BODYBUILDERS are being invited to participate in a competition later this year.
The International Bodybuilding and Fitness Association UK (IBFA UK) has announced that it will accept entrants for its Northern Qualifiers on Sunday 24th April in Gateshead and on 29th May at the Carnegie Theater in workington.
The qualifiers are for the main competition and the final on June 12, which organizers say will be their sixth show.
For the final, they take the UK team to Rome to compete in the international finals.
IBFA UK’s Martyn Yates Brown of Carlisle helps organize the competition in the UK.
He said: “I’m 75 years old now, so that gives people an idea of where my bodybuilding started, in 1963.”
He said this in reference to what they claim is a preference for ‘old school bodybuilding’.
The IBFA UK says that it “encourages classic grassroots bodybuilding, characterized by our old-school values and our spirit of passion, not profit.”
Martyn explained more about what bodybuilding meant to him. “My old school spirit comes from being a journeyman of sorts, I competed abroad for much of my life, but I really started to make my mark when I turned 60 in Italy for the IBFA competition there.
“The term ‘old school bodybuilding’ comes from bodybuilding in its true form, as it was in the days of Steve Reeves and Reg Park.
“They were the pioneers of bodybuilding.
“Today it has changed a bit.”
He said one of the biggest changes is that some of the contemporary competitions aren’t done posing in shorts, they’re done in shorts that cover the legs, which are an important part of bodybuilding.
He also explained that nowadays bodybuilding has become something of a mainstream goal, moving from its niche roots.
Martyn explained that bodybuilding is all about creating exaggerated anatomy, whereas now it’s much more common to just want a good physique, which Martyn said he wasn’t criticizing, just highlighting a difference.
For more information on how to watch these old school bodybuilders, or if you are one and want to compete, visit their website at https://ibfa-gb.co.uk/.
