Career
Fankhouser began weight training while he was a student at West Liberty State College in West Liberty, West Virginia. He originally focused on playing fullback for the school’s football team and participating in the shot put, discus, hammer and javelin events for the track team, and then turned his focus to bodybuilding. In his first national competition, the 2006 North American Championship, he placed fourth in the heavyweight division.
In 2007, he placed 16th in the United States of America Bodybuilding & Figure Championships, but in his next competition he placed first in his class in the North American Championships.
With his victory, Fankhouser made state sports history as the first West Virginia native to become a professional bodybuilder. Erik placed 10th in his first IFBB pro contest, the Europa Super Show, in August 2008, winning both Pose Down Magazine"s "Best Wheels" and the 4Ever Fit Fans" Choice awards during the contest.
Fankhouser, who stands 5’9” and averages 215 pounds in contest shape, goes by the nickname “The House.” He is sponsored in his training by the bodybuilding supplement companies Animalpak.com and Universal Nutrition. He has also done guest posing at several bodybuilding tournaments, and writes weight training articles for Muscular Development Magazine.
Outside of competitive bodybuilding, he works as an exercise physiologist at Wheeling Hospital in Wheeling, West Virginia.
