By: Shaun McClare

1 in 2,500 children are born with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Over 30,000 Americans are currently living with this illness. Now only half of those people with CF make it past 31 years of age. 1 in 23 people are symptomless carriers of the CF gene (about one million Australians and 23 million Americans). CF is a disorder of the cells that line the lungs, small intestines, sweat glands and pancreas. Sticky, thick mucus contributes to the destruction of lung tissue and impedes gas exchange in the lungs. It also prevents nutrient absorption in the small intestines, and blocks pancreatic ducts from releasing digestive enzymes. Currently there is no cure for this chronic degenerative illness.

What the hell does this have to do with bodybuilding? Well for me it has everything to do with bodybuilding. I'm 23, live in Melbourne, Australia and was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at 18 months of age.

Growing up I viewed myself as being as healthy as any other kid in the school ground. Despite being short and skinny (a common trait for those with CF). I competed in sports and had a relatively normal life, besides taking constant medication-up to about 100 tablets a day and having twice-daily chest physio. I was considered a healthy kid with CF as I had very few hospital admissions for the illness.

However from 17 years of age this changed. In that year I had one 2-week long hospital admission for extensive physio and intravenous antibiotics. Over the next few years this increased to two admissions, then three admissions in a year. At 21 years old in 2000 I had five 2 to 3-week hospital admissions in the year and my health really seemed to be on the decline. Over Christmas 2000 then through New Years and until April of 2001 I was almost constantly in the hospital. This 5 month stretch was terrible, getting well enough to leave hospital a few times then having to be re-admitted within a week. Tests of my lung function were down to 39% (100% is the average for a healthy person of the same age/weight).

I had to defer my university degree (I was studying to become a Primary School Teacher) and I had to quit my job and go on a disability pension. At 22 I found it hard to see myself getting healthy enough to ever finish my degree, get a job, be financially independent and move out of home from my parents. At 22 this is a hard barrel to look down. How could I live a life like this? How could I fall in love and get married? How could I have my own place? How could I make my mark on this world?

I had constantly done cardio exercise, particularly cycling and swimming at the encouragement of my doctors. This certainly seemed to help me fight the illness, and while I was in hospital I would be constantly getting into the exercise room and pounding the hell out of the bike and step machine even though I just felt like laying in bed all day. However the cardio and the physio just didn't seem to be doing enough. I was fighting a losing battle. I needed something different I decided.

At this stage I was about 110lb. (49kg), 5'4" (164cm) and as skinny as a rake. When I got out of hospital in April (and I still had an IV needle in my arm so I could administer my own antibiotics at home) I joined the gym at my local swimming pool. The instructors gave me a whole-body plan. Hitting, the iron at this stage I was so skinny and weak and could lift hardly anything even compared to the pretty crappy looking guys next to me. However I loved the feeling of pushing the weights, feeling my muscles burn like hell and feel as if they were going to burst. I was hooked instantly.

I checked out all the muscle mags at the library and read through them while standing at the bookstore. I checked out Bodybuilding.com (I just typed this into the address line to see what would come up). Within 2 weeks I had discarded the gym's plan and had written up my own 4-day plan (chest/triceps, back/bicep, legs, shoulders/abs/forearms). I was built like a weed, but I wanted to train like a pro. I didn't care at all what other people in the gym thought about my physique or the amount of weight I was pushing, I was training with the intensity of a champ. Like the title of Lance Armstrong's book "It's Not About the Bike" (which inspired me greatly), to me it was not about getting great looking muscles, this was my life on the line - it was time to get serious.

After a month I went out and bought protein powder and creatine (which I can tell you adds up a lot when you are on a disability pension as I still am now). I hid them in my cupboard as I didn't want my parents, who supported me greatly and pay my gym fees, to think I was wasting what little money I had on gimmicks.

With my 6-days a week of training and my new diet I adopted after reading articles on the net I was packing on the weight. I was eating 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight and trying to eat just as many calories as I could possibly manage (about 1500-2000 per day). Within 3 months I had gained 30 pounds!! For once I had an almost normal body for my age.

However, I wasn't going to be satisfied with being just normal size. Chest infections can strike at any time with CF, and I knew the more muscle mass I could pack on the more energy I would have to fight the infections. I kept my training at an extremely high level of intensity and as well as the 6 weight sessions a week I would also fit in 3-4 cardio sessions.

At the start of this year I changed to a much larger, more hard-core gym. There were lots of big guys at this gym and I loved this more intense training attitude. I wasn't coming here to socialize or chat to the pretty girls. I was here to stomp my muscles into the ground so that I could go home and rest and they could recover even bigger and harder than before.

As I write this it is a little over a year since I started bodybuilding, but what a difference a year has made. I have not had a hospital admission since that time. My lung function is back up to 65%. Despite getting a few chest infections, I managed to fight them off and never missed training because of them. I have transformed from a 110 pound weakling to a 5'4", 160 pound monster! I had gained 50 pounds in one year! I am back at university studying hard and will graduate at the end of next year. I have been with my girlfriend for a year and she sometimes cringes at the fact that I want to get even bigger and she says that I am already 'so big' (trust me this is a great feeling after previously girls would always like me only as the lovely cute little guy).

After Bodybuilding - Still In Bulking Phase.

Over the last year of training I have changed my routine every couple of months. I have sometimes gone through cycles of more power training and at other times slightly higher rep ranges (although never really above 15). Generally I have tried to base my workouts around the staple compound movements; bench press, free squats, deadlifts. Currently I am training with a 3 day cycle of chest/shoulders/triceps, back/biceps/forearms, legs. I particularly love training on legs day - going really heavy until you think you will puke or pass out. For the last few months I have been always hitting my calves first on legs day with calf raises, seated calf raises and leg press calf raises. I am dedicated to getting huge calves as a few months ago when I was wearing shorts, my nurse on a regular visit said to me "wow, you've got big in the chest and arms but CF people always seem to have chicken legs." Don't worry, I'll prove this statement wrong.

I just want to urge all those people out there with Cystic Fibrosis to get in the gym and start pumping iron. It gives you the weight to help fight illness, the muscle strength in your chest and back to support your posture and your breathing, and most importantly it gives you an iron will and determination - "no goddamn illness is going to defeat this huge body."

I feel I still haven't achieved anything great in my life. I'm no hero coming back from adversity like Lance Armstrong. I'm yet to reach the top of my category-1 climb in the French Alps with my arms raised aloft. I'm going to make my mark by being a great teacher and setting kids in the right direction, enabling them to follow their goals. Amazingly, bodybuilding is going to help me do this. Like the pros I'm going to have to keep being strict with my diet, my rest, my cardio and in the gym ALWAYS training balls-to-the-wall. Not everyone with Cystic Fibrosis gets the chance to do this... lots of kids die without being given a chance at life.

"Everything happens for a reason", "Life is what you make of it" this is garbage espoused by wankers on the TV all the time. All I know is that when others are not even given half-a-chance at life then we all owe it to them that if we are given even a little glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, a small possibility of achieving our dreams, then we have got to go for it with every single little bit of energy we've got.

Learn more about Cystic Fibrosis here.

Shaun McClare

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