Peksa seeks national body building championship
St. Mary’s man has garnered regional crown
Even well before he immigrated to the United States from Poland as a teenager nearly 40 years ago, St. Mary’s County resident Ireneusz Peksa had his sights set on emulating another famous athlete of European descent — Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Peksa, who had been the Chopticon High School boys’ soccer coach from 2012-2015, has always displayed a passion for body building, although several of his other endeavors prevented him from completely dedicating himself to that pursuit. But not long after stepping down as the Braves’ soccer coach, Peksa decided to focus on a goal that had been dor
mant but soon became his passion.
“One thing about me is that I’ve never been really
good about completing
something I started and seeing it all the way through,” said Peksa, who arrived in the United States in 1985 already fluent in English. “As a kid, I was always really impressed with Arnold and what he was able to accomplish through body building. It’s always been a hobby of mine, but now it’s truly my passion.”
Late last month in Baltimore, Peksa finished second in the NPC Maryland
Classic Championship open heavyweight division, then later captured the East Coast Championship in his division [50 years and over] and second in the open division. Those performances enabled Peksa to punch his ticket to the 2021 NPC Teen, Collegiate & Masters National Championships in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania July 21 to 24, one week before he turns 51.
“These last two weeks leading up to the Nationals have been very, very intense,” Peksa said. “You have to remain completely regimented from your exercise routine, workouts and everything you eat and drink. You can’t deviate from the schedule at all. It’s been that way for several weeks already and it will stay that way up until two days before the competition when you stop altogether.”
Peksa noted that the years of intense training for the brief moments on stage under the hot lights and in front of thousands of spectators only scarcely prepare competitors for the 70 to 75 seconds of poses designed to highlight each body builder’s muscles, veins and other attributes aimed at impressing the judges.
“The weight lifting and the cardio workouts are not anywhere near as stressful as the posing,” Peksa said. “You have basically 70 seconds or so to impress the judges and feed off the crowd. When you’re on stage and under the lights and posing, that’s a very intense moment. It’s a lot more demanding than any weight lifting or workouts. All of those years of work basically come down to what you can do during the posing. It’s a very stressful, taxing minute.”