Jul. 15—Young athletes often choose a sports superstar to inspire them.
Many basketball players wanted to be like Mike (Jordan). For football players, there were Joe Montana or Tom Brady. For baseball players, it was Ken Griffey Jr., among others.
But when Jed Horning was growing up in the Schuylkill Valley School District in the 1990s, his sports hero was a little different. A superhero, some might say.
“I watched a lot of Arnold (Schwarzenegger) movies when I was younger,” Horning said. “I wanted to be like that.”
More than two decades after graduating from high school, the 39-year-old Horning may not quite be one of Schwarzenegger’s big-screen action heroes. But after winning a Pennsylvania state championship in bodybuilding last month, Horning is a lot more like Arnold than the 160-pound soccer player who graduated from high school in 2000.
“I didn’t want to play soccer in college,” Horning said. “I loved soccer but I wanted to concentrate more on my lifting. I figured that was the time to switch.”
Horning, a Leesport resident who works in the Tower Health IT department, majored in computer science at Shippensburg, where he started boxing. He later earned a master’s degree from Kutztown University.
Now he’s preparing to go to Pittsburgh to compete in the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness Pro Master National Championships July 21-24.
Horning competes in the Open Division for all ages for competitors from 198-225 pounds. At the state championships in Allentown, Horning said he weighed in at 224.5 points.
Horning said he works out as much as three hours per day to build muscle. He walks for an hour and 15 minutes seven days a week and lifts weights at Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex five days a week for another 90 minutes per day.
But Horning, who is coached by retired bodybuilder Dave Palumbo, said working to improve his body is an all-day job.
“Bodybuilding is a 24-hour-a-day sport,” Horning said. “When you’re not training you have to worry about your meals. You’ve got to learn how to control your stress. Stress will change the way you look physically. That’s something that you’ve got to be mindful of all day.”
Horning said he can bench press 500 pounds and squat lift 700 pounds. But he said the amount of weight he can lift is no more important than the food he’s eating and the other exercise he’s getting to build muscle.
“I don’t worry about the weights too much,” Horning said. “I’ve just got to make sure that I’m trying hard enough.”
Horning said he has been working on bodybuilding since college. But he said he took his involvement to a higher level in the last three years after hiring Palumbo and entering multiple events.
The competition consists of eight mandatory poses and four relaxed poses — one from the front, one from the left, one from the back and one from right side. Horning said in reality there is nothing relaxed about the poses.
“It’s exhausting,” Horning said. “It’s a very exhausting day.
“But what’s neat about it even though it’s a competition, everybody is friendly. We’re all there for the same thing. Really it’s about improving.”
The exhausting competitions and change in lifestyle has all been worth it, Horning said. Even though not a lot athletes grow up dreaming about becoming a bodybuilder, Horning said he has earned a lot respect since winning a state championship.
“The Pennsylvania state championship was by far my biggest, the best I’ve done,” Horning said. “Ever since I won I’ve gotten a lot of attention for it. It’s been pretty overwhelming. A lot of people I don’t even know, strangers, would tell me congratulations.”