D.J. spins stick with the basics: in life and in bodybilding, I focus on what's essential - Dennis James

When I was young, I had talent in a lot of different areas, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I grew up in Germany, where I played soccer among other things. People told me I could be a great soccer player and maybe even make it in the pro leagues. But eventually I realized I wanted to participate in a sport where I was my own boss, where there was no one to blame but myself if I came up short. That's why I decided to become a bodybuilder.

My father always told me that if I wanted to do something right, I needed to concentrate on just that one thing and give it 100%. I took that to heart in the way I approached training from the very beginning. I started training in Thailand (where I live) 10 years ago, and I always did it with full effort, never half-assed. After only three months, a guy at the beach asked me what show I was preparing for, and that's what first gave me the idea to compete.

In Thailand, I only had access to basic equipment. I had never worked out on fancy equipment until I came to America for a few months. I never had a personal trainer.

I never had a guy who taught me how to train. I had to teach myself.

I was smart enough to figure out what exercises were for what bodyparts, but it took time to figure out what worked best for me: basic exercises such as incline bench presses, squats, barbell rows, barbell curls, lat pulldowns and military presses.

When I came to America, I won a couple of NPC shows and then I beat Melvin Anthony at the 1998 NRC USA and turned pro without an established name. After that, I was able to stay in America for a while, and I added fancy machines and cable movements to my workouts. I thought I had put on enough size so that all I needed to do was to refine it. I didn't get lazy, but I changed my way of training to an easier way, and I got my ass kicked at my pro debut at the 1999 Night Of Champions, where I tied for 14th.

Because of that, I learned that nothing takes the place of hard work and basic movements. I went back to my old style of training. I came back for the 2000 Ironman (seventh place) and Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic (fourth place) and proved to everybody that this is what I should stick with. Because I learned this valuable lesson, I'm able to come in bigger and better at every show I enter.

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