Sports & Activities
Real Athlete: Bodybuilder Joe Gervais
By Jeff Titterton
Real Athlete is an ongoing series of interviews with inspirational, out gay athletes from around the world. Are you a Real Athlete? Take our Real Athlete Survey.
Joe Gervais, 32, lives in Redwood City, California. A former personal trainer with more than a mouthful of professional certifications—CSS, NASM, and USA Olympic Weightlifting, among others—he has been an avid weight lifter and all-around fitness fanatic for all of his adult life. Gervais recently began competing in natural bodybuilding competitions, enduring a grueling regimen of healthful eating, endless workouts, and a whole lot of practice posing. The reward? Third place in his class in his first competition. Real Jock sat down with Gervais to discuss his recent bodybuilding competition, his training philosophy, and what it feels like to stand in a tiny Speedo in front of tons of adoring spectators.
Have you always been a strong, athletic guy?
I like to say I come from a fat family, actually. My mom and dad are both on the chubby side, and of my six brothers and sisters, I would say three of my sisters are clinically obese.
When I was younger I played baseball, soccer, and a little bit of football. When you're young and chubby like I was, you don't necessarily notice that [you're chubby], because everyone is just competitive about who is better at what.
When I went through high school I didn't do a lot of sports the first couple of years, but then I joined the swim team, and that was when I started getting this reality that my family was heavy, and that if I wanted to get and stay lean and fit I needed to do something about it. So I got into the swimming, and then got really into the bodybuilding in college. Once I started weightlifting, I noticed that I'm definitely genetically more able and stronger than the average person.
Describe your first bodybuilding competition. Were you nervous?
My first bodybuilding competition was in the East Bay, through a natural organization called the World Natural Bodybuilding Association.
During my mid-twenties, I worked out with the mentality of a bodybuilder, but I sort of thought, "Ah, I'll never actually do one." And then once I made the mental decision that I was going to do one, I really prepared for about 16 months or so, lifting incredibly heavy weights, and working out with a group of buddies who were all bigger, stronger, and more knowledgeable than me. We would train really hardcore, and I was eating consistently. I went from about 170 to 195 pounds in about a six- to eight-month period. And I was eating about 4,000 calories a day of totally healthy food, like chicken and beef and fish and broccoli and asparagus, eating every couple of hours, and I put on all of that weight.
The training was intense, and I dieted for the last 10 weeks, and that was a lot of hard work. I had a buddy who I was preparing with, my buddy Daniel, who is straight, and he had never competed also, but he has more friends who are bodybuilders, and had been to a lot of the bodybuilding competitions, so he knew a lot more about the posing. So starting about six weeks before the show, we would practice the posing routines, and he taught he how to do some of the poses, like front double biceps, front lat spread, rear lat spread, and side chest, and I picked my music. When it got time to do the competition, I was nervous, but you spend so much time getting ready for it that you're just ready to go.
Do you plan on doing more competitions?
I was going to one last May, but it ended up conflicting with my new sales job, literally by a day. I made the decision only two weeks before the competition, and I was totally ready to go, but with my new job I just couldn't do it. Now I'm thinking I'll wait a year or two before my next competition, because I'm focusing on work right now. But I'm still training hard.
Describe your workout regimen for the competition?
You can go online and you can look at all of the bodybuilding forums, and everyone has a different approach. You talk to 10 guys and you get 10 different answers. You have to understand that your body is a biological tissue. We all come from different family backgrounds and have different DNA. If you're stressed you have different stress hormones running through your body, and if you're getting deep sleep you get more growth hormones. So there's all of these different things going on that affect you.
So what I would do is about eight weeks out, I would do cardio two hours per day—one hour in the morning and one in the evening—and one hour to one hour and half of weight training mid-day. I was able to do that three or four days per week, and the other days I was still doing my weight training the other days and 20 to 30 minutes of cardio.
As I got closer to the actual competition, I dropped my workout from 90 percent heavy to 40 percent heavy, and I would try to go slower, doing less weight and higher repetitions to bring out the definition.
Another thing I did was the posing routines. They would say you should pose every day for 20 to 30 minutes each day, starting eight weeks out. You'd think that the posing is just sitting up there squeezing your muscles, but it's hard. You're trying to do a front double biceps, but you have to be up there squeezing your calves and your quads and your glutes—all of your muscles all of the time. You get your heart rate up, and you start sweating. It's a lot of work.
Did you use any supplements when you were training?
I would use different types of protein shakes. Sometimes I would spend the extra money and get a really high quality one, and do all of the research behind whether it's a slow-burning protein or a fast-burning protein, if it's better at night, better in the morning, and so on. I would get into that sometimes, but mostly I would just rotate in different kinds of protein shakes, and I focused mostly on whole foods.
I also use creatine, but my approach to creatine is to use it two or three times per year for an eight- to 12-week period, to kind of help me get a little bit of extra energy. I'm one of those people who feel it when I use creatine, but I don't want to use too much of any supplement. I use glutamine in a similar way. And I use a multivitamin and take zinc magnesium at night.
What are some of the things you've had to give up to be a competitive bodybuilder?
Food for sure. Food is very social in the USA, and now that I'm not preparing for a competition I've found myself getting to go out to eat at restaurants with friends again and thinking, "Hey, this is fun."
When I was training, all I ate was plain things, grilled things with nothing on them—grilled chicken, grilled fish, grilled steak, and vegetables. And oatmeal and plain rice. Sounds good, doesn't it?
Do you think anyone can get into bodybuilding? And how would you suggest they get started if they can?
That's a funny question, because with all of my experience training people, I've heard it 100 times. The main answer is yes, anyone can get into bodybuilding. But can anybody put the discipline into what is necessary to change their body from something that is super, super skinny and they come from a skinny family and then turn into an Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of guy? Probably not. You have to look at yourself in the mirror and say, "Is this realistic or not?"
But even if you're super skinny or super overweight, I think bodybuilding is something that anyone can do. But I think that that is something that people into swimming, or triathlons, or any sport, think. A lot of [athletes] are very positive thinkers or goal-oriented people. Those people who are overweight or super skinny [need to understand that there is] a discipline to it and a goal setting to it and you have to self-motivate or find friends to motivate to get into it.
Being persistent and consistent over time is very mental. When I was 18, a lot of my motivation was vanity. As I've gotten older, however, it's switched much more to athleticism and to health. Goal setting is a big part of that.
How gay is bodybuilding? The sport seems to have an extreme reputation as very hetero and very homo at the same time.
In the amateur bodybuilding world, I think more people discuss this openly. From what I have heard, people at the pro level people talk about this much more covertly, so I really don't know. The sport is very heterosexually dominated in and around the competitions. With the people who organize the competitions and most of the guys who compete, it's very macho: "I've got girls, and I'm earning money, and I'm strong, and I could kick your ass." But there's also this homoeroticism about it, because you're on stage in a little Speedo with these hot guys, and you know that some of them have to be gay or bi-curious.
In the competitions I've been to or competed in, the atmosphere is heterosexual. The hetero definitely outweighs the homo.
Does being gay have any impact on you competing in sports?
When I was studying for my masters I read a survey of pro athletes in Europe, and they asked them if they would be comfortable if they had gay or lesbian people on their team, and the majority of them, I believe it was 85 percent, said that they wouldn't care, because is sports what you care about is how you perform, and are you good at what you do. So that's more of my own focus when I'm interacting with my buddies at the gym. Sure there's a social aspect, and you want to talk and find out what's going on with people, but there's a predominant focus on things like, "What are you doing to get your shoulders bigger?" and "How much can you bench press?" The whole performance part of it is predominant.
Do you think you're a competitive person?
Yes! I come from a family that would say they're not competitive, but they are. I'm more competitive with myself than with other people, though. I think I'm really motivated by accomplishments. I always want to focus on self-improvement.
Did you ever want to become a couch potato? And if so, how did you get through it?
You know, it's funny. I've dated a couple of overweight guys that I was into for other reasons, for their personalities. And it didn't really matter to me that they were 20 or 30 pounds overweight. For whatever reason—their demeanor—I was definitely attracted to them. And they were couch potatoes. And you date for a couple of months and you realize, Wow, our lifestyles are really different, and could I do that? I let myself go for a couple of weeks, and I feel this desire deep down to be physically active. I have this physical energy, and I just need to use it. I've realized that I wouldn't like to date a total couch potato, but I am learning to relax more, play video games, eat more pizza, M&Ms, watch TV, and drink more... all in moderation, of course.
Who is your favorite sports star, and why?
I really like a kicker for the New England Patriots named Adam Vinatieri, and [Green Bay Packers quarterback] Brett Favre. They're phenomenal athletes for one thing. Vinatieri is a well-rounded athlete, and he's the type of athlete who has the whole total athlete overall body approach. And they're both really great family men—they're really into their wife and kids, and they're into the community, and in all areas of life their both just solid people.
Joe Gervais, 32, lives in Redwood City, California. A former personal trainer with more than a mouthful of professional certifications—CSS, NASM, and USA Olympic Weightlifting, among others—he has been an avid weight lifter and all-around fitness fanatic for all of his adult life. Gervais recently began competing in natural bodybuilding competitions, enduring a grueling regimen of healthful eating, endless workouts, and a whole lot of practice posing. The reward? Third place in his class in his first competition. Real Jock sat down with Gervais to discuss his recent bodybuilding competition, his training philosophy, and what it feels like to stand in a tiny Speedo in front of tons of adoring spectators.
Have you always been a strong, athletic guy?
I like to say I come from a fat family, actually. My mom and dad are both on the chubby side, and of my six brothers and sisters, I would say three of my sisters are clinically obese.
When I was younger I played baseball, soccer, and a little bit of football. When you're young and chubby like I was, you don't necessarily notice that [you're chubby], because everyone is just competitive about who is better at what.
When I went through high school I didn't do a lot of sports the first couple of years, but then I joined the swim team, and that was when I started getting this reality that my family was heavy, and that if I wanted to get and stay lean and fit I needed to do something about it. So I got into the swimming, and then got really into the bodybuilding in college. Once I started weightlifting, I noticed that I'm definitely genetically more able and stronger than the average person.
Describe your first bodybuilding competition. Were you nervous?
My first bodybuilding competition was in the East Bay, through a natural organization called the World Natural Bodybuilding Association.
During my mid-twenties, I worked out with the mentality of a bodybuilder, but I sort of thought, "Ah, I'll never actually do one." And then once I made the mental decision that I was going to do one, I really prepared for about 16 months or so, lifting incredibly heavy weights, and working out with a group of buddies who were all bigger, stronger, and more knowledgeable than me. We would train really hardcore, and I was eating consistently. I went from about 170 to 195 pounds in about a six- to eight-month period. And I was eating about 4,000 calories a day of totally healthy food, like chicken and beef and fish and broccoli and asparagus, eating every couple of hours, and I put on all of that weight.
The training was intense, and I dieted for the last 10 weeks, and that was a lot of hard work. I had a buddy who I was preparing with, my buddy Daniel, who is straight, and he had never competed also, but he has more friends who are bodybuilders, and had been to a lot of the bodybuilding competitions, so he knew a lot more about the posing. So starting about six weeks before the show, we would practice the posing routines, and he taught he how to do some of the poses, like front double biceps, front lat spread, rear lat spread, and side chest, and I picked my music. When it got time to do the competition, I was nervous, but you spend so much time getting ready for it that you're just ready to go.
Do you plan on doing more competitions?
I was going to one last May, but it ended up conflicting with my new sales job, literally by a day. I made the decision only two weeks before the competition, and I was totally ready to go, but with my new job I just couldn't do it. Now I'm thinking I'll wait a year or two before my next competition, because I'm focusing on work right now. But I'm still training hard.
Describe your workout regimen for the competition?
You can go online and you can look at all of the bodybuilding forums, and everyone has a different approach. You talk to 10 guys and you get 10 different answers. You have to understand that your body is a biological tissue. We all come from different family backgrounds and have different DNA. If you're stressed you have different stress hormones running through your body, and if you're getting deep sleep you get more growth hormones. So there's all of these different things going on that affect you.
So what I would do is about eight weeks out, I would do cardio two hours per day—one hour in the morning and one in the evening—and one hour to one hour and half of weight training mid-day. I was able to do that three or four days per week, and the other days I was still doing my weight training the other days and 20 to 30 minutes of cardio.
As I got closer to the actual competition, I dropped my workout from 90 percent heavy to 40 percent heavy, and I would try to go slower, doing less weight and higher repetitions to bring out the definition.
Another thing I did was the posing routines. They would say you should pose every day for 20 to 30 minutes each day, starting eight weeks out. You'd think that the posing is just sitting up there squeezing your muscles, but it's hard. You're trying to do a front double biceps, but you have to be up there squeezing your calves and your quads and your glutes—all of your muscles all of the time. You get your heart rate up, and you start sweating. It's a lot of work.
Did you use any supplements when you were training?
I would use different types of protein shakes. Sometimes I would spend the extra money and get a really high quality one, and do all of the research behind whether it's a slow-burning protein or a fast-burning protein, if it's better at night, better in the morning, and so on. I would get into that sometimes, but mostly I would just rotate in different kinds of protein shakes, and I focused mostly on whole foods.
I also use creatine, but my approach to creatine is to use it two or three times per year for an eight- to 12-week period, to kind of help me get a little bit of extra energy. I'm one of those people who feel it when I use creatine, but I don't want to use too much of any supplement. I use glutamine in a similar way. And I use a multivitamin and take zinc magnesium at night.
What are some of the things you've had to give up to be a competitive bodybuilder?
Food for sure. Food is very social in the USA, and now that I'm not preparing for a competition I've found myself getting to go out to eat at restaurants with friends again and thinking, "Hey, this is fun."
When I was training, all I ate was plain things, grilled things with nothing on them—grilled chicken, grilled fish, grilled steak, and vegetables. And oatmeal and plain rice. Sounds good, doesn't it?
Do you think anyone can get into bodybuilding? And how would you suggest they get started if they can?
That's a funny question, because with all of my experience training people, I've heard it 100 times. The main answer is yes, anyone can get into bodybuilding. But can anybody put the discipline into what is necessary to change their body from something that is super, super skinny and they come from a skinny family and then turn into an Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of guy? Probably not. You have to look at yourself in the mirror and say, "Is this realistic or not?"
But even if you're super skinny or super overweight, I think bodybuilding is something that anyone can do. But I think that that is something that people into swimming, or triathlons, or any sport, think. A lot of [athletes] are very positive thinkers or goal-oriented people. Those people who are overweight or super skinny [need to understand that there is] a discipline to it and a goal setting to it and you have to self-motivate or find friends to motivate to get into it.
Being persistent and consistent over time is very mental. When I was 18, a lot of my motivation was vanity. As I've gotten older, however, it's switched much more to athleticism and to health. Goal setting is a big part of that.
How gay is bodybuilding? The sport seems to have an extreme reputation as very hetero and very homo at the same time.
In the amateur bodybuilding world, I think more people discuss this openly. From what I have heard, people at the pro level people talk about this much more covertly, so I really don't know. The sport is very heterosexually dominated in and around the competitions. With the people who organize the competitions and most of the guys who compete, it's very macho: "I've got girls, and I'm earning money, and I'm strong, and I could kick your ass." But there's also this homoeroticism about it, because you're on stage in a little Speedo with these hot guys, and you know that some of them have to be gay or bi-curious.
In the competitions I've been to or competed in, the atmosphere is heterosexual. The hetero definitely outweighs the homo.
Does being gay have any impact on you competing in sports?
When I was studying for my masters I read a survey of pro athletes in Europe, and they asked them if they would be comfortable if they had gay or lesbian people on their team, and the majority of them, I believe it was 85 percent, said that they wouldn't care, because is sports what you care about is how you perform, and are you good at what you do. So that's more of my own focus when I'm interacting with my buddies at the gym. Sure there's a social aspect, and you want to talk and find out what's going on with people, but there's a predominant focus on things like, "What are you doing to get your shoulders bigger?" and "How much can you bench press?" The whole performance part of it is predominant.
Do you think you're a competitive person?
Yes! I come from a family that would say they're not competitive, but they are. I'm more competitive with myself than with other people, though. I think I'm really motivated by accomplishments. I always want to focus on self-improvement.
Did you ever want to become a couch potato? And if so, how did you get through it?
You know, it's funny. I've dated a couple of overweight guys that I was into for other reasons, for their personalities. And it didn't really matter to me that they were 20 or 30 pounds overweight. For whatever reason—their demeanor—I was definitely attracted to them. And they were couch potatoes. And you date for a couple of months and you realize, Wow, our lifestyles are really different, and could I do that? I let myself go for a couple of weeks, and I feel this desire deep down to be physically active. I have this physical energy, and I just need to use it. I've realized that I wouldn't like to date a total couch potato, but I am learning to relax more, play video games, eat more pizza, M&Ms, watch TV, and drink more... all in moderation, of course.
Who is your favorite sports star, and why?
I really like a kicker for the New England Patriots named Adam Vinatieri, and [Green Bay Packers quarterback] Brett Favre. They're phenomenal athletes for one thing. Vinatieri is a well-rounded athlete, and he's the type of athlete who has the whole total athlete overall body approach. And they're both really great family men—they're really into their wife and kids, and they're into the community, and in all areas of life their both just solid people.
