Andre Ferguson Lands The Cover of MUSCLE INSIDER

This issue’s cover model is Andre Ferguson, an IFBB pro coming off the biggest win of his career, taking the 2018 Arnold Classic Men’s Physique title this March in Columbus, Ohio. The 33-year-old athlete from Long Island, New York, hasn’t taken long to rise up in the professional ranks since he won the NPC Nationals in 2014. I’ve just stuck to the plan, Andre tells MUSCLE INSIDER.

It’s been the same from the beginning, and I just focus on getting better each year. My coach, Omar Ventura, helps me get better, and I think I help him get better, too. Slaying the Olympia winner, Jeremy Buendia, was just out of Andre’s reach a year ago he placed second so Andre has focused on gaining size and fullness so he can compare

favourably to the shorter defending champ in this September’s return match. Bulging muscle isn’t the only characteristic of Andre’s physique: So are bulging disks. A football injury and car accidents have left him with several spinal injuries, including bulging and herniated disks in the lower back and neck, as well as a torn rotator cuff. That has forced him to give up such multi-joint free-weight staples as squats and deadlifts for machines, a trade-off that would make rising to the top of one’s sport seemingly impossible.

I’m still able to train at 100 percent, but I have to go to PT [physical therapy] once a week in the off-season and twice a week in-season, which helps. A younger Andre might consider moving up to Classic or even pro bodybuilding, but given his injuries, at this point he’s content to stick with Physique. At the peak of his career, expect to hear Andre’s name for a while as one of the sport’s foremost competitors.