Covid and asparagus make life tough for bodybuilders
Preparing for a bodybuilding competition was already a gruelling journey. It’s been even harder in the past six months, finds Serena Solomon.
Idon’t know how to put it nicely, I’m pretty much starving the whole day,’’ said Tawhiri Walsh, a 35-year-old bodybuilder from Gisborne. These will be familiar words to anyone who, like Walsh, is preparing for a bodybuilding competition. It’s a process that typically takes 16 weeks of multiple training sessions a day, a very low-calorie diet and dehydration in the final week to magnify muscle definition and veins.
What is already a physically, mentally and financially exhausting journey has been made far worse by Covid-19.
Bodybuilders have been uniquely impacted by the nation’s response to the virus. Gym closures during lockdowns and the uncertainty over whether any new lockdowns will cancel competitions wiped out months of painful preparation.
‘‘It’s a hell of an ordeal to go through with the uncertainty of whether the competition will go ahead or not,’’ said Walsh, who has entered next month’s New Zealand National Bodybuilding Championships. ‘‘Especially when you are really, really hungry and you are looking for an excuse to cheat on your diet.’’
He almost did cheat a few days ago. Walsh bought a protein bar that most people would congratulate themselves for choosing instead of a bag of chips. But he resisted, chucking it in the bin on the way home.
The bodybuilding community has been hard hit with stress from Covid-19 with some competitors experiencing depression or quitting, according to Moe El Moussawi, the president of New Zealand International Federation of Bodybuilding, (NZIFBB), which held a competition in Wellington over the weekend.
NZIFBB ran a competition in Christchurch a few weeks ago. Only 40 of the usual 80 competitors showed up because of last-minute travel restrictions imposed for Auckland during the August lockdown.
Moussawi was preparing to have a limit of only 100 spectators this weekend in Wellington, but the change to level 1 meant bodybuilders performed to crowds of about 500. ‘‘They go through that whole 16 weeks and it is all for that five minutes on stage,’’ said Moussawi. ‘‘You want to show off all your hard work.’’
Bodybuilders can easily spend $1000 a month on supplements, trainers, gym memberships, and food. With fears over gyms closing disrupting workouts due to new lockdowns, some competitors forked out $10,000 for home equipment.
‘‘We’re talking about a very passionate group of people,’’ he said.
The price of asparagus, which this month reached more than $25 a kg, has also added to the Covid-19 impact on bodybuilders’ budget.
Amino acid in asparagus triggers the body to release water. It is one of the cleanest ways to dehydrate before a competition, said Moussawi. However, a kilo a day is needed.
Gracela Gregorio is an Auckland osteopath who is training for the Livfit Beachbody and Bodybuilding Bonanza in December. It is her second year in the sport. She has entered the figure category, which focuses more on definition and proportions, as opposed to the size required for the women’s bodybuilding category.
In the days before the first Covid-19 lockdown, Gregorio, 52, scoured numerous sport stores for workout equipment. All she found were empty shelves. She managed to gather a hodgepodge of weights to keep working out.
‘‘When the first lockdown hit, all I wanted to do was bake,’’ said Gregorio. Baking doesn’t fit into her six-times-a-day eating regimen that includes an afternoon snack of six walnut halves with a pear or 120 grams of protein and a salad for dinner.
A typical woman eats around 2000 calories a day. Gregorio eats 1500. That’s incredibly low for someone who trains for two hours most days.
When she does get on stage, if the event isn’t cancelled, ‘‘it will be more of an achievement with the ups and downs of Covid than last year – and last year I had cancer,’’ said Gregorio. Surviving breast cancer is what inspired her to start bodybuilding.
Bevan MacKenzie normally eats a diet with lots of zucchinis. The low-carb, high-fibre food gives a feeling of fullness without the calories. Last week, a day’s supply cost him $22.
‘‘I just want to feel satisfied when I leave the table, that I have a bit of a full puku,’’ said MacKenzie. He won’t get that full feeling until after his competition next month.
Covid-19 hasn’t been all bad for the sport. MacKenzie’s daughter Katia, 19, competed in the Wellington competition. It was her first time, and she placed first in the junior bikini category.
‘‘I actually decided I wanted to do the competition during lockdown [in March],’’ said Katia. ‘‘I was so bored, and we had a gym, so I thought ‘May as well make the most it’.’’
Terry Hills also found a silver lining in the Covid-19 chaos. He placed in the over-60s bodybuilding category .
His employer encouraged staff to work from home due to the virus, giving him more time to workout and a kitchen to prepare his six daily meals in. ‘‘My stress levels have been reduced,’’ said Hills.
Moussawi is concerned that the uncertainty of Covid-19 will impact the sport’s growth and even its survival. Bodybuilding has a reputation for vanity, with bodies slathered in fake tan and barely-there outfits, but the sport’s value is miscalculated, he said.
‘‘We get all sorts of people in the organisation, like a gang member who was in trouble and wanted to change his life around,’’ said Moussawi.
I was so bored, and we had a gym, so I thought ‘May as well make the most it’. Katia MacKenzie, left