Ian Stevenson is Milford Haven born and bred and is heavily involved in body building as a trail blazer in this tough sport which demands total dedication with regard to training and diet.

As far as he knows, he is the only body builder in Pembrokeshire and through his total dedication has developed really well and is now winning competitions 'up the line' to show that his involvement is certainly going in the right direction.

Total commitment paid off

And no-one could begrudge 44 year old Ian his successes because he is totally amateur and committed to no involvement in any of the things which dragged some such physical sports into the mire a number of years ago - and his story is a remarkable one since in 2000 he weighed over 18 stone and readily admits that he wasn't in the best of health before he decided to change his way of life and started exercising at the West Coast gym in the town centre which was run by Steve Joseph.

 He has also trained on a fairly regular basis in the intervening years at the Meads Leisure Centre and more recently at the Power Shack in Snowdrop Lane, Haverfordwest, where Graham Brockway has used his vast experience in amateur and pro boxing, kick boxing and body building to provide support and inspiration.

Also involved in providing advice on a regular basis is Renzo Algieri, another Haverfordwest man now living in Cardiff as a successful personal trainer and fitness promotor who Ian visits monthly to gain help with his techniques for training and the posing so necessary to impress judges at competitions.

Sian’s superb at looking after him

But the major influence in Ian's life is certainly his wife Sian, whom he married in the Dominican Republic last Christmas and really looks after him in terms of what he eats and making sure he stays well on track with his training regime.

"Sian provides me with wonderful meals six times a day before competitions," Ian told us, "and if I even think about skiving off from a training session she is great at getting me motivated. My parents were also brilliant but have sadly passed away.

Ronnie is the major motivational force

"But the main motivation in my chosen sport came in 2010 when I read about Ronnie Coleman in magazines and watched the top US bodybuilder's videos and decided to write to him - and pretty soon afterwards we were on our way to Dallas, Texas, and spent four days working with someone who is regarded as the David Beckham of our sport.

"It stimulated me so much that in 2011 I entered my first competition, in Wakefield, Yorkshire, and to be honest I was very disappointed with the way it turned out, despite the fact that I was by far the least experienced competitor.

But Ian is nothing if not determined and he asked the judges for advice - and they told him that he had made a useful debut but still needed to lose more weight and adjust his training regime so that he was lifting slightly lower weights but with more repetitions needed to enhance the muscle in certain parts of his body.

Rising from the ashes of disappointment

It certainly paid off because in the following July he entered the Welsh Masters in Newport Gwent and came a very creditable third of 12 entrants, which qualified him for the British Finals in Glasgow, held under the auspices of the British Natural Bodybuilding Federation.

"I came sixth in the whole of the UK and was delighted," admitted Ian, "and since then I have also competed in the NPA (Natural Physical Association) in three regional shows to gain experience, and I won two of them and did well in the other one.

"This qualified me for the national finals at Bedworth, where I came fifth and then I did well in their South West Championships in Exeter; it means a great deal of travel but it is starting to really pay off in terms of gaining a good name as someone who is aiming to be a top competitor.

Ian has also continued competing with the BNBF in the Masters in Newport (Gwent) and is now busily preparing for more tests of how is hard work is paying off.

Heavy training programme so vital . . .

His training includes at least one hour a day on cardio work, often on a treadmill set to simulate steep hills, and he regularly can be seen fast-walking from his home in Hakin to his work with Pembrokeshire County Council at their depot in Milford Haven.

Then there are the training sessions six times a week where he works at developing particular parts of his body, with the following programme:
Day one: Chest and biceps
Day two: Quads
Day three: Back
Day four: Hamstrings and glutes
Day five: Shoulders and arms
Day six: Stomach
The seventh day is his rest day but even then he keeps loose and sometimes varies the above so that training doesn't become stale!

. . . Diet is vital – and ‘posing’ is very hard work!

His diet is equally important and Ian drinks five litres of cold water every day alongside two litres of green-leaf tea, with chicken, Basmati rice, pasta, white fish, vegetable galore and lots of high protein fruit like bananas.

"Getting prepared for competitions is all about timing," Ian told us, " and although I normally weigh in now at around 14 stone I diet down a couple of stone in the weeks before to make sure that my hard work in the gym is shown off to its best effect.

"It is hard work but very worthwhile and to be honest my toughest task still comes at the competition because stripping down to a pair of briefs and facing an enthusiastic audience under the spotlights is a bit of a challenge in itself. You also have to learn to ‘pose’ properly so that you show off every muscle set to its best advantage and is far more difficult than non-participants would realise!”

And finally . . .

Ask Ian about future hopes and he just says that he is about two years off his peak and hopes to compete abroad as he gains in experience.

“I thoroughly enjoy what I do and the feeling of well-being it brings – and even for those who just want to lose weight or take part in a physical activity I would recommend taking part as very worthwhile indeed.”

It is easy to see Ian’s sincerity and if there are any couch potatoes reading his article he hopes that is some way he might stimulate them – because he is very persuiasive with his genuine enthusiasm!