Did 16x World Champion John Cena Compete in Mr. Olympia Like Arnold Schwarzenegger? Find Out What Happened to His Bodybuilding Career

John Cena is a well-known name in the world. The megastar of WWE had tried his hands in many things. Whether be it pro wrestling or a Hollywood career he made a successful career out of both. But a lesser-known fact is that he tried his hand at bodybuilding too. Although it was his passion, he was not able to stick long to it. But his incomplete road to Mr. Olympia is a topic that is rarely touched upon.

John Cena’s road to Mr. Olympia

Since a very young age, Cena was fascinated by the art of lifting. In his early teens, he decided that he would have a career in bodybuilding and started hitting the gym. Fueled by the passion to learn more about the art, he pursued a degree in exercise physiology from Springfield College in Massachusetts. After earning his degree in 1998, he decided to move to the Mecca of bodybuilding at the age of 21.

In 1998, The Leader of the Cenation moved to Venice, California to pursue bodybuilding full time. He used to train at Gold’s Gym which is home to many prominent names in bodybuilding. Along with that, to support his career, he used to work at many jobs including a limousine driver earning a mere $6 an hour. He had claimed many times that due to this shortage of cash; he used to participate in local pizza shop challenges to salvage a meal.

The days were getting harder for the future WWE star as he had claimed to sleep in his car so that he could salvage money for supplements and steroids. As he couldn’t afford them, he used to participate mostly in natural physique competitions. He even went on to come second 1999 NPC Ironman Magazine Naturally contest.

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But after a while, he was not able to sustain his bodybuilding career, and his dream to compete for the Mr. Olympia title was never fulfilled. He then made his debut in pro wrestling. Now after almost two decades, John Cena is out there helping people achieve their dream physique.

Applying his degree

John Cena had once admitted how he felt about his bodybuilding career. Once talking with Kevin Hart in an interview, he said, “I didn’t move out to LA to pursue entertainment, I came out here to apply my degree and really failed. … I couldn’t get any validation for that piece of paper that I paid for.”  The 46-year-old star had high hopes for his bodybuilding career, but it failed drastically. Now after spanning a successful career in both pro wrestling and acting, he has opened his very own gym. 

John Cena had opened a gym in Tampa, Florida by the name of Hard Nocks South. It is a tribute to the gym where he started pumping the iron for the very first time. Cena has his own set of rules at the gym and a lot of WWE stars could be seen there working out. Cena applies his knowledge of exercise physiology to curate appropriate strength and conditioning programs for the stars.

It’s not hard to realize that John Cena not only loved bodybuilding but has a lot of respect for the art.

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