When Mick Cannon walks into the room, he greets you with a smile and a warm handshake.
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It tells you nothing of the hurdles he had to jump just to come out the other side as a functioning member of society.
Because if you saw him stripped down for action you would have no trouble believing he wouldn’t jump any of those hurdles – more likely this mountain of muscle would be able to tear them apart.
The REP Rehabilitation Exercise Physiology Sport & Recreation owner, who operates out of Deniliquin, recently won the Excellence in Customer Service award in the Deniliquin Business Excellence Awards.
After a tough upbringing, it was sport, particularly lifting weights and bodybuilding, that helped Cannon overcome the odds.
Cannon’s remarkable journey began in a dot on the map called Ivanhoe, in outback NSW.
One of those places where everyone knew everyone – and everyone’s secrets.
And the teenage Cannon already had too many secrets in his young life.
His childhood had been a tragic litany of alcoholism and domestic violence both at home and in the community.
But at 13 Cannon suddenly found his escape – at first it was just somewhere to retreat until his amazing potential caught the eye of his school principal Graham Brabham and incredibly this troubled boy from the bush was on his way to the US and freedom.
Like the legend of Charles Atlas, Cannon had found his escape in the gym; he took to weights like a man possessed and it proved his salvation.
His ‘gym’ was in a disused room at Ivanhoe’s train station, a whistle-stop on the line between Broken Hill and Sydney that had been set up for railway staff.
There was nothing flash but there were weights and with no-one telling him what to do for a change, Cannon created his own programs and started to pack on the muscle.
‘‘I didn’t know what I was doing, but there was no-one else to worry about,’’ he said.
‘‘I liked the responsibility it gave me to forget about my life situation.’’’
For those brief, initial 30 minute workouts ‘‘it was me against the weights’’.
While the trips to the weights room did Cannon a world of good in the short-term he had always known it wasn’t going to change his reality.
The final straw came when he went to visit a friend only to be faced with a smashed bedroom window and blood everywhere.
He immediately thought his friend’s drunken father must have flung him through the window but soon discovered his friend’s father had been locked out after returning blind drunk, before breaking into his own home and bashing his wife.
‘‘No child should have to live with that – it was time to go,’’ Cannon explained.
The first step in making the move from country NSW came when Cannon accepted the chance to move to Texas on an exchange program for 18 months at just 15.
Cannon simply couldn’t resist the chance to extend his weightlifting skills, while immersing himself in American culture.
In his time away from Australia he discovered a passion for exercise physiology – enrolling at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst as soon as he was back Down Under.
There he came under the wing of Dr Kyle Tarpenning.
Tarpenning – a former All-American footballer – became the difference between Cannon succeeding or failing at university.
‘‘Without his guidance, completing university would have been out of the question,’’ Cannon admitted.
‘‘I even thought I was going to fail the subject he was teaching.
‘‘Kyle inspired me to get the best out of myself in my studies and I ended up doing extremely well.
‘‘But I remember looking at him one day and saying ‘I want to have your physique when I am 40’.’’
Sadly, Tarpenning died just 12 months after Cannon graduated following a battle with cancer.
Driven by Tarpenning’s memory he continued to pursue his dream body.
His journey culminated at the Melbourne International in May – an event hosted by the National Amateur Body-Builders’ Association and World Fitness Federation.
Cannon got more than he bargained for after winning the masters over 40s body-building category – also winning a silver in the over 30s sports modelling event.
As the medals were draped around his neck, tears began to run down Cannon’s face, not the response you expect in a venue jam-packed with testosterone.
But at this moment of achievement he could not help but relive the rollercoaster ride that his life had been.
‘‘People who get involved in body building and weightlifting don’t tend to fit into mainstream society,’’ Cannon said.
‘‘I didn’t start this journey as a means of being scary, I just wanted to break the chain of lifestyle I experienced as a child.
‘‘The gym is my form of self-medication.’’
Despite earning a place on the Australian team to compete in South Korea he opted to decline – focusing instead on local competition for the next 12 months.
But his biggest goal is to work alongside his wife Jacinta to show his sons Balin – who has autism – and Hunter how exercise can be beneficial in dealing with the issues they face.
‘‘I’m not the perfect dad, but I’m doing my best,’’ Cannon said.
‘‘The most important thing I tell my boys is there is nothing wrong with being upset.
‘‘We work together to find the positives and overcome the negatives.’’
Cannon is driving the same message in his work as an exercise physiologist – helping people suffering from chronic illness to rebuild their physical attributes.
‘‘Being able to help people out gives you a fantastic feeling,’’ he said.
‘‘My clients are pushing the boundaries despite the challenges they face.
‘‘Exercise is a good way of helping break down their mental health issues.’’