Dean Not Deterred By Failing To Medal At CAC

Date: 27-10-2006 Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamBahamas

Bahamian Bodybuilder and fitness expert Nardo Dean is accustomed to winning, but he had to settle for fifth place in the welterweight division at the Central American and Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships in Jamaica in late September.
Looking back at the competition Dean said he is not at all discouraged after being shut out of the medals.

He said, there was a lot of "hard work and preparation" going into the championships and that he had a choice of either trying to keep on as much mass as possible or try to get as dense and as ripped as he possibly could. He decided to take the more ripped and streamlined approach.

"I decided to enter the competition with a lean physique that has been successful for me on the United States based National Physique Committee (NPC) circuit over the past eight years, but I guess the International Bodybuilding Federation’s world-wide (IFBB) circuit is a little different," said Dean.

He said he realized that at the CAC championships in many of the weight divisions the judges were concentrating on mass as opposed to definition and symmetry.

Although it did not benefit his cause at the CAC bodybuilding championships, Dean said he is proud of the fact that he lost over 42 pounds after dropping from 196 to 159 at the weigh-in at the Championships, and that was light enough for him to compete in the lightweight category if he decided to.

"The reason I am proud of the weight loss," he said, "is because it gives the average person that I work with in personal fitness training the incentive, knowing that the plan I have worked for me and that I can tweak it from person-to-person for those who do not want to diet as strictly but definitely want to lose the excess weight."

Dean who is also a National Bodybuilding and Fitness Coach, had taken a step back from bodybuilding over the past five years to concentrate more on fitness said, "Now that I am back on the IFBB and I see the direction and the way the judging is being done then I know how better to prepare myself and our team for future competitions."

"Personally, I have always been on the boarder-line between bodybuilding and fitness, and the cardiovascular work normally keeps me from putting on to much mass, but if I’m going to go with just bodybuilding alone I would have to cut out much of the fitness training," he said.

He is looking forward to the IFBB introducing a men’s fitness division on their circuit for the first time.

He said, "It would definitely be a challenge that I would accept to try and get up there and get that title which would make me the first male fitness champion for the IFBB circuit after wining the overall male fitness title on the NPC circuit. If I can get it for The Bahamas for the first time at the CAC’s that would be a great accomplishment in itself," he said.

After The Bahamas fourth place finish overall at the CAC, Danny Sumner President of the Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation eluded to the fact that The Bahamas did not have any competitors in the men’s heavyweight division and suggested that fact may have caused The Bahamas a chance to finish higher.

Taking about the future for male heavyweights in The Bahamas Dean said if bodybuilders get a bit "more incentives" from private companies and the government he believes the BBF can attract some heavyweight into the sport.

"We definitely have the talent here but a lot of the bodybuilders are not competing because first of all it is a very expensive sport and the rewards, financially and otherwise have not been as good as they are in other sports disciplines here in The Bahamas so those persons who have potential in bodybuilding have been shying away from it."

"If we can get those things in place, then the guys who really have the potential to put The Bahamas on top may step up and The Bahamas could win the overall very easily at competitions like CAC’s," he said.

Dean noted that many of the team at the CAC’s in Jamaica averaged between 30 and 40 members compared to a 13-member team from The Bahamas that was still able to get fourth out of more than 20 countries in attendance.

Dean said, "Although the sport as a whole can use more financial support from corporate Bahamas I am thankful to those private sponsors that stepped up to assist myself and the federation make the trip a success."