They call him "The Natural", but his name is Todd Buchanan and he is Mr. Natural Ohio. He won this honor by placing first in the Light-heavyweight division and then first in overall show of the "Mr. Ohio Naturals" held in Cleveland, Ohio.

"People look at me and say, 'He's got to be taking something,' well, I am taking something and it's a lot of good nutrition. Anyone can make the same kind of changes in their physic, even if
they do not want to compete. They will look better in their clothing and feel great."

Bucahnan is a physical therapist at Heartland Outpatient Clinic at Wheelersburg and nutrition is the key to his bodybuilding success. He also does contact evaluation on weekends every other month for Kings Daughters Hospital in Ashland, KY. He worked for Kings Daughters as Coordinator for Sports Medicine in the Physical Therapy department for two years 1993 to 95.

On November 7th Buchanan will enter competition for Mr. America, a national level competition which takes place in Coco Beach, Florida and is sponsored by Disney World. You must be drug free to get into the show and he will be tested for anabolic steroid drugs with a polygraph test and a urine analysis.

Then on November 21, Buchanan will compete in Muscle Mania at Rodonda Beach, CA. "It will be a optimal time for me," Buchanan says, "because my body fat will already be down very low, I just have to maintain it for 3 weeks."

Buchanan trains with Arnold Colman of Columbus. Colman has won the "Strongest Man in the World at 181 Pounds," title for the last four years and also runs a restaurant in Columbus called the Not Guilty Cafe which specializes in fat©free, low fat foods.

"I have known Colman for at least 10 years," said Buchanan. "I go to train with him two or three times a month and he has been tremendous. Every year he has helped me more. I go up once a month in my off season to get the spark."

"I have two training partners at the Portsmouth Life Center where I work out. They are Craig Truitt and Shane Rhea and they will be competing for the very first time soon. It is exciting for
me to watch their excitement as muscles come out they never knew they had, like a chameleon, they are making changes and I realize I have helped them take control of their bodies. They were disciplined enough and they listened and now they are reaping their rewards."

"They had never gotten the results they have now until I plugged them into the nutrition and the supplementation. They have learned something about a healthy life style and they can pass
that on. So I've done my job and it feels good. That's what I want to do, is be an ambassador."

Buchanan was introduced to body building by an older man who lived in his Milwaukee, WI neighborhood when he was in high school. The man was a policeman and was into body building. He started to work out and lift weights with him and received the encouragement he needed to continue.

Buchanan feels a lot of his discipline comes from playing football for Nebraska and Drake University.

He has two BS degrees, one is a major in Biology and a minor in psychology from Wayne State in Nebraska and a Physical Therapy degree from Ohio State University.

"Nutrition is something I have been interested in and just have a drive for it," Buchanan said, "I use herbs, multi-vitamin, minerals, vitamin C. My nutritionist, Dr. Eric Serrano MD from
Pickerington, OH, has helped me learn about these and use them to my advantage. But you must have good nutrition along with it. Dr Serrano works with a lot of olympic athletes and writes for different publications and is very knowledgeable on the subject. For the Mr Ohio Naturals competition he put me in the best shape ever, I give a tremendous amount of credit to him for all I have achieved."

Buchanan doesn't eat a bland diet with no salt or pepper, he eats red meat, eggs and fruit each day, and vegetables every other day and drinks one to two gallons of water a day. His workout
routine consists of weight lifting and aerobic exercises, but no running. Buchanan feels if anyone takes Anabolic Steroids that is their choice, but he chooses not to.

"Bodybuilding is a ageless sport," said Buchanan. "A lady who is 70 and her daughter who is 43 did a masters show in Pittsburgh just recently and I could not believe the mother was 70. She was really hot looking and she didn't even start training when she was 20, she started when she was 66. The daughter, who was 43, looked gorgeous too."

"I have patients in the physical Therapy out patient clinic that are in their 90's that do great. I have a lady now that is 95 and she lifts weights and gets on the exercise bike and the treadmill. She has gotten so good that I have to take her through her workout twice, she's great!"

"Like most people, some days I get up and I don't feel like doing my routine with my stationary bike, then I see this man who is 95, that lives down the street from me go by my house with his
wife who is in her 80's. Every morning I see them walking whether it's rain, snow or whatever, so I just climb right up on that bike. Those are the kind of things that motivate me."

Buchanan's wife Debbie is also a bodybuilder and has been in a few photography contests for sporting wear competitions but plans to compete in a Rain Girl contest next year.

"I just challenged her to see what she could do with working out and her nutrition. She is in tremendous shape and she really shocked herself and now she's hooked and works out as much as I do."

One of Buchanan's future goals is to build a gym right next to his house so he and his wife can help future bodybuilders to achieve their goals and have healthier lives.

"I want to thank the Portsmouth Life Center for all the help they have given me and also the people of Scioto County, everyone has been really great to me."

At the Mr. America competition Buchanan will be competing against around 40 other body builders. If he wins his class he will then compete against all the winners of each class. In the evening he will do a posing routine to music that the crowd watches, then they will pick the overall winner.

"Hopefully I can come back with the title of Mr America," Buchanan says, "But, if I don't win, I will be glad I got to compete and do it naturally."