James Dougherty's One Shot

Look at him bow up, look at that. This is a real bodybuilder here. I'm here with James. James has become a fast friend since we started One Shot. I talked to James just a little while ago about what his goals were and dreams were. So I just want James to take a little bit of time and share his One Shot story about the things that he's sharing with and shooting for in life. All yours, big guy.

Alright, Karl, thank you. It's, I mean, it's a different story with my one shot. You know, I came up real quick with bodybuilding and the life that I wanted to do. I grew up, you know, Catholic school, went private my whole life, really just did what my parents wanted me to do, what others told me to do. And, you know, I wasn't real happy with what I was doing. I was getting into trouble, and, you know, I knew I needed to change it. So about 3 years ago, I kind of started here in this gym, and, you know, I was lifting, I was happy, and I enjoyed it. It was something to get my anger out, something just to really, you know, relieve any tension. You know, I just felt a passion with it as I kept going. So about in the last year, about last summer, you know, Ned kind of took me under and started working with me and asking, you know, how I'm doing, what I'm working on. And, you know, really took me in. So I've been really busting it, and, you know, I've switched my major so many times throughout the last 2 years. And I finally, you know, after talking with Ned and talking to some people here, you know, I really found my passion. And, you know, I do this every single day for 2-3 hours. You know, I eat my meals. You know, I don't skip out on what I need to do because this is what I love to do. And I just finally realized, you know, this is, this is it. And so I switched majors. I went to a different smaller school to really focus on school in and of itself while doing exercise science. And, you know, I really came to love it. You know, Ned's been really helping me out the last few months, making sure, you know, I'm keeping straight, I'm not getting into trouble, giving me any advice I need to. And so now I'm here. I'm, you know, I've really improved. I've been doing a whole lot better. Bodybuilding's really became a passion of mine now. And now that I'm here, it's great because, you know, now I finally decided to do an NPC or an NPA tournament or an NGA tournament, and then I'm also going to do the NPC Minnesota State here in June. So it's really blown up, and I never expected to be where I am and be as happy as I am doing something that's, you know, so easy and so daily for me.

So with your one shot, is it the bodybuilding, or is it that you decided to chart a different course than others had charted before?

Um, I think it really links into each other. It's the fact that I chose to do something that so little people do, and it's something that's not really understood by society, you know, as a whole yet. Like, they don't understand it. It's just something that really— it's, you know, like, uh, one of my idols, Bruce Piana, says, you know, it's the 5 percenters. Like, it's the only 5% of America that really goes for this and actually tries to shoot for their dream. And, you know, bodybuilding is not something that everybody just understands. It's not welcomed by society, so— By not only getting into this area, but actually doing what I want to do, and, you know, competing, getting into bodybuilding now, it's a whole new world and it's opened up so many more opportunities for me and really helped me understand life as a whole a lot better and broaden my mind up and really meet new people. It's been awesome.