Jak Hancock is Mr World Fitness

HOWLONG midfielder Jak Hancock stood at the crossroads of his football career at the end of last season.

Sitting in his doctor's clinic, he wasn't quite prepared for the bombshell the doctor was about to drop.

"You have reactive arthritis, and my advice is to give up exercise for six to 12 months," he said.

"It's most likely you will never play football again.

"Reactive arthritis is a genetic version of arthritis and it has spread to both your ankles, knees and your hip."

A stunned Hancock, 24, thought he had no alternative other than to hang up the boots.

"It took me a while to come to grips with the prognosis," Hancock said.

"When I was told footy was out the window I thought, well, I can sit at home on the couch feeling sorry for myself and get fat or start working towards something else.

"So I thought I would give bodybuilding a try.

"I was determined to do everything in my power to beat the condition.

"So I stopped training for a while, fixed my diet and got on the right medication - I slowly got back into doing weights and focusing on exercises that didn't cause any pain."

Hancock soon caught the fitness bug and started weight training five times a week and following a strict diet.

Studying to be a personal trainer teacher at the Institute of Fitness in Wodonga, Hancock underwent an amazing body transformation as he lost fat and gained muscle.

"I had a client that I was training for a fitness competition who suggested I should compete as well," he said.

"I thought I would give it a crack.

"So I started to do weights every day, Monday to Friday during my lunch break.

"Then to help lose fat before a competition I do 45 minutes of hill walks five days a week plus footy training once or twice a week depending on how the knees and ankles feel - and play footy on the weekend."

The results have been spectacular.

Last month Hancock won the International Natural Bodybuilding Association 2013 Mr World Fitness competition in Greece.

"It was a huge thrill and easily the biggest thing I have achieved in my life," he said.

"There were just so many challenges along the way and obstacles to push through.

"A lot of people start training for it and it is easy to train for two or three weeks.

"The hardest part is doing it every day for up to nine months of the year."

Hancock has now got his sights set on the Mr Olympia title to be held at San Diego, California, in November.

But his immediate focus is football and helping Howlong secure a finals berth.

Hancock was best-on-ground in Howlong's upset win over Henty last week and is confident the Spiders can cause plenty of headaches in September.

"To win last week was unreal and we have been getting better as a side every week," he said.

"Last week was huge for our finals aspirations and has given us a lot of confidence ahead of another big game this week against Holbrook."