Engineering muscle

Winning his super heavyweight class and standing on stage next to the other class winners at the Night of Champions bodybuilding competition in Spokane, Wash., was a familiar feeling for Daniel Hughes.

The 31-year-old won his class the previous year, but was passed over for the overall title. This year he got redemption, as the panel of judges in Spokane chose Hughes as the overall champion.

“My goal was to win the overall before I moved on,” Hughes said. “I knew I was in really good shape, so I was really confident actually. Even the guys that were in my class were like, woah.”

Now he’s moving on to the Emerald Cup in Bellevue, Wash., a national qualifying competition featuring the top bodybuilders in the northwest and some national-level competitors. While he’s never competed at that level, Hughes likes his odds.

“At this point my goal would be to finish top three at the Emerald Cup,” he said. “That’s a big show so we’ll see how it goes from there.”

Standing approximately 6-foot-4 with immense muscles popping his t-shirt and shorts, Hughes looks like he’s been pumping iron his entire life, but he actually didn’t get started until he went to college.

He was an avid mountain bike racer in high school, working in a bike shop and spending his earnings on upgrades to his bike, but he caught the workout bug when he left home.

“I got to college and went to the gym for the first time,” Hughes said. “I was a freshman and these guys were my age or just a year or two older. They’re walking around and I think they’re all jacked, so I thought, I can do that.”

After several years of bulking up, Hughes got the idea to enter his first bodybuilding show from Alf Bjelland, one of his gym buddies.

“He wanted to go to a show to see what it was all about,” Hughes said. “I hadn’t really thought about competing before that point.”

Hughes and Bjelland attended the Empire Classic bodybuilding show in Spokane as spectators, and left thinking they had the ability to compete.

“I saw the guys up on stage and I thought, I can get up there and do that,” Hughes said.

Hughes entered his first show last April in Missoula and won his class. Despite strutting his stuff in front of a large group of people in nothing but a speedo, Hughes said he wasn’t nervous.

“It’s interesting because normally I’m just like anybody else,” he said. “You get up in front of a bunch of people, but I guess you don’t have to speak.”

He entered the Night of Champions that fall and won his class again, but didn’t claim his first overall title until this year’s Night of Champions.

Despite his success, bodybuilding is a hobby for Hughes, not a career. He doesn’t have a trainer and has a full-time job in a structural engineering office, but training for competitions has made his gym workouts more meaningful.

“It’s good because it makes you get really serious about what you’re doing,” Hughes said. “You can go to the gym and play around or whatever, but it helps if you’ve got a specific goal. For me anyway, my goal is to always improve for my next show. That gives me something to work toward.”

His workouts are the product of his own research. When he’s not preparing for a show, he does heavy lifting for about an hour Monday through Friday after work. He works each body part at least once a week, and hits his weak-point muscles twice a week.

“I’m happy to do my own research and figure out what works for me,” Hughes said. “I think that’s better anyway than hearing somebody tell you what to do. I’m my own worst critic. I look in the mirror and say that needs to be changed.”

While he’s always fighting his small calves, other points of emphasis change. His shoulders were his main concern heading into the Night of Champions, but now he thinks his lower lats and back need the most work.

“After a show I review the pictures and if I see something I think needs to be improved upon, then I’ll change up my routine a little bit to emphasize that part,” Hughes said. “My calves always need work, they’re just small by genetics, but my shoulders have come up pretty good, so I’m thinking of switching the shoulders out with something else.”

When he needs to shed fat for a show, Hughes works cardio into his routine. One hour in the morning and another hour after his weight training in the afternoon. He also cuts carbohydrates out of his diet.

Even in the offseason he sticks to a strict diet consisting mainly of chicken, eggs, brown rice, broccoli, almonds and walnuts.

“Bodybuilding to be successful is 24-7,” Hughes said. “You can still have a normal life, but if everyone’s going out for pizza and beer, you can’t. You can still go out, but you’ve got to drink water and pack along your chicken breast and whip it out and eat it, so there’s sacrifices to be had.”

Bjelland said Hughes has embraced the bodybuilding lifestyle.

“We’re not like bodybuilders in California training twice a day,” Bjelland said. “We actually have full-time jobs and we have to work around that. It’s mainly a hobby that turns into a lifestyle. You kind of have to live it and the rewards outweigh the minuses.”

In and out of the gym, Hughes’ physique draws attention. He’s often asked how much he can bench, to which he replies “a couple hundie” with a wry smile. He doesn’t mind give real answers to questions about supplements or unusual exercises.

“He’s just an all-around good guy,” Bjelland said. “You ask him a question, you always get an honest answer out of him.”

The Emerald Cup isn’t until May 3, so Hughes has plenty of time to train for his next show. That’s a good thing since he’s not satisfied with his current look, despite winning the overall title at the Night of Champions.

“You can’t be satisfied,” he said. “You’ve always got to be looking to what you can be, not what you are right now, because you can always make improvements.”