Rider's Clarida Vies for World Championship

Rider University graduate student Shaun Clarida was a member of the Bronc varsity wrestling program as an undergraduate and is now working in the department of athletics as the Coordinator of Athletic Operations/Equipment Manager while pursuing his master's degree.

In his spare time he is working toward a second World Championship, his first as a professional.

Since January of 2005 Clarida '05 has been training to be a body builder. This is a process of developing the musculature of the body through specific types of diet and physical exercise, such as weightlifting, especially for competitive exhibition.

In his first two years as an amateur he compiled seven first place finishes, two second place finishes and two third place finishes before turning pro.

“I made the Rider wrestling team as a walk-on freshman,” Clarida said. “My junior year at Rider I was training for wrestling and I met Tom Garruca, a bodybuilder from Ewing, and he told me I'd be perfect for bodybuilding. I was never a fan of bodybuilding but I'm always up for a challenge and this seemed to be one. I gave it a shot and it stuck with me. The first show I did (2005) I placed third and just continued on after that.”

He placed third in the Amateur World Championships in 2005. “I wanted to win the (amateur) title before I went pro,” said Clarida, a Hackensack High School graduate.

In April of 2006 he won the International Natural Bodybuilding Federation Northeast America Show, being awarded the Best Poser of the Show as well as winning his weight class. “I wasn't that confident at that time so I stayed an amateur another year before competing against the professionals,” Clarida said. “I wanted to come back and win the Amateur World Championships, after placing third the previous year (2005) before joining the pro ranks. I wanted to end my amateur career with a bang and there was no way better than winning the Amateur World Title.”

Shaun was able to achieve that lofty goal.

“I did two more shows and then won the INBF Amateur World Championship in 2006,” Clarida said. “There were ten in my weight class and then I had to go up against the other weight class winners. The entire show had about 200 competitors. That was the hardest show I've ever done. I was the first bantamweight (150 pounds and below) in INBF history to win the overall championship. That was my second win but that is when I earned my 'pro card'. I won my weight division and then all of the division winners compete and they choose one champion overall and I was the overall winner.”

After receiving his 'pro card,' which allows competitors to compete professionally, he began training for his professional debut, the 2007 WNBF Mr. & Mrs. Universe, which was held in the Grand Cayman Islands, and he placed second in the lightweight division.

In September '09 Shaun traveled to Sacramento, California and finished in first place in the Lightweight division at the 2009 WNBF Pro Natural U.S. Cup Bodybuilding & Figure Championships for his first professional win.

“I weighed in at my lightest ever, 128 pounds, the lightest guy in the class,” Clarida said.

He will be competing in New York City November 14 at the 2009 WNBF Pro Natural Nature's Best World Championships. In 2007 Shaun placed second at this tournament and last year he placed third. “This is the biggest show of the year,” Clarida said.

WNBF stands for World Natural Bodybuilding Federation. All competitors are subject to drug tests to keep the sport 'clean.'

“That is the one thing I always stress, that I am 100 percent natural and have never used nor would I ever use any type of illegal drugs to enhance my body,” Clarida said. “In Natural bodybuilding they test us all of the time to keep it drug free. The larger group, the group that usually gets all of the attention and all of the sponsors, they don't test for drugs at all. I am one of the few Natural bodybuilders to get a sponsor.”

As Shaun found out, bodybuilding is much different from wrestling.

“I started wrestling late in high school, junior year, but I became a starter as a senior,” Clarida remembers. “I lifted weights for wrestling. Now I don't train for strength, I train for a look, to be leaner, more ripped. It is very different from wrestling. In wrestling there are just two guys and it is clear who wins and loses. In bodybuilding there are 10 to 15 people you are competing against and the judging is completely subjective. Every judge has their own opinion.”

Bodybuilding is more than just a hobby; it becomes a way of life. “I train one body part a day, usually two and a half to three hours,” Clarida said. “When I'm getting ready for a show I train an additional hour of cardio and posing. I take every show as if it is my first show, even though I've done about 16 so far. I imagine I'm the only person on stage and it is just me and the judges.”

Shaun is usually on stage with others in his weight class and the judges compare. “There are close to 300 people in the audience but it is dark, with the lights on the stage, so you really don't see them,” Clarida said. “I just try to wow every judge with my overall condition, my leanness, my symmetry, muscularity. What the judges like about me more than my competitors is my symmetry. It is almost perfect. That and my posing. Posing is something that any bodybuilder can work on, but with me it is my symmetry and my stage presence.”

So far Shaun has wowed many judges, but he feels the best is yet to come.

“My goal is to be a Professional World Champion and that takes place in November,” Clarida said. “I was an Amateur World Champion in 2006 and hopefully I can become a pro World Champion in 2009. In the WNBF that's as good as it gets.”

Shaun Clarida, World Champion. That has nice symmetry to it, too.

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