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Working\u00a0in the Alberta oilpatch, it can be easy to fall into unhealthy habits. But Leduc’s Clint Lewing fell into some extremely healthy ones \u2014 working out,\u00a0eating right and steering clear of drugs\u00a0\u2014 that have changed his life.<\/p>\n
Now the long-time emergency medical technician, who ran his own company delivering\u00a0on-site medical and safety programs, is a\u00a0top Canadian natural bodybuilder who recently hopped into his restored Chevy van and headed for California and a new career as a fitness model.<\/p>\n
“It has been a whirlwind, actually, the last couple of years,” Lewing said\u00a0from Venice Beach in a phone interview with CBC’s Radio Active<\/em>.<\/p>\nOn a whim in 2015, Lewing entered a natural bodybuilding competition, in which participants abstain from using performance-enhancing drugs.<\/p>\n
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.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\nClint Lewing, who is from Leduc, Alta., started training for his first natural bodybuilding competition while working in the northern Alberta oilpatch. (Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n“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.”<\/p>\n
With the wins came interest from agents, which led to some work as a model and actor.<\/p>\n
Among his coups is the music video for the song Dive Bar<\/em> 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\u00a0skills.<\/p>\n“They needed a country guy that could dance,” Lewing chuckled. “We got’er done.”<\/p>\n
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