Build At Your Own Risk

Bodybuilding has taken over Rob Ashton's life. 48 Hours Correspondent Bill Lagattuta reports on a man whose hobby has become an obsession.

Growing up, Ashton was a self-described "chubby kid." Ten years later, his body fat is down to about 6 percent.

His childhood chubbiness is the origin of his obsession, he says: "I can never see a day where I can look in the mirror and say, 'Oh, you know, I'm 100 percent; I'm perfect.' A lot of that comes from the little chubby kid in high school. He's still in the back of my head somewhere, and he's saying, 'You know, you're not perfect yet.' The only person that I could say actually had a perfect body in existence would be Arnold."

Arnold, of course, is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is Ashton's hero.

While Ashton's body may look nearly perfect, it has a deformity. He was born with a fairly common malformation of the spine. "When he does certain very stressful exercises, it can force the fifth lumbar to be pushed forward and dislocate," says Ashton's chiropractor, Dr. Michael Taverras. Ashton's doctors say he can avoid long-term problems as long as he follows their advice.

Ashton's friends worry about more than just the medical issues. "I worry that sometimes he separates himself a little bit from the world," says Chris Pepin.

His friends may understand, but his former girlfriend just doesn't. They broke up after three months.

"Dating is for the most part out of the question," says Ashton. "Everything revolves around the gym."

His current girlfriend, Maria Alexander, understands. She, too, is a bodybuilder.

"It's a full-time job almost; it really is," she says. "I'd say he's misse out on nothing. But that's my viewpoint, and I'm in it."

In his quest for perfection, Ashton has every event in his life planned out to the very last minute, including his birthday. That night he allowed his friends to pry him from the barbells, take him to a restaurant and watch him cheat, he says.

The birthday boy, surrounded by old friends and his girlfriend, did cheat: with a big steak, baked potatoes, salad with dressing and even a couple of glasses of wine. But what really made him excited, for one night only, was bread and butter.

But early the next morning, Ashton was right back in the gym: "I want to make the most of the assets that I have and then train the heck out of them. And just see how far I can go with it."

Although Ashton still trains, he has recently taken a break from competing.