By Joey McWilliams
You may have seen this man serving you your meal at one of Durant’s eating establishments and thought, “Wow! This guy has some serious muscles.” And you would be right.
Sports presented by Indian Nation Wholesale.
The judges of the NPC Ronnie Coleman Classic would more than agree with you.
Quinton Pruitt is the franchisee of the local Firehouse Subs restaurant on West Main Street in Durant. He is also a trained bodybuilder. Pruitt competed the Ronnie Coleman Classic in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday and came away with second place in the Open Class B for Classic Physique. There were 11 competitors in that category. An estimated 170-plus – men and women – competed in all classes.
Pruitt said he felt really good about second place.
“I showed up with the best package I’ve given,” Pruitt said. “I was the most muscular I’ve ever been. I was in the leanest condition I’ve ever been.
“The guy who took first actually won the entire show. He was well-deserved. He’s on his way to go get his pro card. If I was going to lose to anybody, I want to lose to the best.”
The 32-year-old is a member of the Class of 2010 of Durant High School. He started powerlifting while he was in high school.
“I was pretty good at that because I was always small and really, really strong. And then I got into bodybuilding. I was interested in it a few years after high school and I started making some headway. I was like, “OK, I’m not too bad at this.’
“I got with my friends in the gym. I met someone and he said, ‘You’ve got to get on stage. You’ve got to show what you can do on stage.’ So I hired his coach and that was five years ago. And it turned out well. I wish I’d hired him sooner.”
This was Pruitt’s third time to compete. His first was in 2020 during the COVID era, flying out to Charleston, S.C., for the competition. He took a break for a while to grow and he said it’s paid off as he placed fourth in the next event two years and now second this past weekend.
He spent 12 weeks training for this event and he may go to another show later this year. And his placement this weekend earned him national qualification.
“I can go to nationals and make an attempt to enter the pro league. By getting second place, it qualified me for the national show. There are several going on, including one in Arlington, Texas, in December.”
Competition in the world of quality physique thing is a family affair in the Pruitt house. Quinton’s wife Michaela is also an award-winning bodybuilder.
“She went to the Battle of Texas and qualified and then she went to nationals and got to first call-outs.
“It is a family thing. But yeah, I don’t know if we’ll do it together at the same time, because you go into prep and you get a little grumpy. You don’t want two grumpy-hungry people in the same house.”
When he started prepping for the show, Pruitt weighed in at 215. He was at 186 on the day of the competition. But with that in the rearview mirror, he changed his eating the day after the meet.
“I’ve eaten everything. I’ve eaten pizza, donuts, breakfast sandwiches, five bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes, three big Reece’s cups. I couldn’t stop, but today I’m starting to regulate and go back to eating normal.”
Pruitt said the whole thing was worth it and that he has grown from it.
“The experience I got on stage and the feedback I got from the judges was what I expected – just a little more mass on the back and the shoulders to make the waist look smaller. They said my posing was great. My conditioning was great.
“Those are all things that are short-term fixes. So as long as I’ve got the long-term things down, it’s just time. I feel good about that.”
