Gardener becomes 2nd Guyanese Musclemania Professional

Oct 29, 2008 Sports

Takes lightweight and overall titles at Superbody contest in NY

Guyana’s most successful Bodybuilder at the Central American and Caribbean level has joined elite company when he captured the lightweight division and the overall divisions of the Muscle Mania Superbody competition in New York City last Saturday evening at the Kingsborough Community College Performing Arts Center.

You are the man!!! A proud Hugh Ross, with Guyana flag and all, joins in celebration with Sylvan Gardner after his performance in New York.

By virtue of his scintillating performances, Gardner also won his Muscle Mania Pro Card and now joins Guyana’s most successful Bodybuilder on the international scene, Hugh Arlington Ross, as the only two Guyanese to hold Pro cards at this level of the sport. 

Ironically, Gardner was under the supervision of Ross in the last two days leading up to the competition and as Ross, who made it possible for him to compete had promised he was put through Ross’ shredder which put him in the best shape of his life.

And according to Ross, “His conditioning was almost on point but he was holding too much water. He was scheduled to make his first appearance on stage at prejudging on Saturday at 13:00hrs. That gave me a full two days to correct those conditions. More time than I needed under that particular circumstance. To ensure that his prep was done with precision in those two days, it entailed me being his personal trainer, chef, driver, butler and according to him, his worse nightmare.”

After arriving in New York last Thursday morning, Ross said he went to work on Sylvan half an hour later and by 19:00hrs Thursday, Gardner had already shed five pounds, mostly water while at the same time appearing a whole lot bigger due to the way he (Ross) was carb loading him.

“I allowed him a two hours nap at that time and subsequently woke him up every other hour for additional carbs until 03:00 hours on Friday morning at which time we both went to sleep.”

After taking a look at himself in the mirror on Friday morning at around 07:00hrs while Ross was working out Gardner was amazed at the rapid change to his body in such a short period of time.

“A big smile appeared on his face after which I had a hard time to get him to leave that room. Needless to say he was the one who was more enthused with his continued preparations throughout the remainder of the time. He loudly woke me up on Saturday morning (competition day) with a big grin on his face while standing in front of the mirror. There was striations and cross striations everywhere. He said it was the first time that he could actually see the muscles in his lower back and hamstrings in such detail and marveled at how much better he looked in only two days. Veins were highly visible, muscles were full, skin was stretched taunt and we had not even begun carbing for that day.”

Gardner had weighed in at exactly 150 pounds, five pounds under the 155 ceiling for his lightweight category.

Ross, who for the first time this year’s hosted the Hugh Ross Classics, which featured the best athletes both male and female at the National Cultural Centre, said after he after he viewed the prejudging, he knew Gardner had won his class without any doubt.

Ross again did some work with the lightweight in preparing him for the overall pose down which he subsequently won.

“Our efforts paid off because he was even bigger when he appeared onstage that night for comparisons in the overall. I looked at the finalists and from experience I knew it was Sylvon’s night. He had a 4 to1 margin victory which automatically made him a Musclemania Professional.”

A number of Guyanese living in New York many of whom are fans of Ross came out in their numbers to support Gardner and were elated with his victory.

Gardner was congratulated personally by Louis Zwick the head of Musclemania after which it was reported that he was almost blinded by a battery of cameras.

Ross said that he too offered his congratulations to Gardner for a great job and achievement and on their way back he enlightened him to the fact that the next time he sets foot on stage at a Musclemania event he may be competing against him since they were now both pros, at that point, Gardner got really quiet.

All the athletes were drug tested as part of the registration and weighing in process.
The Executive and members of the Guyana Amateur Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation is extending congratulations to Gardner on this major achievement for his country and himself. He is expected back today.