An inside look at the 2022 Pro/Am Iron Man Magazine Championships.
This summer held the 2022 INBA PNBA Pro/Am International Iron Man Magazine Championships. The event took place at Hermosa Beach, CA on July 30, 2022. It brought together some of the most talented natural bodybuilding stars – all battling for qualification to the Natural Olympia later this year. Generation Iron was on location for the event and captured a behind-the-scenes look recap.
The Iron Man Magazine Championships is one of the biggest INBA/PNBA competitions of the year. As such, it is also a Natural Olympia qualifier – part of the league’s Road To The Natural Olympia series of competitions. Being a pro/am competition, it also was a major opportunity for amateur natural bodybuilders to earn their pro cards.
Winners of the Iron Man Magazine Championships received up to $15,000 in cash and prizes, and first-place winners earned the opportunity to be featured on the cover of Iron Man Magazine – one of the longest running bodybuilding magazines that still operate to this day.
Of course, all show participants are drug tested with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) labs. However, WADA only uses state-of-the-art drug testing procedures. And any competitor who fails a drug test will be stripped of any title and prizes he/she may receive. Plus, they’ll be placed in the Hall of Shame.
Road To The Natural OlympiaÂ
As mentioned previously, the Iron Man Magazine Championships is part of the Road To Natural Olympia series. This means that top winners in the pro league at this competition earn qualification into the Natural Olympia this year – set to be held in Las Vegas on November 10th – 13th.
Denny Kakos founded the PNBA in 1990 because he wanted to create an organization for professional natural bodybuilders that gave out quality awards. Later, he expanded the PNBA to the INBA in 1994 to unite countries and expand natural bodybuilding globally.
Natural Olympia is the Super Bowl of natural bodybuilding competitions. And in the natural bodybuilding world, it’s equivalent to Mr. Olympia of the International Federation of Bodybuilding ad Fitness (IFBB) Pro league.
The 2022 Men’s Bodybuilding Natural Olympia winner will earn a spot on the list of Natural Olympia winners. The earliest winner dated back to John Hansen in 1998.
Watch The 2022 Pro/Am Iron Man Magazine Championships Recap
The competitors in both the amateur and pro league of the INBA PNBA who competed at the Iron Man Magazine Championships brought full passion onto the stage. Like any bodybuilding show, preparation takes months leading up to the competition – and requires a a full lifestyle of bodybuilding to truly become an elite competitor.
This is why Generation Iron continues to cover recaps of the biggest events in the INBA PNBA natural bodybuilding league. The passion, hard work, and dedication are on full display for all competitors on stage. You can check out our full recap showcasing some of the best moments from the 2022 Iron Man Magazine Championships – including behind the scenes and awards – above.
