Virtual Best of the Burgh bodybuilding competition puts focus on body transformation

Stasi Longo had a lot to look forward to as she promoted her latest Pittsburgh-based bodybuilding competition.

The Organization of Competition Bodies (OCB) Best of the Burgh earlier this month was to be on stage at Boyce Middle School in Upper St. Clair Township.

But safety regulations relating to the coronavirus pandemic, including the closing of all schools, prompted Longo to find an alternative location.

A hotel was booked, but that soon became problematic as a limit was placed on group gatherings.

Longo, a veteran bodybuilder and competitive champion at all levels, didn’t back down, and the competition soon got a new look as an online virtual webinar.

“I didn’t want to give up on these athletes because they all trained and dieted so hard for several months,” said Longo of the nearly two dozen participants of all experience levels representing six states and the District of Columbia.

“They all embraced the changes because they had been working so hard for the regular on-stage competition. They were so excited for any chance to compete.”

The competition featured two categories.

A traditional body transformation challenge had participants making body changes through training and dieting over a 12-week period. During the virtual webinar, they were judged on their efforts through before and after photos and body measurements.

There also was a bodybuilding body transformation with several different categories that involved before and after photos from a start date in 2020 but also included a 60-second video with OCB mandatory pre-judging poses.

All the competitors also submitted an essay on how they continued to train and stay the course despite facing obstacles during the unprecedented pandemic.

For first-time show competitor Paul Heyse, a 27-year-old Beaver resident and graduate of Mt. Lebanon and MIT, the Best of the Burgh provided a rather interesting introduction to the world of competitive bodybuilding.

“During and after college, I got into weightlifting, so getting into bodybuilding gives me concrete goals to shoot for,” said Heyse, who took first place in men’s bodybuilding debut, men’s bodybuilding novice and men’s bodybuilding open.

“I was looking up natural bodybuilding competitions that were around, and I came across the OCB competition. Then I started looking for coaches, and Stasi’s name popped up. Her resume was exactly what I needed. She really gave me some good advice on dieting and helped with some of the things I knew absolutely nothing about like posing.”

Heyse, an engineer with Shell, said recording the posing video and having the opportunity to perfect it kind of took some of his nervousness away.

“Now, I am really looking forward to the real thing and taking it to the next level,” he said.

Minna Emch, a native of Sweden who has lived in the U.S. for the past three decades, said she took the traditional transformation challenge to get in shape both physically and mentally.

The 52-year-old New Martinsville, W.Va. resident, started training with weights in 2002 and was seeing results.

But the loss of her daughter in 2016 caused her to not take care of herself as she normally would as she explained in her essay. Before she knew it she had gained everything (weight loss) back, and then some.

Wanting to make a change and reach a goal of a fit body, Emch, armed with the inspiration of bikini models she noticed in magazines, contacted Longo about the transformation challenge.

“I wanted a certain look, and Stasi knows how to manipulate the body with diet and training to make it look a certain way,” said Emch, who lost 18 pounds and built muscle over the challenge’s three months.

Emch owns a beauty salon that was forced to shut down during the pandemic. For income, she took a job stocking shelves at Wal-Mart which gave her “eight hours of a full-body workout.”

“Some of them became really creative with their training in their homes and in their basements and also outside, using anything they could,” Longo said.

The event, a Zoom production at just over two hours, is posted to YouTube. Results are at ocbonline.com.

Longo, owner of Sonshine Fitness in McMurray, said she hopes competitions like hers can return to the stage at some point in the upcoming months. But with the success of the virtual competition and the ability to improve on its presentation, she said it provides a viable option moving forward.

“I gathered my dream team of IT friends, and all I can say is, “God bless them,’ because we were creating this as we were going along,” Longo said. “We were going to advertise this but then thought about seeing how this one went before opening it up to everybody because it was our first time doing anything like this. Now, we are confident that if we have to do it again, we know what we are doing.”

The virtual competition participants will get the chance to take the stage at an upcoming event promoted by Longo. The next one — the OCB Steel City Classic — is set for Oct. 31 in Pittsburgh.

Emch and Heyse both are looking forward to the fall.

“I can’t wait to see what I can do under more normal circumstances, whatever they may be in the fall or spring next year,” Heyse said. “I learned a lot in the 10 weeks of preparation, but I also underestimated all the effort and coordination it takes. There are things I still need to work on.”

Emch said she plans to focus on the bikini competition at the Steel City event.

“I’ve lost more weight since the competition,” Emch said. “I don’t want to let my body go any more. I want to have something to look forward to.

“This is going to be my life. I am going to continue to do competitions to stay on track and stay healthy.”