BATHURST’S Greg Chapman will wind the clock back this month as he competes in the Australian Bodybuilding Championships, his third nationals trip, but first in more than a decade.
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Chapman has been involved in the sport for around 20 years and has trained fairly consistently throughout that entire period.
Back about 10 years ago he had a dirtbike accident that required a knee reconstruction so that put him out of action for a while.
“I always maintained a passion for the sport and I’m still in pretty good nick. I started stripping down for last year’s nationals, but wasn’t quite ready so set my sights on 2014 instead,” he said.
At the time he was last competing regularly, Chapman was developing a strong reputation in his weight division.
Generally in the under 75 kilo category, he twice reached the Australian titles finishing third in the A.N.B.B Mr Natural Australia, and at one point was selected for an Australian I.N.B.A team which competed in New Zealand, winning a mixed pairs crown with a female team-mate.
Another high point came at the Dubbo International in 2002 when Chapman won his division, while he finished second at the same event in 2004 just before he took a step back from competition.
“I had some good results around that time. I was second in the open men’s division at the NSW Country Titles Wagga Wagga that year as well,” Chapman said.
“Now I’m over 40s masters, I will compete Bodybuilding classic II division where competitors use a formula based on height, minus 100 (centimetres) plus four kilos so that allows me to be a maximum weight of 75kg for the Friday weigh in. It is an IFBB [International Federation of Bodybuilding] event so it is open, you do get some big boys in the over 100 kg division.
“The definition among the smaller blokes is just as good as the big guys, we’re just not as massive.”
He has had a strict diet over 10 weeks to achieve below five per cent body fat while trying to maintain muscle mass.
The Championships will be held at Sydney showground’s Olympic park October 18-19 with weigh in on October 17.
