Bodybuilders display concern for health beneath the brawn

By Yogita Tahil Rahmani

JAKARTA (JP): Eleven men covered in body oil and clad in colorful briefs line up onstage and flex their muscles. While women holler for more action, men scream out contestants' numbers to get their chosen ones to flaunt their thighs, biceps and abdomens.

This was the scene at the Body Building Festival' 98 at Graha Bhakti Budaya Stadium in Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center, Central Jakarta, Sunday.

The festival, a collaboration of Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Body Building Association and Sanggar Olah Seni Indonesia, a workshop on bodybuilding, featured 152 contestants from about 20 provinces, mainly Java, Sumatra, Bali, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya, and an audience of 400.

The audience could not get enough of the muscle action, particularly the women. They seemed to have abandoned any fear of big bodies and continued to holler at the sight of muscles being flexed to the beat of fast music.

Yuli, a 21-year-old student, said she went to the contest because her boyfriend was a bodybuilding buff.

"It's a good thing that my boyfriend brought me here. Otherwise, I would have never learned to appreciate such a sport," Yuli said.

She says she initially thought her boyfriend, who gives his sport priority over their relationship, was egotistical. Now, she says, she understands why he takes bodybuilding so seriously.

"The way the contestants flaunt their muscles in those seven poses. You can see the beauty of God's creation."

According to Anna, 24, who was at the event with her boyfriend, a contestant from Riau, bodybuilding is about the maintenance of beauty without the use of drugs.

"Bodybuilding worldwide is considered a sport in which drug use is common, even a priority. People win contests or show off their strength by taking steroids, growth hormones and other muscle enhancing drugs," Anna said.

She said that what attracted her to her boyfriend from the start was his devotion to live up to being a "true" bodybuilder. Anna said he lived by three rules, namely that he gets regular exercise, plenty of rest and has a healthy diet.

"He exercises one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening. His diet consists of an exact percentage of protein, fat and carbohydrates. He is a fanatic about that," she said.

Anna says she loves the sport as it promotes a healthy lifestyle.

Yulia, a 19-year-old from Bandung, said that what she liked best about bodybuilders was their dedication to staying healthy. "Unlike us, these people do not think about the number of weights they are going to carry and how difficult it is going to be," Yulia said.

"What I admire about them is how they keep themselves healthy and strong to live a good, fit life. Lifting weights for these people is second priority."

Bodybuilder Ade Rai agrees. The Balinese who has held the national championship title from 1994 until now and won international titles said that bodybuilding was about the quality of muscle.

"Bodybuilding is about the quality of muscle, symmetrical body proportions, muscle size and one's performance skills on stage," he said.

"Anybody can get into bodybuilding, even a person weighing between 45 kilograms and 50 kilograms. It is just about taking care of one's health, sleep and exercise."

Ade said that before a competition, he works on three body parts -- each for 40 minutes -- at least once a week.

When it comes to diet, he said, bodybuilders need a good balance between fats, carbohydrates and protein.

"There is no such thing as fats being bad for us. We need essential fatty acids," the festival's chief guest said.

"Prior to any contest, my intake of protein per meal is 50 percent, carbohydrates 30 percent and fat 20 percent."

On regular days, Ade, a two-time winner of the Bodybuilding Asian championships, has a 30 percent to 40 percent protein intake and 10 percent fat.

Despite clarification on food intake and rigorous exercise, he said people still associated bodybuilding with drugs, dumbbells and other bodybuilding "equipment".

"This is wrong. The challenge in bodybuilding lies not in how we are going to lift heavy weights, but how to utilize it as a means of staying healthy and strong naturally," Ade said.

He explained that the contest, comprising two divisions, had the contestants classed by weight.

The first division comprised six classes for novices.

"There are those belonging to categories of 55 kg and less, between 55 kg and 60 kg, 60 kg and 65 kg, 70 kg and 75 kg and then there is 75 plus," he said.

There were four rounds to the first division. The symmetrical round judges the symmetrical exactness between the upper and lower bodies of the contestants.

The second round is the mandatory round, and the loudest of all. All contestants here take seven mandatory poses and flaunt their "goods," according to Ade.

"There is the show of the double biceps, side chest, back of the double biceps, side triceps, abdomens and thighs," the winner of Musclemania 1996, a renowned natural bodybuilding contest held in the United States, said.

In the next round each contestant was judged individually and then it was on to the selection round.

The second division, Ade said, was an overall one allowing all bodybuilders, including those who reached national level, to participate. Finalists were awarded ceramic trophies and ceramic medals.

Harassed

In the six-class novice division, the first-place winner of each class won Rp 250,000, the second-place winner Rp 150,000 and the third-place winner Rp 100,000.

In the overall division, first-place winner Komara of West Java won Rp 1 million, second-place winner Rizal of Bengkulu won Rp 750,000 and third-place winner Heri of West Java won Rp 500,000.

Ade said that between Rp 15 million and Rp 20 million was invested in the festival.

During the rounds, some of the contestants told The Jakarta Post of the care that goes into bodybuilding, and its consequences.

Yadi of Bandung said that he consumed five to 10 eggs a day and exercised for two-and-a-half hours daily prior a contest.

"I know it's a killer but it is worth it. I keep healthy, fit and girls cannot stay off me," he said.

He said there were times when he felt harassed on the streets.

"Girls will whistle and then go 'sh sh'. And then when I look back, they giggle."

Twenty-three-year old Herman, a bodybuilder who came to watch the show, said sometimes girls go as far as to ask him out on a date.

"Once this girl approached me and asked me what was it that I ate to keep me so big. When I told her that I consumed at least two whole chickens for lunch, she asked me what would I think of her buying me lunch?

"I cannot understand the things they come up with at times," Herman said.

Lydia, 31, said she enjoyed watching bodybuilders because she found herself awe-struck by the sight of "marble".

"It is as if marble has been chiseled. And it develops muscles. It's awesome, but I guess watching the triceps is a bit too much for me," Lydia said.

"It scares me."