Hyderabad’s vegan bodybuilder wins silver in Natural Mr World meet

It’s always important to keep an eye on the heart-rate, says the bodybuilder who doesn’t use any supplements

V V SUBRAHMANYAM

For K. Venkatesan, the vegan bodybuilder from the city, it was a memorable outing in the Natural Mr. World bodybuilding championship in Los Angeles last week-end.

“Yes, it would have been great if I had achieved my first target of a gold. But anyhow, even a silver is truly a significant achievement for me,” said a visibly delighted Venkatesan on return to the city.

The 45-year-old vegan bodybuilder’s daily training rigorous training schedule includes 45 minutes for cardio separately, besides different forms of pranayama.

“The biggest challenge in the pre-championship phase for such an event is to focus on more repetitions with less weight. It is always important to keep an eye on the heart-rate,” said the bodybuilder who doesn’t use any supplements.

“When I do those repetitions, I visualise and concentrate on my mind to muscle connection on every single repetition. I have to stay 100% focussed,” Venkatesan said.

“The other interesting aspect of training for this kind of championship is that I change my workout style every three months so that my body does not get used to the variations and the stock helps the body concentrate better,” he said.