- April 24, 2024
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A few weeks ago, I was speaking at a chapel service to elementary kids, and before I had begun, I asked the kids to raise their hand if they believed they had the strongest dad in the world. Every hand went up, followed by mumbling disputes about why they were convinced of their beliefs. I’d love to ask the same question to personal trainer Chip Wheeler’s children.
Wheeler recently won the 2015 Daytona Beach Classic body building competition in September at the News-Journal Center, a competition in which he took second in the previous year.
“I didn’t think I had done that well, so it was unexpected but very exciting,” Wheeler said. “It was something on my bucket list, and I figured it would be a good place to try it, right here at home, and I thought it was going to be a one-time thing, but I did better than what I thought I would do and fell in love with it.”
Back in his high school days, Wheeler was only 5 feet, 5 inches, and he considered himself too small to play football, which is what he wanted to do, so he got involved with body building. At that time, he had won third place at a national event in Seattle, Washington.
From there, he went to college to study sports medicine and became a personal trainer, which is what he’s been doing for 20 years, currently at Body Exchange in Ormond Beach.
Wheeler has only competed in the two Daytona Beach competitions, but now, at 46, he wants to take his talents to another level.
“I’m looking to go a lot farther, and I’m really trying to advance myself in the sport,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler is looking for sponsorship to help him reach the national competition in July. He can be reached at [email protected].
Photos by Arnophotography.
