I finished school at 21, which was a secondary engineering school. It works a little differently in Poland. I joined the army straight out of school as we still have national service, so I served for two years – one year national service and one year as a contract.
Between 1996 and 1998 I worked in Warsaw in security, fast transport team. We convoyed money, response work. Later in 2001 I came back to my home town of Wloclawek to work in the police force. I was in the police force for six years. I worked on the streets in uniform and then moved into intelligence and worked undercover in plain clothes.
I was always an athlete as I used to play handball from a young age. I got my first dumbbells when I was 15 and joined my gym. I’ve essentially trained for 30 years. I always just trained for myself rather than shows. I started competing in bodybuilding shows in January this year. Before that I was a strongman and entered many competitions both Poland and the UK. For my age I decided that bodybuilding is better for my body than strongman competitions.
When I was a policeman I was bigger than I am now. I was 20 stones so I was very big. I worked undercover so all the bad guys trusted me because of how I looked.
I rose to the rank of sergeant in the Polish police. When my friend from the UK offered me some work in the UK I jumped at the chance. I worked for a few companies including Laurence Automotive Interiors at Browns Lane as a quality technician, using my engineering skills. Coming to the UK with skills in engineering and security, there were lots of jobs for me to do. I went for the job of a CNC operator but during the interview they offered me a different job because they had problems with employees, so I became a plant protection officer. I was also trained as the fire marshal. I was there for six years at Browns Lane.
I have been at Gaydon for 18 months. I have been trained in so many things from security, to fire fighting, FREC 3 first response emergency care.
I was still competing every year in strongman competitions. I was having a lot of success but I am a little too short for the strongman events. I won the body power expo in my category in my first completion this year. It’s all about proportions. On 24 November I’ll be competing against 400 athletes in the Mr Universe completion. It’s the biggest show for 40 years. I do it all without the support of a crew, like coaches, chefs, trainers. All my crew are really supportive and let me do cardio when I need to.
I have to apply this discipline to the whole of my life. If you focus on a goal you can achieve it. I want to win in November. I work 12-hour shifts and attend so many different calls at Gaydon, then I have my family, my dieting and shift work. 24 hours sometimes aren’t enough but I’m 100% focused on achieving my goals.
In my professional career, all of the jobs I’ve done have been helping people. That’s always been the core theme. Even in security, the army, a police officer it’s all geared to helping people. That’s what makes me happy.
