This first ever Euro Elite contest gave us a chance to see some really great bodybuiders who previously were entirely unknown to most of the audience. It was disappointing that they did not have a bigger audience; those that came along gave enthusiastic support to all the competitors — and many of the Eastern Europeans had supporters who had travelled with them as well as others who were working in the UK.    For example, Southampton has had a significant Polish population since WW II.

The show started on time — in itself an unusual event — and ran smoothly from beginning to end.  Everyone had a chance to show what they had to offer and they were comprehensively compared.

There were 22 competitors and it was clear when they walked on stage that there were very marked differences in the quality of the contestants.    Let me first deal with the British contingent.    There were 8 British competitors.   Ejike Nneke was in 12th and Zak Khan was 13th.   Ejike was looking big and with good condition but his waist was a bit bloated. His placing was about right.   I was told that Zak Khan had lost weight since the UKBFF British but to me he looked unchanged. Ejike and Zak were the only two Britons who should have competed here.  Serwan Aljatt in 14th is young with lots of potential. He has a nice shape and just needs to carry on growing — particularly his legs.   Mark Yates in 19th also has potential — we all know that — but he was outclassed here by the top men.  The other British competitors were just too small; many were giving away 100 lbs or more of muscle to the top men.  Admittedly, some were short and would expect to be lighter — but Lee Priest is only 5ft 4in and competes at 200 lbs+.

If we look at the placings 1 to 10 we were looking at a top-class line-up and only one of the top nine was not from Eastern Europe.  I can make some general comments about these Eastern Europeans before I become specific.    Almost without exception, they had professional posing routines that way out-classed the very basic rountines of so many British Bodybuilders.    These routines were not just dynamic and different, they were well rehearsed.   Then, all the Eastern Europeans had great legs — quads, hams and calves.   All too often in UK contests we see men with no calves.  Not here.  To a man, they had bull calves — big, hard, ripped and vascular.    Several had hams to rival Tom Prince or Gustavo Badell and quads were awesome.  Many had thick lower backs — spinal erectors like steel hawsers which indicated years of heavy weight lifting combined with dead-lifting.   These physiques were the products of hard work.

In 10th place was Thomas Scheu from Germany.   He has plenty of muscle and a dramatic posing routine but is a little wide in the waist.   Above him in 9th Hristomir Hristov from Bulgaria.  He is quite short but with lots of muscle and, of course, great ;egs.  His biceps were outstanding. He had a lttle fluid retention in the legs or he could have placed higher.  Dalibor Hajek from the Czech Republic was 8th and he had an outstanding back.  Awesome lower back with thick lats and an incredible separation where the lats tied in above the obliques. Great legs but, again, a little water retention.   Antonio Morales from Spain was 7th, interrupting the line of Eastern Europeans.   He is very short but he has a great physique.   Beautiful shape, lots of muscle, good legs and the look of a well proportioned Paco Bautista.   The 6th spot went to Lukas Osladil from the Czech Republic.   His was an old fashioned classic physique, in great shape, great flexibility and he gave us a gymnastic posing routine.   Into the top five selected for the Round 4 comparisons.   Zoltan Toth from Hungary was 5th.   I founf it impossible to fault him. Great shape, big muscles, outstanding legs, great separation, great delts and traps.   Why didn’t he win — because others were better.  Into 4th was Rolandas Pocius from Lithuania.    This was one huge muscleman with mind blowing legs, Tom Prince hams and great width.   He was like Art Atwood with a small waist.   Above him in 3rd place was Radoslav Slodkiewicz from Poland. Again, an incredible physique loaded with muscle and with lats that seemed to stretch right down into his trunks.   Even in this line-up his legs were outstanding.  The runner-up was Robert Piotrkowicz from Poland.  A medium height bodybuilder with muscles on top of muscles and no weaknesses.  His only problem was the man who was the winner.  Alexei Schabunya from Belarus was a freak.   He romped into the top spot, placed first in every round by every judge — and you cannot win any more comprehensively than that.  When I first saw pictures of this man, I realised just how good he could be.    He has huge size but with no sign of the bloated waists so common on Western bodybuilders.  He has everything and by any standards he is world class.   Big, full, shredded, awesome — and the thing is, I believe that he can get better than this. 

All-in-all it was a great show and congratulations to everyone involved.    I hope that we can go there again next year and see a bigger audience.

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Winner Alexei Shabunya from Belarus shows how good he is from top to toe.  He is good from all angles and those mighty quads are matched by thick hamstrings that give great front to back depth to the upper legs

How Good are UK Bodybuilders?

It is easy to become very uninformed about the standards of international bodybuilders.   We know that America has got great depth when it comes to bodybuilding and there may be more bodybuilders in America than in all of the rest of the world put together.    We only see on stage the very best of Americans — the Pros.  Almost all top Pro Bodybuilders live in the USA.   The Euro Elite Show was a revelation in that some of the best of British Bodybuilders did not get a look in. They were so outclassed by the Eastern Europeans.   Not one of these men had weak leg development and I mean all round leg development — quads, hams and calves.  It was also noticeable that most had thick spinal erector muscles.   These are muscles that normally we hardly notice but these men had power in their lower backs.    You have to believe that we were seeing physiques that had been built with hard heavy leg work and heavy Power Lifting or even Olympic Lifting.     But bloated waistlines were also absent and they looked like classic Bodybuilders with added muscle.

Further, almost all of the Eastern Europeans had dynamic posing routines which spoke of professionalism and hard hours of practice.   These men had prepared for Bodybuilding contests totally and deserved their success

Here in The Forest Gym we know that the way to success is hard work.    We have many men who are immensely strong.    Some of our ex-members who have moved to other parts of the country have told us how much heavier are the weights being lifted in The Forest Gym compared with what they have seen elsewhere.   And it shows in our competition successes.

Return of Tilgate Titmus Lake

For the last 18 months we have been without the lake behind our gym but it is now all back with new banks and full of water