He won Mr. USA in 1990. By then the Los Angeles bodybuilder had already spent a decade on the work that would outlast his titles: teaching other people how to train.

Joe Antouri is a bodybuilding champion, author and educator, and the founder of the Professional Personal Trainers Association, known as PROPTA. He started the organization in 1980 and still runs it from Los Angeles. PROPTA describes him as the “Trainer of Personal Trainers,” and after 46 years in fitness and nutrition education, the phrase covers most of what he has done.

Quick answer

Joe Antouri is a Los Angeles bodybuilding champion, author and educator who founded the Professional Personal Trainers Association (PROPTA) in 1980. His record lists the AAU Mr. USA title in 1990. He has spent 46 years certifying personal trainers, including people studying from inside prison.

At a glance

  • Who: Joe Antouri, bodybuilding champion, author and founder of PROPTA
  • Based in: Los Angeles
  • Known for: the 1990 AAU Mr. USA title, and certifying personal trainers and nutrition professionals
  • Founded PROPTA: 1980
  • Also teaches: certification courses for people in federal and state prisons
  • Website: propta.com

How did a 105-pound teenager become Mr. USA?

Antouri was born in Lebanon in 1961. His family left for the United States during the turmoil there, and his biography says he played varsity soccer in high school before he ever stood on a bodybuilding stage. He came to weight training as a teenager who wanted to be bigger.

“When I started at the age of 17, I weighed 105 pounds at 5’6″,” he writes on PROPTA’s website. The person who finally showed him how to add muscle was a professional bodybuilder, and Antouri says that experience shaped his view of who should be teaching trainers.

He worked his way through the California contest circuit in the 1980s. His competition record lists first-place finishes at Mr. Los Angeles, Mr. Southern California, Mr. California and the Iron Man, plus a second-place finish at the NABBA World Championships. In 1990 he won the AAU Mr. USA title along with the Most Muscular award, and competed that same year at the WABBA World Championship in Osaka, Japan.

The training behind those results was not subtle. By his account, he and his training partner, the late Brian Knapp, squatted 520 pounds for 27 repetitions every week from 1983 to 1990.

Black-and-white stage photo of bodybuilder Joe Antouri bowing with arms outstretched at the start of a posing routine
Antouri at the start of a posing routine on stage. Photo courtesy of Joe Antouri / PROPTA.

Why did he start PROPTA?

Antouri founded PROPTA in 1980, before he turned 20 and a full decade before the Mr. USA win. The idea came straight from his own start: people who want to train others should learn from professional athletes, and the teaching should rest on science. PROPTA’s courses are built around biomechanics, applied nutrition and hands-on practice.

Today the organization certifies personal trainers, nutrition consultants, sports performance nutrition specialists and weightlifting coaches. Students can study in a classroom, one-on-one, online or by home study.

Antouri wrote the textbooks his students use. He says they are now available in eight languages, which has carried the courses well beyond Southern California. Along the way he ran the nutrition departments at World Gym and Gold’s Gym for more than 20 years, according to his biography, and served as a national judge for bodybuilding contests.

PROPTA says trainers known from television, including Sagi Kalev of “Body Beast” and Jackie Warner of “Thintervention,” have studied with him.

Students holding dumbbells in a row during a PROPTA hands-on personal trainer in a gym
Students at a PROPTA hands-on training session. Photo courtesy of Joe Antouri / PROPTA.

What is he teaching inside prisons?

For nearly two decades, Antouri says, PROPTA has offered its certification courses to people in federal and state correctional facilities. Students inside study by correspondence. People in halfway houses who are preparing for release can take the same courses online.

The program covers three certifications: personal trainer, nutrition and sports performance nutrition. The goal is practical. A student can leave with a credential that leads to a job in a gym or to a business of their own.

PROPTA sums up the program in one line: “From incarceration to certification — a second chance starts here.” Reviews from former students posted on its website describe the courses as life-changing, and one writes that he now plans to study physical therapy after his release.

Antouri puts his own reason more simply. “Education gives you freedom and a future,” he says.

Joe Antouri greeting bodybuilding publisher Joe Weider with a kiss on the cheek in 2008
Antouri with Joe Weider, co-founder of the International Federation of Bodybuilding, in 2008. Photo courtesy of Joe Antouri / PROPTA.

What is Joe Antouri doing now?

He is still teaching. Antouri remains PROPTA’s chief executive, and the organization lists an office line that is answered seven days a week. His biography also lists products he created, including Grip-It, a hand grip for weight training.

The titles on his record are from the 1980s and 1990. The students are current, and they are the part of the story he keeps adding to: trainers in gyms, nutrition coaches, and people who earned a certification before they came home.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Joe Antouri?

Joe Antouri is a Los Angeles bodybuilding champion, author and educator. He founded the Professional Personal Trainers Association (PROPTA) in 1980 and has spent 46 years teaching fitness and nutrition.

Did Joe Antouri win Mr. USA?

Yes, according to his competition record. It lists the AAU Mr. USA title in 1990, along with the Most Muscular award, after earlier wins at Mr. Los Angeles, Mr. Southern California and Mr. California.

What is PROPTA?

PROPTA is the Professional Personal Trainers Association, a Los Angeles organization that trains and certifies personal trainers, nutrition consultants and coaches through classroom, one-on-one, online and home-study courses.

Does PROPTA offer courses to people in prison?

Yes. PROPTA offers personal trainer, nutrition and sports performance nutrition certification courses to people in federal and state correctional facilities, by correspondence inside and online during reentry.

Related reading on The LA Note

Sources

Competition results, career history and program details are as stated by Joe Antouri and PROPTA. Photos are courtesy of Joe Antouri / PROPTA, from propta.com.

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