Byekwaso to make another bow at the Mr AM World Cup in the US

Former International Natural Bodybuilding Association (INBA) Mr Universe and Mr AM World Cup (2015) Ivan Byekwaso is set for another shot at the championship he last won nine years ago.

The five-time Mr Uganda Bodybuilding Champion, currently based in Germany, returned to the big stage this year by competing in the 2024 INBA/PNBA Pro/Am World Championships in the Netherlands in June.

There, he achieved two top-five finishes in the Men’s Open and Masters category finals, taking home two bronze medals.

Now, Byekwaso heads to the US to compete for another World Cup medal at this year’s championship, to be held at the El Segundo Performing Arts Center in California on November 2. He will then head to Las Vegas to compete in the Natural Olympia five days later, an event with up to $100,000 (sh366m) in cash and prizes.

Byekwaso has intensified his preparations with coach Phillip Ricardo Jr and is looking forward to a great outing at the championships once again. “My preparations are going on very well; the most important thing is I'm very healthy and training hard,” Byekwaso said. “I lost some energy though because of the restricted diet. 1000 calories a day is nothing, but my coach wants me to be in the best shape ever. So, every time I feel weaker, but I have to endure because I need my body to have more definition so that I’m unbeatable,” he stated.

The judging criteria in these competitions are based on symmetry, muscularity, definition (conditioning), and stage presence. Competitors are judged as they go through 11 mandatory poses, including displaying their front double biceps, front lat spread, abdominal and quadriceps, left side chest, left side triceps, and hands-on-hips most muscular, among others.