At 55, DF bodybuilder wins tournament and will compete for Arnold in 2022
Francisco Watson played his last competition in 1989 and only returned to the stage in 2021, winning an event in Brasília
Learn a little about the history and routine of the bodybuilder, who in 2022 will compete in Arnold, one of the main shows of the sport in the world.
return and challenge
Watson has practiced bodybuilding for over 30 years. At 24, he participated in his first competition. Since then, he has maintained a healthy lifestyle with a lot of training, but he stopped competing in bodybuilding tournaments.
Retired and aged 55, the business administrator decided to return to a competitive level, competing in the Classic Contest, a tournament organized by the National Physique Committee (NPC), in Brasília, at the end of July. And the motivation: the challenge.
“I’ve always kept training, I always train six times a week and have been in a very good physical condition since I was 19 years old. What motivated me to return was the challenge. The challenge of being 55 years old to get up and go on stage well. I think that human beings are driven by challenge, and the day that human beings lose the challenge, they lose a little of the meaning of life”, he reveals.
On the top
In the competition format, the judges judge criteria such as symmetry, level of definition and muscle volume. The poses and resourcefulness at the time of presentation to the jury and the public also count points.
Watson not only won the show, a new nickname for bodybuilding tournaments, but was praised by name by Johann Schutz, the event’s refereeing director, for his spectacular physical condition for a nearly 56-year-old athlete.
The brasiliense won first place in the Bodybuilder Master 2 category (over 55 years old) and third place in the unified Master, for competitors aged over 35 years old.
The excellent result guaranteed Watson’s participation in the South American stage of the Arnold Classic, in April 2022 in São Paulo, one of the biggest shows of the sport in the world.
Routine
Even retired, Watson has an active life and tells Metropolis how he maintains his bodybuilding athlete routine.
“To compete, I trained at 5:30 am. I always woke up at 4am every day to have my initial meal. Two and a half hours of training every day. My training routine was this, before I retired I had to be at work at 8 am. It’s interesting to say, because people say they don’t have time, but time is what we do”, he says.
In food, Watson eats five meals a day, on average. At rest, he always tries to sleep around 10 pm, to wake up with the mood to go back to his training routine the next day.
advice
Already a veteran in the sport, Watson gives tips for those who want to start or pursue a career in the sport. He says that the scenario in the Federal District is quite promising, with many high-level athletes and more people joining the sport, but that the professionals run into the lack of support, especially financial.
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“You may not be able to define your body in a short amount of time, but you have to start. From the moment you take it seriously, you will get results. Don’t be in a hurry to build your body. Muscle maturity doesn’t come overnight. The advice I give is not to get attached to miracle formulas. There’s no secret: it’s training, food and rest”, advises Watson.
Now, the brasiliense is preparing for another show before participating in the Arnold, next year. In November, he will participate in the event Muscle Contest Brasília. “The most important thing is for you to have a better quality of life. You learn to take care of your body, which initially is the main factor. I usually give an example of a competitor in Santa Catarina who competed when she was 80 years old. With almost 56, I competed in a competition with high-level athletes aged 40, 45 years. Our age will never limit anything”, he concludes.
