A team from The Ultimate Fitness Club, formerly SeaView Gym, held their own at the Florida Body Building Grand Prix in Palm Springs at the weekend.

Seven of the eight-member squad placed in various bodybuilding, physique, figure and bikini divisions at the two-day competition held at Keiser University, culminating in a total of 14 individual and team awards.

Ross Caesar, the multiple Mr Bermuda and SeaView fitness instructor, said all of the athletes put their best foot forward and did themselves and the island as a whole proud.

“It was a good experience for the guys and I think everybody got something positive from it,” Caesar said. “We did well, not only in terms of trophies and places, but also with the fact everyone was competitive.

“The level of competition was keen and so to get in the top five you had to work.

“There were no walkovers and the judging was good. Each athlete got a chance to be judged nice and fairly.”

The team comprised of Dr Arlene Basden, Alexa Lightbourne, Sunder Singh, Samuel Dale, Chez Harvey, Paul Simons, Shaqir Richards and Caesar.

The experience proved to be a journey into the unknown for each of the team members.

“This was the first time everyone has competed at this particular event and it was a very big show,” Caesar said. “There were a lot of competitors and the atmosphere was good.

“No one was shy, everyone went up and really competed to their best and improved from their last competition and that was good. This was something to test their potential and I think they can improve and grow from here.

“It’s good to test yourself against different competition you have not competed against before and good competition as well so that way you can assess your progress.”

Caesar said a lot of hard work went into preparation for the competition.

“It’s a lot of work, about a five or six month process in terms of really getting prepped and gradually training for it,” he added. “It takes time but was worth it.”