May 5, 1999
The hard part is commitment
By GARRET LEIVA
Herald staff writer
Bodybuilding is often measured in bicep inches and calf muscle circumference. For competitors like Bob McCormick, however, the sport is really about calendar days and a few fleeting moments in the spotlight.
"The last 16 weeks before a show, eating, sleeping, dieting - your whole life is all about bodybuilding ... (all) for a minute and a half of glory," said the 24-year-old Traverse City resident.
Preparing for those 90 seconds takes a 24 hour, seven days a week commitment. Measuring your meals out by the gram and pushing hundreds of pounds on the leg press is just a fraction of what it takes to make it to the stage in competitive bodybuilding.
Putting their pectoral muscles and commitment to the test, 30 bodybuilders from around the state took part Saturday night in the Grand Traverse Natural Physique Contest at Lars Hockstad Auditorium. Posers squared off in the categories of Teen Mens Division, Mens and Womens Masters Divisions, Short and Tall Womens Divisions, Mens Short Class, Medium Tall Class and Tall Mens.
The natural contest featured a prejudging venue Saturday morning where a panel of seven judges rated each poser by muscularity, symmetry and stage presence, noted Dan Flees, sponsor of the Grand Traverse Championships and owner of T.C. Gym. The top four in each division were awarded trophies during the finals competition Saturday evening.
Like most competitors, Rich Borowski of Cadillac starts getting pumped up for a contest several months before taking the stage. Working out five days a week, the 47-year-old Masters Division competitor spends two hours in the gym and an hour at home practicing his poses.
"Bodybuilding is something you have to do 24 hours a day. That's what makes it so hard, but I love it," said Borowski, standing backstage in the "pump up" area where competitors lift dumbbells, do pushups and apply a coating of Pam cooking spray to make their bodies golden brown in order to show off muscle definition on stage.
"There are some people who like to play golf. I like to go to the gym."
While going to the gym is part of Kandi Kent-Lannen's daily regimen, so is bringing a cooler instead of a sack lunch to work. Eating six times a day and consuming 2,000 calories, Kent-Lannen said she starts her diet of chicken and egg whites, cream of rice cereal, potatoes, rice and vegetables 13 weeks from her contest date.
"A week prior to the show I start drinking a gallon of water a day and diet right up into the show," said Kent-Lannen, a dietitian for the Grand Traverse Health Department, whose body fat range is between 7 to 10.
McCormick also finds dieting, which breaks down to egg whites and broccoli, crucial in achieving the right look for competition.
"Natural bodybuilding is more of a classic look, athletic physique vs. the monster freaky look," said the former Mr. Teen Michigan and Michigan Mens winner.
Like any sport, bodybuilding is also a mental game. To prepare himself for competition, John Demsick of Interlochen doesn't worry about how big the biceps are next to him. Instead he thinks about what Zeus would do.
"I tell my son (bodybuilder John-Peter) just think about being a Greek god - move slow and deliberate and show them what you've got," said Demsick, a wrestling coach in Canton, Ohio, a physical education teacher and a former professional dancer who once performed a dance solo with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
"I've worked hard for what I am, so I've got to be proud of me regardless of how it turns out."
Despite all the months of building up their bodies, the most important muscles a bodybuilder can flex are the ones that can turn a frown upside down.
"Smiling makes a big difference," noted Traverse City resident Kent-Lannen. "Last weekend at Petoskey I was really nervous at the morning show and I didn't smile. But that night I smiled the whole time and it made a huge difference in how people perceived me. It's easier to hold a smile than it is a bicep pose."