MCB HAWAII -- Marine Corps Base Hawaii’s Sgt. Jeffrey Velazquez, a crew chief for Aircraft, Rescue and Fire Fighting, Marine Corps Air Station, won in the Heavyweight class and overall in the 27th Annual Armed Forces Hawaii Bodybuilding Championship April 17.
“Don’t let the flight suit fool you,” Master Sgt. Keith Kulman, staff noncommissioned officer in charge, and officer in charge, ARFF, MCAS, said of Velazquez.
Though he calls San Diego home, Velazquez spent his elementary and middle school years growing up in the Bronx, N.Y.
Although Velazquez wanted to be firefighter, the events of Sept. 11, 2001 moved him to join the Marine Corps. Velazquez’s parents, originally from Puerto Rico, wanted him to finish college first, however. After he completed a degree in Computer Graphic Design at Wade College in Texas, Velazquez enlisted in the Corps November 2003. He has been deployed twice, both times to Iraq, once in 2004 and in 2006.
Velazquez’s body building hobby started with a white lie. He told his then-girlfriend now-wife, also a competitive body builder, that he was a body builder as well, and from then on worked to compete in his first show while stationed in Okinawa.
“To be the best at anything, you had to be the most educated,” Velazquez said. He primarily did research online, and together with his wife, came up with an extremely detailed “game plan,” from what must be eaten to what exercises must be completed on certain days. They both competed in the 2008 Far East Body
Building Competition. He won second place in the Middleweight class.
“It was definitely a learning experience,” Velazquez said.
While Velazquez said he was mainly focused on his choice of music and his posing routine for the evening audience, he hadn’t known much about the preliminary judging. As he looks back, Velazquez said he should have been more focused on the judging which occurs prior to the actual show.
Even so, he described his first time on stage as “natural” and “comfortable.” It was the evening show he considered “nervewracking.” Velazquez said he had difficulty hearing the music.
“I [couldn’t] see the crowd [be]cause the spotlight was right in my eyes,” he said. “I couldn’t tell if I was going to fall off the stage or not.”
Velazquez plans to continue bodybuilding. His wife now finds it hilarious when he pretended to be a bodybuilder, but is glad he started bodybuilding. A native of Reno, Nev., Senior Airman Rebekah Velazquez, cryptologic linguist, 324th Intelligence Squadron, described her husband as “perfect.”
“He’s amazing in everything he does,” she said. “I’m so proud of him.”
But bodybuilding can be a challenge. Now a certified personal trainer, he said the most challenging part about bodybuilding for him was the “change of lifestyle.” Instead of partying with friends, he spends time cooking meals at home or working out at the gym. He works out for about an hour and a half three consecutive days followed by one day off and three consecutive days again. When he does go out with friends, he orders water instead of alcohol.
“He’s a really good guy,” said Cpl. James Sheddy, rescueman, ARFF, MCAS. “He looks out for everybody.”
Sheddy, from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said when he first met Velazquez two months ago, he described him as “big and in shape,” and “intimidating.” Now, he occasionally works out with Velazquez and feels comfortable going to him with questions about diet and exercise.
Velazquez also recently competed in the Stingrey Classic Bodybuilding Contest April 23 at the Pacific Beach Hotel, and won first place in the Men’s Novice Heavyweight Division. He also plans to publish a book of his own, titled “24-7 Program,” which is a guide for people to create their own fitness regimen.
Cpl. Brian Flannery, a rescueman, ARFF, MCAS, describes Velazquez as “positive.”
“He always keeps a good attitude about things,” said the MCAS Marine from Columbia, S.C. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a bad mood.”