Robert Labat Joins Professional Bodybuilding Ranks

Talk of the Town - August 2024

Always active in sports, Robert Labat's life took a new direction that, he says, made him a better person, father, and husband.

- by Maurice Singleton

In July, Robert Labat officially became a professional bodybuilder. The former multi-sport athlete and Bay High graduate advanced to the professional level during the National Physique Committee’s annual competition in New Jersey.
  

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Labat finished in first place in the men’s physique category out of 15 competitors from around the globe, which advanced him from amateur to professional. In 2023, he finished in third place in the same competition.
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The professional ranking brings new challenges, Labat explained. “It’s like going from college football to the NFL. I am basically a rookie. It’s the off-season, so I’ll be working and preparing to compete in shows around the world.”
 
The bodybuilding season kicks off in January. In the meantime, Robert will be preparing to take himself to the next level in the sport, which includes getting paid for winning and placing in competitions. Training involves a lot more of the same in terms of diet and weight work. “It’s about branding yourself now,” said Labat. “You’re a professional. You have to treat yourself like a business.”
 
Robert looks like a champion bodybuilder, at least through the eyes of those of us who can’t differentiate between an amateur and a professional. His musculature appears to be as well-defined as it can possibly get. But he is confident he can do even better.
 
“I’m pretty much at the bottom,” he explained. “Once you hit pro, you have to work your way back up. The ultimate goal is Olympia, which is the Super Bowl of bodybuilding.“
 
You can’t count Robert out, even when the odds appear against him. During his senior year of high school, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. His dream of playing college football came to a devastating end.
 

 
He never surrendered. Even when he first received the news of his diagnosis, he showed amazing strength, faith and determination. His mother, Thyra Labat, recalled, “When they explained the diagnosis, he looked at me and Darlene (his aunt) and asked us to pray. We did, and after that he said he was done with worrying about what was going to happen. He asked us not to treat him like he was sick.
 
“That is where my strength came from,” said Thyra. “It was tough not knowing if my child would make it through this, but he never got sick like they said he would.”
 
It takes a lot of effort and dedication to maintain the physique of a bodybuilder. Labat’s motivation comes from being active, always training, and being a gym rat.

A former member of the Air Force, Labat said deployments to Iraq and Kuwait also played a role in his increased interest in the sport of bodybuilding. “We didn’t have much to do over there, so in our down time, we watched bodybuilding,” he explained. “Everybody wanted to get bigger.”
 
The idea of competing came after he returned from Iraq in 2020. While training at Top Gun in Pass Christian in 2021, he followed the advice of the coach he met at the gym and worked toward getting ready for his first show. He laughed when he recalled that first show: “I wasn’t ready. I got smoked. But at that moment, I fell in love with the sport.
 

 
“I still had body fat,” he explained. “When you compete in shows like that, you have to be close to zero percent body fat. You have to have the muscle; you have to have the shape and everything.”
 
Labat can’t wait for the first competition. He has continued his training and his diet of five meals a day. Every day, Labat works toward accomplishing his ultimate goal of attaining Mr. Olympia.
 
“He has always lived his life to the fullest every day, and he still does,” said Thyra. “I couldn’t be more proud. He has accomplished every goal that he has set for himself thus far.”
 
The discipline and commitment which he has applied to bodybuilding appears to have impacted other parts of his life as well. “My life has completely changed in a couple of years, mostly because of bodybuilding,” said Labat. “When I look in the mirror, I see a young boy who has overcome a lot. I see a changed man from what I was ten years ago. I see a role model for my kids. I see a better husband.
 
“Everything that I’ve learned on this journey translates into everyday life,” he continued. “I tell everybody, if you can do bodybuilding for a couple of years, everything in your life can become better.” 
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