CT Fletcher is one of the most popular fitness YouTubers of the 2010 era. He has over 2.2 million followers on Instagram and 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube. His training videos are so intense they psyche you up for your next workout. The “Superman from Compton” is a former bodybuilder and powerlifter who holds six world championship titles. Apart from being incredibly famous on social media, CT Fletcher is a successful entrepreneur and owns a chain of gyms in Miami, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Fletcher’s life has been a roller coaster ride. He has been at the peak of stardom and through struggling times where his family did not have enough money to put food on the table. Born in 1959 in Arkansas, CT grew up in a strict household and was physically abused by his father.
“My father started preaching in a 4-car garage when I was in grade school. By the time I was in Jr. High, we moved to Lakewood, CA and my father purchased his own church. My mother, my big brother Walt, and I were the choir. Strict is too subtle a word to describe the discipline required in our upbringing. The extreme discipline and the severe physical abuse was our way of life; it was all I knew.”– CT Fletcher
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Height: 5’11” Weight: 225 lbs D.o.B: 8 June 1959 Birthplace: Pine Bluff, Arkansas
As soon as CT Fletcher turned 18, he escaped his father’s abuse and joined the United States Army. Shortly after, he moved to Germany, where he was stationed.
While serving in the army, Fletcher got interested in martial arts, particularly karate. Following in the footsteps of his idols Bruce Lee and Mohammed Ali, Fletcher earned his second-degree black belt in karate in 1979.
Although CT Fletcher has powerlifting world records to his name, he did not start his weightlifting journey in the sport. After retiring from the army, CT joined the U.S. Postal Service and started training at a local gym in the early 1980s.
He fell in love with bodybuilding and trained seven days a week. As his physique improved, he participated in several bodybuilding shows, placing in the top 3 in almost all of them.
“Outside of my family, weightlifting was my life.” – CT Fletcher
As his strength improved, CT Fletcher started chasing PRs. His focus changed from lifting to improve his muscle mass and conditioning to lifting as heavy as he could.
Fletcher switched from bodybuilding to powerlifting after years of competing in bodybuilding shows.
Realizing his potential, Superman from Compton started participating in powerlifting contests. CT announced his arrival in the powerlifting world by beating many big names.
While powerlifting, CT’s primarily focused on getting stronger every day. He reckoned the fastest way to get stronger and lift bigger would be to consume as many calories as he possibly could.
Fletcher did not care about the calorie source. At one point, most of his daily calories came from extremely unhealthy processed foods. He ate what he wanted and when he wanted.
As CT Fletcher had expected, he grew bigger and stronger because of his high-calorie diet. He went on to set powerlifting records while following the unhealthy diet. CT’s success in the powerlifting circuit incentivized him to stick to his junk food diet.
Lo and behold, his unhealthy eating habits eventually caught up with him. Fletcher had developed hypertension because of his ‘dirty‘ diet. Assuming his beloved food could not possibly be his kryptonite, the Superman from Compton paid no heed to the doctor’s advice and continued eating a junk diet.
“At the time I did not care and I did not mind as long as the list of powerlifting accolades continued to grow as I did.” – C.T Fletcher
What happened next was something Fletcher had never expected. In 2001, one of his doctors informed him that his hypertension had become life-threatening. The kryptonite was attacking his heart.
On May 20, 2005, CT Fletcher lay on an operation table in the UCI Medical Center in Long Beach and underwent life-saving open-heart surgery.
The surgery proved to be so complicated that CT had ‘flat-lined‘ three times during the procedure.
After spending the next several months in the hospital under intensive care, Fletcher was told that his powerlifting days were over as his heart could no longer support that kind of lifestyle.
CT Fletcher reminds us of Ronnie Coleman. Both athletes pushed themselves super hard in the gym even when they knew it would put them at risk of injury.
While Big Ron refused to stop lifting heavy, Fletcher ate anything he could get his hands on while training super heavy. In the end, their bodies had to pay the toll for their lifestyles. To sum it up, both the lifters sacrificed everything for greatness.
“After the surgery, I lost my job at the post office where I worked for almost 30 years. I lost my job, my home, I lost everything. At first, I felt like a bum – unemployed and homeless.” – CT Fletcher
After recovering from surgery, CT looked nothing like his former self. While many would have given up on the lifting lifestyle after a major setback, the Iron Addict knew “It Was Still His Mutha Fuckin’ Set!”
CT Fletcher made adjustments to his lifestyle. He started eating healthy and began his lifting journey with light weights. To everyone’s surprise, Fletcher was back on a bodybuilding stage only a few years after his bypass surgery.
Get Fitter, Faster“My mother suffered many of her last years from congestive heart failure. However, to her last day, to her last hour, to her final seconds of life she remained committed to her life’s choice. It was her decision to put aside adversity and always be what she perceived to be the best wife she could be. It is through her unwavering example I believe, ‘It’s Still Yo Mutha Fuckin Set!’”
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Subscribe Another EmailAfter recovering successfully from the open-heart surgery and making a lot of progress in his personal and professional life, CT Fletcher suffered another setback.
Fletcher suffered a major heart attack in June 2017. This time around, the doctors could not repair his heart. His family was informed that he needed a new heart.
According to a post on 24 February 2018 on his Instagram handle, Fletcher’s heart stopped working in January 2018. The pacemaker and defibrillators implanted onto his heart shocked him back to life.
