The Rocket

Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: MCT Campus [Click to enlarge]

The SRU Bodybuilding and Fitness Club will hold its annual Mr. and Ms. SRU Bodybuilding and Fitness Competition in Miller Auditorium on Saturday, March 30.

The annual event is open to all students to compete, but chances are that very few know what goes into the training for the event.

"It usually takes the average person 12 to 14 weeks of hardcore dieting and training," Bodybuilding Club president Dan Tokarek said.

Fourteen weeks? How hard could it be?

"(It takes) a lot of hard work, dedication and confidence in yourself," said Rachel Lhota, who was named Ms. SRU at the competition back in 2006.

In the weeks leading up to the competition, the student-bodybuilders' schedules would make a normal person cry.

Part of that schedule includes waking up at around 5:45 a.m. every day, with no exceptions, to hit the gym and start a cardiovascular workout before spending the day worrying endlessly about the seven or so meals to be consumed during the day.

"I do about a half-hour of cardio and abs, come back (home) and eat my egg whites and protein then go to work," Tokarek said.

Tokarek, the reigning Mr. SRU, knows exactly what it takes to have a great regimen. He has been bodybuilding competitively for the last four years.

He said that on a normal day, he'll consume a chicken breast and brown rice for lunch, oatmeal and whey protein mix for an afternoon pre-workout meal and settle in for a meal of steak and brown rice when he gets home after his workout.

Think he's done? Not a chance.

Two hours later, he eats and has a protein shake, and just before heading to bed, consumes more chicken and green veggies.

"Basically my whole life revolves around my eating schedule," Tokarek said. "I'd rather miss a workout than a meal."

The reason for this seemingly nonstop consumption of "clean" foods is to keep the performer's metabolism up, which actually makes it easier to regulate the bodybuilder's weight.

Competitive bodybuilders generally already love to work out, which makes the trip to the gym the easy part.

Along with the morning cardio workout, they're in the gym two or three times a day.

Continued...

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