Months of training, weight lifting, running and intensive dieting all accumulated into 16 competitors vying for Mr. EIU – with Alex Wood, a junior kinesiology and sports studies major, winning.

The Mr. EIU, Ms. Fitness & Ms. Physique competition in McAfee Gymnasium Saturday hit a snag for one particular contender. Kody Waggoner, a middleweight contender, was falsely announced as the winner of his division. In reality, the only other contender for middleweight, Daniel Redmore, was the winner.

The mix-up occurred because the numbers on the judge’s ballot were switched, something that head judge Chad Graham said had never happened before.

After the mix-up was fixed and Redmore was declared the winner, the night went on smoothly.

Wood, who competed in the light section, between the weight of 154 pounds and 169 pounds, said when his name was announced as the overall winner he “didn’t know what to think.”

“I knew I had a decent shot,” he said. “But at the beginning of the night I thought, ‘No way.’”

He describes his work out as being “hard-core” for the past three to four years, but kicked it up a notch just for the competition – a move that almost didn’t happen.

“I actually didn’t decide to compete until January,” he said.

Despite training for years and always wanting to compete, Wood said the fact that his friends were competing and because it was his junior year motivated him to compete.

“This was the year to do it,” he said. “I had the mindset to compete for a few years, but I knew going in with my buddies competing it was going to be a blast.”

Each section – Mr. EIU, Ms. Fitness and Ms. Physique – all had the same categories the contestants needed to compete in.

Group symmetry had everyone out on stage as the judges looked at every side of them, judging each of their muscle groups. Competitors then took place in the personal routines division. Individually, they came on stage, and to music, flexed for the audience, letting them see the fruits of their hard work. Finally, mandatory poses gave the judges an opportunity to have the competitors stand in various positions – chest out, calves and oblique’s, among other aspects were judged.

Gina Iaffaldano took first place for the Ms. Physique, while Brittany O’Dell received first place in the Ms. Fitness division.

While most of the contenders had trainers and a support system, Ryan Yeager, a heavy weight contender, said he learned mostly everything on his own, and because of that has “grown a lot as an individual from competing.”

“I never felt I really had anyone to truly guide me and help me through Mr. EIU,” he said.

Yeager, who won last year’s light-heavy class at 189 pounds, said through competing, people learn about themselves both physically and mentally, and a way to build a body-mind connection.

“You learn when not to quit and how your mindset is is the deciding factor of your end result,” Yeager said. “I always felt disappointed in myself if I ever gave up on anything in my life. I improved a lot when I competed last year from when I competed my freshman year.”

Along with growing, Yeager said a big factor to competing in body building is to continue growing mentally.

“If you don’t have the mental strength as a body builder then that will effect your physical strength,” he said. “I’m always hungry to keep going and giving everything that occurs in my life 101 percent.”

Yeager said while some people might not believe body building is a sport, he said it is the most competitive sport out there.

“It’s not a team sport where you have others to support you and depend on,” he said. “The way you look all has to do with your decisions and your self discipline.”

Self-discipline is something Wood believes strongly in as well.

He said discipline is one of the biggest components of body building.

“You can’t go out on the weekends, you have to make sure you get to sleep, you get your meals,” he said. “And there’s going to be days where you just don’t want to. You have to grind through those days and know it’s going to be worth it. Hopefully, it pays off.”

Bob Galuski can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].