Helderbarroso.com

Who Am I?

 

I was born in Porto, Portugal in 1981, I lived there until I was 15 years of age, from a young age I have allways been involved in sports, my 1st love was football, I played from the age of 5 years old through primary school and then into secondary school, in Portugal the main sport is football and every boy's dream to become a professional footballer. I played through the ranks in school and after I left school I joined a club called Leixoes, they were in the Premiership of Portugal at the time so it was a great move for me, I played there for the juniors for 2 years, I then moved to Academica De Leca, this was a 5 aside indoor football team, Indoor football in Portugal is massive and the proffesionals get paid a lot of money, I played there for another 2 years, I was the captain of the team and we won the league for both of the years I was there, they were great memories! 

In 1996 my parents decided to move from Portugal to the UK, something I wasn't at all happy with but as I was only 15 years old so I had no choice but to move with them, for at least 3 years I didn't play football or any other sports for that matter, I started becoming a lazy fat 18 year old, very unhappy with life and how I looked, my confidence took a huge dip, I looked and felt rubbish and on top of that my English was none existent! 

At this point I was working part-time in a petrol station and one of the kids that worked there played football on a Monday night, he once asked me to come along as they needed a few players that day, I couldn't refuse, football was my passion and I couldn't wait to play again, cut a long story short, I turned up played very well and was approached by a player from the opposition team who asked me if I wanted to play for their Sunday league team, this is when my life in the UK started going to right way.

For the next few years I went from playing for a 3rd division team in the Sunday league to playing for a semi professional team which is where my football carrear came to an end due to a knee injury!!

I tried all I could but the doctors advised me if I wanted to walk properly for the rest of my life then football would have to finish, the doctors advised me to build some muscle around my knee joint to support my knee, up until this point I had never stepped foot in a gym, then came my new found love for a different sport, BODYBUILDING!

The firt ever gym I joined was Spike's Gym in Leicester, I didn't have a clue about what to do, I just looked at biggest guy in the gym and copied everything he did, I did this for about 6 months and my body started responding very quickly to the weights, I was getting big but I was still a little fat, no abs at all which to me didn't make any sense as I was working so hard! I then decided to join a boxing club as well as the gym, I joined Simon Harris boxing academy once again in Leicester, so my training at the time was gym for 2 hours and boxing for 2 hours 5 days a week, needless to say I was in great shape, I looked better than ever, I was getting a lot of attention from every angle, one of which was an old school bodybuilder called Dave Brown, he asked me " have you ever thought about competing in bodybuidling?" to which I replied " what is that?" he then went on to explain what it was all about and my first response was " you must be crazy if you think I am going to stand on stage with stupid pants on!" He then told me that he was competing at the UKBFF quailfier in Leicester in 3 weeks time and invited me to come watch him. 3 Weeks later I decided to go and at first I was a bit shocked with all these brown men almost nacked standing on stage flexing every muscle in their body but as the show went on I started telling myself that I could be up there, in my head I was better than most of them up there!! I was clearly living in my own bubble! LOL Any how Dave won his class and he qualified for the British Finals, that same day I told him that I would be up for doing a show and asked him when the next one was on, he told me 3 weeks later there was show in Mansfield, it was called the UKBFF Mansfield Classic, I asked him "what do I need to do to enter?" so he gave me a 3 week diet and 3 weeks later he took me to this show, I never did any diets, I didnt even know I had to diet but I will never forget, he told me to eat a lot of chicken and brocoli, bananas and rice cakes, that was pretty much all I did for 3 weeks, I turned up to this show with a pair of blue pants and CD with my favourite song which at the time was Akon ( Locked Up ). I didnt have a clue what I was doing Dave talked me through what I needed to do and bang there I was on stage, I was hit by the bug almost immediately, I came 4th and I was over the moon with the result, as soon as I stepped off the stage all I wanted to do is learn how to become bigger and better so that I could comeback the year after and do it all over again. 

 

Alright so now you may be thinking to yourself; 

I have been there before.  I know what it’s like to struggle when trying to put on muscle and constantly spinning your wheels.  This is why I want to help you!  I know what it is like to be small, fat, skinny, big, insecure, lack confidence, not wanting to take my top off in front of people.

 

It doesn’t matter exactly WHY you’re here.  I don’t discriminate.  I want you to have a great healthy life and be a better version of yourself regardless, I appreciate your time and I look forward to making a difference in YOUR life.