What do a Puerto Rican, an Iranian and a Clovis East grad have in common? Bodybuilding
The Tower Theatre provided the stage for a few recent immigrants to the U.S. to become part of the bodybuilding world during the Sept. 19 NPC Central California Championships.
Beauty and muscles intertwined perfectly for Puerto Rico’s Natalia Ramírez Fernández, Iran’s Ashkan Karimi, and Clovis East High graduate Prabh Dhaliwal.
Dhaliwal was the only one of the three bodybuilders to lift the coveted sword as the best in his class (open men’s physique), but Ramírez Fernández and Karimi were not that far behind multiple division wins.
Fresno’s César Ramírez racked up another open bodybuilding title after capturing the light heavyweight competition.
Ramírez Fernández, Karimi and Dhaliwal took different roads.
Transitioning from ballet to bodybuilding
The 30-year-old Ramírez Fernández – who moved to the Bay area 6 years ago – grew up in the San Juan, Puerto Rico suburb of Bayamón.
Her passion then was ballet. She was so good that she became the lead soloist. But, an internship at the de Young Museum in San Francisco forced her to relocate and give up ballet.
Why the switch from ballet to bodybuilding?
“My new passion was to do weightlifting, which was part of my regimen in ballet,” said Ramírez Fernández, who picked up first-place awards last Saturday in the true novice C and open class D divisions.
She lost out to Eleanor Borba for the overall bikini title.
This was the second competition for Ramírez Fernández since taking up bodybuilding in 2018. She competed in a natural bodybuilding event that year, taking firsts in amateur and novice divisions.
But, the NPC (National Physique Committee) is a higher level, she said.
“The NPC is a higher level stage for bodybuilding, so I was really nervous,” said Ramírez Fernández, who works as a trainer. “I haven’t competed in three years until today!
“So I’m really happy with my outcome. That’s more than I can ask for; and, I just want to get the feedback from the judges so I can become better.”
The posing portion of the competition, said Ramírez Fernández, “reminds me a lot of dancing and choreography and just expressing myself through it.”
“I think that’s what keeps me doing bodybuilding. I love it!”
Ramírez Fernández, whose internship at the de Young Museum involved taking children through the exhibits and teaching them art history, earned degrees in art history and photography in Puerto Rico.
She has coached herself, along with her fiancé.
Bodybuilding filled void after high school
Dhaliwal is relatively new to bodybuilding at two years, but his nutrition and training with a coach from San Diego have helped him make inroads in his new sport. He took up bodybuilding when he stopped playing sports after Clovis East High School.
“I was just looking for an alternative and I got into the gym,” he said. “Now, I just got into training and bodybuilding, and I fell in love with it.”
Dhaliwal competed in men’s open physique class C. Saturday was his second competition after winning the true novice overall and placing second in the open class.
“My goal is to become an IBF pro eventually, to become the best bodybuilder I could possibly become by iving the lifestyle in and day out,” said Dhaliwal, who works at a sports nutrition store and is also a personal trainer and online coaching.
Dhaliwal is happy to be competing, especially after the COVID pandemic forced most gyms to shut their doors. He would train in a garage or a friend’s gym to keep up his training.
“I just wanted to train,” he said.
“I appreciate Fresno for putting on a great show. I also appreciate Muscle Sport Productions for having great judges and having a great show just for all of us competitors to have fun at.”
From Iran to the Bay area
Karimi moved to the United States four months ago, and found work as a personal trainer. He left Iran, and his gym, behind.
“This is my first competition in America,” said Karimi, who picked up wins in men’s physique open B, novice B, and true novice B. “I’m new here.”
Karimi’s haul included two best-of-class busts.
“This was my job, and my passion is bodybuilding,” said Karimi, who began his bodybuilding journey 10 years ago.
He is scheduled to compete at the Mr. Olympia 2021 in Orlando, Florida, in October.
“Mr. Olympia is my dream, and I’m ready for this competition,” said Karimi.