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Make Sh!t Happen is excited to have Israel Hernandez join the team. His addition as Pro Body Builder is exactly what is needed. Join us in following his Adventures, Podcasts and Conversations and I am sure that he will post his competition shots in the Gallery.……Margie and Secily Co-everything’s. (MargsPod Productions LLC)
2018. The Bronx NY. Sitting on the same steps as I sat with my dad so many years ago.
As a kid growing up in the Bronx I was very active playing sports. Watching Bruce Lee Movies with my mom was my favorite “down time” and it made we want to learn Karate.
One day, I think I was about 8 years old, I was walking down 149th street , I heard loud noises that made me venture upstairs to see what was going on. There I noticed kids with discipline and determination encouraged by their teacher of Karate, Master Hawk Frazier.
I started participating in classes becoming a 3 time Karate Champion from 1989 - 1993.
Karate Kid!!
My dad was a huge fan of Baseball. We would sit down together and watch the New York Mets play. I was a fan of Keith Hernandez. I remember my dad buying me a New York Yankee baseball kids uniform…..that made me want to play baseball. I wanted to play for Porta Colei which was a name of a church in Puerto Rico. The team was based in the Bronx….I remember trying out for the team. Actually, I was not planning on trying out it was my cousin Danny however, he did not want to play alone so I decided to step in and try out. I got picked. It is such a vivid memory on how proud my dad was of me especially, playing for his home town team.
Things were great…we won State Championship in New York and I was doing awesome competing in Karate. I stayed busy as a kid, it kept me off the streets.
1990, Halloween night I was at a Karate school Halloween Party. I was dressed as the Ultimate Warrior excited to show my dad my costume.
My Aunt Evelyn picked me up that night. I immediately thought something had happened to both my mom and dad. I remember her walking down the steps, opening the car door and hearing the words “your father died tonight.”
Angry and hurt, tears of despair I wondered who now was going to teach me to be a man.
My dad, my mentor, my friend.
My mom was and still is a huge inspiration to me. She became Mom and Dad. She worked 2 jobs to support both my sister and me.
Years passed, sports became something of the past. My dad had been my mentor, my friend and my dad who I loved. There did not seem to be any reason to play sports anymore…he was gone.
I would do anything to have my dad back for him to see the man he raised.
Walking past a news-stand one day I noticed a magazine with a picture of a “huge guy”…it was Arnold Schwarzenegger ..the greatest body builder of all time (as far as I was concerned). On a whim I purchased the magazine and spent the next few hours reading EVERY word of his many accomplishments. Interestingly, I was more inspired by his personal life values……I wanted to follow in Arnolds footsteps.
My family did not believe in or understand bodybuilding but I did. At 16 years old I worked at a local powerhouse gym cleaning the gym for free membership. The owner said to me that I had potential to be a competitive bodybuilder. I thought that strange as I was a very skinny kid. He said I had great genetics to build solid muscle IF I trained religiously and that there was a teenage bodybuilding competition that I should enter.
From Skinny Kid to Champion.
Skip Sylvester was Mr. America and one of the best personal trainers in the gym. I told him I was going to enter the competition. I did have one big problem…my moms signature! She did not hesitate to say NO. Plan B…..coach signed as my parent.
My mom. My world.
My first competition I won 4th place. A medal and I was hooked. I became the NPC teenage champion. From there I entered the open Men’s Division.
Fast forward to 2018. I won my IFBB Pro Card becoming a Professional Mens Bodybuilder.
I feel the thrill of competition exactly the same as I felt sitting on the steps with my dad listening to the New York Mets Play for the Championship.
There is the added thrill now, as a Pro and mentor to be able to pass on the lessons I have learned.
