Mark Reed

I thought the huge shoulders looked familiar when I went to train at the Environment Gym the other day, and on closer inspection it was the shoulders and slick back hair of Mark Reed. Mark, won the NABBA Wellington comp and then placed 2^nd at the NABBA Nationals in the open physique class last year. He's on a stopover in Akl before heading back to Fiji where he lives. So I though it would be interesting to find out what its like to train in Fiji, so here is the result.

left: Lisa with Mark

Mark's been training since he was 18 (he's now 35 just incase you're wondering). He's been living and training in the Gold Coast for the last 3 years. In 2008 coupled with competing at the NZ NABBA Nationals comp, he won the QLD NABBA comp and placed 2^nd at NABBA Nationals Aus.

But it doesn't look like Mark will get on stage this year " I don't want to compete year after year. I want to come in different and make improvements. I want to come on and people say ‘yeah mate you've changed". Was he happy about his Nationals placing? " At the Nationals I couldn't have done anymore. Last year conditioning could've been better and Nathan bet me on condition. I'm disappointed because I wanted to win, but I know I can improve".


Mark and Nathan		Mark's freaky delts

However working and training in Fiji could prove challenging for Mark. " Its hard to get fresh food in fiji and its so hot when working up there (he works in a packaging processing plant). But the positive is that we can go out to reefs and islands and its wicked like that. Try to make the most of it, not ideal for bodybuilding but I'm in my own space and do my own thing. I like the fact I haven't got all the clutter of Akl like buildings, social issues so when you're up there there's less hassels in life." Mark said

So are many Fijians getting into weight training and bodybuilding? Mark said there is actually a lot of interest but the problem is there's not many gyms in fiji. " The first gym I went to was like a 1960s old school hall. Had wooden dusty floors, no fans, wires frayed, old weights and not enough weights for me up there. But then I found this other place which was bit more modern at a resort called ‘fantasy island' which has better equipment and I've brought in some other equipment so its not too bad. My brother trains with me so he helps to spot." He added.

The other problem Mark said was that Fiji is a very 3^rd world country where the average wage is under $2 a day. " The price of food is expensive, slightly higher than in NZ and Aus, so these guys are limited on their budget to buy good food. To buy amount of food or supplements you need when dieting makes things very expensive."

"You can buy chicken breast there but its tough, chicken is hard enough to eat at best of times but the Fijian chicken is hard. So I'm trying to get fresh water bass from Australia sent up. I'd love to help the Fijians with bodybuilding but at the end of the day, these guys can't really afford food for the week. It comes down to food and they can't afford to eat well." Mark said

While Mark finds getting food a challenge, he still manages to find 8 meals to eat each day! " At the moment I'm eating 5 meals and 3 shakes a day. Some days it might be 7 depending on what's happening that day. With each meal I aim to eat 50g of protein. Morning oats, morning tea mixed veges with chicken or steak. Rice for lunch with protein. Trying to eat more fats before and after training. Normal meal for dinner like salad or pasta with whatever meat.". Mark also gets supplements sent up from Akl.

The first thing you notice about Mark is his huge shoulders but he says he doesn't work them anymore than his other bodyparts. " I do a lot of heavy presses for my chest and shoulders but my arms look relatively small so this year I'm trying to get my arms and legs up."

He trains 5 days a week and usually has Tues and Sun off. Currently Mark's doing arms and legs twice a week in an effort to bring them up and get more balance in his frame. His current weight is 115kg and competed at 98kg at the Nationals.

Mark has no plans to compete this year but leaves us with this famous parting words " I'll be back!".

Thanks Mark, don't forget to put on the sunblock.

Lisa, Go Figure
10 Mar 09

Moe 2nd @ Ironman 24 Jan 09


Silvio Samuel 1st, Moe Moussawi 2nd, Ronny Rockel 3rd

Moe, 11 Jan 09

Well look who happened to stroll into the Environment Gym in the weekend - Moe Moussawi! Moe's competing in the Ironman on 24 Jan in Los Angeles and from what we can see he's looking very lean and vascular. He's keeping mostly underwraps but we did manage to get a few happy snaps of his outer limbs. Moe's getting his final posing routine put together by the posing maestro Tony Ligaliga. Whether or not Moe can move like Tony is another matter but we're sure he'll give it a good go. Good luck Moe! NZ Pro Show We asked Moe what's happening with the NZ Pro show which was to be held in March 18 that he's organising. Moe said the show will more than likely be held in July or after the Olympia as the logistics of getting the Pros here after the Melbourne Grand Prix was too complicated. We'll keep you posted on any more news as it comes to hand.		Tony and Moe Click pics to enlarge

Foreign correspondents

In this update we have a look at what its like to compete in an American bodybuilding show from our kiwi correspondents Grant and Martina Aumua. You may remember, we did a story on Grant who was our Tarzan in the Superman section last year. Grant has competed in a couple of shows in Tulsa and placed 1st in his classes already this year.

Grant and Martina have had a whirl of a time in America and lived to tell the tale! here's the report from Martina about American gyms, supplements, how the Americans run their show and the difference she noticed in the figure classes.

Grant and Martina Aumua @ Sonny Schmidt 07

"Yeah it has been a whirl wind of a time. Literally. We arrived in Tulsa Oklahoma spring Tornado season so we have encountered weather that we have never seen or experienced. Amazing thunder, lightning that goes to the ground, sirens, floods,hale size of golf balls. The thing about tornado's is they come up quick so when you hear the sirens you are one your toes to take cover. Now we are in summer 100F and humid. You need air conditioning or you die. We found a gym close to my moms house as we did not have a car so we walked 40mins there, trained, 40mins back. Its a real grunt and sweat old school gym with a powerlifting area as well. We felt at home.All the bodybuilders and lifters go there. Its called High Octane. The second week we are there we come to the gym and it is crawling with cops. They had pulled everything out from behind the counter, the trash cans ,lockers, it was a mess. They stopped us asked for our IDs but the other cop said we were allowed to train. They were interegating one of the trainers and went to the owners house and his supplement business. It was a raid they were looking for steroids. Well the next week we did not see so many bodybuilders strutting around.

Sizzling Samoans

Joe	Here are the latest pics of the sexy samoans as they prepare to sizzle at the South Pacific Bodybuilding Champs on 4 October. Go Team!	Team routine
Viola	Sarah	Deb
		Dean

Tony and Elle, Shoulder workout

Tony Ligaliga and Eleanor Stewart are synonimous within the Samoan (and Akl) bodybuilding circles. Eleanor has competed and won numerous Open u52kg classes over the years in NZ. She's also represented NZ at the World Champs and last year won the Overall physique at the South Pacific Champs. So this year she's taking a breather from competing...but not training.

This year she's taken up regular training with hunky Tony at the Environment Gym where they both work and train. Tony was the Overall Physique champ at the South Pacific Champs last year, and although he's not competing this year, he's aiming to get into great shape for his guest posing duty in a couple of months at the Sonny Schmidt and CNI comps later this year.

So we thought we'd tag along to see how much weight this dynamic duo push around the gym. On this day they were doing Shoulders and Triceps, working between 8-10 reps for 3 sets. Check out the pics below or you can watch our interview of Tony and Elle where Tony talks about his training and cardio here.


They started with Dumbell Shoulder Press, Elle pushing 40lb while Tony 40kg in their last set. More machine shoulder presses followed with super strong Elle doing 3/4 of a stack while Tony was Superman like and did the whole stack for 10 reps.

Next up was cable lateral raises followed by cable upright row..then onto rear dumbell lateral raises. In the video we said Tony was using 20kg but it was 20lbs and Elle with 5lbs! you really don't need heavy weight sometimes.

After thrashing their shoulders, they moved onto triceps. Elle did 40lb dumbell tricep extension while Tony used 45kg dumbells to work his horseshow. To finish off their workout they did Rope tricep extension and undergrip tricep pushdowns.

And finally Tony strikes some poses for us. As you can see Tony's built plenty of mass in the past year but alas he's not as freaky as these pics (he'd love to naturally!) but he has a very bodybuilding friendly mirror. At the start of his diet he was 92kg and had dropped to 88kg in 2 weeks (when these pics were taken 20 May). We'll keep you updated on Tony's shape changes as his guest posing date approaches. In the meantime, you can watch the video where he talks about his training and cardio.

Hunk of the Moment

Mark Reed

Moe 2nd @ Ironman 24 Jan 09

Foreign correspondents

Sizzling Samoans

Tony and Elle, Shoulder workout

More Articles...