Chance encounter steers Branquinho in right direction

To be a steer wrestler, you have to be a pretty well-built guy. There aren't a whole lot of 150-pound rails throwing down 500-pound steers on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association tour.

But while it's good to be a bit bulkier, there is a middle ground that is best to reach. And during the past year, Luke Branquinho believes he has gotten quite close to that middle ground - and this coming from a guy who was already a three-time world champion.

Branquinho, who won the steer wrestling gold buckle last year to go with his titles from 2008 and 2004, was sitting at about 280 to 285 pounds this time last year. On top of that, the 32-year-old from Los Alamos, Calif., has had to deal with his diabetes.

A chance run-in with a Canadian bodybuilder - Matt Clary - who was wintering in Tucson, Ariz., last February, helped Branquinho with both his weight and his diabetes.

"I met him while I was at a rodeo there," Branquinho said. "He got me eating better, and got my insulin level down by a third. I got my weight down to 240, 245. I'm putting some weight back on, but it's muscle. Now I'm up to 255.

"I feel healthy and still feel like I'm at a good weight to put some strength back on."

In a sport where contestants literally have to live on the road almost year-round, keeping a good diet is no easy task. But Branquinho believed in Clary's remedies, and he made it work.

"I didn't feel very good. I was lethargic, lazy, tired. But he pretty much guaranteed I'd lose 5 pounds the first week just on a better diet," Branquinho said. "He was right. I lost 6 pounds that first week, and I didn't even go to the gym.

"It's hard enough not eating right when you don't have a medical condition, especially on the road," he continued. "But now I feel like I've got it down, and I can stay healthy for the rest of my life, I'm hoping."

Branquinho has a living quarters trailer that he hauls with his truck on the seemingly endless trips from one rodeo to the next, an asset Clary helped him take full advantage of.

"He helped me a lot as far as what to pack up, what to take on the road. Having a living quarters trailer with a stove makes it a little better - having good food around, instead of just junk food," Branquinho said. "And I stopped eating a lot of bad stuff. I cut out all cheeses, mayonnaise, all the stuff I shouldn't have been eating anyway."

Branquinho's reformed frame can hardly be good news for his competitors, though he has a little ground to make up during the 10-day NFR if he hopes to wrestle a fourth world title, as he came into the Finals fourth in the world standings. But it's a tight race, as he sits just about $13,000 out of first place - ground he can easily make up, in part thanks to his weight-loss success.

"I feel like my body doesn't handle the aches and pains real well, but I do feel like I'm in great shape - as good a shape as I've been in in a long time," Branquinho said. "I never thought the weight affected my bulldogging much, but (it did affect) everything else around it. Now I'm getting rest and recovering better. I don't wake up tired, don't wake up sore. You just feel better."

Branquinho is competing in the NFR for the 11th time since turning pro in 2000, so he's pretty much a mainstay in December in Las Vegas. But the Finals are hardly old hat for him.

"It definitely never gets old," he said. "Anytime you have a chance to run for a world championship, whether you're in first place or 15th coming into the NFR, it's a great accomplishment. It's a great group of guys, a great group of horses. It's gonna be fun."

And it's gonna be close. Entering the NFR, the 15 steer wrestling qualifiers were separated by just $53,000 - an amount that can almost be overcome by whichever rider wins the 10-day average, worth $46,821. The top four bulldoggers are separated by only about $13,000 - which can be won in just one go-round.

"Coming in, it's always a tight race, and that just shows you the caliber of the guys we've got. We're not that spread out," said Branquinho, who acknowledged he's in good position to reach the rare air of four world titles in one event. "Anytime you sit in that spot, it's a great feeling. I try not to focus on that, and instead treat it like I'm going after my first one.

"But anytime you can go for that and get a fourth, it puts you in a pretty elite category."