Paul Levesque’s Bodybuilding Journey.
Bodybuilding is a great way of life on its own, but it can also lead you down other career paths.
Perhaps the most famous bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger, pursued a film career on the back of his bodybuilding endeavours. Lou Ferringo went into television, using his significant bulk to star as the original Incredible Hulk. Of course, names such as Regan Grimes remain famous in their own right as bona fide bodybuilding icons.
Paul Levesque is better known as Triple H, a wrestler with Vince McMahon’s WWE corporation. Levesque started as a bodybuilder and has become one of the most recognisable wrestlers in the world. The fame of the federation helped him; McMahon’s company took over the old regional wrestling federations and became a cultural juggernaut. They achieved this not only by televised shows but also by a stream of other digital media. That ranges from games such as WWE Legends on the Xbox 360 to other mobile titles bearing the imagery. There’s a branded online slot on Foxy Games, called WWE Legend Link and Win, which uses the old eighties-style branding and is still instantly familiar. Triple H doesn’t feature in that, but he is on the iOS title WWE Immortals, where players can control what App Advice describe as a super-powered character.
Levesque was always going to be super-powered, given his background in bodybuilding. Even as a youth, he focused on two things; wrestling and bodybuilding. He played basketball and baseball, but he always wanted to be a wrestler. With Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior as icons, he focused on sculpting his body to become the perfect sports entertainment character. He won a 1988 Mr Teenage New Hampshire competition at the age of 19, although his physique back then wasn’t quite the level it is now. In his book, he describes how he weighed around 60kgs and often looked as though he bulked up and then slimmed down quickly.
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Later in his career, deep into his wrestling career, he began to suffer injuries; a torn bicep caused him problems, as did his knee joints. That led him to Joe DeFranco, where he started to bodybuild as an athlete, streamlining his approach to suit not only his physique but also his desire to remain an in-ring worker. His regime is more geared towards wrestling than bodybuilding now. He took up boxing to warm up ahead of his training and added exercises such as a vertical jump and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to improve his general fitness further.
He still eats like a bodybuilder, preferring a Keto diet but packing in lots of carbs ahead of a big event, such as WrestleMania 34, where he teamed up with wife Stephanie McMahon to face UFC star Ronda Rousey and former Olympic champion, Kurt Angle.
Bodybuilding was one of Levesque’s first loves, leading him to the WWE and superstardom. Only a handful of bodybuilders will tread the same path; others will go on to be actors, politicians and a range of other professions. However, Levesque’s journey demonstrates that bodybuilding is only the start of a journey, and pathways can lead you anywhere you wish to go if you remain focused and adaptable.
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