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I also wanted that experience to help me get into the FBI.” I wanted to get out of get out of Iowa and build my own life.

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I wanted to do it for a series of reasons. I waited a year before signing up in the delayed enlistment program because my parents wanted me to do so, but I didn’t change my mind. “For whatever reason the military popped in my head when I was 14. So that’s when I decided I was going to do the Phil Heath and I was good at it. It was just a local military show but I loved it. So I looked her up and found her, I got hold of her, and I started prep with her and I did a show here. And I went and I was like ‘I am doing it.’ That’s it. As soon as I got here, they had a body building show on base.

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She was a pro bodybuilder, and she actually lived on the island because her husband worked at Torii gym. When I got to Japan from Korea, that’s when I met my coach. But I was never in a place that I could really focus on bodybuilding. I would see the girls in the magazines that were muscular, super lean, and super in-shape. I’ve always lifted, so I had a pretty solid base of what to work off of. “I played sports since I was five years old. Now I am gaining back weight so that I can gain more muscle in my off season before I am constantly cutting to get leaner.” Now I am off prep, I do it three times a week. I would do an hour and a half of cardio a day when I am in prep. “For the training purposes for the gym, no. Is there any transition between regular training and the preparation leading up to a competition? I have to travel 28 hours to go to a show where other people only take a two hour drive flight.” Because I am not in the States, I don’t get the door open for as many sponsorships as I would if I was in the States. (For a solution) we often get creative and come up with our own recipes.

Number two would be food or lack of access to food tailored for bodybuilders, which is probably the most important. I bounce around gyms because they don’t always have the right equipment. What difficulties do you encounter when training on Okinawa?

I did it in two shows and a half a year of competing.” There are people that literally work their entire life and never get a pro-card. You have to qualify in a national qualifier.

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Being a card holder also opens up doors to sponsorships so that I can start getting paid or start getting free clothing, supplements and (C-creative) protein.” The Olympia is the Super Bowl of bodybuilding. “It basically means that now that I am a pro, I can compete at the pro-level, which can lead to competing at the Olympia. My husband, who is a bodybuilder too, helped me in every step of the way.” It is mentally, physically, emotionally hard to get to that low of body fat level. I was in prep over the holidays, which is probably the hardest part as not being able to have thanksgiving dinner and Christmas Dinner. And I placed second in Physique, and third in Figure in the biggest show in NPC history. “That was my first national show in the states. Tell us about your achievement at the Phil Heath Classic in Houston in March of 2015. It’s all worth the sacrifice, being on the stage and winning.” It’s just me working on my body and having that willpower. I guess the feeling of being on the stage and being able to show everything I worked so hard for, and knowing that I did it all myself. It is so hard, people can’t do it for very long. “Only 1% of the population even does bodybuilding. What is it that keeps you bodybuilding, which seems to me to be all about tolerating pain? At least, that’s what I learned through interviewing her. Her words are worth listening to, not only for those who struggle to stick to their fitness goals, but also those who hope to better their lives, because bodybuilding is more than just building muscle. Marx sat down with Stars and Stripes to discuss life as a bodybuilder in the military. Despite the lack of resources, she has been able to maintain her drive, and can now call herself a pro. Marx knew early on that she wanted to join the military, but the bodybuilding plan didn’t come until she landed in Japan.

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“Willpower” would be the word to sum up the story of TSgt Riley Marx, who achieved her goal of becoming a professional bodybuilder while working as a military working dog trainer.

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