Hello! What's your athletic background and what initially motivated you to transform your body?
Hi everyone, I'm Dan Saunders. At the time of publishing, I will have just turned 32. My current physique stats are 5'10", 198 lbs (competition weight) and 208 lbs off-season. I've been active my whole life. I started playing soccer when I was probably around 7 or 8 years old and fell in love with The Beautiful Game. I played soccer all through my elementary, middle school and high school years. During high school, I had a knee injury which sidelined me for the duration of the season. During that time, I explored throwing javelin, shot put and discus but didn't really have the passion or drive to pursue it as I did soccer.
During the time I was sidelined and rehabilitating my knee, I found myself spending more and more time in the gym weight training. I already took a strength training class, but if I didn't feel like I had "done enough" during class, I would go to the local Gold's Gym after school and put in another hour and a half of weights. Of course, after consistently doing this I began to really notice some changes and muscle gains. That in itself was motivating. Somewhere along that same time, my dad gave me his copy of the first edition of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Education of a Bodybuilder. I was fascinated by how big Arnold was, the iconic poses he would hit, and his workouts. Bodybuilding — it was new and fresh to me and made me want to become a smaller version of him. And of course girls took notice, which became motivating in itself.
In college, I took a nutrition class, which in the beginning was like learning a foreign language, but I was so fascinated by how everything we eat affects the way our body responds. I learned that health is more than the absence of illness. I realized I had the power to literally create or recreate myself based just on what I ate. I couldn't help but fall in love with nutritional sciences as well and ended up pursuing a 4-year degree in Human Performance and Nutrition Education. I later became a personal trainer for a local gym franchise where I worked for a few years and gained valuable experience.During college, I explored different types of training, from powerlifting to Crossfit, different training programs and nutritional protocols before really investing my whole self into what I do now — bodybuilding.
With that, my training became more focused and intense to where I took this to a competitive level in Classic Physique where I am today. My goal is to see how far I can really go. My ambition is to compete nationally and eventually turn professional. It's simply a matter of time.
I love to share my passion for health, fitness, nutrition and bodybuilding with everyone. I love to teach and talk about it with everyone and I want to help everyone see the benefits that come with living a healthy lifestyle.
