Kentucky bodybuilder is the state’s No. 1 eater. He’s gonna be on TV with The Rock.
When Bartley Weaver isn’t on duty for the Kentucky State Police, he’s probably in the gym.
“The gym,” during most of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been a Bowling Green storage unit he outfitted with whatever exercise equipment he could find online, though recently he’s started making the short drive to Tennessee, which opened its gyms on May 1, to get in the kind of workout he’s grown accustomed to putting himself through since becoming a bodybuilder in 2009.
Weaver technically is an amateur, since he hasn’t yet earned a pro card from the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness, but he says that box will inevitably get checked.
“It’s just one of those things, it’s a lot of hard work,” Weaver said in a phone interview with the Herald-Leader. “The most important thing is to try and improve every time you’re on stage. I’ve been competing 10 years, and I could show you 10 years of contest pictures, and I’m better in every one of them.”
Determination and discipline are prerequisites for any athlete who hopes to achieve their biggest dreams. One could take a glance at his physique and figure out that Weaver lacks neither quality, but that look would barely reveal what makes him stand out.
Big muscles helped, but they weren’t the reason Weaver will be on television with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson later this month.
Titan
Weaver, who was born in Harrodsburg but moved to Cave City when he was 5, is one of 36 contestants on season two of “The Titan Games,” an athletic-competition show in which participants vie for the title of “Titan Champion.” He’s among 12 competitors in the Central Region; the show, hosted by Johnson, premieres Monday.
While NBC was casting for Season 1, Weaver filled out all the required paperwork but stalled when he got to a final task required for most reality shows: recording a 2-3 minute long video to say why he should be considered. Sure, he thought, he serves the public for a living and operates a personal-training business in his spare time, but what made him really stand apart in a crowd of applicants?
He ultimately didn’t apply, instead focusing his efforts elsewhere in entertainment. Weaver served for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans last season in the role of “Hyperion,” a spartan-like mascot character who led the team onto the field before its home games. Hyperion, in Greek mythology, was one of the 12 divine Titans who ruled prior to the Olympians.
On top of getting one hell of a tagline for his Season 2 video — “Why do I want to become a Titan? I already am one.” — becoming a facsimile of a Greek god afforded Weaver an opportunity he dreamed of since he was a star quarterback for Caverna High School in the late 2000s.
“It was surreal, man,” Weaver said. “I always wanted to make it to the NFL growing up. It didn’t quite pan out but in a weird way it kind of did. I’m on the field just like the players, got the best seat in the house, got my own intro when I come out of the tunnel. It’s just an awesome experience.”
That might have been enough to push Weaver up the pecking order, but another development between Season 1 and Season 2 probably helped put him over the top.
No. 1 eater
Weaver’s diet throughout the week consists mostly of healthy proteins and vegetables, but he allows himself one cheat meal each week. That “meal” sometimes is a feast fit for a Titan or two; earlier this month it consisted of three Papa John’s pizzas (six slices apiece) and about 20 donuts from Krispy Kreme. It clocked in at more than 13,000 calories.
As the lifetime owner of a voracious appetite — in his youth, he says, his parents would cook a dinner for him and one for the rest of the family — competing as an amateur eater at county fairs and other events came naturally to Weaver, who took up the practice a couple years ago to eat his cheat meals at a free or reduced cost and to compete against other people more frequently. Last spring he earned a three-year contract with Major League Eating; currently he’s ranked as the No. 1 eater in Kentucky and No. 32 in the world.
He wants to be the first person in history to be a pro eater and pro bodybuilder.
“Training for competitive eating and still not being fat for bodybuilding, you’re skating a fine line there,” Weaver said. “There’s one thing that has to remain constant, and that’s working out like a maniac. There’s gonna be days where you eat more, so to prepare yourself, there are days you eat less so on the days where you eat more you’re not just adding fat. ... Then when cheat meal comes or the competition comes, you’re not throwing yourself too far over.”
Weaver has used his gut for good, too. In December, in conjunction with KSP and area businesses, he raised $5,000 to buy Christmas gifts for under-privileged children.
“Any time I can eat pizza and raise money to help people out, I’m in,” he said.
Fighting stereotypes
The contrast between bodybuilding and pro eating is readily apparent to Weaver, who since high school has tried to buck the “meathead” stereotype and be as well-rounded as possible. He graduated magna cum laude from Kentucky Wesleyan College with a degree in criminal justice and psychology in 2011. He graduated from the KSP academy in 2015 and a year later started his business, Dreamweaver Fit, which started as a workout program but has grown to offer apparel, meal-prep services and other exercise wares. He even wrote a workout book, a copy of which this month he mailed to Alaska.
“I think the gym can teach you just about every lesson you need to learn,” Weaver said. “You get out what you put in. Discipline and drive. A lot of bodybuilders just do that, but if they applied themselves across different platforms, I’m pretty sure they’d be successful because it’s the same thing.”
Weaver submitted his application for “The Titan Games” on the deadline day and got a call from casting producer Peter Szeliga within 30 minutes. He interviewed with NBC representatives and was sent to a combine, at which he qualified for the show despite tearing a hamstring and injuring another while running a 40-yard dash.
He only had three weeks to heal before competing on the show but was able to convince them that he’d do what was necessary in order to be ready. They obliged.
“I did cryotherapy two times a day and you’re supposed to only do it once,” Weaver said. “Dry needling, deep-tissue massages, heat pad, massage gun. I was doing everything you can think of to get right for it.”
Months removed from running onto the field at Nissan Stadium and sharing the stage with hot-dog eating legend Joey Chestnut, Weaver made good on his promise, was able to compete and got to meet Johnson, one of his biggest idols — in sports or otherwise.
“I told him that in person I’ve always respected how he’s had so many irons in the fire and is still as productive as he is,” Weaver said. “I have people ask me, ‘How do you have time for all this?’ ... How do you think The Rock feels? He’s always got 15 things going on at a much-larger scale.”
State trooper. Bodybuilder. Entrepreneur. Pro eater. Entertainer.
“I’ve had a lot flourish here lately,” Weaver said. “I give a lot of credit to God, because none of it would be possible without him putting me in the position.”
Whether or not Weaver won the show’s ultimate prize — $100,000 — remains to be seen. But the title that comes along with it is superfluous. He’s already a Titan.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 7:49 AM.
