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ANTONIO
BONGIOVANNI
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Antonio 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)
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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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Coming Soon!
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