Citizens need to adapt a healthy lifestyle – Hugh Ross

Guyana’s most decorated bodybuilder, Hugh Arlington Ross, has urged his fellow countrymen to adopt a healthy lifestyle, one that can be achieved by getting involved in the sport of bodybuilding.
Ross, who won the Masters Over 50 title at the NABBA World Championships in Ireland last June, said anyone can get involved in bodybuilding, adding that there are tremendous benefits to be derived. He made the comments during an exclusive interview with this publication recently.
According to Ross, bodybuilding promotes fitness, while it helps one to utilize a balanced nutritional intake for the purpose of good health. The benefits of being a bodybuilder are tremendous, he added.
“Anyone can live a bodybuilding lifestyle; it is what I consider a healthy lifestyle in that it entails you staying fit and utilizing proper nutrition for the purpose of good health, which reflects in one’s appearance. You cannot go wrong by embarking in such a lifestyle,” Ross explained.
“As it relates to direct competition; basically to be competitive you have to be the best of what you are capable of being. Therefore, outside of living that healthy lifestyle, you will have to basically step it up a few notches in terms of intensity in the gyms and in terms of keeping your diet within all of the prerequisites. I would view competition as a way of fine tuning yourselves to be the best you can be at any particular time of your life.”
He added, “For example, an individual who decides to compete in a bodybuilding event will not want to look awful on stage. The extent to which he will go to make himself ready, even though he may not place in the top five on that particular day, that’s the best he would have ever looked in his life, so he’s a winner all the way.”
Having competed in several championships across the globe, including the Over-40 Masters category of the Mr. Universe, which he won in London in November 2010, Ross is an authority on bodybuilding.
With this in mind, Guyana Times International Sport sought his opinion on the level of competitive bodybuilding in Guyana.
“We do have individuals here who do have the structure that can be taken to the highest level. Basically, it is just for the individual to aspire or have the ambition to want to do that. Bodybuilding is a sport that no one can force you to get into; it’s a personal thing. You have to make that decision and do what is required of you to get to that level. And we do have people here with those capabilities,” Ross observed.
Ross has been involved in the sport that has brought him international acclaim, and he is now using his expertise to give local bodybuilders an opportunity to rise to those heights.
On July 28 last, he staged the third biennial Malta Supreme Hugh Ross Classic Bodybuilding and Fitness Show at the National Cultural Center, where the top male and female athletes of the land showcased their chiseled and well-toned bodies.
Buddy’s Gym’s Kerwin Clarke won the Overall title; Alisha Fortune the female bodybuilding category; and Nadina Taharally carted off the Miss Figure title.