Bodybuilding: Bay pro Greg Mawson seeks podium finale

Greg Mawson completes another training session in the countdown to his second trip to Las Vegas. Photo/Paul Taylor

Before Hawke's Bay bodybuilder Greg Mawson tackled the INBA Natural Universe Show in Auckland last month he promised his wife, Sandy, he would retire - hang up his trunks -when it was over.

"But when I won it, I didn't want to stop there. I knew it would be something that would haunt me forever if I didn't go," Mawson said referring to the INBA/PNBA (Professional Natural Bodybuilding Association) Natural Olympia in Las Vegas from November 10-12.

The SnapFitness personal trainer who has been competing for 10 years will be making his second trip to Las Vegas. His first was in 2015.

"Back then I was told I was too big and too hard for the board shorts category. This time I will be in a better class which suits my body - men's classic physique," Mawson, 41, said.

With his victory in a nine-strong class in Auckland which attracted nine athletes from five countries Mawson was awarded a pro card.

"This is an honour and I join the ranks of only six other Kiwi pro athletes in the INBA/PNBA in New Zealand and only two in the men's classic physique class. This class was contested for only the second time on New Zealand soil. The class which was introduced in the INBA in 2015 hails to the physiques of old where mass isn't as much of a criteria, leaving conditioning, muscular separation, symmetry and density - think athletic build where I fit in perfectly," Mawson explained.

"Pro comes with extra prestige of VIP meetings, press conferences and autograph sessions at international events. A podium finish usually means prize money also. Normally a bodybuilder is in it for the self-satisfaction and a plastic trophy with the odd goodies bag."

Mawson will be the only Hawke's Bay member of an 11-strong Kiwi team travelling to Las Vegas. He knows he will be one of at least three professionals in his class but won't know the exact number until he arrives in the States.

"I definitely want to podium. I'm in the best shape I have ever been in and I'm still eating quite well. I train smarter rather than harder and I let my diet work for me," Mawson said.

His winning of the Mr Universe classic men's physique title in Auckland followed a third placing at the South Pacific Natural Champs in Taupo a month earlier.

It's obvious Mawson, a father of two with a third due in February and grandfather of two, has come a long way since a perceptive but callous remark from a former acquaintance more than a decade ago spurred Mawson into a life-changing experience.

"Someone called me fat and made me think about it because I wasn't aware I was so fat, so from that moment I turned a negative into a positive," Mawson recalled.

A former professional chef, Mawson developed an eating disorder during his younger days, gorging himself on a smorgasbord of emotional pickings. He fought off those demons in the same manner he hushed that former acquaintance.

"Las Vegas will be my 43rd and final competition. I intend to retire on a huge high and I'm going to bring my best package to date to the stage."

Should Mawson achieve his goal of a podium finish there's a pretty good chance the United States media will have a field day praising the grandad for the manner in which he has fought the dad bod. He knows he has to deliver before that praise will come.