At his training place, Jimmy Ntare Rwamugereka is going on with his daily fitness sessions. This time around, he is training a bit harder than he has been doing before. When Weekend Sport visited him at the WAKA fitness center-Kigali on Wednesday, the 37-year-old had just completed lifting weight weighing 224 kilograms. In an inclusive interview, the bodybuilder revealed that the training was in the line of preparing for Zambia ‘Strongman Open Competition’, slated for June 5 in Lusaka. Strongman is a sport in which the principal task is to pick up random heavy objects and move them. One has to move objects of near-maximal weight and are scored by time, reps, or maximum weight lifted. The competition is the first of its kind to happen, endorsed by African Strongman Union (ASU), which the organisers hope to make an annual event. Rwamugereka has been in the weightlifting and bodybuilding industry for over ten years. / Photo: Courtesy Rwamugereka, who weighs 95kgs, was invited to represent the country and is traveling to Zambia for the competition this week. He will compete in the tyre flip contest, yoke carry, car deadlift, hand car pull as well as load and drag medley. For the last three years, Rwamugereka says, he has been competing internationally, and in the process, he was able to acquire numerous accolades. A certified personal trainer, Rwamugereka has been in the weight lifting career for more than a decade, and he insists every day to him is another learning opportunity. “The longer I continue being in this [powerlifting] field, the more I love my work. I believe it’s through the good networking that I have created so far and also the effort I put in to do what I love that has seen me invited in various international competitions,” he says. In July this year, he is also expected to attend another body lift competition in Zimbabwe. Starting out his career Growing up, Rwamugereka, who is also a theologist, says he would be teased by his peers a lot, especially in school. It is here that he decided to join boxing classes during the holidays for self-defense. As he narrates, self-defense developed into something else – he started aspiring to be a wrestler. To fulfill this, he subscribed to a weight-lifting gym to help him build his body. “The more I spent in the gym, the more inspired I became and went on to inspire others.” Through weightlifting and fitness training, Rwamugereka has made huge steps in life, something he is proud of and attributes to the love he has for what he does. Rwamugerekaafter winning a medal at a past competition. / Photo: Courtesy People define success differently; for him, it’s all about experience and knowledge. He explains that in the line of his duty, he has managed to acquire some knowledge through taking up some short courses in different fields that relate to what he does. For instance, he has acquired skills in massage, nutrition as well as providing other sport-related advice and precautions that come along with one doing physical activities. “This is the most fulfilling part in my career; gaining and sharing knowledge a great success because it has seen me grow from one level to another. Also, because of this, I have managed to provide quality services to my clients, which has kept them yearning for more from me,” he says. Secondly, he also credits his success to being able to lend a hand to others – financially and socially. Just like any other physical exercise, he says at times he is bound to getting injuries, which is a challenge because depending on the severity of injury, time, and costs involved can be exhausting. Also, locally, he rues that getting quality equipment for his training is quite challenging because they are unavailable. In his parting shot, he underlines that regardless of the profession one is in, investing in knowledge is vital because it will see you deliver quality service, which, in turn, helps one build a name for themselves. “For those who are not gym people, it is necessary to find other activities that involve energy spending so that they keep fit and avoid some health complications.”
