By Tendai Chisiri
Harare Classic 2020 Open show will be the place to be as an array of former champions, current champions and talented bodybuilders will battle it out at Zimbabwe College of Music in Harare Saturday.
National Federation of Zimbabwe Body Building and Fitness (NFZBBF) secretary general Quiet Shangai said that the show is penciled for this weekend starting in the afternoon and fireworks are expected at end of year event.
“2 time Mr Iron Man, 2014 Zim light heavyweight champion, 2014 Southern Africa champion and 2012 All Africa Olympia middle weight champion Vincent Kandiyero will compete in the Harare Classic”, said Quiet Shangai.
Other bodybuilders also expected to compete at the event are Edward Mutero current Zimbabwe National heavy weight champion and current Botswana Designer Physique bodybuilding champion, Shantel Batch 2016 and 2017 Women Beach Bikini champion and 2018 National Women Bikini fitness champion, Lynette Tom current Manicaland Classic Bikini champion,2019 Novice Zimbabwe champion and 2019 Empire Open champion, Genius Gwara 2× National short class Men Physique champion and Beloved George Fitness Men’sFitnesse athlete.
In an telephone interview with Shashasportonline , Lynette Tom in Harare said she started her preparations for Harare Classic Open show 2 months ago.
The 27- year-old long distance runner and physical and fitness personal trainer by profession goes to Fitness first n Empire Gym at High- Glen shops.She revealed that she started bodybuilding after picking a knee injury 2014 whilst running Vic Falls Marathon.
“Someone advised me to go to the gym after the injury and that how I started loving bodybuilding”, she said.
“Bodybuilding for me is not easy as a athlete and trainer.It requires determination because you will diet and thereby have less energy to train but then you have to train to achieve what you want “, she added.
As a woman,she said she is facing a lot of challenges like body shaming and gender supremacy.
She is dreaming very big and wish to get a sponsorship so that she can archive what she want.
“I wish to be contesting out of the country next year since it is my second year in the filed”, she revealed.
Edward “Gearbox” Mutero, who is based in Kimberley North Cap province South Africa in an telephone interview from his base said he is looking forward to win the Mr Harare Classic on Saturday. The 34- year-old bodybulider is an Automotive engineer and fitness personal trainer by profession.
“In terms of training, I’m done with intensive training and am only doing light weight drop sets in order to avoid injures because the show is around the corner”, he said. He is expecting fly from South Africa on Thursday for the show.
He sad he is capitalising on his diet to keep his muscles full and well conditioned.
Asked about his diet, he said he takes boiled oats at 5am,12 white eggs and spoon organic butter at 8am, 6 rices cakes, and 340g shredded tuna at 12:00, 200g boiled chicken fillet and broccoli at 16:00, hake fish with green beans at 20:00 and plain yoghurt or cottage cheese just before bedtime with apple and avocado fruit as snacks in between meals.
He advised upcoming bodybuilders to eat healthy food for them to make it in the fraternity or have well built muscles.”What you put in is what you get out. If you eat junk , you will get junk muscle and vice versa is true.”, he revealed.”So building muscles need proper diet. We can all lift heavy weights in the gym but only those who practice diet can built quality muscle”, he added.
He also noted that a coach is very important because one needs to know how he/she is doing, how to build muscle, how to give muscle rest and how to balance the body as for one to be called a body builder, you don’t just life weights.
“For one to be a bodybuilder, the paramount issues are patience, discipline and commitment”, he emphasized.”Sponsorship is also very important because bodybuilding is very expensive and one needs to be financialy stable ” he said. He is being sponsored by FITFUELsupplement company.
Comparing Zimbabwe body building with other Southern African countries he said Zimbabwe has talent more than Botswana but due to our economy, it is difficult to compare Zimbabwe and South Africa because in South Africa its quiet easy to get sponsorship.
The even has 5 categories namely Senior men bodybuilding open, Junior men bodybuilding up to and including 23 years, Mens Physique open, Men’s fitness open and Women’s Bikini fitness open.
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