That doesn't mean, however, that he's given up his Indian heritage. Far from it. "My Indian roots are very important to me, as is my black background," he says. "I'm very interested in finding out who and what made me how I am today. I think that to be truly successful you must have a complete understanding of who you are."

Turner's success in athletics began in high school, when he was an outstanding football player and track star. Though he was never offered a scholarship, he attended the University of Maryland and walked on both the football and track teams. His collegiate experience lasted just one year, though, when real life came knocking and his oldest son was born. That meant it was time to get a job.

One side job he had during that time was a male dancer, and interestingly enough , he performed along side another IFBB pro, Don Long. It was about that time that he realized if he were going to continue making money at dancing, he would have to get in much better shape.

"I was a powerlifter, but didn't have the great cuts and look," he says. "So I joined the Maryland Athletic Club. The owner saw me and thought I had pretty good symmetry and shape. He told me that if I competed in just one contest, he'd give me a free membership. So I took his offer."

Turner's first contest was the Boling Air Force show at the end of 1991, and he won. From there he captured firsts in the Novice and Open divisions of the D.C. Grand Prix, won the Maryland State, and then the Musclemania in Providence Rhode Island. A phenomenal first year for a guy who'd never prepared for a bodybuilding contest before.

His first loss came at the "92 Junior Nationals when he finished second, but that is actually when he began to see bodybuilding as something more than just a hobby to keep his club membership.

"I guess that's when the pro bug really hit me," he says. " Then I competed at my first Nationals. I realized that I needed to know more about the sport and what needs to be done. Up until that time I was just kind of having fun with it. I guess it was there that it finally hit me that if I somehow won the show, what the heck would I do? I really didn't know. So I sat down with my wife and we put together a career plan."

Of course the culmination of the plan was to win the Nationals title and become a professional, which has been been accomplished. But along the way there was plenty of work to be done, in both his training and nutrition. He teamed up with Kevin Levrone, who finished second in the 2002 Mr. Olympia contest. "There's nothing like working with a pro like Kevin first-hand." Turner says. "As my training partner I constantly learned new things from him about how to train and how the body will react to training.

"I was very fortunate that around the time I started getting really serious about bodybuilding, I met him and was able to find out what being a bodybuilder was all about. I always thought the pros were doing things way out there, but I found out from Kevin that I could build a pro physique as long as I stayed motivated and really worked hard. One of the first things that he had me do was start doing aerobics, which I had never done in the off-season before. Almost immediately I saw my body begin to change."