A Star Profile: Trey Brewer - The Muscle Prodigy



Bodybuilding has become a sport where the best amateurs and pro’s are often in their thirties, even forties. Ronnie Coleman is 43 years old and shows no signs of slowing down. There was a time, years ago, when young guns dominated the sport. Shawn Ray and Rich Gaspari were both professionals at 22 years of age, and Lee Haney began his eight-year Mr. Olympia reign at just 24 years old. Lately there has been a dearth of young talent, which has led some pundits to predict that the sport is fading away as the athletes get older and little new talent is coming in to offer an infusion of fresh blood. That’s why the whole bodybuilding world sat up and took notice at the arrival of Georgia’s Trey Brewer. At just 21 years old, the newcomer won the prestigious NPC Excalibur Championships in California at 260 pounds, sporting the type of mass typically reserved for the Mr. Olympia stage, and with thighs that had people comparing him to the great Tom Platz. The truly shocking fact about Trey was that he had only been training as a bodybuilder for just over a year. His potential for the future is limitless, and BSN is proud to have him as the newest member of its team of star athletes. Let’s get to know this amazing young man, a man who could very well be the future of pro bodybuilding.
Interview conducted in 2007.

RH: Trey, whenever someone is as massive as you are at such a young age, the first question is usually, were you always big? So were you a large child compared to the other kids around you?
TB: Yeah, I was always big for my age. I remember being the tallest kid in my class in elementary school, and I was never thin – always athletic and muscular. Things really changed once I started training with weights. I started high school at 150 pounds, and graduated weighing 260. So I put on over a hundred pounds in high school.

RH: Wow! That’s amazing. Who else in your family was or is exceptionally big and strong?
TB: I definitely get my size from my mother’s side. There are a lot of big guys in her family. All my uncles, her brothers, are around 6-5 or 6-6. They’re not tall and skinny either, just big, solid guys. If any of them had ever seriously got into weights, I am sure they would be simply enormous.

RH: Well that explains a little bit. How would you describe your childhood in Georgia? What were your interests and hobbies?
TB: I was always very active and very much an outdoors type of kid. We had a 400-acre pasture behind my house and I would be building forts and tree houses, playing paintball, all kinds of stuff. There were a lot of cows and bulls back there too.
RH: And you were athletic from an early age also, correct?
TB: Definitely. I was playing T-ball at age five, then played baseball until middle school. I also played soccer and did track and field, but what I really loved was football. My dream was to play college ball and then go to the NFL.

RH: When you first started weight training, was it for football? What sort of results did you see from that, and when did you know you were destined to be quite a bit bigger and stronger than the average male human being?
TB: I had always liked muscles and wanted to lift weights, but my dad wouldn’t let me do it until he felt I was old enough. The summer before freshman year of high school, I wanted to put on some size for football, and dad finally started showing me the basics with the weights and the bench we had in our basement. A couple months later I was training at the high school weight room. I knew I was getting bigger and stronger faster than the other kids were, but I didn’t really think about it too much. I just loved training and pushing myself to lift a little more than I did last time. I certainly never thought once about being a bodybuilder. To me it wasn’t about the way I looked. I just always wanted to be stronger and stronger.

RH: So when did you first consider becoming a bodybuilder, and what helped you make the decision that you would really commit to it?
TB: It wasn’t until after high school. I had hoped to get a football scholarship to a Division I school, but it didn’t happen. I was in the gym one day when a guy that owned a local nutrition store and worked with some local bodybuilding competitors and athletes told me I had the best potential for bodybuilding he had ever seen. This guy had been to a lot of contests and knew some pro’s, so I respected his opinion.
RH: What were some of the things you weren’t too knowledgeable about in the very beginning?
TB: I had been powerlifting, and that’s the only type of training I really knew. All the shaping exercises bodybuilders use were pretty foreign to me. I had never even done any direct work for my arms, for instance. Whatever size they had was just from assisting in bench presses and deadlifts. My nutritional knowledge was also very limited. I ate three or four times a day and would have a protein shake here or there, but it was nothing consistent. I wasn’t putting any real thought into what I ate. Luckily for me though, my mom always had pretty healthy food for our family. I never was into a lot of junk or fried foods, soda, things a lot of kids eat all the time. But I also never looked at food as fuel or building blocks for muscle tissue. I just ate because I was hungry.

RH: Your first couple contests didn’t go as well as you had hoped. How did that affect you, and what changed after that?
TB: I took second at the Georgia State and third at the Teenage Nationals. For someone that supposedly had all this awesome potential, I was really disappointed. It threw me off. I sat down and looked over the pictures from the show and just got determined to come back a lot bigger and a lot harder next time. I would also have a much more complete physique. Considering I had only been incorporating isolation exercises for five months, I still looked pretty good.

RH: You went out to California and won a very large regional show despite being the youngest competitor in the Open Men. Was everybody in disbelief that they were looking at a guy that was only 21 years old, and had barely just started training and eating like a bodybuilder?
TB: People did freak out. They would come up to me and tell me how shocked they were that someone so young could be so big. That’s something, because those California bodybuilding audiences have seen it all. It’s pretty hard to get a reaction out of them.
RH: What was it like to have so much success, so fast – getting the cover on MD and being signed by BSN, the same company that Ronnie Coleman represents? Did it seem like a dream for a while and you wondered when you were going to wake up?
TB: It’s been a true blessing. It all did come so fast, but I’m taking it well and not getting overwhelmed. The attention and recognition gives me more determination to get better. I don’t want to let anyone down, and I don’t want to let myself down. Working the BSN booth at the Arnold Classic, I got to meet so many fans. It’s funny because a lot of them told me how I inspired them. Just hearing them tell me that inspired and motivated me right back.

RH: What did your family think about your involvement in bodybuilding when you first got into it, and what do they think of it now?
TB: At first, they were against it. They thought it was going to be a big waste of time and effort. I could understand where they were coming from. They just want me to be happy and successful at something. But once they saw how focused I was, and the effort and energy and passion I put into bodybuilding, they started to come around. Once my career started taking off with the cover and my BSN contract, my family finally began supporting me. Now, they are bodybuilding fans!

RH: I know that when I spoke to you shortly after your Excalibur win, you were thinking about competing in something like the Junior Nationals this year. Now you have decided to take off all of 2007 and return to competition next year. What made you change your mind, and what types of improvements do you think you will be able to show by taking that extra time?
TB: The next time I’m on stage, I want to be much bigger and better. I don’t want to throw numbers around about what I will weigh, for two reasons. One, I really have no idea what I will weigh the next time I compete, and two; it’s not about the weight. You have to be big but you also need to be proportioned and in great condition. I knew my best bet was taking off an entire year and having a good off-season to make the improvements I need to make. My upper body in general is really coming up. Specifically, my arms and my upper back and getting bigger and more detailed, and I am getting better separations between the glutes and the hams.
RH: Any idea what shows you will be doing in 2008?
TB: Probably the Junior Nationals and the USA.

RH: Some of the photos of your legs look so unreal that you would swear they were photo-shopped. Certainly your thighs are a dominant area. Have you ever though about doing what Branch Warren did in the months before both his Nationals win and his pro debut, which was to stop training legs completely so his upper body could catch up?
TB: I have thought about doing that. In fact, I didn’t train my legs at all for five months before I won the Excalibur. I will probably do that again. The problem is that my legs just grow so easily.

RH: Most people would love to have that problem!
TB: Yeah, that’s true.

RH: How big do you ultimately see yourself getting? And is it all about sheer size, or do you have a picture in your mind of the ultimate physique you want to display?
TB: Like I said, I just want to be proportionate, an all-around package. What’s my ideal size or weight? There’s really no telling. I was 260-265 last time. Next time, who knows? I am still growing at a very steady rate, so it’s just impossible to say where I will end up.

RH: Who are the bodybuilders that inspired you when you were starting out, and who do you look up to right now in the sport?
TB: I have always been a fan of the mass freaks: Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, Markus Ruhl, Art Atwood, and Branch Warren. To me, they embody what bodybuilding is all about – a really powerful look. You know those guys didn’t get that way lifting little pink dumbbells and circuit training on machines.
RH: I was looking over your diet, and it’s amazing to see the sheer volume of food you consume on a daily basis in the off-season. Is it hard for you to eat so much, or do you have a naturally strong appetite? And would you say that not eating enough is a big stumbling block for many aspiring bodybuilders that can’t seem to put on much size?
TB: At first, it was tough to eat so much. But I’ve always had a big appetite, probably because I’ve always been so active. I think you can train your body to handle more food and more meals. Some guys try to do it all at once and they fail. You need to approach it like you do with the weights. If you are squatting 200 pounds, you don’t go in the next time and try 500. You’d get buried! Just eat a little bit more food, day-by-day, and week by week. And don’t think that all your nutrients have to come from food. Shakes can most definitely provide you with extra protein and calories so you can gain. But you do have to eat a lot of good food to put on quality muscle. Most guys don’t bother putting the effort into their nutrition, so they fail to put the size on that they want to.

RH: Is it tough for you to be so regimented with your training, eating, and sleeping when most guys your age are out at bars and nightclubs a couple nights a week until two in the morning and mingling with plenty of attractive young ladies?
TB: It’s not hard because I am determined. I want to be the best and I know what it takes. I have goals I want to achieve, and going out and getting drunk every weekend isn’t going to get me any closer to them. Every once in a while in the off-season I will go out with my buddies. But I always pack a meal or two with me. You can’t skip meals and expect to keep making progress. And if I do go out, I don’t stay out until the sun comes up. I need my sleep. Sleep is part of the recovery process, and if you don’t recover from your workouts, you can’t grow. I put too much effort into my training to get no results out of it.

RH: How far do you ultimately see yourself going in the sport of bodybuilding?
TB: I feel I can be Mr. Olympia one day as long as I stay healthy, injury-free, and focused on my goals. I know I train as hard or harder than anybody else out there, and I know I have what it takes to get to the top. I believe in myself and that I am capable of doing anything I want to as long as I am willing to work hard enough.
RH: What’s the best advice you can offer other guys out there in their late teens and early twenties who would like to become champion bodybuilders?
TB: Focus! There are so many distractions out there that can steer you from the right path if you let them. You have to know exactly what you want and keep it in mind at all times.

RH: What are the biggest misconceptions you think people may have about you based on your appearance, and just how wrong are they?
TB: People see me and get intimidated because I am so big. They assume I’m a mean, angry guy that will beat them up or something! I’m actually a really nice, humble guy that happens to be pretty large and muscular. People also assume that I’m full of myself or arrogant. I’m not like that at all. I’m very down to earth and don’t think I am any better than anybody else in this world. I’m just a little bigger and stronger than the average guy.

RH: Yeah, just a little. Who is Trey Brewer? If you had to describe yourself and what you are all about in just a couple sentences, how would you do it?
TB: I’m very focused, determined, and passionate about what I do. I want to be the best. I’m very competitive and always have been. If I do anything, I want to do it to the best of my ability.
Fast Facts:
Full Name: William Trey Brewer
Born: July 24, 1985
Residence: Smyrna, GA
Off Season Weight: 315 lb.
Contest Weight: 260 * 280 lb.
Favorite type of music: Rap and hard rock
Car you drive: Cadillac Escalade
Dream car: Lamborghini or Ferrari
Favorite sports team: Atlanta Falcons
Favorite movies: Gladiator and Braveheart
Top lifts: Bench press 495, squat 675, deadlift 675, all for 12 reps

Complete Contest History
2005 Georgia State Second, Teenage
Second, Men’s Super heavyweight
2005 Teenage Nationals Third, Heavyweights
2006 Excalibur Super Heavyweight and Overall Champion

Training Split
Monday: Back
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Chest
Thursday: Arms
Friday: Shoulders
Saturday: OFF (may do some arms)
Sunday: OFF
Trey Brewer's Typical Off Season

Feeding Schedule
My Motto:
You can’t over train! You can only under eat.

MEAL 1 20-25 egg whites 2 yolks.
4 cups of organic oatmeal with cinnamon
Handful of almonds
MEAL 2 True Mass shake (60 grams)
Waxy Maize Carbohydrate Powder
MEAL 3 16oz of skinless boneless chicken breast (salt free seasoning)
16oz of sweet potato with cinnamon
1 full bag of lettuce and veggies
MEAL 4 1 large T-bone steak with 12oz potato and mixed veggies
MEAL 5 True Mass shake (60 grams)
Waxy Maize Carbohydrate Powder
MEAL 6 16oz ground turkey breast
4 cups of brown rice (before cooking)
MEAL 7 Syntha 6 shake (60 grams)
Waxy Maize Carbohydrate Powder
I usually throw in a couple of protein bars throughout the day. I also take a pre and post workout shake. Twice a week I treat myself to ice cream and pizza.