Ten years away from competitive bodybuilding did Robert Purcell's body good.

The Auburn native won his first competition in a decade on April 12 at the 11th Annual Natural Northeast Bodybuilding & Figure Pro-Am Championships in Rochester. He finished first in the middleweight category before besting the other weight class winners of the amateur/novice division in a final contest.

Purcell's victory was vindication for 12 weeks of rigid dieting and several years of laboring in the weight room of the Finger Lakes Health Center. His endurance was tested through the very end of the competition, which twice required him to cycle through a series of 12 exhausting poses.

“You're under the lights and it's hot,” said Purcell, a corrections officer at the Cayuga County Jail. “And you're really flexing your whole body, keeping everything tense.”

In addition to the two trophies he took home, Purcell also derived satisfaction from winning a natural bodybuilding event where all 82 entrants were administered a polygraph test prior to posing. At his first competition 10 years ago, which wasn't tested, Purcell suspected he was standing among fellow bodybuilders who cut corners in the gym.

“It's a tough sport now,” he said. “You can't win because you're not cheating.”

Finding a natural competition was difficult for Purcell because non-tested shows dwarf them in frequency. The right combination of circumstances made the Rochester show convenient for Purcell after a separated shoulder and other injuries kept him from participating in the few natural shows to take place nearby in that time frame.

Bodybuilding became a pastime for Purcell when he was 18 years old. After playing football and track at Auburn and later Weedsport high schools, Purcell found an addictive quality within the weight room.

“I'm always trying to take it to the next level,” he said. “To see how far I can push myself.”

At its heaviest, Purcell's bodybuilding schedule has him in the gym for two hours a day - occasionally twice a day. The work can become monotonous, but he varies his routine enough to refresh it when necessary.

To help build muscle mass, Purcell sometimes adds protein shakes or natural supplements like Creatine to his diet. As the competition approached and it became time to cut down on his body fat, he sought help from trainer Cindy Bishop.

“He showed a tremendous amount of discipline,” Bishop said. “The amount of cardio you have to do to lose the body fat to not cheating on the diet to calculating your calories, protein and carbohydrate intake - it's quite an involved process.”

Purcell's pre-show diet consisted largely of rice cakes, chicken breasts and brown rice in small portions eaten often throughout the day. In the week prior to the competition, he cut water from his diet as well.

The demands of his dietary regimen were not only grueling for Purcell, but also his girlfriend, Tessa Cornall. The two went to Canada for Valentine's Day but couldn't dine out. Instead, Purcell trucked along a cooler full of chicken.

“Even for dinner we really couldn't have dinners anymore,” Cornall said.

Over the course of his 12 week trim-down, Purcell went from 195 to 160 pounds. Shedding enough weight to fall under 5 percent body fat sapped Purcell's strength on the weight bench, but not his spirit.

“Any time he was discouraged, it pushed him harder,” Cornall said. “Knowing how strong-willed and passionate he is, it took a lot.”

Now Purcell can savor both his win and the normal meals it allows him. Though his next competition may not be another 10 years down the road, Purcell is in no hurry to bulk back up and cut back down for it.

“Right now I'm pretty content,” he said. “I've accomplished a long-term goal. It's amazing.”

Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net

David Wilcox

The Citizen.

Robert Purcell holds the trophies he won for taking first place in both the novice middleweight and overall novice categories at a bodybuilding contest in Rochester last month.