Former Redhawks linebacker wins bodybuilding competition

~ Sterling dropped 29 pounds to compete in the Show-Me Naturals.

As a Southeast Missouri State linebacker from 1994 through 1998, Terrance Sterling used to feed off the roar of the crowd every time he made a big play.

Sterling, a Cape Girardeau native who still lives here, said he felt the same rush June 23 when he won the first bodybuilding competition he ever entered.

The 31-year-old Sterling not only captured the light-heavyweight title at the Show-Me Naturals, he also came away with the overall crown after winning a pose-off among all the weight division winners.

The Show-Me Naturals, held at Pattonville High School in St. Louis, is billed as the nation's largest novice drug-free bodybuilding contest.

"It was pretty darn good. It was right up there with it," said Sterling, comparing his bodybuilding accomplishment to success on the gridiron. "It's the same thing, to have the crowd roaring, rooting you on. It's exciting."

Sterling, a 1994 Central High School graduate, said he has been interested in exercise and fitness for as long as he can remember.

That led to him earning an exercise science degree from Southeast -- where he battled injuries throughout his football career but was primarily a starter when healthy -- and to him always keeping his body in impressive condition.

"I've always loved to exercise," Sterling said. "Even in high school, I was always interested in fitness. Lifting, running, taking my body to the limit."

And, although Sterling figured it was just a matter of time before he got into competitive bodybuilding, it took a nudge from a former college football teammate to finally get him over the hump.

Sterling, who works as a personal trainer at Fitness Plus -- part of the Saint Francis Medical Center's Health and Wellness Center -- was working out with ex-Southeast fullback Britt Mirgaux, who heads up the Acceleration Program at Saint Francis.

"It was always in the back of my mind and I figured it was just a matter of time before I did it, but being married and having kids, you're always busy," said Sterling, who has four children ages 2 to 14 with his wife Lorrie. "But me and Britt were working out together and he was like, 'You need to go ahead and do that.'

"So I decided, I'm not getting any younger, I'm going to go ahead and do it."

Sterling was already plenty cut, but he knew he needed to get even more defined to win a competition like the Show-Me Naturals.

Twelve weeks before the contest, Sterling said he weighed 210 pounds and had 13 percent body fat, which is already plenty low.

During the weigh-in the morning of the contest, Sterling said he tipped the scale at 181 pounds -- the light-heavyweight division spans 176 1/4 pounds to 198 pounds -- and had about 3 to 4 percent body fat.

"I really started watching what I was eating. I had it narrowed down to a tee," Sterling said. "Every day I had 40 to 50 grams of protein, 25 to 30 grams of carbs and 10 to 12 grams of fat."

Sterling said he would typically eat five or six small meals daily during those 12 weeks. The meals would consist of things like cottage cheese, egg whites, fish, sweet potatoes, fruit and whole grain bread.

"It was boring, but it's what it took to do it," said Sterling, who added with a smile, "I would have cravings every day, for pizza, cheesecake, the things I really love to eat."

In addition to his diet, Sterling would work out intensely several hours per day, focusing of weights and cardio, although he cut out most of the cardio about two weeks before the contest.

Sterling said the final week prior to the competition also consisted of plenty of "water manipulation" to make sure all excess fluids would be drained from his body.

"The Sunday through Wednesday before the contest I overloaded my sodium intake and at the same time overloaded with water, drinking about eight quarts a day," he said. "That Thursday and Friday, I went from an overload of sodium to very little and went from eight quarts of water a day to about one quart.

"Then at 11:30 that Friday night, I stopped drinking water. The whole day of the contest, during the morning weigh-in and pre-judging and during the night posing, I only drank water when I was really thirsty, and not very much."

Sterling, who partially credits good genes and hard work for his instant bodybuilding success -- "good genes help, but even good genes won't win the competition" -- isn't sure whether he was surprised by the victory.

"Maybe a little, but I knew I had a chance, because when you put the work in -- and I put the work in -- I just knew I could do it," he said.

And one of the first things he did upon leaving the stage following his triumph?

Pig out, of course.

"That night after the contest, I got chicken wings, a large pizza, four doughnuts, two cookies and some milk," he said, laughing. "I've been treating myself ever since, but that will stop pretty soon."

After all, he now has been bitten by the bodybuilding bug.

"There's another show in October in Kansas that I'll probably go to," he said. "I love it and I want to keep with it."