Amongst his peers, Jerod Frederick ‘18 is known for his dedication to the gym. The scrawny freshman that he remembers is an old life of his. The man you see on campus is a man built of dedication and a membership to Mavericks gym.

It is evident that Frederick is dedicated bodybuilding, but it is hard to tell when he became the bodybuilder he is today. “How long hasn’t lifting been a part of my life? You know? Lifting is life,” he said.  

Frederick “began seriously lifting probably around the summer going into freshman year.”

Frederick’s motivation was found from his family. His father was a bodybuilder and is “still big today.” There came a time where Frederick looked up to his brothers who were dedicated bodybuilders and decided, “I can’t be small anymore, no more of this, this is high school I gotta wake up, gotta get on the grind.”

Frederick believes that building his body will always be a part of his life until he is “old, frail, in a wheelchair and I have my cane with a top hat and monocle, I’m ready to settle down and stop body building. But until then. It is never gonna stop.”

Some bodybuilders want to have as much muscle on their frame as possible. But this is not Frederick’s goal.

“I don’t wanna be that huge monstrosity. I wanna be more like a Greek god,” he said.

Some people don’t find it appealing to lift heavy objects every day of the week in an endless cycle with minimal immediate results, however for these reasons, Frederick loves it.

“It is the dedication required to get somewhere in bodybuilding that makes it so rewarding for me,” he said.

Another big part of Frederick‘s life has been kept in a shadow to the student body: piano. He has won countless awards and has placed first in multiple competitions.

Like with bodybuilding, Frederick‘s influence comes from his family. His parents influenced him to play when he was three. Frederick is appreciative for his parents decision to engage him into becoming a pianist because as a child he had no direction in his hobbies.

Some have compared Frederick to professionals but he says that the difference is incomparable.

“Like the average person maybe couldn’t be able to tell too much difference,” he said, “but to me it is like night and day.”

Frederick does not like to stay stagnant with his songs, he tries to learn a new piece every two to four weeks. His favorite piece over the years is “this Pirates of the Caribbean arrangement that is pretty dope.”

For all aspects of his life, Frederick believes that you must let “healthy habits take over your life, not by brute force, but by inspiration from yourself.”