Early life

Victor Martinez was born on 29th July 1973 in San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic. At a very early age, Victor moved from Dominican Republic to New York. He played baseball, basketball and football in his teens. He made a transition from playing competitive games to bodybuilding. In 2009, Martinez’s sister Eridania Rodriguez was found murdered in a building near world trade centre.

Career

The accomplishments of Victor Martinez in the amateur career include 1st place in the NPC Junior USA Heavyweight championship and NPC Nationals Heavyweight tournament in 2000.

His career was launched with his participation as a light heavy weight in the New York Metro championships. His first IFBB tournament was the night of champions where he was placed 8th. In 2002 he participated in his first prestigious Arnold Classic championship and was placed at 13th place.

In 2003, he won the Night of Championship tournament. It was his first win since starting his pro career. His first appearance in Mr Olympia tournament was in 2004 where he was given the 9th position. His performance in the Mr Olympia competition improved over the years with 5th place in 2005, 3rd position in 2006 and second position in 2007.

2007 was the most memorable year for Martinez. He went on to win the Arnold Classic and was placed second in the Mr Olympia tournament. Martinez suffered an injury to his tendon during warming up and in January 2008 underwent a surgery. He was unable to compete in both the 2008 Arnold classic and Mr Olympia contests due to the injury. The injury was so severe that he was forced to stay away from training and competitions for nearly a year. Martinez started his training again with his old friend and coach Joseph Pabon. His 9 months of rigorous hard work paid off when he was placed in the 2nd position in 2009 Arnold Classic. He was just 2-3 points behind Koi Green to snatch the first place in the contest. In 2011 he won the IFBB Arnold Classic Madrid contest and was arrested at the JFK airport due to immigration issues and spent 7 months behind the bars. After his release from the prison he had lost 60 pounds but came back strong in 2013 and was placed 2nd in the IFBB New York Pro Championship. In the same year he also won the IFBB Toronto Pro Super show.

Personal life

Martinez is married to Christine and he and his wife have two sons-Justin and Jered and three daughters named Zayde, Victoria and Vivian.

Martinez has gone through a lot in his life from death of a family member to serving time in jail but he has crossed the hurdles to become one of the successful and inspirational bodybuilders.