Chapter One: The Natural
On the stage of the “Texas Shredder Classic” in 2014, Candice Fox couldn’t see the crowd through the stage lights, but she could almost see the judges.
A 35-year-old athlete was flexing her muscles, focusing on the movements she had practiced for years. She knew that her legs were more impressive than her upper body and that her right side was better than her left.
There was a moment when she turned her back to the judges, then flexed her arms, squeezed her shoulder blades together, and opened her back muscles like a bird spreading its wings. It took her two years to master what is known as the “back lat spread” among bodybuilders.
After 39 athletes performed the specified routines, the announcer consulted with the judges. Five finalists were called, and Fox was among them. She and her husband agreed that if she won, she would go to a high-level national competition in New Jersey. She waited.
The announcer called fifth place. Fourth. Third.
In those moments, when the second runner-up was not Fox, when the judges announced her name as the winner, she thought of a life of shocks, overwhelmed with joy.
Fox had what is called “good genetics” among bodybuilders. Once she began training, her muscles grew rapidly on her 5-foot-6-inch frame. Her weight dropped to between 125 and 130 pounds. She became toned and her veins started to show. She possessed a rare trait among bodybuilders: a natural presence on stage and a captivating smile.
But despite all her talent, Fox was naive about the path she was on. The competitions she was competing in were overseen by the largest bodybuilding federation in the world, the National Physique Committee, or NPC. Most competitions under the federation aren’t tested for steroids, and since 2017, the current president of the federation, Jim Manion, has been on the banned list of the World Anti-Doping Agency for violating agency rules.
Leave a Reply