Todd Jewell: Competitive Bodybuilder
NEWSFLASH: Todd Jewell wins the super heavyweight division of the LA Bodybuilding Championships! Check it out here.
Contest History
• Bodybuilder.com Amateur of the Week (2007)
• National Physique Committee USA Bodybuilding Championships (7th Place, Super Heavyweight, 2007)
• National Physique Committee Emerald Cup (1st Place, Super Heavyweight, 2007)
• World Federation of Natural Athletes Rocky Mountain Natural (1st Place, Open Men Tall & Overall, 2003)
• National Physique Committee Emerald Cup (4th Place, Light Heavyweight, 2003)
• World Federation of Natural Athletes West Coast Natural (1st Place, Light Heavyweight, 2002)
• Behemoths and Boats Strongman Classic (2nd Place, Lightweight, 2002)
• Behemoths and Boats Strongman Classic (1st Place, Lightweight, 2001)
Todd Jewell picked up his first set of dumbbells when he was about 14. “I think I’d watched too many Schwarzenegger films,” he says. “By doing dumbbell curls I thought my arms would someday resemble Arnold’s.” Next, the Washington State native started a weight training program as a freshman in high school. He developed quickly, and after a year he could bench press 246 lbs. The football coaches noticed Todd’s rapid gains and invited him to join the team as a defensive end. “The first down I ever played, I ended the play quickly with a sack,” Todd remembers. He played football and continued weight training for the rest of high school. By graduation, Todd had a 335 lb. bench and 405 lb. squat, and was 6’0” tall and weighed 210 lbs.
After high school, Todd attended school at Yakima Valley Community College and worked as a personal trainer at Gold’s Gym. He started training with one of the other personal trainers, Matt, who had competed in a few bodybuilding competitions. Matt convinced Todd to compete in the September 2002 WFNA West Coast National. At the time, Todd saw competing in events like this as something he should just try out to see what happened. “I don’t think I had any thoughts of it being a career by any means,” he says. “I never figured I’d be able to do as well as I have. It was just something fun to do and an outlet for my competitive side.” But after placing 1st in his division at that first event, Todd kept going strong, placing 4th in the NPC Emerald Cup and 1st in the WFNA Rocky Mountain National in 2003.
He took a few years off to marry his high school sweetheart, Shawna, and work as an aerospace machinist, but he didn’t stop training and improving his physique. Todd started actively competing again in 2007. His proudest moment thus far happened when he placed 1st in his class at the NPC Emerald Cup in 2007.
Todd has found that size has come in handy even when he’s not competing. In 2007, Todd and Shawna just happened to be in a bank during a robbery. After making sure the robber didn’t have a weapon (and with a little encouragement from his wife), Todd took matters into his own hands and detained the robber for more than 7 minutes until the police arrived. For more details on the story, see full story
