On April 12, 1975, I was born in Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown, PA, and given my grandfather’s name, George Koufalis. At the time of my birth my mother was 16 years old and my father was 20 years old. They are both natives of Greece and migrated to the United States. My mother was 14 when she married my father who was 19. Between the ages of 2 and 4, I was shuffled back and forth between the United States and Greece and was raised by my grandmother, my father’s mother who I love more than life. My grandmother is now 87 and I try to visit her every year in Greece. Greek was the language I learned first and it made school in the United States very difficult. I was put in ESL classes, and eventually I learned the English language. My mom tells me that I was always flexing as a child. My first recollection is, at the age of 14 after watching the TV show “The Incredible Hulk”, I became infatuated with muscles and started to work out. By 16, I wanted to be a professional bodybuilder and during my senior year in high school, I went from 160 pounds to 195 pounds! At the end of the my senior year, in 1993, I broke my leg in a car accident and stopped lifting for 2 years dropping back down to 160 pounds. For the next 5 years, I completely forgot about my dream of becoming a bodybuilder and finding out what life is all about took over.

In 1998 I moved to Corfu, Greece where I worked as a bartender and lived in the house that my dad built. I met a British girl there and eventually moved to England. I started lifting weights again just to stay in shape. I returned to America in 1999 at the age of 23 and weighed about 180 pounds. I started my own landscape business and started modeling for fitness catalogs and Men’s Health Magazine. After being told countless times to compete in bodybuilding from friends, family, and strangers, I did. The first bodybuilding show I entered was in September of 1999. It was not an NPC show. I entered as a middle weight, weighing 178 pounds. I won the novice and open class and then developed the bodybuilding bug again. The only downfall was I had changed my physique too much and was let go from my modeling agency. Men’s Health agreed that I had gotten too big and now had more of a bodybuilder look than a fitness model. I really didn’t care because bodybuilding made me happier. The fact that only a handful of people have the will power and dedication to achieve the look it takes to be a bodybuilder makes me proud to be one of the elite. Bodybuilding also keeps me disciplined and grounded, which spills over into other important aspects in my life such as family, friends, employment, and relationships.

My first overall big win came in 2003 when I won my weight class and the overall at the NPC Mr. Lehigh Valley Show. Since then I have done well and won a number of shows. Some of the shows I have won are the NPC Mr. Pa, NPC Mountain Valley, NPC Mr. Lehigh Valley, and NPC Bev Francis Atlantic States. Now at this point I am ready to take my bodybuilding career to the next level, which is nationals. That is why I have produced my first workout video to help others get to where I am. When I started I had no one to give me any beneficial advice. I learned everything I know about bodybuilding, nutrition, and fitness by experimenting. Currently, in 2006 I have not competed for the first time since 1999. I had surgery in March of 2006 to fix an Arterial Venous Malformation in my head. The surgery was a success but I was left with a blood clot, which is now thankfully gone. I’ve taken the time to work on my DVD and do some modeling again. On October 16, 2006, I had double hernia surgery, which has taken me out of the gym for a little bit and unbelievably the following week, October 24th I had a minor surgery on my head again, to fix some scarring the AVM left me with. At the present time I work for my mother’s day spa and still do landscaping on the weekends. My goal is to return to college and finish my degree in the medical field. Lastly, I would like to say that bodybuilders unfortunately get a bad stereotype. Many of us are extremely intelligent, gentle, unselfish human beings. It’s a shame that in life everyone is judged based on color, race, religion, and economical status. So hopefully the next time you see a bodybuilder you will think twice about judging them. I hope everyone enjoys my website, thank you.

George Koufalis Official Site

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