The Carolina’s are home to numerous top professional bodybuilders. Eight times IFBB Mr. Olympia Lee Haney hails from South Carolina and newly minted IFBB New York Pro Champion Cedric McMillian also resides there. North Carolina is home to IFBB female pro Monique Jones and IFBB Pro Charles Dixon. But an up and comer who is making noise in the NPC national circuit is Darron “Hollywood” Glenn.
Glenn, 31 years old and from Gastonia, North Carolina, won the 2009 NPC Junior USA and has been on a steady roll ever since. Starting out, Glenn got into bodybuilding as a way to escape to the streets.
“I lived around drug dealers and everyone was either getting locked up or shot,” he said. His foray into competing happened purely by happenstance.
“Someone said I had a great physique and if I did a show, he’d pay for it,” Glenn said. While working his way through the regional level, Glenn met IFBB Pro Johnny Stewart and started working with him shortly thereafter and the duo culminated a win at the NPC Junior USA but the partnership came to an end.
“Johnny is a great friend to me, but he felt like something was missing,” he said.
Darron Glenn” src=”https://cdn-ami-drupal.heartyhosting.com/sites/muscleandfitness.com/themes/custom/musclefitness3/images/placeholder.gif” style=”width: 390px; height: 585px; margin: 5px; float: right;” /Stewart placed a call to Don Long and worked with Glenn for the 2011 NPC USA Championships and NPC Nationals. The payoff was immediate with a second place finish at the USA’s in the light heavyweight class and a third place finish at the Nationals that same year.
“ I love working with Don. I text him my weight everyday and I work with him in person once every four weeks. He provides you with the tools needed to be successful.
Most competitors would find going from the regional to the national level daunting at first. Glenn said that the biggest difference in regional competitions is that you are going against well know athletes, some with supplement deals. Glenn knew he had what it took to compete at a high level, but the anonymity he had would be an issue.
“I knew my physique was there, it was just no one knew who I was. It also takes time to develop a physique needed to win,” he said. One of the knocks on Glenn’s physique is that he doesn’t come in conditioned enough and the judges echoed the same sentiments.
“The judges said that I have one of the biggest physiques as a light heavy but I need to come in conditioned,” he said.
With that feedback Long came up with a game plan and didn’t want Glenn to take his offseason weight above 225 in an effort to be in prime condition come USA’s.
“This offseason took me to another level. Don taught me to leave no stone unturned,” Glenn said.
One of the things that have made this past offseason successful for Glenn is the training style that has been designed for him. Training has been emphasized to bring up weak points or perform “touch-up” work. Glenn said that if you have a weak chest, you have your main workout for the chest, but you do some work during the week to bring it up as well. Glenn said that for his prep for the USA’s the attention for extra work has been to his hamstrings and lower back.
When talking about what his favorite body part to train is, Glenn lamented on how he enjoys training legs with the basics such as squats, leg press and lunges although it wasn’t that way before.
“I learned how to love training legs. I shifted my mind to like the stuff that will win shows,” he said.
With a pro card up for grabs in Las Vegas, Glenn is excited about the possibility of competing in the new 212 division, and he is receiving positive feedback from friends and fellow bodybuilders alike.
“It excites me to hear from my peers that I will do well if I go pro,” he said. Glenn also cites a solid support system is what propelled his rise through the NPC ranks. He gives his thanks to God, his wife of six years Kamilla, Don and Sarah Long and his training partners Dion and Terry, and Planet NutritionNC.
“Anyone that’s getting ready for the USA’s I wish him well in his prep. Jon Lindsay always puts on a good show,” Glenn said.
The NPC USA’s will take place July 27th-28th 2012 in Las Vegas, NV and will be held in the Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall on the Campus of University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
