For those of you who don’t know me, I am Josh Maley, retired IFBB Pro and the Emcee for 2Bros bodybuilding shows.

I wanted to use this column as an opportunity to share my insights from the side of the stage and highlight some stand out athletes from each show I emcee.

Today I am highlighting the MK Coaching Classic on the 4thof July. This was a BUSY show, the busiest I have done so far! A testament to the quality of the show was the fact that I emceed for 11 hours and not once did I lose interest in due to the calibre of athlete in every class!

This show was both an open and natural regional with all athletes looking to set themselves up for a Pro qualifier.

This isn’t a class by class show review (if it were it would be LONG) so any athletes that don’t get coverage don’t come at me!

The standout in bodybuilding was Ben Bogdanovs who took the overall win with dominating size and solid condition. He will only get better from here to the Trained By JP International on the 18th of July and he will most certainly be a front runner to take the Pro card there.

It wasn’t an easy win however as the heavyweight winner, Mohammed Alyassen presented a very complete package with exceptional conditioning.

Keyon Solomon took the overall title in the natural section. The tallest on stage with a well muscled frame and great shape he edged it from the denser light heavyweight winner Isaac Nsubuga.

Classic physique is always a highly competitive class and at the MK it was no different.

Class B proved the most competitive with 8 great athletes and Rory Pickford taking the win. Rory looked exceptional. A clear winner. Shape, size, condition, and fullness all on point. He then went on to take the overall too and will be a BIG threat to take the Pro card in 2 weeks.

Max Gombos also stood out in classic. Winning Class D and challenging Rory. A big tall athlete who holds the size very well on his frame. Certainly a challenger at future competitions.

For the naturals Cameron Balmer took the overall classic physique title and looked great. The development in his chest especially was crazy to see!

I also wanted to highlight the junior class winner here, Harley Spann, who stood out for all the right reasons and IF he’d done an open class I believe would have been a threat to Cameron in that overall.

In men’s physique the 3 athletes that got my attention in the overall were Ben Fok (Class B), Sabastine Gardiner Badu (Class C), and Lee Fenton (Class D) with Lee taking the win with the best combination of size, shape, and conditioning. Lee had a very clean look.

In the natural physique overall Kishan Patel took the win and stole the show with the best conditioning, exceptional mid section detail, and a very dominant top line.

Moving on the ladies. They were just as impressive as the men.

In figure the junior winner Laura Haywood stood out given her age. Her shape, conditioning and development was outstanding but she was beaten in the overall by Jessica Mcmillan who had it all and will be a major threat in the coming Pro qualifier. Rebecca Warren in Class B figure (came 2nd to Jessica) also stood out and had great shape and size but was potentially a little big for the figure category?

In natural figure Cassia Junkere took the overall title and being a junior she has a veery exciting future ahead of her.

In wellness the respective Wellness overall winners in the open and naturals, Uerica Bauer, and Sharna Curley, both looked great and hit the criteria for the class very well.

The fit model competition was dominated by Niamh Craske who took the overall in BOTH the open and natural shows! That bodes very well for her Pro card prospects.

In similar fashion the bikini overall in both shows was won by the same athlete, Heidi Marler, who beat some very good competitors in both overalls. She certainly put herself on the map as a potential Pro card winner!

All in all a great day it was fantastic to see so many athletes bring their best to the stage and challenge for those top placings!

Till next time……