Meet the Brookes beefcakes with the best physiques on campus

Four Brookes students are competing in the MASS student physique championships next week.

Two of them took time out of their busy weight-lifting schedules to talk to us about their experiences.

Zach Asher

Mechanical Engineering second year is President of the Brookes MASS society.

The competition works on different categories of voting – 25% on Facebook, 25% on stage presence and 50% on physique.

As Zach says, that means “You have to have charisma on stage if you want to win”

The qualifiers are on 14^th March in Southampton where all four Brookes competitors will be. Luckily to be entered into the team event you need three guys and one female competitor.

The huge strain of training makes a significant dent in partying and socialising. Zach said: “My social life is non-existent, especially in this build up to the competition. It’s always been hard to balance my studies along with lifting. I’ve even missed lectures before to get a session in.”

They probably wouldn’t mess with him anyway.

Despite spending so much time honing his muscles, Zach says his favourite is undeniably the bicep.

“It’s the one everyone looks at and the one new guys in the gym always try and train first.”

He does have rather nice biceps too.

The second year has been into weights since before coming to uni.

He said: “I really got into it at high school go gain respect from everyone and to be taken seriously, and obviously the attention from the girls wasn’t bad either.”

Is he getting your attention yet ladies?

Schwarzenegger inspires Zach to keep up his gruelling routine.

He said: “I really look up to Arnie and watching his film Pumping Iron really pushed me towards this life. Also the video on YouTube called The Best Motivation is the best video I’ve found and really gets me going everyday.”

Pumping so much iron means getting through four meals a day for Zach with snacks and protein shakes in between.

“Luckily I was blessed with a fast metabolism.”

Also luckily, his training regime has never forced him to drink raw eggs like Rocky. At least not for training purposes.

“But when those neck nominations were going round I put raw eggs, vodka, beer, protein in a cup a drank that.”

“I think I stand a pretty good chance of winning”

Zach, who’s clearly brimming with confidence, also acknowledges that other people have contributed to his success.

“I also need to give a shout out to my coach who I owe so much to, Coach Alberto Nunez.”

Jack Clayton

Sports and Exercise Science first year Jack also says training has a massive effect on his studies and social life.

He said “Just trying to function when you’re on a low carb diet is hard enough and so that really impacts going out.

“I used to go out about once a week, but that meant that I would just be really tired the next day. With the competition coming up though that has stopped.”

Also favouring the bicep, Jack boasts that he can do deadlifts of up to 220kg – Zach looking a little jealous at this point.

The fresher also wants to continue his hobby to a career after he graduates.

He said: “I’m looking to be a personal trainer after uni. Which means I get to carry on doing what I love for a living.”

One at a time please ladies.

Jack eats between six to ten meals a deal and consumes a massive 5,000 calories while “building mass”

The fresher adds: “As we come up to the competition I’ve been slowly dropping it and now I’m at 2400 a day. It’s becoming really hard at the moment just to function and do cardio especially.”

“I’ll take my pre-workout half an hour before I start and then I’ll get my headphones on and just blare some music. It’s a big range normally from rap to heavy metal. My favourite would have to be Slipknot, especially their old stuff.”

You can help bring them to success by following the links and liking and sharing their photos.