Saxonburg Kyle Walters, who is 42 and a personal trainer and certified nutritionist at the Lakevue Athletic Club recently won his pro bodybuilding card and doesn't plan to use it.

VALENCIA — After 12 years and 15 bodybuilding shows, Saxonburg resident Kyle Walters has finally received his pro card.

He has no plans to use it.

Walters, 42, a personal trainer and certified nutritionist at the Lakevue Athletic Club, is leaving the sport as an active competitor. And he’s leaving as a champion.

Walters won the Masters’ over-40 category and placed fourth overall in the open division at the Natural Pittsburgh bodybuilding show April 25 at Franklin Regional High School.

“Honestly, I went into that show knowing it was my last,” Walters said. “I didn’t care if I finished in last place or first place.

“I was going to give it all I had and that was it.”

Of the 15 shows he’s competed in, Walters won his division nine times and took the overall title on three occasions.

“I’m always going to climb mountains,” Walters emphasized. “I’m just tired of climbing this mountain, so I’m going to climb a new mountain.

“I’m completely shifting gears.”

He said his girlfriend, Michelle Hutterer, is an accomplished marathon runner and he plans to join her in running the Marine Corps Marathon in late October.

“I did a lot of running years ago, then got away from it with my weight lifting and building body mass,” Walters said. “Now I’ll spend the next five months working on my endurance.”

Walters endured a brush with death while vacationing in Mexico with Hutterrer this past winter.

He said he incurred “an acute lung bacterial infection” and was hospitalized there for three days.

“It got pretty bad and I did come close to death,” Walters said. “With the language barrier, communicating with the doctors was hard and I was scared, but they took care of me. Michelle helped see me through that, too.

“I prayed every day. I recall telling myself that if I survive this, I’m going to maximize my potential in whatever I try to do.

“I’m grateful to be healthy now ... I’m grateful to be breathing now,” Walters added.

While no longer being an active bodybuilder himself, Walters will continue to train others in the sport. He’s worked with 20 different athletes that way in the past decade.

In the past two years, he’s helped six people lose more than 100 pounds non-surgically.

“The body will do what we want it to do ... It’s all in how a person communicates with it and works with it,” Walters said.

While Walters is no longer a bodybuilder, he was able to say goodbye on his terms.

“I didn’t leave the sport because of an injury or because I was upset with a judge’s score or anything ... I’m leaving as a champion,” he said. “I’m going out on top and that’s a good feeling.”