Mike CookFor the Las Cruces Bulletin
Joseph Vasquez is very unusual in the world of professional bodybuilding: He won his very first competition, taking first place in all three events.
The 30-year-old Las Cruces native won the debut and novice events and was the overall open winner in the 2025 Albuquerque Open bodybuilding competition. He also earned his Organization of Competition Bodies Pro Card, meaning he has achieved professional status in all-natural (drug-tested) bodybuilding competitions.
“It was a little surreal,” said Vasquez, who competed against other bodybuilders ranging in age from late teens to mid-50s and coming from New Mexico and surrounding states. “I felt incredible,” he said. “It was (also) a great sigh of relief for me. I spent a year training for it – a lot of hours, a lot of hungry nights.”
Vasquez, who moved back to Las Cruces more than three years ago, is now in training for his next competition in San Antonio, Texas in December. He began bodybuilding a couple of years ago at the suggestion of a coworker.
“I wanted to see how far I could push myself,” he said. “I love it. It’s awesome. It gives me another purpose.”
Vasquez works out three to three and a-half hours a day, five days a week at Crunch Gym in Las Cruces, and sometimes four to four and a-half hours in a single workout if he gets on the treadmill to burn calories in addition to working out on exercise machines and using free weights.
“Joseph stands out from other people at the gym because bodybuilding does take a level of commitment that most people aren’t willing to put in,” said Jackson D. Sosin, a certified personal trainer at Crunch.
Vasquez works from home for a technology company and that gives him the freedom to spend so much time at the gym.
“I’m just very fortunate I have a lot of flexibility in my life,” he said.
Vasquez doesn’t have a workout partner. Once he puts in his ear buds (he usually listens to hip hop/rap or EDM – something up tempo, especially if he’s feeling tired), “I tend to be in my own little world,” Vasquez said. “It’s just me. That’s how I like it.”
But he also likes talking to people at the gym and answering their questions.
Going to Crunch “gets me out of my apartment,” Vasquez said. “It’s my social hour. Helping someone get in a little better shape and feel better about themselves makes me happy,” he said.
It also gives Vasquez a chance to use the degree in kinesiology (the study of human movement, performance and function) he earned from Adams State University in 2019.
“Some people when pursuing bodybuilding can become very selfish and narcissistic,” Sosin said. “Not Joseph. He’s been nothing but positive, helpful and nice to the people around him. That’s why he’s an amazing role model for other guys at the gym or those that would want to aspire to natural bodybuilding.”
Following a strict diet is another important aspect of Vasquez’s bodybuilding regimen. It includes a lot of rice, broccoli, ground turkey and very lean ground beef.
“I stick to the basics, what’s quick and easy for me,” Vasquez said.
He “makes big batches” of food a couple of times a week and then portions them out for each meal, he said.
Vasquez kept a long list of the foods he craved while in training for the Albuquerque competition, including fast food like Taco Bell and Whataburger. Writing them down, he said, “helped me forget about them.”
“It’s easy for a person to go to the gym and get a good workout,” Sosin said, “but most people aren’t paying attention to what they’re eating, drinking and doing outside the gym. That’s where bodybuilding and Joseph’s level of commitment really stand out. He put in the work to deserve his title.”
Vasquez, who is the youngest of three children, said his brother, Josh, two years older, is “my biggest supporter.” The two played soccer together growing up, at Mayfield High School (Joseph is a 2014 graduate) and in a soccer club.
Vasquez has a professional trainer in Albuquerque and connects with her every week to help maintain his physique as he prepares for the December competition.
That classic physique – the lean, sculpted, highly symmetrical look – is what judges are looking for in bodybuilding competitions. Wearing only Speedos, Vasquez must hold each pose in a competition for up to 20 minutes without moving, and barely breathing. Mandatory poses called out by the judges include front and back double bicep, right- and left-side chest, abs and thighs. Vasquez added two poses of his choice, a three-quarter back double bicep and a side triceps.
“It takes a lot out of you,” he said. “It took two months to build the stamina to hold each pose.”
Vasquez said he likes the routine of working at home and working out at Crunch.
“I’m a creature of habit,” he said. “I’m either in my apartment or at the gym.”
And even with the occasional setback – he missed a bodybuilding competition in Denver because of a calf injury – “two steps forward and one step back is still one step forward,” Vasquez said. “I just take it in stride. I’m always competitive. I have a lot of fun doing this.”
