Citius,Marius,Fortius

“I think my face was too pretty to be a rugby player,” he declares with a huge chuckle,looking around for a missing mirror that he’s not peeked into for a whole hour now. You suspect he’s not kidding at all here.

Unleashed on the Damodar Hall auditorium full of hooting men – who with their din could drown out the bustling noise of the Parel week-day evening traffic and Navratri rush – Dohne,the reigning IFBB Tampa Pro winner (a prestigious title for strongmen) and the 2011 IFBB Mr.Olympia,talks about the inevitability of his career-choice with breezy candour,insisting that his hamstring-setback only hastened his decision of a discipline. He appears on the stage,which is very unsuitably flanked by pink walls,for this macho event,to the tune of the latest buff-blackbuster Bodyguard. He proceeds to strike poses – strutting his stuff,as it is called – using his animated face and big eyes to draw attention to ripping muscles. Admittedly,this is the off-season biff-bod,when he allows himseld a little leeway while gobbling the right stuff. “Off-seasons,if I want chocolate,I eat chocolate,” he says,like a obedient child,permitting himself a treat.

Beauty queens may swear by their latest Miami diets,winning at Tampa where body-types of another kind of finnesse are revered involves only red-meat,chicken,tuna,egg-white as choices in proteins; and oatmeals,sweet potato,potato,white rice in carbs. Dohne doesn’t remember the last time he set eyes on,let alone ate a pizza,and for the scores of aspiring Indian hulks who walk in shyly with sling bags stretching taut over barrell chests and tight tees,he issues some blunt orders. “I saw a very impressive contender going for the Worlds at Mumbai – a guy from from Delhi weighing 110 kg. Great quadruceps,good shoulders,fine self-assurance,but some very visible layer of fat on the abs that might ensure that yet another Indian returns without bothering the judges too much,” the shaves-head South African asserts.

Fewer men would be so acutely aware of their every muscle-group in the body as Dohne. While every sub-set gets dedicated attention on each day of the week – legs on Monday,chest on Tuesday,arms next and legs,back,shoulder and so forth – Indian builders are short on knowledge the former Mr World avers. Food’s predictably to be blamed for the sorry state of midriffs,even as Dohne adds that genetics do indeed play a huge role. At home in the rainbow nation,the coloured men have “24X7 abs” he says a touch jealously,the Indians – good quads,and the whites,a great back but weak legs. “But hard-working chap will fare better than a genetically blessed guy,” he reassures.

In fact,Dohne,weighing 135 now,goes distinctly self-effacing when speaking about his hamstrung-hungover legs. “They’re my weakest set of muscles,” he says repeatedly,adding that they need work twice over. Vanity might be a necessity when looking into the eyes of an audience and ordering every muscle to stand out in competitions,but this excessive pride doesn’t trample over sincere training. “The only real advice to young bodybuilders is that never train with an ego.” Pain,a constant companion,is to be befriended especially in off-training periods when the high of arclights and tanning lotions and applause is missing. “It’s worst then when the focus is not on you,and time off training is harsh on muscles too,” he says.

Not everone believes that what goes into the nice cuts in the chest or the barrell chest is simply crossover or benchpress in the gym. The sport remains cynically shrouded in talks of steroid-abuse,used as short-cuts by ill-informed bodybuilders in smaller gyms. “Bodybuilding is too visual,you will instantly know if a builder is using steroids. Unlike sprinters or cyclists – in whose case it is difficult to ascertain,in bodybuilding you can immediately know,” he says. Strutting leaves bodybuilders with no place to hide,even for the all-powerful titled Mr Universe.