Rob Smith is a familiar face at the Basin Recreation Center in Newpark. Smith, who lives in Francis, is a veteran personal trainer and competitive body builder. He works one night a week at the Center, though he’s there most every night with clients who range from bodybuilders to Olympic hopefuls. He’s quick to offer advice to anyone who asks, paid or not.
“You can never help too much, it always comes back to you and that’s a great feeling,” he says.
Smith, now 51, says he’s been bodybuilding since he was 8, when he was inspired by a 15-cent “Spiderman” comic book and vowed to become “stronger than everyone I knew.”
He admits it sounds a bit strange, explaining, “I wish I had a better reason but, when I saw Spiderman performing amazing feats of strength and agility, I just knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
Though he didn’t know it at the time, strength and agility may have been a genetic inheritance.
“I always wondered about my career choice until many years later, when I did some genealogy research,” he says. “I learned my great grandfather had come over from Germany, where he had been a professional wrestler. He lived in southern California and was a high school physical education teacher by day and a wrestler at night. I guess it was in my DNA.”
Growing up in Tenino, Washington, a small town 85 miles south of Seattle, he was always active.
“I spent my summers fishing, hunting, hiking, swimming and riding my motorcycle,” he says.
Entering fifth grade, he says he was the only kid who could do 30 pull-ups.
Ironically, Smith didn’t play high school sports.
“I was really a nerd in high school. My favorite subjects were math and science and I played trumpet in the band. I did a lot of reading and was always interested in human physiology. You know there are about a million chemical reactions every second in the human body,” he says.
At Centralia and Riverside colleges, Smith studied anatomy, physiology, nutrition and computer science. 20, he was working as a trainer at a gym in Chehalis, Washington.
“We had a great membership there and a high rate of retention,” he says. Quizzed about his young age, he retorts, “You don’t have to be old to know how to serve people.”
When the Washington area logging economy went south in the mid-1980s, Smith drew on his computer background and landed a job as a network administrator for the Desert Water Agency in Palm Springs, California. That’s where he met his wife, Julie.
“She asked me if I could write an exercise program for her and I suggested I show her how at the local gym,” he says.
It was a match. They were married in 2002 and together have a combined family of seven children and three grandchildren.
Smith and family moved to Park City in 2003, when he returned to his roots and took the reins as owner/manager of Body Tech. It was a tough sell.
“Julie was always a big city California girl and hated the cold. I brought her up here in July and we had brunch on the deck at Stein’s, complete with live music. It was perfect. I told her that’s how her life would be from now on, but neglected to mention January and February,” he says, chuckling.
Smith has evolved through a variety of positions over the last decade in Park City, all focused on physical fitness, training and bodybuilding. He says his greatest satisfaction throughout his career has come as a personal trainer.
“I’m still passionate about training people, helping them achieve their fitness goals. I love to help people change and, quite literally, sculpt their bodies. I’ve been fortunate to have worked with a lot of world-class athletes, from champion motorcycle racers to professional hockey, baseball and football players,” he says.
Smith adds he’s worked with Olympic athletes, CEOs of big companies, military personnel and “your average Joes.” He confesses the latter are his favorites.
“The person I love helping the most is the one who isn’t an athlete, is out-of-shape, has tried every diet in the book and is embarrassed to even walk into the gym. I respect them the most because they are the brave ones who have the courage to ask for help,” he says.
After living in the Park City area for several years, Smith and his wife (who finally came to terms with winter) bought a home in Francis in 2008.
“We love it there,” he says. “It’s a great house with a big, fenced yard for the dog. The worst thing that ever happens is you have to slow down for a herd of goats or sheep or a stray horse on your way to work.”
Though Smith stays very busy as a personal trainer, he’s held fast to his childhood vow to be stronger than everyone he knew. After a seven-year hiatus from bodybuilding competition because of injuries and surgeries, he will return to that stage in March, 2016.
“I usually placed first or second in competition and I plan to do that again,” he says.
He will compete in both the master’s and open class as a super heavyweight, weighing in at about 250 pounds.
“I’m not where I want to be yet,” he says. “I’m only dead-lifting a little over 400 pounds but I’ll be up to over 500 in a couple of months, if everything holds together.”
Go Spiderman, go!
VITAL STATISTICS
Favorite things to do: bodybuilding, motorcycling, hiking, skiing
Favorite foods: “My favorites are junk foods, but I usually eat eggs, chicken, non-fat yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, vegetables and rice.”
Favorite music: “If I’m driving, classical. If I’m lifting, hard rock.”
Favorite reading: studies about nutrition and health.
Animal companions: Nanuk, a 5-year-old wolf/malamute hybrid. “He’s the sweetest animal ever. I think he loves the snow as much as I do.”
Bucket list: “Take my wife to Europe, skydive, write a nutrition book for kids.’