Lithgow has a new state champion in Aaron Picman after the body builder claimed the overall men’s physique class crown at the recent ICN NSW Championships.
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“It was good. I was a bit shocked just because it was my first comp, I didn’t expect to go as well as I did but it just shows you a bit of hard work pays off,” he said.
Picman probably means a lot of hard work.
Aside from his job working as a fitter at Springvale Mine, he turns up to Anytime Fitness gym in Lithgow almost every day and puts in over an hour of work to improve his physique.
The biggest commitment is to clean eating and a good diet.
“It’s the key and that’s a 24/7 thing. You can’t really have relaxed days, everything is pretty regulated and stuff, what you eat,” Picman said.
“That’s all the time and it doesn’t just happen overnight. You’re talking all year round if you actually want to make good improvements in the gym, not just waste your time.”
Picman’s state title has put him in the race for the Australian Championships in Melbourne this weekend.
“They’re actually paying for my flights to go down there and because it’s so close to the comp I just went in I’m obviously in condition for it,” he said.
“It’s a great opportunity to see where you stand against higher quality people around Australia.
“I’ll just see how I go, I’m not expecting anything too great but I am confident in what I’m bringing to the stage.”
The 29-year-old has been involved with body building for over ten years but began taking it seriously around six years ago.
However his toughest challenge may have been getting bronzed enough to impress the judges.
“It was actually my biggest panic when I got down to Sydney, I was too white. I already had three coats of spray tan on and compared to everybody else I was super white.
“I had a mate come just in the last hour with a shoe polish sort of paste that he had to put all over me… I reckon that played a big role in just getting me seen on stage because the lights are so bright.
“You actually wash out if you’re not dark enough and you lose all your lines and definition. So yeah, the darker the better.”
Then came the challenge of taking it all off.
“The shoe polish stuff came off in the shower with a lot of soap and a lot of scrubbing but the [spray tan], I’m still getting bits and pieces off two weeks later.
“You just look very patchy everywhere… a lot of exfoliating.”
His troubles have made him an easy target for the boys at work.
“Especially in the mines in the showers and stuff, you sort of stand out a little bit when it’s pitch black in winter.”
Picman thanked his friends and family for all their support particularly his brother Ben, Ben’s fiance Natalie Fitzgerald and friend Adam Healey.
He also gave a special mention to his parents Mark and Sue Picman.