It’s not unusual for young boys to say they want want to be firefighters or Policemen when they grow up, but Ron Magnum always knew he wanted to be a bodybuilder.

Mr. Magnum became a champion and now he and his wife Karen are the proud owners of the newly expanded Magnum Power Force Gym on Church Street.

Mr. Magnum, 50, began with weights when he was only six years old, while Mrs. Magnum spent her early years with dance and swimming.

Asked how he got into weight training, when most little boys at that time would have wanted a Tonka truck or a guitar, he explained: “I saw this programme on TV and it was called ‘Hercules Unchained’ and the gentleman that played Hercules (Steve Reeves) was a bodybuilder back in the 60s.

“And when I saw this guy’s physique, I said: ‘I want to look like that!’ “

In the early days he was not armed with much knowledge, but he did not let that stop him, he did it anyway.

“There was another show that came out about Jack La Lanne. He had the first chain of fitness clubs and was the first documented TV fitness host,” he said.

Inspired by the show, Mr. Magnum built his own gym while he was in metalwork class in junior high school.

“I would measure everything up and build it, and the teacher said it was no problem as long as I paid for the materials — I did the whole gym up and I have been doing it ever since.”

Mr. Magnum was an all round athlete and also got into baseball, American football and wrestling.

One of his teachers was featured in the film “Pumping Iron”, and Mr. Magnum recently discovered that he is in the movie as well.

“You can see me in the background working out with some guys and getting them ready for the show,” he said.

Some of his titles include AAU Teenage Mr. Connecticut (1974), as overall champion, Mr. North Eastern America 1979, Mr. Eastern Seaboard (1978), Mr. Body Building USA (1978), NBA Pro-Natural Mr. America (1980), IFBB Pro 1981 — New England Grand Prix, placed tenth, New England Wrestling Association, as a professional wrestler from 1987 to 1988.Monster Arm Wrestling, First Place, Undefeated Champion, 1983.

But Mr. Magnum, who grew up in Connecticut, said his overall favourite title was winning the Professional Natural Mr. America in 1980.

“I kind of got out of the sport after that, because I wasn’t interested in competing any more... the drugs were another story and I didn’t want to get involved with that, so I walked away from the sport.

“The only way that you are going to make it in the International Federation of Body Builders is if you take drugs, but there are alternatives today, that you didn’t have before.

“The have both an Olympic test and a lie detector test, so you get a lot of these people who say that they never did drugs, and they get caught.

“This is what the situation was and not just in body building, I saw a lot in wrestling also.

“But then again, that is their choice. You can either be smart about it or be stupid about it and that is why you get a lot of these guys having massive heart attacks, psychological problems and other physical ailments with the liver and kidneys.”

Mrs. Magnum spent her early years doing ballet and swimming, but it wasn’t until she met her husband in 1987 that she was introduced to weight training.

“We met, we went out on a date and that was basically it,” she said. “At that time I hadn’t done any sports for a quite while, because once you get out of high school that structure is gone.

“He took me to the gym and introduced me to weight training and basically I have been doing it ever since.

“I was in college and I was always into sports. I did ballet for years, swimming, but in Bermuda I had not been introduced to weight training. But when I met him, I got into it.”

The couple married in 1991 and they returned to the Island.

“We saw the Diet Center up for sale and we bought it,” said Mrs. Magnum. “We moved down here after all of that and at that time I was actually working at the Olympic Club.”

Once they bought the Diet Center, they decided to offer personal training as well and soon had so many clients that Mr. Magnum could not keep upwith everybody.

Mr. Magnum said clients kept on coming and they just kept on adding part time employees.

“We moved to Front Street and then it got too small, so we began looking for a bigger location,” he said. “This was a blessing in disguise, it was on a day when the schools were closed down and everything had stopped.

“The real estate agent brought me over here and as soon as I saw the place I knew what we could do with it. We had been looking for a spot for almost three years and we just put the money down and that was it.”

The gym is almost finished with only the purpose-built Spinning Suite to be completed, they said.

“Other than that we are happy with the outcome of this gym and our members are happy and that is all that you can ask for.

“It was a lot of work and a lot of her energy, my energy and my brother-in-law Keith’s (Hodgkins) energy,” Mr. Magnum said.

Asked whether he trains people for body building competitions, he said: “When I first came to the Island I used to do a lot with the local bodybuilders, how to diet properly and how to do fat tests and they appreciated it.

“But now 99 percent of my clients are for general conditioning and weight loss. And a lot of clients are from here (The Diet Center) and are in the process of losing their body fat.

“I enjoy getting people to train and take care of themselves — there are a lot of people with weaknesses or who have had operations or injuries that I train. I am a master instructor and I enjoy it.

“Training is a different kind of lifestyle, you have to put your time in.”

Mrs. Magnum said that when they first returned to the Island, Mr. Magnum was the only professional weight lifter on the Island.

He said: “If people want to train for the competitions here, of course we would train them.

“But there are more fitness shows today, and figure shows. They basically get themselves ready and go up and show their figure.”

They are both personal trainers and diet counsellors, although Mr. Magnum focuses more the personal training and she does more counselling.

“We are here now and it is like another beginning,” she said.

“We don’t know where it is going to go from here, but I’m happy with our progress and the help of my staff. We have a lot of good staff and they are good quality people.”

The gym now employs six to seven full time personal trainers and several part timers as well.

Asked why they decided to go into the field, they said that they wanted to help people to get fit and healthy through diet and exercise.

“We are not working for the money, we are working because we want to help people,” she said. “We enjoy it.”

Some of their clients were also concerned that the atmosphere would change in a larger setting, but she said: “I don’t want to seem that I am bragging, but this is what they say and most people say they feel comfortable and they feel that it is a family.

“We haven’t lost that — we still have that atmosphere.

“People feel comfortable and the last thing that you want to do is to go into a gym and be just left. One thing about Bermuda if you have a good reputation that is everything and that is what we have.

“People come word of mouth and we get some lovely feedback.”