Amateur bodybuilder inspires youth

by John Dowd

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), only 30% of the U.S. population meets basic standards for physical activity, and roughly 42%have obesity. Health is on the decline in America, and nearly every stat warns of this eventuality, especially compared to much of the rest of the world. However, one Bitterrootter is on a mission to help change that.

Landen Conner, a 22-year-old from Conner, entered the National Mr. Health and Fitness competition. He described his path as a “unique intersection of a couple different events.”

A “sixth-generation Conner from Conner,” he is also a commissioned Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He will be working as a physician after he completes his education delay while he is going to medical school.

In the National Mr. Health and Fitness competition, he placed first in his original group. In that first stage, he competed against 50 other competitors from all across the US. The first stage involved hundreds of groups and thousands of competitors. From that, the competitors were whittled down to just 960. After making it to the second stage, he was placed in a group of 15 for the quarterfinals.

Conner’s goal is to raise money through social media for the Andrew McDonough B+ (Be Positive) Foundation, a nonprofit that supports children fighting cancer. The namesake of the organization is Andrew McDonough, whose blood type was B+. He died at the age of 14 in his fight against Leukemia.

For Conner, the money he was able to raise in support of the foundation helped impact his score in the competition. Through the charts vote, Conner reached out to get support from local businesses, individuals and more.

Unfortunately, he lost out, earning second place in that second group. However, he made it into the top 128 nationwide. Only the top 64 contestants went on from there. Still an impressive accomplishment, the process has not slowed Conner in the slightest.

In fact, Conner has set his sights on much more. During his time in the Mr. Health and Fitness competition, Conner ran on a stance of military and being a future doctor. Now, his angle has changed to something that has really stuck with him, and something he feels more passionately can make a difference in the world.

Conner got into health and fitness during his time in Army ROTC. His captain was very in shape and always encouraged them to “Show what real health looks like” when they go into a space. Conner wanted to carry that over to the rest of his life, and to inspire others, especially young people, to take care of their bodies as well, and pursue the confidence that comes with that.

Conner spoke on health concerns across the nation, saying he has seen stats showing that male body dysmorphia will surpass female body dysmorphia in less than a decade. Conner credits this to perceived unachievable physiques shown on social media, the prevalence of youth and teen use of performance enhancing drugs, faux-research pushing questionable techniques and the nation-wide child obesity epidemic.

Conner believes his generation to be the least healthy generation. With suicide rates at all-time highs and mental health on the decline, young people need to be inspired back into health.

Because of these revelations, he has refined his stance over the last few years. Now, he hopes to help convince young people to be healthy, especially young men. He talks avidly about proper nutrition, resistance training and more. He does so through social media, a YouTube channel and during competitions. His mission statement is “to empower young men to pursue lives of disciplined health and purpose.”

To further that mission, and to help young people in the area in other ways, Conner has also created a Scholarship website called bitterrootpath.org. The site requires no log in information, and can be searched by anyone. It is a database of scholarships available to local youth in Ravalli County. The idea was to craft a “one-stop place for students to find scholarships.” In the near future, Conner plans to work with school counselors in the valley to tailor it even more locally.

Looking forward to the future, Conner will soon be competing in the National Physique Committee (NPC) Big Sky Championships bodybuilding competition in early April. He will be competing in the Men’s Physique class, and this will be his first-ever bodybuilding competition. After that, he plans to attend the Linear Emerald Cup, a national natural bodybuilding competition, hosted in Bellevue, Washington, in late April.

Conner will be going off to medical school in July, which will take most of his energy and time, but he plans to continue supporting young people wherever he can. He recommends young people find good mentors and said there are many reputable creators making content for YouTube and other sites. He also suggests going to a gym and starting their journey as soon as possible. He has also found that AI can be useful, but warns people to “treat it with skepticism, however, it can create a good scaffold if prompted properly.” He said it is a decent source for basic workout splits, nutrition information and some applications even include calorie counters, where a simple picture of a meal can prompt AI to tell a person the calorie count within that food. He also recommends starting with a simple step counter and trying for around 8,000 steps per day.

For those looking to follow Conner’s journey, Interested parties can find him through his YouTube channel, Landen Lives Future MD, his Instagram @kiddoctor7, as well as his Facebook, Landen Conner.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Conner will be competing in the Body-Building class in the NPC Big Sky Championships bodybuilding competition. He will be competing in the Men’s Physique class.