James Kohler

I started in martial arts when I was fourteen and quickly advanced to black belt status in Tae Kwon Do. I owe a lot of my discipline and determination to that individual sport. At fifteen years old, I became the Wisconsin State Champion of Tae Kwon Do with a mere 125-pound frame. I wanted to begin working out with weights to build size and strength for competing at future tournaments. Back then, I had no idea as to what to do. We had a book by Bill Pearl and some weights in our basement and that’s it. I started training on my own until I met a local man known for his supreme and masculine build. We made a deal. He would teach me how to train with weights correctly in exchange for me teaching him Tae Kwon Do.

I began training with him at his home gym. It wasn’t long before I started noticing changes. During the first year of training I gained a solid 25 pounds of muscle. My body responded very quickly and I knew that I had found my passion. I became obsessed with working out and wanted to learn more each day. I then discovered Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding at a bookstore. It opened my eyes to the sport of bodybuilding and I became fascinated with it. I decided to no longer compete in Tae Kwon Do and focused only on bodybuilding at sixteen years old.

I began to workout religiously and even took protein shakes and sandwiches to high school so I could eat between classes. By the time I graduated high school I weighed 215 pounds and had 18-inch arms. Classmates respected me for my transformation; it was a wonderful feeling to have.

The summer after I graduated, I watched the documentary (Pumping Iron) that made Arnold famous. It inspired me to want to be a competitive bodybuilder and I moved to Southern California to pursue my dream.

I became a certified personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and helped other people with their training goals. Working at various health clubs allowed me gain a considerable amount of insight on training. After living out on the west coast for a couple years, I decided to go back to Wisconsin in order to further my education. I worked for a GNC throughout college which gave me vast amount of knowledge in supplementation and nutrition.

At twenty years old, I decided it was time to compete. The first show I entered was the NPC Mr. Wisconsin competition in 1999. I posed to a song from the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack and had no help with choreographing my posing routine. So I imitated Arnold’s posing style from pictures that were printed of him. People at the show commented on my resemblance to Arnold. I finished third place in the super-heavyweight division, Art Atwood won the division and is now an IFBB pro bodybuilder. After accepting my trophy, the promoter announced that “he’ll be back”.

I continued on with my bodybuilding regimen and made improvements in size and conditioning. I competed in six more bodybuilding competitions throughout my college studies at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. After competing in several different organizations, I decided to train for the Mr. Wisconsin contest again in 2004. I became the crowd favorite that night and easily won my weight division.

I soon graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology with a minor in Business and I felt like it was time to move back to sunny California and pursue my bodybuilding career. I started my own small business and began training at a Powerhouse Gym. It was a great environment to train at and I learned so much from other bodybuilders working out there.

In November 2005, I entered the Musclemania World competition in Hollywood, California. There were hundreds of athletes from all over the world competing at this show. Bodybuilders represented such countries as Italy, Argentina, Japan, Germany, Hungry, Mexico, Canada, South Africa, France, Bahrain, New Zealand and many others. I wasn’t sure how I would stack up against the competition on stage. The judges looked for muscle mass, symmetry, conditioning and posing presentation.

The M.C. announced the placing one by one and I kept waiting for my name to get called. Finally, he announced me as the heavyweight class winner and I ended up realizing a lifetime goal. I earned a pro card in bodybuilding. I couldn’t believe that I won, it was like a dream come true. The victory opened several doors for me within the bodybuilding and fitness modeling industries.

Fitness magazine casting directors and photographers took more notice of me. Muscle & Fitness did a photo shoot with me for a bicep featurette. I had the opportunity to shoot with the famous photographer, Irvin Gelb, at Gold's Gym Venice for Musclemag International. Several other photographers and fitness companies in Southern California began working with me and my image. I even had the chance to guest pose at a high school bodybuilding competition.

After turning pro with Musclemania, I created my own personal website with the help of Foundation 7, jameskohler.com. The recognition I have received from the site has been remarkable and has helped me network within the bodybuilding and fitness industries tremendously. I am able to use the website as a tool to help other bodybuilding athletes attain their goals. Since then, I have also begun to write bodybuilding articles for bodybuilding.com in order to help others.

In early 2007, California Sate University Northridge accepted me into their graduate Kinesiology program with a concentration in exercise physiology. I will be completing my thesis work there and graduating with my Masters degree in the summer of 2008. I currently teach at CSUN by instructing strength training courses. Becoming a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) has greatly benefited my teaching and writing skills.

I had the opportunity to film a bodybuilding documentary in Santa Monica, California. The documentary covers all my training, posing instruction, interviews on several bodybuilding topics including; nutrition, supplementation, training philosophies, etc. and even footage of competitions I competed in for 2007. The primary goal with the DVD, Sculpted by Choice, is to help educate and motivate aspiring bodybuilders and gym goers of the mainstream population.

After competing in a couple NPC events in 2007, the Arnold Amateur and Junior California, I decided to enter a show that evened the playing field- the 2007 Mr. Natural California. The show is drug-tested and requires you to be natural. I won the heavyweight class and was awarded the overall title. I was absolutely thrilled about this victory; I had never won an overall title before, only my weight division. The audience also voted me as best poser. It was fantastic to receive that award as well because I practice my posing everyday while preparing for a show, while many athletes overlook it all together. The overall win qualified me to turn professional with the NGA drug-tested organization.

I may make my pro debuts with both drug-tested organizations in 2008. My goal is to take my physique to a higher level each year by increasing my muscle mass, without losing my aesthetics, improving my conditioning and symmetry. I look forward to competing throughout my 30’s and hopefully attaining a sponsorship of some kind. I want to continue to extend my knowledge of exercise science throughout my lifetime and share my passion with others.