NO EXCUSES

On a quick pan of the Metroflex Gym in Long Beach, Calif., you’ll see a number of hardcore athletes training for the next big competitions in bodybuilding, powerlifting and Olympic lifting. Standing out among these men and women is Nick Santonastasso, who despite being born with one arm and no legs, makes gains just like everyone else on the floor. “I’m showing people firsthand that it’s not the physical body that holds us back, it's the thoughts we continuously tell ourselves,” says Santonastasso, a man who learned from day one that everything is earned and nothing in life is handed to you.

Santonastasso was given a 30 percent chance of survival at the time of his birth. He was one of only 12 babies in medical history to be born with Hanhart syndrome, a rare genetic condition that leaves babies with undeveloped limbs and/or organs. “[I was told] I’d