Meet Yen Chun (顏俊), the US dentist who became a bodybuilding champion.
The 26-year-old Taiwanese-American dentist based in Silicon Valley won the World Beauty Fitness and Fashion competition earlier this year in Sacramento, California.
The competition blends fashion and bodybuilding together to create an event the celebrates the beauty in appearance.
But, the now 6 foot 1 inches tall bodybuilder with 205 pounds of weight on him said that he once was the total opposite.
After winning the competition, Chun spoke to Central News Agency and Taiwan News for an interview about his past, present, and future.
It was in this interview that Chun says he was once a scrawny kid with loose and baggy clothing. Then, when he entered Junior High School, he made friends who introduced him to body building and eating a healthy diet.
While he once couldn’t lift 44 pounds worth of weight, he can now lift at least 220 pounds easily.
And it hasn’t escaped Yen Chun that he’s setting an example for Asian men and for bodybuilding men together.
He told CAN that it is rare for Asian-Americans to get involved in Bodybuilding in the US. In fact, its become common for people to be curious about his bodybuilding at his dental office because of this.
But, Yen Chun is committed to living the life of a dentist and a bodybuilder. Outside of his dental work, he also moonlights as a certified personal trainer. And, he also told CNA that, “Bodybuilding has become [his] lifelong career.”
I’ve attended many of these
I've attended many of these shows in the past when it was taken as a gender segregated sport and the competitions were less commercial and taken seriously. But current contests like these are produce by sponsors and companies pushing their fashion brands and chain store products for hetero audiences and charging huge admission prices for their dog and pony shows.
So is he gay? If not, why
So is he gay? If not, why should I care about another heterosexual male who wins a contest based on appearances?
Interestingly, these
Interestingly, these categories within bodybuilding were created, in part, to attract women to the shows and rid bodybuilding of the stigma of homosexuality due to how homoerotic bodybuilding is and the history behind that ties it to homosexuality.