NEWS
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
HerMIsTOnHeraLd.COM • A9
Hermiston bodybuilder prepares for contests
by around 100 pounds and is one
of the world’s top competitors.
Even so, Labrada is a nice guy,
Duncan said.
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Bodybuilder Terrell Duncan is
less than 15 weeks from taking the
stage in his next competition.
Duncan, 35, is preparing for a
couple of Washington shows. The
first is The Empire Classic, April
22 in Spokane, and the next is The
Emerald Cup Bodybuilding & Fit-
ness Expo, which is April 29-30 in
Bellevue.
“I live for this stuff,” he said. “I
love going to the gym and training
all year round.”
Both shows are National Phy-
sique Committee national qualifi-
ers. As such, top placers of these
shows will be eligible for compe-
tition at the 2022 NPC National
Championships in Las Vegas. If
Duncan can win at Nationals, he
will achieve one of his biggest
goals — becoming a pro in the
International Federation of Body-
Building and Fitness.
At 5 feet, 9 inches tall and 210
pounds, Duncan is working to get
down to 190 pounds, which will
make him eligible for the classic
physique division, where compet-
itors display bodies with plenty of
muscle but with a focus on sym-
metry and balance, reminiscent of
Arnold Schwarzenegger when he
competed in the 1970s, rather than
the more heavily muscled bodies in
the men’s bodybuilding division.
The look of classic physique body-
builders makes it a popular division
with many competitors and fans.
At about four months out, Dun-
can said he is in a fun stage of train-
ing and diet. This is when he said he
starts “cleaning up” his food intake,
eating food that is more nutritious
and less fatty. And he has a lot of
energy and continues training hard.
That changes as he nears the
competition date. At four weeks
out, he begins to “dial it in,” he
said, reducing his calories and
increasing cardio. His body takes
peak shape, he said, as muscles
become most visible, most defined.
Bodybuilding as a life-changer
Terrell Duncan/Contributed Photo
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Bodybuilder Terrell Duncan poses for a portrait Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in
the home gym of his Hermiston residence.
By the day of the show, he will be
lean, vascular and in the parlance
of the sport “shredded,” with little
fat or water between his skin and
the muscles underneath.
Getting into bodybuilding
Duncan said he was skinny and
stressed in 2012 and realized he
would have to do something differ-
ent. Of all the things he could have
done to alter his life, he picked
bodybuilding. It was, he said,
something he could do to change
his energy level, his health and his
confidence.
And it’s working out, he said.
He said he was fit enough to
begin competing in 2015. He, then,
put on as much size as he could.
Also, he began studying nutrition,
as he discovered he would need to
gain “quality muscle and not just
mass” if he were to look his best,
he said.
Duncan has competed in nine
shows, including Nationals. He
also has become a fixture through-
out the region, competing in Wash-
ington, Oregon and Idaho.
Duncan said his physique was
pretty good, and he was plac-
ing high at contests to prove it.
He has won shows, including first
place in the 2020 Idaho Cup, that
qualified him for national-level
competitions.
Last year, Duncan competed at
Nationals in Arizona. He did not
win, or even place very high, but he
called his appearance at Nationals
a good experience. There, he was
able to see top amateurs from all
around the country.
“I will go wherever it takes to
become a professional,” he said, as
he has set his eyes on obtaining the
highly valued “pro card,” the stamp
of approval that can lead to making
an income as a bodybuilder.
Terrell Duncan, of Hermiston, flexes
into a “most muscular” pose at a
show on Nov. 7, 2020.
Looking at the greats
Duncan said he has a lot of
respect for people who have
already obtained their pro cards.
Right now, the pro schedule is
starting to take off, as elite ath-
letes ready themselves for the
2022 Arnold Classic, March 3-6,
in Columbus, Ohio.
Duncan said he is looking for-
ward to seeing how competitors
face off in this show, which in
terms of prestigious professional
bodybuilding shows is second only
to Joe Weider’s Olympia Fitness &
Performance Weekend.
Last year, Duncan met the win-
ner of the 2021 Arnold, Hunter
Labrada, son of bodybuild-
ing great Lee Labrada. It was an
honor, Duncan said, and he was
happy to have received advice
from the young champ, who told
him to put on more muscle. Hunter
Labrada, 29, outweighs Duncan
Duncan said he is a strong
believer in his sport’s transforma-
tive nature.
“You have more control over
your life and your body than most
people think,” he said.
Bodybuilding can turn an
underweight, overstressed individ-
ual into a better version of himself.
Likewise, it can transform people
who are overweight, weak or oth-
erwise troubled into someone with
fewer problems.
After he started bodybuilding,
he said, he got married, felt more
confident and obtained a better job.
Now a mechanic for Lamb Weston,
he said his life is good.
“I can’t complain,” he said.
Competitive
bodybuilding,
though, will not put protein on
the table, he said. Only a handful
of people at the top of the profes-
sion make enough money to live,
he said. For this reason, Duncan
stated that he may not even com-
pete as a pro when he achieves his
pro card. Instead, he said, he will
start a business. By becoming an
IFBB pro, he will gain credibility
and notoriety that will allow him to
begin his own dietary supplement
line and a food prep business.
He said he likes helping peo-
ple, and he hopes he will be able
to assist others once he starts his
business. In the meantime, he said,
he has been able to help other peo-
ple by passing his bodybuilding
knowledge onto them.
“I see a lot coming up in the next
five years, and I feel very excited
about the way things are going,” he
said. “I think I can help others by
showing them what I have done,
and I can continue to meet some of
my other goals. I’m going to take
some classes, learn more about fit-
ness and pass this onto others. I
feel good about this.”
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Breaeh Rios, 10, left, talks with members of the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Office and Hermiston Police Department on
Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, at the Stafford Hansell Government
Center in Hermiston. Breaeh, a competitive dancer, will
be performing a law enforcement tribute dance at a set of
upcoming competitions in remembrance of fallen Toledo,
Ohio, police officer Anthony Dia.
Dance performance
will honor police
By ERICK PETERSON
HerMIsTOn HeraLd
Dancer Breaeh Rios, 10,
of Hermiston, is looking for-
ward to paying tribute to
Anthony Dia, an Ohio offi-
cer who was killed on the
job. Breaeh will dance to
honor Dia and other officers
at upcoming contests.
Her first competition is
March 18-20 at Sheer Elite
in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She
then has performances April
8-10 at Spotlight in Portland,
April 22-23 at Team Dance
in Richland, Washington,
May 13-15 at Showstopper
in Tacoma and June 28-July
2 at Nationals/Team Dance
in Nampa, Idaho.
At the Sheer Elite compe-
tition, Breaeh has planned a
contemporary solo dance, as
well as jazz, lyrical and hip-
hop performances.
A Highland Hills Ele-
mentary student, Breaeh
said she feels a little ner-
vous about her upcoming
performance.
“I’ve only done one solo,
and that was last year,” she
said. Still, she said, her
last performance earned
her “platinum” honors in
Tacoma, so she feels confi-
dent she will do well in the
upcoming contest.
She said she is prepar-
ing with a lot practice and
stretching. As part of her
practice, she will see a cho-
reographer in Texas.
Locally, she dances with
Dance Unlimited, a Hermis-
ton school at 1000 S. High-
way 395 Suite C. There, she
said, she enjoys working
with her coaches. She added
they work well together to
meet her goals.
“I want to become a pro-
fessional dancer and go to
Juilliard,” she said.
Breaeh credited The Juil-
liard School for being a pre-
mier performing arts school
that will require “lots of ded-
ication” from her if she is to
attend.
In addition, her ambitions
include learning choreogra-
phy, something she said she
will eventually study.
The upcoming performances
The daughter and grand-
daughter of men in law
enforcement, Breaeh said
police are important to her.
She was particularly touched
by the death of Dia, whom
she calls a hero. He stands
out, she said, because of his
final radio call before his
death in which he told a dis-
patcher he loved his family.
Her upcoming solo per-
formances, which she has
dedicated to Dia and other
police officers, are especially
meaningful to her. Dia, she
said, was 26 years old and a
father of two children.
“It touched my heart spe-
cially, because I feel police
don’t get support much,” she
said.
Breaeh’s mother, Kelley
Rios, supports her daughter.
“I am incredibly proud of
Breaeh for doing this trib-
ute dance at competition and
doing what she feels is right
despite the outcome,” Rios
said.
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