Pine-Richland grad finds immediate success as self-taught bodybuilder

By: Jerin Steele
Sunday, June 11, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Garrett Krieger entered his first bodybuilding competition over Memorial Day weekend and going into it, he didn’t know what to expect.

That was a natural reaction because it was his first time trying the discipline, but what made him more uncertain is that he entered without any coaching.

Krieger, a 2022 Pine-Richland grad, did all his own research, formulated a plan that included watching YouTube videos and got himself down to 3.5% body fat.

The results were pretty good.

He finished third in the true novice class and fifth in novice Class B for competitors 5-foot-8 and above at the NPC Lehigh Valley Championships in Allentown.

“Up until the show, I really didn’t know how it was going to go,” Kreiger said. “I didn’t have full confidence that I was going to do great because it was my first time and I was without a coach. Afterwards, with the results, I realized that I did OK and that I didn’t necessarily need a coach this time around. That’s when I realized everything worked out.”

Going into a competition for the first time without a coach was unique. Krieger, 18, said he was one of only five competitors out of approximately 120 that entered across various classes that did not have a coach.

He’s always had a love for weightlifting and recently wrapped up his freshman year at James Madison, where he’s studying health science.

The love for working out started when he played football, but back injuries hampered his career.

Krieger still enjoyed going to the gym and wanted to remain competitive in some form, so he started exploring bodybuilding.

It became a reality that he wanted to pursue about 10 months ago. That’s when he started his research and training.

“I just researched it all myself through Google and YouTube,” Krieger said. “I watched posing videos and researched how the muscle tissue worked with all the flexing. I watched some guys on YouTube that I’ve followed for a long time and kind of just repeated it myself.”

He entered a bulking session as he trained, but the last few weeks, his diet consisted only of chicken, rice and the occasional vegetable.

That made for a difficult process where he said he felt like a zombie at times due to the lack of calories, but the transition of where he wanted his body to be started taking shape.

“Part of why I fell in love with the sport is that genetically I’m a pretty skinny, lean kid and the last couple years, I’ve been trying to get real bulky and I did,” Krieger said. “Then, 10 weeks ago when I started cardio and diet to prep, I lost weight pretty quickly. A week after I started noticing a little difference, then rapidly through the 10 weeks, I kept noticing getting a lot leaner. It was pretty quick for me, but it’s different for different guys.”

Krieger said it’ll probably be a couple years before he enters another competition. He feels he needs to add more weight to build muscle mass to have a better chance to win.

“I’m only 18, so I don’t need to rush it,” Krieger said. “I also need to put on way more size. I think that was the biggest thing I lacked against the older guys I competed against. I want to take two years and gain size and see where I go from there.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Pine-Richland