Raymond started lifting weights when he was 12 years old to train for athletics. It paid off as he attended Springfield College on a football and track and field scholarship where he was a decathlon all-star. After graduating in 1991, he started bodybuilding, going on to win three consecutive NPC Team Universe competitions (1999–2001).
Fueling UpÂ
Whether he’s pumping iron, running miles, or crushing WODs, Raymond’s diet stays consistent: Eggs, oatmeal, chicken, steak, brown rice, yams, and broccoli are his staples. “I do not consider this a diet,” he says. “This is the way I eat.”
RebuildingÂ
After 30 years of pushing his body to its limits, the cartilage in Raymond’s right hip wore away to the point where it was bone on bone. He underwent a total hip replacement last August. “I got 47 years out of it,” he says of his old hip. Still, Raymond plans to compete in the 2017 CrossFit Games.
Posedown
After he hung up his posing trunks in 2003, Raymond continued to train and also added half-marathons into the mix. In 2010 he found his favorite training style—CrossFit.“I was always into functional training,” Raymond says. “IfCrossFit were around 20 years ago I would have just done that [instead of bodybuilding].”
