Bodybuilders get pumped up for state championship show
Liela Boyd has a behind-the-scenes glimpse into preparations for the NABBA/WFF Victorian Championships on 17 September.
For the past three months, these athletes have been following strict diet and training regimes to bring their best package on stage.
They’ll be battling for a chance to compete at the Australian Championships in October, before the best of the best jet set overseas to gain the status of a “Professional Athlete”.
Trish Veug is a WFF Miss Universe, ‘Professional Athlete’ and official judge for the September event.
It’s four years since she saw a body-building show and set herself the challenge of getting on stage herself.
She’s now been competing for two years, and as a ‘Professional Athlete’ that means representing Australia all over the world. Away from the stage lights, tan and front double bicep poses, Veug owns a body transformation studio in Melbourne, where she takes her passion for health and fitness to her customers.
She told Hatch what being a ‘Pro Athlete’ means to her.
“It means you live and breathe a healthy lifestyle. It means you are a role model. It means you have a responsibility to pay it forward by helping those that are starting out on their journey.
“Competing can enhance your career as long as you don’t become selfish or self-centred,” she says.
Trish Veug- WFF Miss Universe (photo: Danny D’Mello Photography)
For dental nurse Angela Cananzi, the Melbourne competition will be her first show. But she’s a second generation bodybuilder, following in the footsteps of her father who competed during his younger years.
Cananzi said she was curious about the lifestyle and wanted to see if she could do it.
“I wanted to experience this lifestyle and put myself through some hard work,” she told Hatch.
“If you are determined and strong-minded you’re able to make it work, and if you have a supportive network it becomes easier.”
Cananzi will be competing as a figure competitor, which involves learning compulsory poses and a choreographed routine. She says the experience has been testing for her, and that following a special diet can mean tedious, repetitive meals – but the hardest part is creating a balanced life.
“Trying to juggle training, socialising, work and meal prep all into one can send you a little crazy,” she says.
She says she also feels the pressure to improve physically, even though progress is being made on a weekly basis.
“This has been my biggest downfall so far because I feel I should always look better, but everybody starts from somewhere and you get out what you put in,” she says.
“But the discipline makes you proud. The feeling you get when you see changes makes it worth it.”
She is keen to share the positives of bodybuilding.
“The bodybuilding industry is shamed for [allegedly] being unhealthy and [athletes] going to extreme measures to have the ideal body.
“At the end of the day it all depends on the type of bodybuilding lifestyle you want and no one should shame anyone for trying to better themselves.”
She also has some tips for people who are curious about getting into competing,
“Be ready for some hard work, sore muscles and lots of chicken,” she says. Slow and steady wins the race. Body building is all about patience, repetition and consistency.”
First time competitor Angela Cananzi (image supplied)
It’s not just the competitors who are under pressure. There are outfits, hair and make-up to prepare – and the fake tan.
Josie Petrolo runs Golden Glow, the official tanners for NABBA/WFF Victoria, and says it’s an important element to get right.
“Judges do grade bodybuilders’ tans as a part of the process, because the detail in the tan needs to showcase a competitor’s muscularity and vascularity,” she says.
“It can make or break a competitor’s placing.
“I love the feeling when a competitor comes in depleted and unsure, but once the tan is on their confidence grows because it showcases their hard work.”
While the competitors are slugging it out in the gym counting down the days to show time, the judges are preparing for a tough job on the big day.
Max Khoo, NABBA/WFF International and Australian judge, has been involved in the bodybuilding scene for more than two decades, although never as a competitor.
But he’s been around long enough to watch the sport transform from the old-school era of bodybuilding into new school adaptations and physiques, and says judges must take a wide range of factors into consideration.
“[They need an] understanding what bodybuilding is now, and what makes the difference between an athlete and a bodybuilder, and an experienced eye to compare one body to another both on the details and the overall physique,” he said.
Khoo says it’s difficult to judge two different categories on the same day, as the judges are looking for different qualities, so some judges will preside over the body building categories, while others will judge the model categories.
NABBA/WFF World President Graeme Lancefield agrees, saying ‘hardcore’ bodybuilding has lost its appeal over the years and ‘model’ categories are steadily growing in popularity, attracting more participants each year – and it was this change to the sport that saw the NABBA bodybuilding federation partner with the World Fitness Federation.
Born in 1950, Lancefield was the youngest of three children. His father bought him his first barbell set for his 15th birthday. In 1991 he won the inaugural NABBA Masters Mr Universe title in London. In the same year he opened Athletique Health Club in the Melbourne suburb of Preston.
After many years of competing he now oversees competitions all over the world.
Along with a shift in the aesthetics of the industry, Lancefield says there’s been a growing awareness in the wider community view of what it takes to compete, and a shift in how bodybuilders themselves see the sport.
“[Bodybuilding] is a choice of life style,” he says. “It should enhance your lifestyle, and not be at the exclusion or detriment to your family, relationships, business or personal health.”
Originally featured on: https://hatch.macleay.net/bodybuilders-getting-pumped-up-for-state-championship-show/