Eugene Teo, 34, began lifting weights at the age of 13, looking for validation. I was short, skinny and I thought it would give me confidence, he says. Bodybuilding for me was the ultimate expression of that. Now living on the Gold Coast in Australia, with his partner and daughter, the fitness coach spent from age 16 to 24 training and competing. At times, he lifted weights for up to four hours a day, aiming to get as muscular and lean as possible.
A former garda who withdrew two personal injury claims after she was filmed lifting 40kg weights in a gym has become the first Irish female in history to compete in the Olympia bodybuilding competition in Nevada, US.
In a dimly lit, suffocatingly hot gym in Yemen, bodybuilder Saleh Hussein al-Raidi wraps his hands around rusty barbells, training with steely-eyed resolve for his dream of entering major competitions abroad. But the 24-year-old, who works two jobs to support his family, lacks the means to buy the supplements and protein-rich foods he needs to build bulk, setting him up for a more gruelling fight than many of his opponents.
