2006 British bodybuilding champion Troy Brown got the night off to a buff start, showing fans, competitors and novices alike what took him to the top. (Geoff Ziezulewicz / S&S)
2006 British bodybuilding champion Troy Brown got the night off to a buff start, showing fans, competitors and novices alike what took him to the top. (Geoff Ziezulewicz / S&S)
Melissa Booker took home the top female award, as well as two other female categories. (Geoff Ziezulewicz / S&S)
At the 2007 Ultrabodies competitionat RAF Mildenhall, muscles were the order of the day. Through a competitive session, Marcus Booker, second from right, took the middleweight win and was also the overall male Ultrabodies 2007 victor. (Geoff Ziezulewicz / S&S)
RAF MILDENHALL — It was a night for formalized flexing Saturday at RAF Mildenhall’s Galaxy Club as buff men and women from the Air Force community in Europe strutted their stuff at Ultrabodies VIII.
The fit, the sort-of fit and the out-of-shape gathered to watch biceps get flexed, quads get ripped and bragging rights get established.
Contrary to popular opinion, none of the airmen or spouses who participated were what the doughier among us might have expected from a muscle competition.
Well, there was Troy Brown. The man is a brick wall. And as the 2006 British bodybuilding champion, he set the bar pretty high with his initial posing at the show’s onset.
Still, the competition was made up largely of everyday-looking people who love being in shape and showing off the fruits of their labor.
“Bodybuilding isn’t easy, and it isn’t easy being up there,” emcee EJ Hinskton said at the beginning of the show, coyly alluding to the skimpy outfits competitors have to don in the name of showing all that muscle formation.
Marcus Booker won the overall award among the men’s contestants, and his wife, Melissa Booker, an airman at Mildenhall, won the women’s overall as well as several other categories that she topped as the only contestant.
The duo started lifting weights seriously about six months ago, Marcus Booker said.
And surprisingly, his routine isn’t the kind of drudgery that would make some of us do a pre-emptive collapse from exhaustion.
He said he works out five days a week, for an hour a day. He watches his sugar intake and only eats quality carbs such as whole-grain products.
The secret to getting to the Ultrabodies competitive level is having partners and a support system to stay motivated, he said, as well as giving yourself a cheat meal or cheat day as a reward for all the toil.
There is no magic pill to get cut, he said.
“Everybody’s trying to get in shape,” he said. “Don’t look for the easy way. It’s just hard work.”
Other winners of the night included Marques Caudle in the men’s lightweight category, Mike Kegley in the heavyweight category and Joshua Paul for light-heavyweight.
Moses Henry also won an award for best poser.
For Martin Fairhurst, a British base employee who lives in Newmarket, the show was a chance to support the whole concept of fitness.
“It’s committing to something they believe in, while making themselves healthier,” he said.
Would he like to be as mammoth as Brown?/p>
“No,” he said quickly. “I respect them for what they believe in. But my sport is rugby.”
Jeramie Castellanos, an airman based at Mildenhall, said he wouldn’t mind doing such a contest. He works out, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.
“My diet sucks,” he said. “And I work out so I can drink.”
