Seth Feroce had one of the most successful beginnings in bodybuilding history, until illness forced him into a decline. See how Seth’s working class ethics brought him back.
Looking at Seth Feroce today, all 212 ripped pounds of him, it’s hard to imagine him as the target of bullies. He was, though, and it made him self-conscious. It made him angry. It forced him—overweight and dubbed “Chubbs” by his friends—to change his body in a hurry. “I didn’t like it one bit,” Feroce says of the taunting. “I decided to put a stop to it and started lifting weights.”
Gregory Feroce, Seth’s dad, bought him the classic plastic-coated sand-filled weights and gave Seth’s bodybuilding story a setting for its first chapter. Like many teens in search of strength and confidence, Seth turned to football and wrestling, but those are seasonal sports. Seth needed a perennial preoccupation.
His father had some connections with local lifters and took young Seth to a bodybuilding show.
“I was immediately greeted with open arms,” Seth says. “My dad always says: ‘Within seconds of stepping foot in that gym for the first time, I knew I lost you.’ I didn’t go back to football or wrestling.”
Under a doctor’s care, Feroce slowly regained his health. Seth is back in the weight room and has his eyes on the 212 title. He will compete for the first time in two years in spring of 2014.
Seth’s confidence is back. His anger is restored. His physique is returning. And he won’t make the same mistakes again.
He advises young lifters to exercise patience as much as their legs. “Remember who you are and the reason you like lifting weights—why you did it in the first place. I wanted to do this my whole life. And this year I thought I was done. I needed time to get my life organized. Life is a motherfucker. It’s the most wonderful thing in the world.”
Although he was out for a long time, wondering if he’d ever lift again—let alone compete—Seth says MuscleTech supported him throughout the ordeal. “When I screwed up and my health wasn’t good, they stuck by me,” Seth says.
“When I didn’t do well, they treated me even better and gave me more support. That’s one of the reasons I have such a fire under my ass. These people stuck behind me when no one else did.”