Hwang Chul-soon is a South Korean bodybuilder who’s been called the “Asian Arnold Schwarzenegger” and “Korean Hulk” — all for obvious reasons.

He’s won a number of bodybuilding and fitness competitions all over America, placing first in the 2014 Musclemania Universe and the 2012 Musclemania World Championship.

But it wasn’t always like this for Hwang and told his zero to hero story to Barcroft.tv.

“When I turned 20 I had a very thin body and weighed only 57kg (125lb),” Hwang said. “I was treated with disrespect. People looked down at me in situations like if I was returning goods to a store, or helping someone or speaking to strangers.”

A photo posted by Musclemania Pro Chul Soon (@chul_soon) on Dec 10, 2015 at 2:09pm PST

The 5′ 9″ Huang, now 33, has spent the last 12 years following a strict diet and workout routine that has brought his weight to over 220 lbs.

“Now that I am much bigger, people treat me with more respect. They call me the ‘Asian Sensation’, ‘Asian Pride’ and the ‘Asian Arnold’.” The bodybuilder is mostly known for his perfectly chiseled 8-pack abs which have made him Instagram famous with over 345,000 followers.

“I used to do sit-ups 3,000 times every day.” Hwang Told Barcroft. “Now since studying more about bodybuilding I spend less time doing sit-ups and more time eating properly.”

A photo posted by Musclemania Pro Chul Soon (@chul_soon) on Aug 19, 2016 at 4:06pm PDT

Hwang spends around $509 on groceries a month and follows a strict high-protein diet. His meals consist of bananas, brown rice, protein shakes, and supplements. He eats half a pound of food every three hours.

When asked about his love life during a 2014 interview, Hwang said:

“I have many girlfriends.” Then he was asked, “Do you have a lover?” To which Hwang replied, “I have many lovers, too. I can’t be anyone’s property. I belong to everyone.”

However, it looks like someone won his heart as he now has a girlfriend Su Jeong Kim who he met when she applied to be a personal trainer at his gym.

“His perfect body and shape was very impressive and he looked like the man I was looking for. It was I who asked him out first,” Su told Barcroft.

With his insane physique, Hwang was stern on pointing out that he doesn’t use steroids. He points out that while using steroids is legal in some countries, it’s not in Korea.

A photo posted by Musclemania Pro Chul Soon (@chul_soon) on Jul 22, 2016 at 7:35pm PDT

“Using steroids probably helps you build bigger and stronger muscles but it doesn’t help you to balance your shape — especially for those who have weak physiques,” he said. “I think you get much better results if you work out using a long-term plan rather than just using steroids.”

“It took me 12 years to get this body. You should just keep working out steadily little-by-little, step-by-step until finally you will see changes and have the body you always wanted.”