Aesthetic body configuration possible

Last December in Naples, not far from the slumbering volcano Mt Vesuvius, judges of the World Physique Federation were searching among numerous body building competitors for exceptional muscular definition, perfect skeletal and muscular lines and aesthetic body configuration. It is not surprising that Zimbabwean body builder Victor Hungwe outshone all and sundry in the under 90 kilogrammes category, and came home with the title Master of the Universe.
 Victor’s home is in Harare and most days he can be found between 5am and 6pm at the BodyActive Gym on Borrowdale Road, where he combines his duties as manager with a personal training regime that has won him numerous awards, his latest trophy being the jewel in the crown of his career.

BodyActive Gym was opened in 2009 by renowned business woman Sue Peters. A former beauty queen and top model in Salisbury, Rhodesia, Sue has many strings to her bow. With a solid background in book keeping and accounting, she developed a flair for real estate and business.

In the early 1980s, when a nervous white population took the gap from Zimbabwe, Sue bought properties in Harare’s central business district and ventured into hairdressing with Ebony Salons; the first salon of many opened in 1980, near Queens Hotel.
A spiritual person, Sue Peters is a member of ZAOGA Pentecostal church, and a preacher in her own right.

Concerned with the empowerment of women she preaches to largely female audiences in Budiriro and Highfields, often with inspirational messages from the Hebrew Bible about powerful women like Hannah, whose prayers helped her to conceive, and Miriam, older sister of Moses and the first female prophet.
Opening BodyActive Gym was a logical step in Sue’s quest for health, beauty and fitness and a means for individual empowerment.

State-of-the-art equipment for body building and cardiac exercising came from South Africa, and a new fleet of bicycles for the spinning section is on the way.
Aerobics, personal training, sauna and massage therapy are always available, in addition to a pristine swimming pool and health bar for post- work out sustenance.
Add to these resources the hands-on skills of manager and champion body builder, Victor Hungwe.

Hungwe, like Sylvester Stallone, started body building in a backyard gym in Mkoba, a suburb in Gweru. To protect himself from monyas (thugs) he took up weight lifting, and developed a passion for physical activities. He excelled at athletics, soccer and rugby when studying for his ‘A’ levels at Nashville High School just outside Gweru.

 After an apprenticeship in maintaining machinery at the Bata factory and a brief stint at a family business in Esigodini he became a fitness instructor at Borrowdale Brooke Focus Fitness Gym, gaining valuable experience. After meeting Sue Peters and agreeing to help launch BodyActive Gym in Borrowdale in 2009, Hungwe’s career began to take off.

By claiming to be an old school body builder, Hungwe means that he doesn’t take steroids. ‘Building on your natural genetics and working hard’, he said, ‘is how to maximise your potential.’
Before a contest, Hungwe will eat seven small meals a day, rising at 2am for a snack of fifteen egg whites. High fibre oats and Rooibos tea follow at dawn and at 10am he allows himself a boiled potato and 300g of grilled tilapia.
At 1pm it’s time for steamed broccoli, with another potato (or white rice) and a grilled chicken breast at 5pm. At 8pm he has a bedtime snack of 300g of steamed fish.
If you’re serious about body building you will need to cut out fruit (too much sugar), pork and sadza.

 Hungwe, who has a diploma in health science, advocates drinking water throughout the day, to purify the system.
Victor’s next challenge will be to win an international body building competition in Belgium this August, followed by a similar contest in Slovenia in September.
We wish this all-Zimbabwean Master of the Universe all the luck in the world.
                                inzela@zol.co.zw