An RX Muscle Exclusive With Seneca Little

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Published on Monday, 29 July 2013 22:44

Written by Corey Young

An RX Muscle Exclusive With Seneca Little

Negative news always seems to capture the headlines, doesn’t it? Turn on your local news at any time of day and it’s more than likely that they’ll be leading their newscast with some form of tragedy. And, more often than not, we stop what we’re doing just to check out how crazy the world continues to become. We’re all guilty of it; slowing down to check out a car accident, checking the boards for the latest muscle gossip, or lurking to find out what excuse our favorite IFBB Pro gave as to why he missed his peak yet again. 

In fact, it seems like positive or uplifting stories like the following one are often few and far between. This is the story of Seneca Little, and it’s not your average cautionary tale of bodybuilding gone wrong. His story is actually quite the opposite. It’s a story about how one man used bodybuilding as a stepping stone to help him uplift his life and his soul from a place most of us pray we never know. I recently got a chance to speak with Seneca about the details of his incredible journey, and he’s decided to share it with us in this Rx Muscle exclusive.

Let's start by talking about your childhood. You grew up in a very poor area of Chicago where gang violence was a daily reality. Describe what life was like growing up in that environment for those unfamiliar with the area.

Life growing up in Chicago was very difficult. It was a very unsafe place for a child. There were gangs, drugs, and violence all around and a lot of shootings. It's a crazy place, and even as a child you have to know your soundings. I was exposed to a lot at a young age.

Growing up were you aware of how dangerous that area actually was? Or is this something you're able to put into perspective now when you reflect back on that time?

At that time I knew that there was constant danger around me but I didn’t see anything else, so I thought this was the way life was. I thought it was normal when a child is growing up and he/she is only exposed to a certain lifestyle. How can they know that there are different things out in the world?

Are there any specific situations that stand out in your mind from that time that may have deeply impacted you?

Yes, there was one incident in particular that stands out. When I was about twelve years old my cousin and I were walking to the store one early morning when we were approached by five guys who were gang affiliated. They asked us what gang did we claim? We said we were neutral, but they said we were lying, and I knew they were going to try and jump us so I told my cousin that we needed to go. 

We both started to run and he got away, but I got caught and they started attacking me, hitting me with sticks, and whatever else they could find. Then, they said they were going kill me. They all grabbed me and threw me in the trunk of a car. Eventually they drove me to an alley were they continued to jump me, and after they beat me up pretty bad they left me in an alley. 

When they pulled off I picked myself up, staggered toward my home and when I was halfway there I saw my older cousin coming up the street looking for me. Still to this day I can never thank my cousin enough for being the first one I saw and allowing me to believe I was going to be ok.

Despite being surrounded by gangs and being constantly pressured to make some sort of gang affiliation, you always resisted. Why?

I remember seeing only the bad things that the gangs were doing to each other, to other people, all the constant negative energy around me, and even at a young age I knew that I didn’t want to be a part of that. Now don’t get me wrong, I was a little rebellious, but only in ways that kids usually are, but my intention was never to harm anyone.

What were the ramifications of your decision to avoid the gang lifestyle?

As a result of me not wanting to join? That made the pressure even greater. Most days I would have to take the long way home so that I didn’t have to walk through the big groups of guys waiting to recruit kids like myself by any means necessary. It was rough, but you did what was necessary for you to survive.

In middle school your mother decided to move your family out of inner-city Chicago and into the suburbs of Minnesota. Did the change come as a welcome relief? Or were you hesitant to leave your family, friends, and everything you'd known to that point?

It was bitter sweet because you’re leaving everything you knew and where all your family and friends were, so in that respect, I did not want to leave them. But, at the same time, I didn’t feel safe to go out and play and the gangs were not letting up. I felt that as long as I had my big brother and my strong mother I would be okay.

Talk about the challenges you and your family faced immediately following the move.

Well, when we moved to Minnesota we didn’t have a place to stay, but my mother had heard great things about it. When we first moved there we were homeless, and we had a truck with all of our things in it that we put in storage. 

During that time we lived in a shelter for nearly four months. While we were there my mother always made us feel like everything was going to be okay because we had each other. But there was a time during that stay that I was scared. After my mother put my brother and I to sleep, she thought I was sleeping, but I wasn’t and that night I remember hearing her crying.

Now, let me remind you that my mom is strong, and she never let us see her fearful or crying, but on that night I heard Superwoman ( my mom) cry, and that scared me to death because if mom is scared then I must be lost.

Ultimately you and your family settled in, life normalized, and you graduated from high school in Minnesota without incident. Shortly after high school your best friend is tragically killed and that begins a long downward spiral for you. Talk about the relationship the two of you had and the circumstances surrounding his death.

He was more than a best friend, he was my brother. I have never in my life met someone like him. He was the guy that all the girls wanted and all the guys wanted to be like. We were like each other’s shadow; you never saw one of us without the other. We went all through Junior High and High School together. I should remind you that in Chicago we moved almost every year so I never kept friends. 

This was the first friend I had that I was able to stay around each other for years. We even got our own apartments near each other; we were always there for one another. Then, one night at around 1a.m I got a call from my mother who was crying and screaming “Seneca, he got shot at home!!” I lost it. I got up, rushed to his house, but they had already had it taped off. A few people said they rushed him to the hospital, but when I got there his family ran to me crying. He didn't make it. It was a home invasion, and someone took my brother, my best friend, and heart away from me.

What was the resulting impact of his death on you?

I did not want to live. I felt so guilty because I was not there, I didn't want see his mom or sister because I felt like I should have been there with my brother. I kept thinking we were always together, why wasn't I there?

From that point on you began to dive into a deep depression and began using food to self-medicate. At one point in time you balloon all the way up to over 400lbs. At what point did you realize you had become depressed and developed an eating disorder?

One day I was sitting in my car and I was drinking a root beer pop when a sharp pain shot into my chest and I sat there for about 10 seconds and I dropped my phone on the floor. When I was trying to call for help I couldn’t because I was too big to reach the phone. Then, I was lucky enough that the pain went away.

Were you able to draw support from your family at all during this time?

If I would have asked for help I'm sure they would have, but I shut them out of the pain that I was going through. Also, growing up I saw people going through pain, but never asked for help. I had that mindset that if you ask for help that means you’re weak, but now I know that it's just the opposite. Everyone needs help sometimes, but if you don't ask and you don't show them then how would they know?

Looking back, what would you say was your lowest point? What was it that inspired you to change and take control of your life?

My lowest point was when I was driving trucks and I had to have a physical done. They asked me how much I weighed and I said I thought 340, knowing that I weighed more. When I stepped on the scale it went up to 400lbs. I slammed it down and my doctor said, “You’re well over 400lbs.” On my paperwork he put 400+ lbs; severe obesity. Then, following that visit, my girlfriend – who would soonafter become my wife – told me she was pregnant.

Following the birth of your son, you finally decided you'd had enough and embarked on a mission to improve your health. At over 400lbs.I'm sure that was a daunting a task. What was the first step you took toward achieving better health?

Well, after we had my son, I held my baby and I told him that daddy was going to do everything in his power to be all of the things I wanted my father to be to me. That started with getting healthy and being alive to keep my word. 

So I went to my local gym, got a membership and started by telling the guy who signed me up that I wanted to lose 200lbs. in one year. He said that's a lot of weight fast and I said “Yeah, but I got something to live for now.” You see I needed a reason to live, I needed a why and my son was my why. So when things got hard, I thought about my son and my promise. Then nine months later I lost 200lbs. That’s when I discovered everyone needs a why.

At what point along your road to recovery did you discover the bodybuilding lifestyle?

It was after I lost all of my weight and started really packing on some muscle. A few local guys noticed and said I should start looking into bodybuilding. I started looking on the Internet and looking at bodybuilders, and I saw their discipline, passion, and love for what they do. I said “Wow, I want to live like that!” Then, I seen a guy by the name of Kai Greene, and the way he broke things down, and his story about his life and his struggle, and I could relate. I told myself this guy is amazing. After that I was sold.

Can you give us an example of what your current diet looks like?

Well, it's different now that I'm living the bodybuilder lifestyle. I start my mornings with plain oatmeal and egg whites, then I eat every three hours. I'll have two scoops of whey protein, one cup of berries, one ounce of almonds. Meal three is a 6 ounce steak and one tomato. At meal four I have 10 ounces of fish and two yams. Meal five is 6ounces of chicken breast with 1/2 cup brown rice and berries meal, and meal six is whey protein.

Now that you've been able to achieve this dramatic change in your life and your health, is it still easy to find the motivation to continue pushing forward?

Yes, because I love to see what I'm made of. I like facing challenges head on, and I keep setting new goals for myself, plus I love this lifestyle. This is not an overnight sort of thing, it's a way of life and I am so thankful to the bodybuilding lifestyle, it keeps me focused.

What advice would you go back and give the nineteen-year-old version of yourself?

I would say, “Kid you are about to embark on a journey that is going to be rough scary, and at times you might think that there's no hope for you. But you should know this; that it may seem dark, you might be afraid, but keep going because the clouds can't block the sun forever. Eventually you'll shine.”

What's the message that you'd like everyone to take away from your story?

That life is tough and sometimes it can be unfair, but that is life. While we’re going through it, just to keep pushing and try your very best to be your very best and stay positive. Remember, attitude determine altitude.

If someone is dealing with personal issues and would like to contact you to discuss them how can they reach you?

I can be reached at anytime day or night at [email protected]

The bodybuilding world is all about the physical– big men with big muscles lifting big weights. But the true strength of man isn’t measured by how big his biceps are or how much weight he can lift. A man’s true strength is measured by the way he lifts himself up when the weight of the world is trying to crush him. True strength is found deep within us, and it can’t be measured or quantified by any known metric. Seneca looked deep into his soul and found his why, and in the process he discovered a tool called bodybuilding which helped him unlock a part of himself that had remained hidden for far too long.

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