Let’s Talk About CT Fletcher
How many of you have heard of CT Fletcher? While the Arkansas born lifter is slightly better known now than he was a few years ago, the 6 x World Champion Strong Man competition wins have undoubtedly assisted in raising his profile.
The 50+ bodybuilder has quite a story to tell, and has been promoting an all natural form of bodybuilding and what he terms ‘bare handed’ workouts to create his strength and physique.
Late Starter
Surprisingly CT Fletcher wasn’t always into bodybuilding, or lifting, at least not from a young age anyway. And he explains that it wasn’t until he was 22 that he began to lift. His lifting career spanned until the late 1990’s and in 1997 he made the permanent switch over to pure bodybuilding. Although he says that he still maintains that he has no desire to go back to power lifting given that he has achieved everything in the discipline, and then some.
“But the highlight of my career, by far, is the 705 lb shirtless attempt at the baddest bench press in America contest in 1995. I didn’t actually make that lift but I still feel it was my greatest accomplishment because I did it drug free against the best power lifters in the world.”
– CT Fletcher, Interview with bigbackgrips.com
20 Years Of Junk Food
His diet of 7 or 8 meals from McDonalds per day for some 20 years meant that he needed to undergo open heart surgery and was told that his workout career was over for good. As a result of this massive operation he went from a whopping 300 lbs to 195 lbs. However, in typical fashion CT, who now resides most of the time in Compton, CA, got back to the gym and worked out like never before. As he said himself, he would rather die doing what he loved than live a mundane life full of boredom.
However, it isn’t to the past that CT Fletcher looks, rather it is the future. He is bringing out a master plan DVD for all aspiring and current bodybuilders to try and build themselves up to his level and he shows no real signs of stopping or slowing down anytime soon.
“I still want to go back and defend the unbroken 225 strict curl record. I’d like to do it at the age of 54 – be able to do what I did at the age of 30 … if I could come in here with a metal valve implanted in my chest, taking 10 different medicines just to stay alive every day and do my work out, you have no excuses.”
– CT Fletcher, Strength Project interview
With Fletcher however it is important to remember just how close to death he came; by his own admission he was taken to hospital as an emergency more times than he can remember. Even though he has proved his bodybuilding and lifting credentials and still continues to work out his story should be one of caution. Proper nutrition and exercise is key and the man himself will tell you that a sole junk food diet – while it may bulk you up – just isn’t worth it in the long run.
