Nutrition critical part of success

By Adel Fruean 17 October 2018, 12:00AM

Nutrition is a big part of being a successful athlete, let alone a bodybuilder.

That’s what bodybuilders gearing up for Mr. Samoa 2018 were told during a nutrition presentation conducted by Crossfit Fatu Toa trainer, Brandon Sefo, at Joe’s Gym Lotopa, last week.

The presentation was to broaden their knowledge and help them with their training towards this year’s Mr. Samoa Bodybuilding competition.

Mr. Sefo said the presentation was based on basic nutrition and he wanted to help participants with key factors such as eating a minimum of processed foods and eating locally produced foods along with consuming portions of vegetables, fruits and fresh seafood.

“It is a beginner’s guide to what is good nutrition and I will be discussing foods that you should include in your general diet,” he said.

“For bodybuilders, a lot of their work is from what they put into their bodies, it is mostly nutrition based and I will also discuss some myths and misconceptions and misinformation on nutrition.”

“An example will be that you need supplements to get muscular like protein, amino acids but if you take those supplements without eating on the proper end it will not do anything.”

Mr. Sefo said he also touched on what participants should eat depending on their body types. 

“You have to eat according to your age, fitness level, body type and metabolism,” he said.

“I find bodybuilding very entertaining and from a CrossFit trainer’s perspective, on our side it’s all about the physical performance, how fast you can run how much weight you can lift but for a bodybuilder it is purely aesthetic, meaning they would eat in a different way that I will eat.”

“Because they are focusing on aesthetic their look depends on how they eat a certain way,” he added.

Mr. Sefo added that if they are not honest with their nutrition, it would affect their performance.

“A lot of people think that bodybuilding depends on training as the most part of it but it’s mostly nutrition, so if someone is eating really well when they are training then they will look the part.”

“Generally the struggle for bodybuilders in Samoa is adapting to a healthy diet due to our normal Samoan diet.”

President of Samoa Bodybuilding Federation, Romulus Leung Wai said at the moment the boys are focusing on shredding, which is the cutting down of carbohydrates and focusing more on protein and getting that toned look.

“Because that is how they will be judged on stage. Bodybuilding is also based on nutrition, so in Samoa we know what we eat but we do not know the value of what we eat, when do we eat, and how we eat it.”

“For this year we want to open up more opportunities for bodybuilding to present more chances for our athletes,” he added.

By Adel Fruean 17 October 2018, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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