Saint Elsewhere

by Jeff Gremillion | Houston magazine | January 27, 2012

Personal trainer, competitive bodybuilder and model Eric Turner’s admirers—who often behold him in the altogether, or almost, since he’s repeatedly called upon for racy underwear ads—may be surprised to know that he started out his adult life very, well, clothed. An unexpectedly shy Utah native, Turner, 31, was a devout Mormon who not only spent two neck-tied years on a bicycle as a door-to-door missionary, but who also once trained others to do so.

It was in some ways his religious upbringing that inspired his devotion to fitness. “Your body is a temple,” he reminds. But his association with the Mormons ended badly. “I made whoopee with a boy and was excommunicated,” says the 6-foot-1, openly gay Turner, who later made his way to Houston to be with his then-beau.

A year later, he’s single. But he’s staying in H-Town, where his career has taken off. He’s in demand at River Oaks’ popular Fit Athletic Club, and he turns up regularly in fitness and fashion magazines here and abroad. Plus, he’s recently entered the bodybuilding arena, set to compete next month at a major meet in Dallas in the less-hulk-more-hunk “physique” category.

It’s been a long road for Turner, who says it’s taken 10 years of relentless dedication to get his bod into its current traffic-stopping shape—which, by the way, he shows off this year in a revealing new beefcake calendar featuring former Mormon missionaries. But isn’t it a little odd that a one-time Latter Day Saint would strip down so easily for the camera? Nah. “It celebrates, for me, the hard work that I’ve done,” notes Mr. March. “One day I’ll be able to look back and say, ‘Damn, I had a nice ass.’”

Turner’s Hots
Deadmau5, barbell hip thrusts, front squats, David Sedaris, Lululemon, pizza dipped in ranch dressing (“I’m a fat girl trapped in a muscle body”), voting

Turner’s Nots
Potholes, Kardashians, mayonnaise, Abercrombie & Fitch, intolerance