wrote a blog that got me noticed by Bodybuilding.com and I became a writer for them. By the end of 2009, I won the industry’s highest writing award, the Bodybuilding.com Male Writer of the Year! I am now 186 pounds and in the best overall shape of my life.  More importantly, I am credited with helping many people get in the best shape of their lives as well.
Bodybuilding is the reason I am who I am today. I am more confident in myself, actually look for the next challenge and loves being a small part in inspiring others to do it as well. There is no drug, drink, or other habit that equals the rush of going head to head with the iron.