Lawyers, teachers, parents by day, bodybuilders by night. Body shape, muscles, strength, and confidence, everything just exudes on stage.
This year Nairobi hosted 130 participants from all across East Africa who took part in the second edition of the Iron Fit Bodybuilding Competition. It included categories like Bikini, Figure, Physique, and Bodybuilding.
For many, sports have always been a part of their lives. But there was one thing more, on the back of their minds: Bodybuilding.
Lack of resources in Kenya meant that many turn to the internet, using social networks like Facebook and watching YouTube videos to get educated on the sport and how to pose.
According to the Kenya Bodybuilding Federation (KBBF), bodybuilding was popular here in the 1970s and 1980s, but it diminished in the mid-2000s because the sport became entangled in corruption and political scandals. Different groups were vying for control of the sport and funds were disappearing, leading disgruntled athletes to give up training. In 2014, Chris Omedo became chairman of KBBF and turned the sport around.
Under Omedo's leadership, there was an increase in the number of funders and followers of the sport, in part, because of local media coverage. One big change that he implemented was introducing a female division in competitions.
