BAntonio is a 28 year old bodybuilder who has competed in several competitions. He stands 5’3″ tall and weighs 140 lbs. in competition (170 lbs. in the off season). We met and photographed Antonio at the 2009 Hercules show with the help of NAB photographer Steve Roberts. Antonio also has an active sports background. He wrestled for three years during high school. After wrestling season in the tenth grade he began lifting weights and has lifted consistently ever since. During the ages of 18 to 20 he competed in powerlifting competitions but trained for bodybuilding. Antonio feels powerlifting competition is a great experience as there are no subjective decisions, you lift the weight in the proper fashion and that’s all that matters. Antonio wanted to share his training experience. His first bodybuilding contest was at age 24 after eight years of training.
Bodybuilding competition has been a long journey of experimentation. Unlike other competitors Antonio does not feel comfortable leaving his goals in a trainer’s or nutritionist’s hands. He has been training at home for the last four years. As far as supplements he has never got much into them. The majority of trainers do not put enough emphasis on eating whole foods. The hardest part of achieving the proper condition was finding out what weight he needed to be at to be ready. When he started his first diet in 2004 he weighed 190. His intentions were to compete at 170 or 165 at the lowest. For his next competition the 2006 Hercules he weighed 152 and thought it to be too light. In actuality his bodyweight was still to high. This lead Antonio to make bad choices and try to compete over ten pounds heavier for the Spring shows of 2007. At the Northeast Classic in CT he weighed in at 162 and looked more like a powerlifter. He knew a few weeks before then that he was not going to be ready. After the show he was disappointed but the 2007 Hercules was only two weeks away. For those two weeks he did double sessions of cardio and managed to lose five pounds in the two weeks. It still was not enough and he placed second to last.
After the show he was not satisfied and joined a gym and he saw a flyer posted there for a contest. He decided to enter and eight weeks later did the 2007 USBF Jersey Shore Classic. He lost 11 more pounds and came in at his best condition ever. He placed third in Novice and in the Open Lightweight Class. After the contest he planned on only going over his contest weight 10 pounds but after a year he was up 25 pounds. He started his prep for the 2009 Northeast America at 175. Three weeks out from the show he noticed his condition was not near what it needed to be. He started doing cardio everyday and lowered his calories drastically. In three weeks he had lost 9 pounds but by the day of the show he was flat and depleted. Antonio ended up placing third in the Open Bantamweight Class. His condition was still sub-par and he was flat due to the cardio and lack of calories.
One week later he did the 2009 USBF Jersey Shore Classic. During the week in between shows he added in 500 calories of carbs. He came into the show in better shape and fuller. Second place in the Open Bantamweight Class was the result. After the show he felt something was missing so he kept on dieting for the 2009 Hercules. He added a bit more carbs back into the diet and scaled the cardio down to two sessions of twenty minutes and two sessions of abs training in the morning. Due to his work and school schedule he was only able to lift three evenings a week for the show. He kept everything the same for the eight weeks in between shows and improved weekly. The day of show was smooth and he knew he was in shape and no tricks needed to be made. Antonio won the Open Bantamweight Class, and we are very pleased to add Antonio Bongiovanni to our roster of upcoming bodybuilders and fitness models at NorthAmericanBodies.com!
Antonio’s bodybuilding contest history includes:
2004 NY State Natural (Novice Lightweight 7th)
2009 Natural Hercules (Open Bantamweight 1st)
2009 USBF Jersey Shore Classic (Open Bantamweight 2nd)
2009 Northeast America (Open Bantamweight 3rd)
2007 USBF Jersey Shore Classic (Novice and Open Lightweight 3rd)
2007 Natural Hercules (Novice Lightweight 5th)
2007 Northeast Classic CT (Novice Lightweight 4th)
2006 Natural Hercules (Novice Lightweight 2nd)
Antonio’s powerlifting contest history includes:
2001 Eastern Okalahoma Bench Press (at age 20 in 165 Class 1st place Open, bench 320)
2001 Military Nationals (at age 20 in the 165 1st Place, bench 308)
2000 Rock Hard Gym Bench and Deadlift (165 Teen 1st, bench-300, dead-400)
2000 Eastern Okalahoma Bench Press with a 280 bench (165 Pound Teen Division 1st and 2nd in Open)
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