Manicurist stars at bodybuilding

A 33-year-old qualified manicurist is expected to be the star attraction today at the Malta Carib- sponsored National Junior Bodybuilding and Ms Fitness Championships.

But before you muscle fans bite off your fingernails in despair, it must be explained that Marvellous Melvin Anthony is a hulking hunk who aims to be the next Mr Olympia. The California, US native admitted on Friday that he used his vocation early in his career as a means of meeting members of the fairer sex. And besides it paid the bills. But since he started competing seriously about ten years ago, Anthony hardly has time to tend to the nails of prospective dates. Nor would his now pregnant wife allow it. He is currently ranked Number 11 in the world and is a two-time runner-up in the Mr Olympia competition, in 2001 and earlier this year.

On Friday, when Anthony was introduced to the media at the Carib Beer Hospitality Suite in Champs Fleurs, he admitted there was no miracle diet to achieve the well-toned and spectacular body of an Arnold Schwarzenegger. “You have to be taught by someone who was taught by someone. However once you have a goal it is certainly attainable,” said Anthony. He said he chows down at least three and a half pounds of meat a day, complemented by two daily sessions in the gym, a routine which has brought him to the brink of international stardom. Anthony stresses that diet is 80 percent of the job needed to nurture a physique that could command attention on an international stage and he makes sure that he consumes at least 4,500 calories daily. His love for the sport was stimulated by the pictures he saw in bodybuilding magazines while a teenager and he confesses to holding on to his dream despite the fact that several of his counterparts have drifted off into different career paths.

Anthony said that at 33 he is relatively young and has many more years to realise his ambition and has not ruled out a life in the Christian ministry after his posing days are over. Asked about women who take up the sport, Anthony says he respects their decisions but he admits not being attracted to muscular women. He has promised a wonderful show when he takes the stage tonight at the National Junior Body-building and Ms Fitness Championships at the Sport and Physical Education Centre, University of the West Indies at St Augustine. On Friday Hayden Straker, first vice-president of the Bodybuilding Federation said by staging the competition at the new Sport and Physical Education Centre, he hoped the profile of the sport will be raised. He said apart from Anthony, men and women’s senior champions Dechon Durity and Candice Carr will also be making an appearance. Straker said there will also be attractive incentives for patrons attending the show.