Paul Gregory
Growing up as a drummer, the hard work and physical demands of playing an aggressive style of music, not only kept Rob lean and muscular, but also laid the ground work for his future love of body building. "It was really a natural progression. I always pushed myself as a drummer, so pushing myself in the gym was second nature".
Not setting out to compete as a bodybuilder, Rob just enjoyed training and achieving his goals in the gym, but when his training partner decided to compete, he dragged Rob down to BodyWorx Hardcore gym in Paterson, NJ to train for bodybuilding.
A trainer took me into his office and asked to take a look at me. So I reluctantly took my shirt off (I would soon get over that reluctance) and he told me he wanted me to do a competition later that year. I told him I wasn't interested in competing. When he asked me why, I muttered something about skimpy draws and he laughed, "It's not like you will be wearing posing trunks at the Wal-Mart down the street. You will be at an event, with fans of the sport. Trust me, if you listen to me and everything goes wel,l I promise you the day of the show the last thing you will be worried about will be your trunks." He was right! Rob took second that year (2003) in the novice light heavyweight at both the Gold's Classic and The East Coast Championships. Now he had the bodybuilding bug.
Rob spent the entire year eating a huge, clean offseason diet and training heavy to gain weight. When all was said and done, he added 14 pounds to his competition weight. This time he won the overall novice and took second in the open heavyweight division at both the East Coast Championships and the infamously tough Eastern USA in NYC qualifying him for the NPC Nationals in Dallas, TX.
"That trainer told me I should go to the Nationals because he said I would get noticed. So I went. I didn't crack top 15, but I met my agent Adam Silver and the rest just fell into place from there."
Rob did his first photo shoot a month after the2004 NPC Nationals and since then he's been on Saturday Night Live twice, Guiding Light and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He plays a recurring character in the Grand Theft Auto video game. He appeared in Vogue magazine, and Muscle and Fitness has used him a couple dozen times or so including two covers, one in Spain!
"It's been an amazing ride. I have had so much fun and so many great people have helped me out along the way. I would never have imagined that just from training hard and focusing on the positive things, so many unbelievable things could happen..."
Rob has since started competing again and so far in 2009, he has taken first place in the NJ Suburban, 3rd place in the Atlantic States and a very respectable 4th in the Jr. Nationals in Chicago! He won the overall at the 2009 NPC East Coast Championships.
Not setting out to compete as a bodybuilder, Rob just enjoyed training and achieving his goals in the gym, but when his training partner decided to compete, he dragged Rob down to BodyWorx Hardcore gym in Paterson, NJ to train for bodybuilding.
A trainer took me into his office and asked to take a look at me. So I reluctantly took my shirt off (I would soon get over that reluctance) and he told me he wanted me to do a competition later that year. I told him I wasn't interested in competing. When he asked me why, I muttered something about skimpy draws and he laughed, "It's not like you will be wearing posing trunks at the Wal-Mart down the street. You will be at an event, with fans of the sport. Trust me, if you listen to me and everything goes wel,l I promise you the day of the show the last thing you will be worried about will be your trunks." He was right! Rob took second that year (2003) in the novice light heavyweight at both the Gold's Classic and The East Coast Championships. Now he had the bodybuilding bug.
Rob spent the entire year eating a huge, clean offseason diet and training heavy to gain weight. When all was said and done, he added 14 pounds to his competition weight. This time he won the overall novice and took second in the open heavyweight division at both the East Coast Championships and the infamously tough Eastern USA in NYC qualifying him for the NPC Nationals in Dallas, TX.
"That trainer told me I should go to the Nationals because he said I would get noticed. So I went. I didn't crack top 15, but I met my agent Adam Silver and the rest just fell into place from there."
Rob did his first photo shoot a month after the2004 NPC Nationals and since then he's been on Saturday Night Live twice, Guiding Light and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He plays a recurring character in the Grand Theft Auto video game. He appeared in Vogue magazine, and Muscle and Fitness has used him a couple dozen times or so including two covers, one in Spain!
"It's been an amazing ride. I have had so much fun and so many great people have helped me out along the way. I would never have imagined that just from training hard and focusing on the positive things, so many unbelievable things could happen..."
Rob has since started competing again and so far in 2009, he has taken first place in the NJ Suburban, 3rd place in the Atlantic States and a very respectable 4th in the Jr. Nationals in Chicago! He won the overall at the 2009 NPC East Coast Championships.