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Fairbanks hosts Alaska bodybuilding championships
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FAIRBANKS - It's been months since 19-year-old Matt Kessler sank his teeth into a Boston's flying buffalo pizza.
But that's what was on the post-competition menu as the University of Alaska Fairbanks student oiled his muscles for a state championship bodybuilding competition at Centennial Hall Saturday night.
"The diet's been horrible," he groaned.
But that's a small price for the trophy that comes with top honors and the confidence gained walking on-stage in a Speedo, he said, rolling the side of his sweats below the hip and flashing a deep blue suit.
For Denny Ingraham, 23, it'll be a steak at the Round-Up and, of course, peach cobbler. The Fairbanks UPS driver has had nothing but chicken, salad and white rice for six weeks, save for heaping spoonfuls of apple butter from a jar pre-show.
And while they might not have been cooking with it for months, competitors prepping phenomenal physiques for the state bodybuilding championships put PAM cooking spray to good use.
The oil alternative is the perfect agent for oiling finely crafted pecs and lats, and it won't make layers of rub-in tanning potions bleed.
That's the last thing body builders want as they step on-stage for the 2009 National Physique Competition Last Frontier Fitness, Figure, Bikini and Bodybuilding State Championships.
Show organizer Sheila Bratten expected about 25 people to vie for the gold and advancement to bigger competitions at the national qualifier. A number of entrants are novices, but several seasoned pros have been sprinkled in.
Anchorage bodybuilder Steve Breci, 26, was nonchalant about the looming competition as he slathered skin-darkening cream on David Bierria's hulking quads.
"If it happens, it happens," he said. "I just want to do better than I did the last time."
With three state records under his belt in eight years of competition, Breci was thinking this might be his last go for a couple years. He'd keep up the work, of course.
"I just want to have fun and work out, hunt and camp and fish," the heavy equipment operator said.
For two female first-timers, the competition is a family affair of sorts with roots almost a year deep. It started with a commitment to joining a gym, working out and improving their health.
But Brenna Tibbs, 23, of Fairbanks, couldn't help but examine the photos of bodybuilders on the walls at Anytime Fitness. She asked a few questions about trainers' show experiences, and figured she could give it a go.
Trainers Joelle and Bill Miller encouraged the newcomers.
"It's a challenge, mentally and physically," Joelle said. She's competed for years but is taking some time off from the stage. "I enjoyed the experience, and I like to share that."
The sport has been dying out a bit, she acknowledged. Women in particular are often reluctant to bulk up, and many fear becoming too masculine. But that doesn't have to be the case.
"It's also about a healthy lifestyle, and they are far from looking like a man," she said, gesturing to a half-dozen women in a dressing room lit with oversized bulbs outlining mirrors. Plastic sheeting protected shower stalls from spray-on tanners and slick oils.
Saturday evening, Tibbs and sister-in-law Sarah Ellis were helping each other with tanners, adhesive and makeup in the changing rooms, only a bit nervous for their debut.
Magenta and blue show suits - like a bikini, but with criss-crossing strings across the lower back - were rimmed with glittering stones, showcasing enviable musculature to maximum advantage. Ellis' dark hair curled from the crown of her head in ringlets, while Tibbs' blue eyes popped from artfully applied makeup.
The ritziness and glitter is part of the show, but the lifestyle rewards hooked the women.
"I like the way you say lifestyle," Tibbs told Joelle as the trainer patched concealing cream and powders over a dab of medical adhesive residue that wouldn't come off Ellis's glutes. The glue keeps bikinis in place. "It really is a lifestyle. We don't eat out. We cook everything at home, we budget time to cook, to work out. It's almost a part-time job."
Workouts vary by competitor depending on what training stage they've reached. Some spend a couple hours each day cranking out cardio routines, then lifting. Whatever the time invested, training is most intense for several months looking into a competition. Muscles are built, refined, balanced, as body fat is calculated and whittled lower and lower. A few weeks out, competitors set aside the heavier weights for increased cardio workouts. Their diets shift to extremely low - or no - carbs to high protein, all lean meats mixed with heaps of greens. Female bodybuilders strive for body fat in the single digits, although women competing in the figure category are encouraged to keep a little more flesh to avoid the striations extreme musculature brings.
"It's a real commitment," Joelle said. "If 100 people say they're going to do a show, only 10 will. Every lady in here is a winner, because they're all here tonight."
One Fairbanks woman figured if not now, when?
"I turned 40 this year," Michelle Johnson said. "I thought if I wanted to do this, I better get on it. It's not going to get any easier."
She was lined up for the masters competition - women over age 35.
"It's kind of a crazy thing to figure out you can control your body," Johnson said, flashing brilliantly white teeth. "I used to always think you get what you get, but if you work hard ..."
A hot-pink show suit covers only what it must, leaving a display of well-defined muscles - washboard abs, developed deltoids boosting precisely rounded shoulders. It's hard to believe she's been training for only seven weeks.
"I always eat clean, so I started with a fairly low body fat percentage," Johnson said. "I didn't have to do anything extreme."
She and her workout partner, husband Randy, already dined on good greens and healthy foods. But training meant no cheating - at all - and giving up wine, Johnson said. On the menu the past two months? Turkey, chicken, yams and all the green, leafy vegetables she could eat.
She's rightfully proud of her stature, but this first show will be her last.
"For me, personally, I'm done," she said. "But it's been a blast. It's just very self-absorbing."
Results were not available at press time.
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