Alex Johnstone has been a competitive bodybuilder for 10 years and reckons perfecting poses is the toughest challenge.
The 34-year-old is performing some bicep curls as he prepares to go on stage at the Mr and Miss Scotland contest in Glenrothes, Fife.
Elsewhere Shelley Morgan, also 34, is battling to control her nerves ahead of her first competition.
From weight loss to bodybuilding
Shelley, from Methil, has lost an incredible nine and a half stones and grafted hard for 11 months to sculpt her body for today.
They are among the bodybuilders we meet as we go behind the scenes at the Scottish qualifier for the NABBA (National Amateur Body-Builders Association) British finals.
Why posing is so important
Alex, a personal trainer from Kilmarnock, explains his passion for bodybuilding. He is in the gym four or five days a week.
“I just enjoy training and seeing what the body can do.
“The posing side of it as well is a big thing for me. If you can’t present yourself on stage you won’t get anywhere.
“It’s also the hardest part, I would say.”
Sales agent Shelley has only been bodybuilding for 11 months.
Eat protein and relax
“I do gym training, lifting heavy three, four days a week. Also lots of steps, pole dancing, power fitness.
“I’ve been eating white fish and veg, a high protein diet for the last year.”
She admits to some anxiety but mum Barbara McRobbie, there for moral support, says: “I think I’m more nervous than my daughter!”
Katy Berwick, 44, a mum-of-two from Perth, looks like she’s following her own advice for the final days of training as her hair is styled backstage.
The accounts assistant says: “You just have to stay as relaxed as possible. You still have your routine and your eating is all organised.”
Combining fatherhood and bodybuilding
Training became extra challenging for Ross Campbell, 31, when he became a dad four weeks before the competition.
Newborn Kai is with mum Shelley Hall as his dad, a quality engineer from Glenrothes, prepares to go on stage at the Rothes Halls.
The all-important tan
Steven King, 39, has his tracksuit hood pulled up as he waits for the contest to begin outside the venue. His extremely dark tan gives him away as a bodybuilder.
The landscape gardener from Stirling says: “You go through a week of exfoliating every day, moisturising, then you put a coat on the night before and let it dry.
“Then up this morning and another coat. Some people put another coat on at the venue. Then you get a glaze that makes you a wee bit shiny.
“It’s supposed to wash off conveniently after the show, but it doesn’t!”
Like the other competitors Steven has been on a strict diet while following a gruelling training regime.
“I’ve had nothing but chicken, rice, oats and yoghurt since January,” he says.
It was his discipline around food that prompted a friend to recommend bodybuilding 10 years ago.
“I’ve done boxing, ice hockey, mixed martial arts but this is like nothing else. It’s relentless.”
Craig Guest, 41, a dog trainer from Dundee, is having a final coat of tan by the stage entrance.
He only decided to enter this competition midweek.
“I’ve been rushing a week’s preparation into three days. Water loading, salt loading, carb loading.
The judges
“You increase the amount of sodium to stop your body retaining water. It takes the water out from under the skin essentially and makes you look dryer and more vascular.”
Among the judges casting an eye over the entrants are Layla Allen and Alan Goodsir.
Now a professional bodybuilder Layla, 51, from Kirkcaldy, was named Miss Universe last year.
Gym64 owner Alan, 61, also from Kirkcaldy, has trained bodybuilders for 30 years.
He knows well the dedication needed to succeed.
“You have to get up every morning and train, it’s not a choice.
‘Bodybuilding is 95% diet’
“But it’s not just the training, it’s the diet. It’s 95% diet and that is where a lot of people fall down.
“You have to get your body fat down to between 4% and 6%.”
The Mr Universes behind the show
Event organiser is NABBA chairman Mark Taylor, 53, from Buckhaven.
The owner of Taylor Made Gym and Fitness in Leven, has won every men’s title awarded by NABBA, from Mr Scotland to Mr Universe.
And he’s drafted in a fellow Mr Universe to compere, Eddy Ellwood.
Eddy, 61, from County Durham has won the title five times and has been England’s strongest man three times.
The former boxer and NABBA world president could deadlift 410kg at his peak but no longer does weight training.
He says: “Competitions like these are where everybody starts, area level.
“It’s a great feeling getting up on stage for your first event.”
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