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Gray's Seth Cohen Muscles in on big win
By Elizabeth Prata

Gray--Not everyone could turn falling ten feet through plate glass into an advantage, but Seth Cohen from Gray sure did.

When the accident happened in 1996 and doctors told Seth that his ulnar nerve was severed and he would lose use of his hand and mobility in his arm, Seth refused to accept it. He endured physical therapy and applied himself so well that not only his arm's progress improved but he liked the way his body was turning out, too. A friend said, "Try body building," and Seth's bodybuilding career has been like a rocket ever since.

Seth has gone about as far as he could go in amateur bodybuilding, having won the National Gym Association New England Natural Body Building Championships in early October. There, Seth won Best Poser, Heavyweight 1st, and Overall Champ. Mid-October saw Seth at the USBF Northeastern Natural Bodybuilding & Figure Championships, winning again as Best Poser and Heavyweight 1st.

On October 30 at the Granite State Open Seth won again, placing 1st in the Heavy Division, Best Poser and Overall Champ again.

At that point Seth won free airfare to attend the National Gym Association Worldwide Championships in Florida, in which he placed 1st Place Heavyweight Division, Overall Title Champion, and was given a professional card. Seth is at the brink- professional bodybuilding awaits.

And he accomplished all this in his first year back after a three-year hiatus to become a father.

The Natural Bodybuilder avoids most national supplements, uses no drugs or steroids, and submits to a polygraph and urine analysis on a constant basis. At 5'10 and 200 pounds, Seth as a professional would compete with men who are 35 and 50 pounds heavier at his height.

His routine is hectic. Seth gets up at 4:30 and feeds the horses and chickens. He goes to Planet Fitness in Westbrook gives himself a cardio workout for 40 minutes. He works all day- not as a trainer or fitness industry like most men he competes against, but as an engineer.

"Seth is really quite shy," said Kari, Seth's wife. 'It cracks me up to see him on stage."

At lunchtime Seth works out again, this time with weights. "He is always home at night to be Dad," Kari said. Their children Elijah and Olivia are 2 and 5.

Kari thinks Seth's success is great. "More power to him," she said. The couple just returned from Florida from the Championships that doubled as an anniversary trip.

Between the bodybuilding, traveling, horses, chickens, motheirng and fathering, and Seth's engineering profession, the Cohens are definitely on the go. They sure are going places too.