Warsaw’s Seitner Sets Ever Changing Fitness Goals
August 5, 2016 at 11:51 p.m.
By David [email protected]
On July 23 in Tampa, Fla., the 2008 Warsaw Community High School graduate took first place at the World Beauty Fitness & Fashion Tampa show.
After it was announced he had won, Seitner said his first thought was, “I’m ready for the next goal. I’ve accomplished that goal. Now I’m ready for the next, which is to compete in the Worlds, which is the same thing as the Olympia, they just called it something different.”
The Worlds are in Toronto in three to four weeks, he said, but he won’t be competing in them this year. He’s focusing on magazines and will fly to Florida or Las Vegas for photo shoots.
For winning first at Tampa, he received his pro card and the opportunity to be published and promoted by WBFF.
“So they do a lot of fit magazines. A lot of our girls are actually like Victoria Secret models,” Seitner said.
WBFF is all about promoting its athletes and works really hard to do that, he said.
When Seitner does compete at Worlds, he said he wants to be sure that when he walks on stage he places in the top 10.
“I don’t want no doubt in my mind,” he said, sitting in his manager’s office at Anytime Fitness.
To prepare, he said he’ll be putting in many hours and lots of hard work in the gym.
“The motivation of winning this last show is higher than ever, so I’m definitely going to use that for good advantage, pushing myself in the gym,” Seitner said.
Since not everyone knows what the WBFF is or about its competitions, Seitner explained it, saying, “We have two different themes. The first theme, us guys have to walk out into a ‘T’ walk, just like a fashion show pretty much, except we’re in our European swimwear.”
In the T walk, competitors do a front pose, but it has to be fashionable, not like a bodybuilder. Many people are watching each contestant.
“You have four spots to hit on the stage, that’s why they call it a T walk. So you hit your first ‘X’ – you walk onto the stage from the side, then you hit your first X. You go straight from there, hit another pose, walk to the right, hit another pose, walk back all cross the stage to the left, hit a pose, and you do multiple turns just like you’d see on a runway. (It’s) pretty much a runway,” he stated.
Contestants supply their own swimwear and other gear.
“At night, for the awards, we have what they call an ‘I’ walk. It’s just literally a straight walk and you wear a really nice suit to hopefully accept your award in if you place in the top five,” he said.
As for being nervous, Seitner said, “There’s always a little bit of being nervous, I’d say, just because you work so hard and you’re thinking about what the judges are thinking about, and thinking about your moves. But overall, I think I was really confident.”
In announcing the winners, the top five are announced, with the top three receiving trophies.
“There’s always a battle between you and someone else. It’s usually after you hear the second-place guy that you obviously know it’s you,” Seitner said. “You never honestly know.”
He traveled to the Florida competition chasing after his pro card.
“It’s no different than like, I would say, pro basketball players. You’re a national level contestant. People compete all over the world for this to get big sponsorships and modeling stuff for magazines. The big thing is promoting magazines,” Seitner explained.
He started out in physique competitions but then changed federations, moving from National Physique Committee to WBFF.
“We wear a little bit different (attire). We just show our legs. We’re just like men’s physique, they call us fitness models, and we just wear short trunks. Not bodybuilding style. It’s called European swimwear. It’s just fashion swimwear that I would say is like boxer briefs,” he explained about the WBFF.
This is his second year in competing in WBFF, and competed two years in NPC.
In 2015 he competed in an NPC contest called the Europa Games.
“It was called a fitness model search. I won that in Orlando, Fla., and then they flew me out to Phoenix, Ariz., to compete for a 2016 Camaro or $20,000. And I placed second there,” Seitner recalled.
For his second place, he received a handful of goodie bags.
At a Natural Fit contest last year, he placed fourth in that out of 75 men and won $400.
Seitner is engaged to Lisa Becks, a biomedical engineer, and they’re both really into fitness. They have a business together, J&L Fitness Pros, an online website.
“We specialize in nutrition and workouts in the gym, at home, wherever is best for the client. We have clients that compete. Clients that are pregnant. Our client base ranges,” he said.
They will be married Dec. 17.
On July 23 in Tampa, Fla., the 2008 Warsaw Community High School graduate took first place at the World Beauty Fitness & Fashion Tampa show.
After it was announced he had won, Seitner said his first thought was, “I’m ready for the next goal. I’ve accomplished that goal. Now I’m ready for the next, which is to compete in the Worlds, which is the same thing as the Olympia, they just called it something different.”
The Worlds are in Toronto in three to four weeks, he said, but he won’t be competing in them this year. He’s focusing on magazines and will fly to Florida or Las Vegas for photo shoots.
For winning first at Tampa, he received his pro card and the opportunity to be published and promoted by WBFF.
“So they do a lot of fit magazines. A lot of our girls are actually like Victoria Secret models,” Seitner said.
WBFF is all about promoting its athletes and works really hard to do that, he said.
When Seitner does compete at Worlds, he said he wants to be sure that when he walks on stage he places in the top 10.
“I don’t want no doubt in my mind,” he said, sitting in his manager’s office at Anytime Fitness.
To prepare, he said he’ll be putting in many hours and lots of hard work in the gym.
“The motivation of winning this last show is higher than ever, so I’m definitely going to use that for good advantage, pushing myself in the gym,” Seitner said.
Since not everyone knows what the WBFF is or about its competitions, Seitner explained it, saying, “We have two different themes. The first theme, us guys have to walk out into a ‘T’ walk, just like a fashion show pretty much, except we’re in our European swimwear.”
In the T walk, competitors do a front pose, but it has to be fashionable, not like a bodybuilder. Many people are watching each contestant.
“You have four spots to hit on the stage, that’s why they call it a T walk. So you hit your first ‘X’ – you walk onto the stage from the side, then you hit your first X. You go straight from there, hit another pose, walk to the right, hit another pose, walk back all cross the stage to the left, hit a pose, and you do multiple turns just like you’d see on a runway. (It’s) pretty much a runway,” he stated.
Contestants supply their own swimwear and other gear.
“At night, for the awards, we have what they call an ‘I’ walk. It’s just literally a straight walk and you wear a really nice suit to hopefully accept your award in if you place in the top five,” he said.
As for being nervous, Seitner said, “There’s always a little bit of being nervous, I’d say, just because you work so hard and you’re thinking about what the judges are thinking about, and thinking about your moves. But overall, I think I was really confident.”
In announcing the winners, the top five are announced, with the top three receiving trophies.
“There’s always a battle between you and someone else. It’s usually after you hear the second-place guy that you obviously know it’s you,” Seitner said. “You never honestly know.”
He traveled to the Florida competition chasing after his pro card.
“It’s no different than like, I would say, pro basketball players. You’re a national level contestant. People compete all over the world for this to get big sponsorships and modeling stuff for magazines. The big thing is promoting magazines,” Seitner explained.
He started out in physique competitions but then changed federations, moving from National Physique Committee to WBFF.
“We wear a little bit different (attire). We just show our legs. We’re just like men’s physique, they call us fitness models, and we just wear short trunks. Not bodybuilding style. It’s called European swimwear. It’s just fashion swimwear that I would say is like boxer briefs,” he explained about the WBFF.
This is his second year in competing in WBFF, and competed two years in NPC.
In 2015 he competed in an NPC contest called the Europa Games.
“It was called a fitness model search. I won that in Orlando, Fla., and then they flew me out to Phoenix, Ariz., to compete for a 2016 Camaro or $20,000. And I placed second there,” Seitner recalled.
For his second place, he received a handful of goodie bags.
At a Natural Fit contest last year, he placed fourth in that out of 75 men and won $400.
Seitner is engaged to Lisa Becks, a biomedical engineer, and they’re both really into fitness. They have a business together, J&L Fitness Pros, an online website.
“We specialize in nutrition and workouts in the gym, at home, wherever is best for the client. We have clients that compete. Clients that are pregnant. Our client base ranges,” he said.
They will be married Dec. 17.
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