Drug-free bodybuilding takes Leduc man from oilpatch to new career in California

Working in the Alberta oilpatch, it can be easy to fall into unhealthy habits. But Leduc's Clint Lewing fell into some extremely healthy ones — working out, eating right and steering clear of drugs — that have changed his life.

Now the long-time emergency medical technician, who ran his own company delivering on-site medical and safety programs, is a top Canadian natural bodybuilder who recently hopped into his restored Chevy van and headed for California and a new career as a fitness model.

"It has been a whirlwind, actually, the last couple of years," Lewing said from Venice Beach in a phone interview with CBC's Radio Active.

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On a whim in 2015, Lewing entered a natural bodybuilding competition, in which participants abstain from using performance-enhancing drugs.

That choice, he said, was partly his response to rumours going around that his physique was the result of steroids. "I started training with the natural federation in mind, just to prove [that he was clean] through urinalysis and polygraph." 

With less than eight weeks to prepare, he ended up placing second in that competition. But in the three years since, he has won everything he has entered, including becoming the first Canadian to win the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation Pro Card in Men's Physique.

"I wasn't surprised, not so much," he said. "Let's face it, when you're working up north, the amount of time you have to invest at the gym ... I just really believed no one could match that."

With the wins came interest from agents, which led to some work as a model and actor.

Among his coups is the music video for the song Dive Bar by Alberta country artist Gord Bamford, which was released in July. In it, Lewing plays the male lead of the boy-meets-girl storyline, which sees him flexing his muscles and showing off his line-dancing skills.

"They needed a country guy that could dance," Lewing chuckled. "We got'er done."

Now represented in the U.S. by the talent agency BMG Talent, Lewing is confident his status as a clean bodybuilder will be a big plus once he receives his work visa and starts looking for jobs as a fitness model and, possibly in the future, as an actor.

He is also very conscious that he can use his profile as well as his Instagram or Facebook pages to be a positive role model for other men who have contemplated using steroids, human growth hormones or other drugs aimed at helping them bulk up.

Bodybuilding, he said, is "a very performance-enhanced-drug kind of industry. That whole side of the industry, there's a big black cloud over it."

"Now you have this guy, doing 'the same stuff' as a fitness model, who has proven time and time again that he looks this way and can do this stuff and he's 100 per cent natural."