On the 26th of March we witnessed the first Men’s Physique division to be held in Culver City, California. I competed in the show and was surprised to see so many men keen to compete in this all-new division of the NPC. Going in to the show one of the things that seemed to be on everyone’s mind was that since Men’s Physique is so new and the criteria were so vague, we really didn’t know what to expect. I think even the judges were the same, admitting that they hadn’t quite figured out yet what they were looking for. This would be the first chance for Californians to set the standard for what would evolve into Men’s Physique in the future. Since I was up close and in the mix I will give you my perspective of how things went down on the day.
Once again it was time for leg training this morning. Last night I received an email from Bill our photographer, informing me we were training at 10 am. I assumed I was training with Ofer Samra again. Turns out he deliberately wasn’t specific about the trainer in the email because he wanted to scare me (as our previous leg training session was brutal). So when Bill told me it was Jerome Ferguson I was somewhat relieved. Not that Jerome went easy on me.
Jerome came in with a suggestion for our leg training. He thought that since this was all about Men’s Physique we should do a “fitness” style workout for legs. This was going to entail a regular leg training session with moderate weights, body weight and cardio style exercises and little to no rest periods.
Once again it was time for leg training this morning. Last night I received an email from Bill our photographer, informing me we were training at 10 am. I assumed I was training with Ofer Samra again. Turns out he deliberately wasn’t specific about the trainer in the email because he wanted to scare me (as our previous leg training session was brutal). So when Bill told me it was Jerome Ferguson I was somewhat relieved. Not that Jerome went easy on me.
Jerome came in with a suggestion for our leg training. He thought that since this was all about Men’s Physique we should do a “fitness” style workout for legs. This was going to entail a regular leg training session with moderate weights, body weight and cardio style exercises and little to no rest periods.
Ian Lauer: Hello and thanks for joining us Sandy. How are you today?
Sandy Williamson: Great, taking care of business. So you have some questions for me?
IL: You know it! First off, how long have you been judging IFBB and NPC shows?
SW: Let’s see…26 years and have seen quite a few competitors over the years.
Name: Melih F. Cologlu
What are your thoughts on the Men's Physique Division?
I think this division is going to become very popular very fast. I think the sport of Physique is going to attract many different athletes from different athletic backgrounds.
There were tons of great physiques on stage in Culver City. There were roughly 50 competitors in the whole division. There was a masters class (35 years and up), Short A (up to 5' 8") Medium B (5' 8" to 5' 10") and Tall C (Over 5' 10").
Overall there were basically twice as many Men's Physique Competitors as there were Male Body Builders. This just goes to show that this new division is going to explode! To catch everyone up on the overall winner...it was Alex Carneiro. He made the trip to CA from Denver and boy was he happy he did. An impressive display and a great attitude earned Alex the win.
www.AlexCarneiro.com
Stay tuned as a video interview after pre-judging with Alex will be up soon!
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