Wooh! Wow! was all people could say after seeing professional bodybuilder and Kiwi man, Justin Rhys' incredibly massive shoulders during the weighing in session of the 2009 Mr Fiji Bodybuilding Championship that was held at JJs in the Park on November 21.
Justin, a former holder of professional bodybuilding titles like Mr New Zealand, Mr Oceania and Mr Austral Asia to name a few says, although his shoulders are his best body parts, he doesn't concentrate on building them as much as his other body parts.
Justin admits his massive delterweights or shoulders can also be attributed to his genetic make-up.
But then again, like every bodybuilder, he has to eat well and train as hard to keep them looking great.
And because he's out there competing with the best in the world, a strict power-packed diet is a must.
Justin eats 12 meals a day. He also takes protein drinks to supplement his diet.
"Always helps," he says.
His first meal would be at 8am and last meal around 10pm.
Justin says he eats mainly protein - that's 40grams of protein per meal throughout the day. Each meal will contain 10grams of carbs and two grams of fat.
Justin's diet also contains a good amount of carbohydrates for energy. Breakfast would include cereal/rolled oats; For lunch, he'll include rice, and potatoes for the early afternoon meals.
Justin drinks 40grams of a protein powder drink before hopping into bed, "so that when you're asleep, your body is recovering," he says.
A routine training for Justin would be 40 minutes of cardio - "that's powerwalking in the sun," he says, "to get that nice tan," he laughs.
Justin's training partner, Mark Reed says Justin creates a lot of attention with his massive body which makes people want to talk to him, touch him and take photographs of him and with him.
"It's not easy being him. It's a lot of effort to walk around like that and he has to be nice all the time, which can be hard. He's a nice guy too and doesn't want to disappoint fans when he's out and about," Mark says.
Justin has been body building for 14 years. He benches 260kg and has done a 300kg squat. Best exercise for his delterweights: Shoulder press behind the neck with a barbell.
Mark says body builders in Fiji have the potential to be massive, but argues that they lack the financial opportunity to eat as well as a body builder should, and buy their supplements.
Although he agrees that Fiji does have good homegrown fruits, vegetables and meat, the costs to a bodybuilder can be hard to meet.
"Body building costs a lot of money, especially the food, let alone the supplements," he says.
"It's a shame because in bodybuilding, your diet must be 100 per cent set. You can train all you can but you need to have the right foods and number of meals as well - that's your fish, chicken, steak and eggs and protein powder which you need to buy."
"Prices here are astronomical!" says Mark.
Justin says a cheaper alternative to much-needed protein in a bodybuilder's diet would be canned tuna flakes.
"Fijians have amazing genetics. They're genetically blessed with good muscles," Justin says.
His advice to local bodybuilders: "All you need is good food, protein powder and multi vitamins."
