Teacher Andreas Hamberg spends autumn vacation with his parents in Ostrobothnia. He has traveled from Helsinki to Maalahti, where he is vacationing while toning his muscular body for the next men’s physique competition.
In the gym, the training series are fast and effective. Hamberg grimaces and huffs as his massive muscles swell and shake from the strain just moments later.
Hamberg is in the middle of an important preparation period before the next competition. The training is still hard, but at the same time the amount of energy is reduced from the diet.
In the competition, it does not help that the muscles are tuned to their peak, if they are not visible as well as possible.
Because of this, Hamberg’s body fat percentage must be as low as possible when he stands on stage under the watchful eyes of the judges.
– During the preparation period, the body eats itself until there is nothing left to eat. It is clear that it is not very healthy, Hamberg admits in Sportliv.
She pushes herself to the brink of starvation in her pursuit of the perfect body shape.
– Basically, the body thinks it is about to die.
The crucial importance of diet
Unlike classic bodybuilding, in men’s physique the body is judged only from the waist up.
Hamberg has been competing in the sport since 2018, having previously invested in crossfit. In the last five years, he has increased his muscle mass by 20 kilos.
According to Hamberg, almost anyone can work out in the gym, but the key to success in bodybuilding is knowing what to eat. You have to calculate exactly how much protein, carbohydrate and fat you eat, as well as in what proportion you fuel up and consume calories.
Before starting the cooperation, a fitness trainer Tuomas Takalon with Andreas Hamberg had no understanding of how much nutrition affects the body and appearance.
– I used to train hard, but I ate freely, refueling occasionally with additional protein, as many do. A lot of people think they’re changing their diet completely when they start drinking protein shakes, Hamberg smiles.
The basic pillar of nutrition knowledge is to find out your own daily energy consumption. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat less than you consume. If you want to increase muscle mass, you have to fuel up with a larger amount of food than you consume.
However, in the case of Hamberg, the equation is not so simple. In addition to calories, he must know exactly how many grams of proteins, carbohydrates and fat he puts in his mouth.
He weighs his food portions, the variability of which is usually quite small. Exact nutritional values must always be calculated separately for a new type of meal. Chicken and rice are often on the plate.
What role do salads and vegetables play in your diet?
– It’s a bit challenging to get the vegetables. Of course, they also contain important nutrients for us, but I eat vitamins and supplements that help, says Hamberg.
– I really don’t want to recommend this, eat your vegetables kids, but this only applies to the weeks when I’m preparing for the competition. Then everything extra is left out.
During the competition season, it is important to eat a lot of protein.
– At the moment, I eat 240 grams of proteins a day, which may sound like quite a lot. 240 grams of protein is equivalent to about two boxes of chicken and a little extra.
Hamberg eats about 30-70 grams of fat per day, just the amount necessary so that the body’s normal functions are not disturbed.
Carbohydrates are important so that the body has enough energy for training, but during the preparation period, Hamberg gradually reduces them, in order to tune his body to the maximum.
Without carbohydrates, Hamberg feels tired and exhausted before and during competitions.
During the preparation periods, he is quite antisocial and avoids any extra stress. However, he feels that he can keep his mood swings under control quite well.
When he gives himself permission to eat after the competition, it’s hard to stop eating. A week after the competition, the weight has often increased from five to ten kilograms.
The body rapidly produces hormones that increase the feeling of hunger while striving for a normal state of being. During the competition, the body fat percentage of a malnourished person is less than ten – in Hamberg’s case even around five.
You wanted to arouse girls’ interest
Andreas Hamberg is 41 years old. His interest in gym training arose at the age of 18.
He browses through his childhood photos at the request of Sportliv. As a teenager, he was among the best in his class.
– All my clothes look like they are hanging on a skeleton. That’s probably where the spark for training arose.
He wanted to gain muscle around his bones to get girls interested.
– But you can’t practice it for twenty years to get mimes. Little by little, I became more interested in the exercise itself, from which I got endorphins and tips about body changes.
Hamberg has started to restrict his lifestyle more and more since he started competing in men’s physique at the age of 36.
Strength and posing training takes up a large part of his free time.
If one of his friends calls and asks to join him for a night out, he refuses even if the beer tooth is stuck.
– I would only show a sour face if I watched hungry and tired from the side while the other was enjoying a beer, says Hamberg.
– I have completely left out alcohol and everything else that would only be a hindrance to training.
Hamberg has changed its appearance quite a bit.
However, he is not particularly impressed with his own reflection. Like many other bodybuilders, he suffers from dysmorphic body image disorder to at least some extent.
– You constantly see mistakes in your mirror image, and you are almost never satisfied, Hamberg admits.
– But you have to be very critical of yourself, otherwise development stops.
A few years ago, Hamberg finished sixth in the World Championships. The next aim is to acquire the difficult-to-achieve professional status.
It is only possible in official qualifying competitions, where usually only one overall winner of all length categories is rewarded with the right to participate in professional competitions.
In the competition, which Hamberg was preparing for during the fall vacation, he won his own height category, but still missed out on an overall win and professional status.
Even if he succeeds in turning professional at some point, it will not revolutionize his life financially. The winners of professional competitions usually receive from one thousand to three thousand euros in prize money.
– Bodybuilding is not a sport you start to get rich. You do it out of a desire to challenge yourself, and a desire to gain fame and glory.