Tanned, Toned and Tensing: Mr. University 2014

The Tab went to Mr. University, the first competition of it’s kind for athletic and muscular students. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

Once upon a time bodybuilding competitions were reserved to the world’s elite athletes and you only really heard about the mass of muscle that won the competition. They’re one of those things that you’d joke about with your friends whilst lifting comparatively minuscule weights at the gym, tentatively referring to yourself as the next Mr. Universe. Let’s face it, the only people that were even remotely interested in bodybuilding and athletic sports were the people that did them.

Stacked

To the Average Joe skullcrushers and bench presses are basically the same, they’re just exercises. The message is pretty much accepted not just by the general public but also by students. It’s really easy to join your university gym but it’s slightly harder to motivate yourself to go all the time. That attitude has meant that students are often stereotyped as lazy and unhealthy, falling for student fast food deals left right and centre.

The fact that the stereotype does not apply to all is partly why former Leicester student David Bissell, the man behind Mr. University and the rapidly growing university society MASS, started the Mr. University competition. Speaking to The Tab, Bissell said: “we want to make it cool to be a fit student. You don’t have to follow the typical lazy stereotype and if you do train and look after your body then why not show off your achievements to others?”

Bissell took to the stage to introduce the competition and its stars

It’s the competitors at Mr. University that are doing exactly that, showing that hard work doesn’t just happen in the library. Students up and down the country also spend a lot if time in gym, carving serious physiques. They are testament to the fact toned bodies are not made in photoshop and aren’t possessed solely by people like celebs like Arnie.

Transformed

Aside from the media and photographers, the rest of the crowd was largely made up of proud parents and fellow students who had travelled to support their pals. The place was like a cross between an after school parents evening crossed with the weights section of the gym. There were more vests and fitness branded t-shirts that anybody would have thought possible, adorned with slogans for NRGFuels and Vasculawear. As if that wasn’t enough, the balcony was packed with brands like Musclefoods and Microsoft trying desperately to drum up interest in their products.

It wouldn’t be possible to find a discernible gender gap in the crowd, it was pretty even. It wasn’t about women turning up to look at ripped guys, or guys staring at girls in bikinis for an afternoon. Of course there was chat amongst the crowd, desperately trying to find faults with those that weren’t their friends or nattering about who they thought would win but it wasn’t about that. It seemed that everyone was there out of genuine interest and appreciation rather than objectification. That’s not to say that there are problematic elements to staring at beautifully preened men and women display themselves for 6 hours wearing what can only be described as less than very little.

Backstage the tension was building as the competitors received their final briefing from Dave, the co-founder running the show. “The press are allowed back here and in the pump up area” he said. “If you want to chat, that’s up to you. If not, just politely tell them. Piss off”. They dispersed like revellers at an illegal rave broken up by the old bill, desperately heading to the changing room before getting tanned and glazed.

Hitting the tiny pump up room the guys were feeling pretty nervous, waiting to find out exactly when they’d be going out on stage to parade their chiselled figures to the whooping crowds.

Pump up

University students are normally motivated people, they want to get out there and do things but I wondered what had motivated these people. Where did they practice their tensing? In the mirror every morning? It made me think that their lives must pan out like the 10 minutes of inspirational preparation that we’ve seen before Sylvester Stallone takes to the ring in one of those Rocky movies, you know chin ups on wooden beams in freezing cold barns…that sort of thing.

Once it all got under way, silence got blown apart. The DJ played incessant house music and one beat merged with the next, the crowd presence suddenly increased. The shouting and hollering all started to ramp up, the room had a buzz about it. Excitement was everywhere. Pride was written all over the parents faces and the friends of those on stage were grinning from ear to ear.

The judges, whose names were rendered totally silent amongst the shouting and chanting, were apparently, industry professionals. We later found out that they included Jamie Alderton, a WBFF PRO Muscle Model, British Natural Bodybuilding Champion, Team Vascularwear athlete, Team Grenade Athlete, Diet Consultant and Body Transformation Specialist. They don’t get much bigger.

The biggest treat for the crowd was seeing Leicester graduate and future competitor at BNBF, Stephen Olagoke, take to the stage during the interval to perform a routine that would show every ounce of muscle on his body.

Taking a second to step back and think about what was actually happening around me, it was pretty obvious that this was kind of a big deal for some of these people. The whole thing was being streamed, with the help of sponsors Microsoft naturally, across the world. More than 30,000 tuned in online to watch the proceedings unfold. It’s not even like this is the most popular of university sports, even the biggest campus sports don’t get online streams outside of Varsity season and only one or two actually get watched. It was pretty impressive, so impressive in fact that much of the prep work for Mr. University 2015 is already under way.

Then came the results of the first round. The competition had been fierce and each of the potential winners was greeted with a cheer of support, a cheer than only grew in intensity as everyone found out who would be making it through to the interview round.

It’s here that awkwardness raised its head. For some of these people the fact they’re at uni was almost forgotten. They kept having to remind themselves, or at least feign to, that work came before the gym. “I’m going to have to say this because my mum is the audience”, one of them said, “exam season is my favourite time of year, it always comes before hitting the gym”.

By the time the winners of each section were announced the event was becoming a bit of a blur, though perhaps the best way to describe it would be a smear. The last six hours had been a wash of orange and everyone started to look the same. Holly, a student from Sheffield Hallam studying physical education and youth sport who had been competing for 11 months, was crowned winner of the bikini category. A moment that also made her Ms. University 2014.

A series of remarkably similar men walked on stage after that, two left with titles in their hands. A guy called Matt, from Plymouth won the men’s short physique category and Craig walked away with the men’s tall category title. All after Adam Hope had won the athletic category, a competition between guys who juggle playing sports, university work and getting shredded.

The three of them congregated at the front of the stage, the tension palpable. Seconds later the judges informed the guys that “by uninimous decision”, Matt had been awarded the title of Mr. University 2014, winning a competition at his fourth attempt.

Matt Sallis (centre) was crowned Mr. University 2014

It was all pretty exciting at the end but what had the last six hours taught me? I guess the whole competition makes you realise how different people’s experience of university really is. Some of these students were in their third and final year and their bodies had not magically formed into such toned and muscular physiques overnight. They had worked as hard on their bodies as they had in their studies, their lives were totally different to those of other university students.

For them, university wasn’t about the alcohol, the partying and all the rest of it. They had found something that enjoyed, it just happened to be something different to most other people. I guess that’s the point really, it’s okay to be different. As long as you’re happy in yourself what does it matter. With that said I couldn’t help but question, had they missed out on part of the university experience in favour of looking buff?