Over the past year, Junior Xavier Garcia started to bulk up to get bigger for football. Along the way he had some motivation from his peers and mentors to keep him going throughout his journey.

“What motivates me is just my coaches, coach Reinking, and coach McDowell, they just keep pushing me to be better,” Garcia said.

Most people go to the gym to workout, but Garcia has weights of his own at his house in his garage. Garcia takes advantage of both being in the fourth period weight lifting class and the easy access to weights at home.

“Ya this past year I’ve just been working out in my garage at my house, I just prefer lifting at home more, but the only place I workout besides my house is in the weightroom at school during fourth period,” Garcia said.

One of Garcia’s friends and teammate, Kolton Sloan, sees how much his bulking journey has improved over the last few years.

“To be honest he has eaten a lot, working out a lot, so ya it should be working out good, ” Sloan said. “He pulled that truck, his bench is insane, and his clean is pretty good.”

Being one of Garcia’s workout partners, Sloan had nothing but positive input on how Garcia is as a player on the field and as a lifter in the weight room.

“He works really hard to be honest,” Sloan said. “He’s been working non-stop, he is really committed to the bulking process this past year, and I feel bad for whoever has to go up against him at practice next season.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Another friend and teammate of Garcia, Ramon Mendoza, sees how hard Garcia is working and how he has acted as a leader both on and off of the field.

“Ya I see him working really hard, he’s pushing everybody, he’s helping us all work better,” Mendoza said. “He lifts a lot of weight, more than me I’d say.”

With both playing defensive line for the varsity team Mendoza sees how much his teammate is evolving with his bulking transformation.

“I see him on and off the field. He’s working very hard and I see a lot of improvement from sophomore year,” Mendoza said.

Garcia has gained a lot  of muscle mass and weight since his sophomore year and is working to get bigger, stronger and better as both a weight lifter and a leader.

“Sophomore year I was actually two hundred pounds and now that I weigh in about a week ago, I was around two hundred and forty,” Garcia said.