Martial artist.

Air Force weaponshandling specialist with deployments to Afghanistan, Italy, and South Korea. First-ever NPC men’s classic physique champion. IFBB Pro League competitor. Cancer survivor.

There’s no argument that Robert Timms has quite a résumé already. But the 29-year-old is just getting started, with designs on conquering the classic physique division while living each day to the fullest after a major health scare eight years ago. Here’s the story behind Timms and his standard-setting body.

Taking Flight 

Timms was born and raised in Orlando, FL. When he was 8, Timms discovered martial arts, eventually earning a black belt in Shotokan. He moved on to kickboxing, then boxing in high school. After joining the Air Force, he even played defensive end for a semi-pro football team in Italy for a while after some friends talked him into it.

The War Inside

In December 2008, at the age of 21, Timms—who is a 2W1, loading bombs, missiles, and ammunition onto aircraft—noticed increased pain in his left 

knee. “The military doctor told me all kinds of things,” he recalls. “He said it was growing pains, then bursitis, then tendinitis. I got a second opinion, and that doctor showed me the X-ray. In my right knee, you could see my leg was white all the way down, but the other was black at the top of the knee. He pointed to that and said, ‘See that? That’s cancer.’ ”