Determination and hard work can get you anywhere. Just ask Arnett Washington.
Washington has been defying odds as a competitive bodybuilder, proving that anything is possible with enough drive, hard work and determination.
Washington, his personal trainer and best friend Anton Collins and his son, Hezekiah, can be seen training at Rochelle Anytime Fitness six days a week in order to keep his body ready for body building competitions held throughout the state and country.
Washington, now 46 years old, has suffered from Cerebral palsy, a disease that affects his motor skills and speech, since he was a child. During his childhood, his mother did not give him any special treatment from his other siblings — having to clean his room, do dishes and other chores — which he attributes his motivation and success to the way his mother raised him growing up.
“My mom didn’t know how to raise a child with disabilities so she raised me the same as anyone else, she always told me I could do anything I wanted,” said Washington. “Her doing that is what made me into the man that I am today.”
Washington was first introduced to working out when he was in grammar school seeing a physical therapist for his disability. His therapist at the time, Larry Bird, would push him to his limits every day at the university gym. He would even say that a little girl could lift more than he could, which would just motivate Washington to work even harder.
In 1990, when Arnett was in high school he met his best friend and future personal trainer, Anton Collins. They stayed friends all through high school and through Washington’s time earning two degrees at college. Later in life, when Washington was 43, Collins suggested that Washington try body building and competing.
At first Washington laughed at the idea.

Arnett Washington (center) and fellow competitors show off their physique at the OCB Hollywood Natural Competition held in Hollywood, California.

“It was his idea and when he told me I was like yeah okay, yea right, I was just playing around,” added Washington. “But then I saw this video of Steve Alexy, another body builder with cerebral palsy, and I thought to myself, I could do that.”
There are currently only four people in the world with cerebral palsy that are also body builders.
After seeing the video that motivated him to make the decision to go forward with Collins’ idea they got hard at work training for his first competition. Workouts were six days a week at either Rochelle’s Anytime Fitness or in Collins’ basement, home of his personal training business, Torture Chamber Fitness. The workout routines are based on the physique that Collins would like Washington to be in for the competition, but for the first competition, the pair focused on getting Washington as ripped as possible.
During the competitions, Washington usually competes in two different categories.
“There is men’s classic physique, which is a full body competition that focuses a lot on a smaller waist, and then there is men’s physique which focuses on the upper body as well as legs.”
Washington’s first ever competition was the Organization of Competitive Bodybuilding Heartland Classic on Nov. 4. 2017 in Belleville. In that competition, he took second place in Men’s Physique Debut, third place in Men’s Physique Novice, fifth place in Men’s Physique Open and first place in Men’s Physique Over Age 40.
Since his first competition, Washington has competed in two more competitions, the OCB Midwest States on Nov. 23, 2019 in DeKalb where he took third place in Men’s Classic Physique Over age 40 and the OCB Hollywood Natural on Dec. 7, 2019 in Hollywood, California, where he took third place in Men’s Physique Open, second place in Men’s Physique Over Age 40 and first place in Men’s Physique Classic Physically Challenged.
All of the competitions he competes in are all natural and are not designated for people with disabilities, anyone who is able to compete can enter these competitions.
Washington has two sons and a daughter that fully support their father’s body building career.
“It has been a crazy ride seeing him be on that stage by himself, to show people that he can do it no matter his condition or no matter how people look at him, regardless he can do it,” expressed Hezekiah Jefferson, his oldest son. “He is going to prove to the world that nothing is impossible if you just put your mind to it.”
Washington says the main reason he is doing this is for his kids, to prove to them that if he can do this then they have no excuse for not being successful.
Bodybuilding means a lot to Washington because even though he has two college degrees, it is one of the only places where he feels treated the same as anyone else.  
“Bodybuilding is now his job, his career, this is unfortunately the only place that he has been fully accepted. He has two degrees, but the first thing people see when he applies for a job is the way he talks and his physical appearance,” explained Collins. “But in body building, when you look at him, his body is better than most of his competitors. It doesn’t matter the way he talks or the way he walks.”
Washington’s ultimate goal for bodybuilding would be to get a sponsorship from any of the athletic companies and eventually open up a gym specifically tailored to people with disabilities or those recovering from injuries such as a stroke.
“A gym can be intimidating for many people to walk into especially for people with disabilities, so Washington would love to create a safe comfortable space for people to come lift weights,” said Collins.
Competing in bodybuilding competitions throughout the country is not a cheap thing to do — there are entry fees, traveling costs, steroid and substance testing as well as a lie detector test. All of these costs and fees add up very quickly, so to help with the cost of these competitions, Washington and Collins have set up a GoFundMe page as well as a popcorn fundraiser with all of the proceeds helping keep Washington’s bodybuilding dream alive.
Donations can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-disabled-body-builder or by purchasing popcorn through the fundraiser page at http://yummysnack.shop/Arnetts_Fundraiser.html.