yaxeni oriquen

Born: September 3, 1966

Height: 5′ 8″  (173 cm)

Weight: 170 lb (77 kg)

Biceps: 17.5″ (44.45 cm)

Calves: 20″ (50.8 cm)

Birthplace: Cabimas, Zulia, Venezuela

Nickname: The Yaxeneger

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You?re right. At that time, everyone thought there was a secret ? I certainly thought there was. For hours on end I used to sit and stare at photos of Bill Pearl, thinking that he had the secret and that I had to discover it.

In 1960, Red Lerille from Louisiana won the Mr. America. I remember how excited I was when I read about it in Strength & Health. Red was the first bodybuilder I ever saw in person. When I was 14, he came to the Lake Charles YMCA and put on a posing exhibition. He didn?t do anything fancy, but he sure inspired everyone there. I knew then that I wanted to be a competitive bodybuilder. Red and I became life-long friends and he has always been a positive figure in my life.

Another person who had a great influence on me was John Gourgott. I saw him win the Jr. Mr. America in 1962. I was very cautious but I managed to get up enough courage to go over and congratulate him. Two years later when I was in the Mr. Louisiana contest, John was a judge. He gave me words of encouragement. Plus, he remembered me from two years earlier. Man that made me feel terrific.

After that we became close friends. I visited him many times over the years. John, although an eye surgeon retired, owned a World Gym in the San Francisco area and helped Joe Gold run World Gym Enterprises. Sadly, John passed away a couple of years ago.

Ben Mouton also had a major impact on my life. I met Ben when I moved to Lafayette to train at Lerille?s Gym and attend the University of Southern Louisiana. Ben had been in the circus most of his adult life and as he told it, “For 15 years I worked 15 minutes a day.” He was the top attraction at Ringling Brothers. His trapeze act was so high it had to be performed outside the tent. Ben had traveled the world and been almost everywhere. He had been in the movies and worked with Errol Flynn. I used to sit and listen to his recollections for hours. He wasn?t just an old man telling stories because he had photos and newspaper clippings to verify what he said.

From Ben I learned the importance of showmanship and stage presence, things that I had not considered. He, along with Red, taught me about posing, how to contract and make it look natural and unstrained. A good example is that picture you spoke about earlier. Study that biceps pose of Casey Viator and me in your HIT book on page 16 and you?ll see what I?m talking about.

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet conse ctetur adipiscing elit etiam pellen tesque sodales sem et finibus fusce molestie mauris massa venenatis tempus donec scelerisque nisl.