Building for success

When Pierce Johnston first started bodybuilding seven years ago it began with a cautious curiosity as to whether he could keep up with the constant training, need for nutrition, required recovery time and critical cardio. Could he really push his body to new levels and beyond on depleted carbs, and did he have the patience for the years it takes to sculpt a mature body to that of an elite athlete?

June 30, and the IFBB Pro League affiliated Muscle Contest Ireland at the University Concert Hall in Limerick, was the culmination of all that effort.

He registered top in the Men’s Physique category.

Pierce won his own height class, of which there were six, and then came out top overall to earn his IFBB Pro card and a chance to one day compete at the Olympia international bodybuilding competition that takes place in Las Vegas each year, and sees one person crowned ‘Mr Olympia’.

“It barely registered with me when my name was called out,” laughs Pierce, recalling the pivotal moment he’d dreamed of for so long up to that point.

“It was totally surreal.”

Pierce, who is now the only Men’s Physique IFBB pro in the south of Ireland, could scarcely believed it. It wasn’t really until word got out and the days and weeks after when his phone kept pinging with messages of congratulations that the magnitude of what he’d achieved began to dawn.

“Because I’d been chasing it for so long, and then this year I’d been knocked down five times before, if only marginally, it does creep in and you do begin to wonder if it’ll ever happen.”

The IFBB is the biggest and toughest league for bodybuilders in the world.

“Anybody can show up,” explains Pierce. “You can be on the circuit for a while, be hopeful of winning the next show, work your way towards that, and someone could turn up that blows everyone out of the water. So you have to be in peak physical shape or you won’t stand a chance.”

The Limerick event was Pierce’s seventeenth in total to date, including six shows in a row this year.

His journey to this point in his bodybuilding career has taken the Cavan man around the world, most recently to the UK twice for shows, to Poland, and Södertälje in Sweden. There, he was just one point off earning his pro card.

The “knocks” are real, says Pierce. All the more bruising after you’ve spent months sculpting only to find out that someone next to you is more advanced in their bodybuilding journey. On the flight home from Stockholm Pierce was in reflective mood.

Pierce did three shows last year and the advice was to “take a year out” and concentrate on adding size. That’s just what he did.