by Christian Duque
The world of bodybuilding and fitness is gearing up for yet another great professional contest this time in one of the biggest hotbeds of bodybuilding in the world, Dubai. So many people go here to train at their gyms and take advantage of a life that is very conducive to building muscle. Here you can eat very lavishly, train with the best equipment, and have hotel accommodations as far as the eye can see.
And that is because Dubai is a country where bodybuilding is seen as a sport that represents countries in the international arena. It is very much looked upon like the Olympics or soccer. Muscle, symmetry, and condition are valued very high. And it is also speculated that members of the government also hold the sport in very high regard and that is because in countries unlike the United States and many countries of Western Europe, bodybuilding is seen as a sport that represents nations not just gyms or coaching teams or supplement companies. This is why it is so important to give this event the coverage that it so truthfully deserves.
One look at the competitor list and you see a who’s who of international athletes. It seems like every continent is represented adequately and the number of competitors speaks to the good work of the promoters of this competition. Two names that come right out at you would be that of Nathan DeAsha and William Bonac two Olympia level athletes who will more than likely get most of the accolades and the fanfare but who should not be considered the only guys that could win. I would definitely consider both of them frontrunners but this is not to say that a dark horse or a long-shot couldn’t come out of nowhere and take the title. Therefore we should look at several of the competitors to get an accurate idea of how high stakes this competition is. And as I pointed out earlier it would not be out of the question for members of the government and the elites to be present in the audience watching along. Dubai is a country that celebrates events such as this and rolls out the red carpet for them.
There’s a number of quality competitions!
Khaled Awny of Egypt has considerable fanfare in the land of Big Ramy. Iraq’s Ali Jasim is known for his crisp condition and vascularity. Thailand’s Surachai Plangiam aka Tong brings a great amount of muscle and is known for very classic-type posing. And that’s just it, a lot of these competitors are not necessarily glued into the whole YouTube / Instagram kind of mentality that so many bodybuilders of the West are. They take their marching orders from Pumping Iron, they may still have the magazines for sale on newsstands where they live and they very much probably still watch the DVDs of the 1980s and 90s. I will tell you from my own experience while training at Gainesville Gym in Gainesville, Florida, there the owner would play these DVDs well into the late 2000s. It wasn’t that he was living in the past, but he was showing the past the respect it so deserve. And let me tell you something, hardcore gyms emulate that old school bodybuilding work ethic. They’re not about the selfie sticks and they’re not about being instafamous. They are throwbacks to a different era. And many of these international competitors are very much in line with that way of thinking. When they take the stage they pose hard, they never relax, and they maintain their peak. Many of them not only are willing to, but they are very gung-ho about undergoing unspeakable suffering during hell week and will play with sodium, carbohydrates, and pretty much any approach known to man. I don’t want to suggest that they are as chemically driven as many of the bodybuilders are today but they will leave no stone unturned in order to bring their absolute best. And that is something that makes them really fun to watch.
Fun to watch? Did I just actually write that down? Yes I absolutely did. I know that it sounds very irresponsible to suggest that guys that are willing to go to the limit in order to put on a great bodybuilding show are entertaining to watch but they are. They just simply are. When you are dealing with individuals that simply will not be outworked that makes for a great bodybuilding show. It makes for a great football game, a great hockey match, whatever you’re dealing with people that want to win more than anything else make it entertaining. And that is pretty cool. So even though they lack the name value and the buzz of some of the frontrunners, they make up for it by their tunnel vision and their resolve to win no matter who they’re up against.
Now what’s interesting about the frontrunners is that they are also somewhat of underdogs in regards to the larger scheme of things. Of course going into this competition they are going to get all of the press because they have already won big shows earlier on the pro calendar; however, they are two competitors that routinely get overlooked in favor of more talked about athletes that really don’t deserve more media coverage but get it all the time. So what’s interesting about their dynamic is the fact that even though they should win this show, they will still come at it all guns blazing. They are going to battle as if they were the underdog or as if they were the dark horse. And that is a testament to their work ethic being what it is. So really it’s any bodybuilders competition and that’s precisely the kind of show that every fan wants to go and watch. And given the fact that this competition is in Dubai I can almost guarantee there’s going to be a very good amount of coverage if not even a free webcast. Again I can’t speak with any degree of certainty with regards to the free webcast but I’m just saying I would not be surprised if the promoter pulled out all the stops, and that was one of the ones included.
In any event we may also see a completely unheard of bodybuilder snagging an Olympia qualification here. It could very well happen. There is an enormous amount of talent at this show and if I was to count all the athletes doing it, it’s almost 20 athletes which is pretty much unheard of with any other show anywhere else in the world.
Who do you think will win? Do you think it will be Nathan? William? Or a totally unheard of bodybuilder? In the end it’s not about who has more Instagram followers, it’s about who brings the best package, the best condition, and poses the hardest on stage that should win the bodybuilding show. Let’s wait and see what happens. As always, thanks for reading my article here at Iron Magazine. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments.