A winning formula of muscle and balance

It takes grit and determination to build up the muscle and strength that former Wakefield lad, Ashley Langbein, needed to win Australia’s national bodybuilding title for men’s classic physique.

His parents watched the competition live this month from their home in Wakefield, as Ashley went through the various poses to display the right symmetry of muscle to win the competition and his mother Katrina says it’s harder than it looks.

"He has to eat the right food to get the body mass up and body fat down for the competition and then have the energy, because the poses require quite a lot of energy. “He said he was sweating bullets through the competition,” she says.
The 31-year-old began competing for fun and won the Queensland men’s classic physique title in 2021. It was prompted by a career working in gyms after studying sport and recreation at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.

His national win came just a week after coming second in the Queensland competition and his parents were “absolutely stoked”.

“It’s nice to live vicariously through your children!” By the time of competition, Ashley had his body fat down to just three per cent to display his muscles and then it’s all about getting the poses right.

“The winning formula is the poses you do to display your muscles. The judges have to be able to see all the muscles individually, so it’s about how you do your poses and your balance. It’s also about your transitions between poses, so you have to be smooth and artistic.”

Katrina says it’s a tough sport on the body after trimming fat before a competition and Ashley will now have an offseason before deciding whether to take on another competition.

Back in Wakefield, Ashley was home-schooled and then went to Waimea College.
Before body building, his main sport was soccer where he played for Nelson Suburbs.