Issaquah sophomore competing in Emerald Cup bodybuilding show | Sports feature

Published 1:38 pm Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Three years ago it would have been difficult to pick Robbie Johnson out of a group of his peers. The then 12-year-old was slightly built and basically average size for his age.

None of those things are true today.

Three years after joining his father Rob at the gym as a workout partner and just a week removed from his 16th birthday, Robbie will take part in his first bodybuilding competition at the Emerald Cup at Bellevue’s Meydenbauer Center.

He will compete in the Juniors division, which is for ages 13-20.

“I had no aspirations of him being a bodybuilder,” the elder Johnson said. “I thought it may help him with football, but he made such incredible gains he ended up asking me if there were competitions for teenagers.”

So for the past three years, father and son have spent hours training together every day at Gold’s Gym in Issaquah. The pair rises around 5:30 a.m. on weekdays for an hour of cardiovascular work before returning home so Robbie can get in a meal before school.

He packs three more to take along and eats a total of six meals in a given day, mostly fish and broccoli unless he is in a weight gain cycle, when he would trend towards more red meat, potatoes and other starches.

“Everything looks good when you’re on the diet,” Robbie said. “It’s hard to give it all up but in the end it will be worth it.”

After school and another quick meal, Robbie and his father are back at Gold’s for a weight lifting session, which is followed by dinner, homework and a night of sleep before doing it all again the following day.

The intensity has steadily grown as the competition has crept closer and the elder Johnson said he hopes the years of preparation can serve his son beyond the stage as well.

Despite the common notion that bodybuilding is tied with steroids and only unseemly methods are commonplace in the industry, Rob was adamant that keeping his son a natural bodybuilder was far more important than an award at a show, even one as big as Emerald Cup.

“He’s growing so well on his own and at his age his body is pumping out enough testosterone as it is,” Rob said. “For guys that want to do it, that’s fine. But that’s not what I want for my son.”