Sumter soldier wins military bodybuilding championship

Maj. James Taylor, an information operations exercise planner with U.S. Army Central in Sumter, has won the National All Military Forces Open Heavyweight Division bodybuilding championship.

“The Army pays us to work out, so I gave them their monies worth,” said Taylor, who is stationed at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, home of U.S. Army Central.

The National Physique Committee National All Military Forces Championships were held in Wilmington, N.C. Taylor’s division was one of six different weight classes and 18 different competitions.

Taylor competed in the men’s bodybuilding heavyweight division with competitors weighing between 198 to 225 pounds. He plans to continue participating in bodybuilding competitions and is currently preparing for an event in May.

“In the Army people work out every day, but finding a body building champion in your formation is very rare and only speaks to the talent that can be found within the U.S. Army Central formation,” U.S. Army Central said in a release.

This story was originally published August 12, 2016 at 7:19 PM.