Written by Ron Harris
16 June 2020

 REDCON-Blessing-Awodibu-Slider

 

Blessing In Disguise?

Blessing Awodibu – The Boogieman Waiting to Make His Pro Debut

 

By Ron Harris

 

Though he has yet to make his pro debut, Blessing Awodibu is one of the most recognizable bodybuilders in the world thanks to his 1.6 million followers on Instagram and his many more millions of views on YouTube. His comical skits have appeared on shows like “Tosh.0” and “Ridiculousness,” and on FOX News, since several of his videos have gone viral with YouTube views in the millions. But he’s a lot more than just a hilarious character being fed bananas by chimps and terrorizing gym mates in a horse mask. He’s a young man with serious potential to do damage in the pro ranks with his combination of size, shape, a tiny waist, and muscle density. If all you knew about this man was that he has a memorable name and a madcap Internet persona, it’s time you found out all about Blessing Awodibu, whose potential is so scary they call him The Boogieman.

 

The Nigerian-Irishman

           

Blessing was born in the West African nation of Nigeria, the same country that gave us the original mass monster back in the 1980s, Vic Richards. His parents and his five older brothers moved to a small town on the west coast of Ireland when he was just 9 years old. As you might have guessed, they were the only black family there, which made life complicated. “I experienced my share of racism there as a kid,” he tells us.

           

To make matters worse, Blessing was a skinny boy, and very self-conscious about his body. At 14, he decided that hefting iron could beef up his scrawny frame. He turned his home’s garden shed into a makeshift gym and soon began to see changes. “I’m naturally very lean, a hardgainer if you will, so everything I gained was lean muscle tissue,” he says. Blessing also played Gaelic football, rugby, and was a kickboxer in his teens, but eventually they all gave way to his new love for training and gaining. A friend urged him to compete, but he wasn’t interested. At 19 in 2011, he claims his friend forced him to enter a contest. “I didn’t win, but it was a good experience,” he reports.

           

Only later did Blessing realize he should have been competing in the Junior Division for those under 23, rather than First Timers, which encompassed novices of all ages. Blessing also met his first IFBB pro there, The X-Man, Toney Freeman. “He was so cool, and he took the time to encourage me to keep at it,” he says. Others pointed out his potential and noted that he just needed to diet harder next time and the outcome would surely be more favorable. At his second contest, he did just that, and won the Juniors. It was there that he met his second pro, Kai Greene, who Blessing had looked up to for years already. “I became a huge Kai fan immediately,” he tells us. “He’s got one of the best physiques of all time, he’s funny and smart, and he takes the time to talk to all his fans. Kai will talk to you for an hour if one of his people doesn’t pull him away!”

 

Earning Pro Status – Several Times

           

Blessing is not one of those bodybuilders who feels the need to jump into contests without a plan. After his successful 2014 season where he won the Junior division at the prestigious Arnold Amateur Europe, he knew he wasn’t ready to go for his pro card yet. “I knew I had good shape and size, but to be able to win in the Open class would take a lot more than what I had as a Junior.”

           

It would be nearly three years of toiling away under the iron until he felt he was ready, and his patience paid off. Aside from second place at the IFBB World Amateur Championships, Blessing made a clean sweep of Super Heavyweight and Overall titles at the Arnold Amateur Europe, and Diamond Cup pro qualifiers in both Portugal and the Czech Republic. All three of these awarded pro cards, so why didn’t he just stop after the first win? The Boogieman had a couple of compelling reasons not to hang it up so fast.

           

“Firstly, I hadn’t competed in three years, so this was a chance to really learn my body and try a couple of different peaking strategies that season, see how far I could push certain things and how my body would respond,” he says. The other motivation was, he concedes, financial. “This was the year of the IFBB split,” he explains. “The IFBB in Europe wanted to retain as many athletes as it could, so they were awarding points and cash for winning these international amateur shows. When it was all said and done, I had picked up $10,000.” Considering most men with pro cards never earn 10 grand in prize money throughout entire careers, it was a smart move on Blessing’s part.

 

Back Into Hibernation, But Gaining Fame

           

Blessing turned pro at 5-foot-11 and 233 pounds, and he again recognized that the IFBB Pro League represented an entirely new and more challenging level of competition. Again, more size would be required, and he had no intention of slapping it on recklessly. “I knew I had a unique look due to my small waist, and I had to keep that small waist or else I’d be just another guy who tried getting big too fast and ruined his physique.”

           

Awodibu took off all of 2018 and 2019 from competing, gradually adding the quality muscle it would take to get that density and “pop” that would get him noticed on a pro stage. In the meantime, he also turned his attention to social media. “Social media is an extremely important, valuable tool to any athlete, especially a bodybuilder who’s hoping to do well in the industry in the future,” he says. “The sport needs an influencer, a role model for both older and younger generations. Without social media, it’s nearly impossible to reach or communicate with these people.”

           

It turned out Blessing had a knack for comedy, and his posts on platforms like Vine and YouTube crossed over to millions of people who had no prior interest in bodybuilding. “I’m a positive guy and I love sharing positive energy,” he says. “And everybody loves a good laugh!” In a sport where so many of the athletes take themselves way too seriously, this man is a breath of fresh air.

 

Australia and a Dream Deferred

           

As Blessing’s fan base and following grew, the question he kept getting was, when are you going to make your pro debut? By the fall of 2019, he’d made enough improvements to the point where he would hit the stage next at 250 pounds or more. After careful consideration, he chose the Arnold Classic Australia to unveil his newest version. On his own social media as well as in videos for Redcon1, we could see he was going to make a real impact. But then as we all know, the entire world had to suddenly deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The Arnold Classic Ohio nearly didn’t happen, and that weekend represented the first few drops of rain in the deluge of disruption in all our lives that followed.

           

“I have to say that I was very nervous about the Australia show at that point, so it wasn’t a total surprise a couple of days later when I got the call that it had been canceled.” Of course, he was disappointed. “I had worked so long and hard and I was ready to battle. I really wanted to see how I ranked with the best men there with my look and the classic types of poses that I hit. It was a tough pill to swallow, but shit happens.”

           

Giving full disclosure, Blessing tells us that he was also having visa issues. “Tony Doherty had been helping me with that, but of course with everything else going on, all of that stuff was moving much more slowly. So I’m not even sure I would have been able to get into Australia in time, to be honest.”

           

Instead of blowing his diet and drowning his sorrows in pizza and hot wings like many might do, Blessing decided to treat that peak week the same as if he was competing in Melbourne. “I did the depletion, loading, and cut my water for photo shoots, so at least people can see what I would have looked like.” Those photos are right here on these pages, so you can see what might have been on that Arnold Classic Australia stage.

 

The Redcon1 Connection

           

Blessing had a supplement contract for a few years with a European company, until they named their pre-workout product “Boogieman” with neither permission nor a percentage of the proceeds. That was more than enough impetus for Blessing to part ways. At the 2018 Olympia Weekend, Awodibu was strolling through the expo on the last day when he passed by the Redcon1 booth. He told one of the guys there how he was a big fan of the brand, as he had sampled most of their products and sincerely did like them, and then went on his way. That guy was company founder and CEO Aaron Singerman, though Blessing had no idea. Three weeks later, Aaron messaged him to ask if he would be interested in working with Redcon1. “He invited me to Florida for a meeting, and the rest is history,” says Awodibu.

           

Shortly after, Blessing left Ireland’s capital of Dublin for Boca Raton. “It was the best move I have ever made,” he tells us. “Coming from a place where it’s rainy and cold much of the year, the sunshine and heat are like paradise.” He also happens to be across the street from the new Redcon1 Gym, which makes his training even more convenient. “Most people have to drive at least 10 to 30 minutes to get to their gym, and I have one of the best gyms in the USA almost outside my window.”

 

Count Your Blessings

           

Blessing prepared for a contest that was canceled at less than a week out, which was disheartening for both him and his many fans who were biding their time for his pro debut. It would have been interesting to see how he compared to men like Big Ramy, Nathan De asha and Sergio Oliva Jr. But COVID-19 put the entire world on hold, and we’ve all had to deal with it in our own ways. As of this writing in April, no one is certain when the contest season will resume, so Blessing and the other pros must wait and see what their next move is. In the meantime, you and millions more can follow him on social media as he keeps working hard for that fateful day coming in the near future.

 

IG: blessing_awodibu

YouTube: Blessing Awodibu

Also featured on Redcon1 YouTube channel

 

Blessing’s Redcon1 Stack

 

Isotope

GI Juice

Grunt

Total War

Big Noise

Cluster Bomb

MRE

 

For more information, visit redcon1.com

 

Contest History

 

2013 IFBB Arnold Amateur Europe

Junior, did not place

 

2013 IFBB European Amateur Championships

Seventh, Junior Heavyweight

 

2014 IFBB Arnold Amateur Europe

Junior Champion

 

2015 IFBB European Amateur Championships

14th, Light Superweight

 

2017 IFBB Arnold Amateur Europe

Super Heavyweight and Overall

 

2017 IFBB World Amateur Championships

Second, Super Heavyweight

 

2017 IFBB Diamond Cup Portugal

Super Heavyweight and Overall

 

2017 IFBB Diamond Cup Czech Republic

Super Heavyweight and Overall

 

Training split

 

Day 1

AM: Shoulders and traps

PM: Legs

Day 2

AM: Back

PM: Chest

Day 3

AM: Arms

PM: Lower back, glutes, hams

Repeat sequence, day 7 OFF

 

Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram

 

 

DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMS  

SUBSCRIBE TO MD TODAY!

 

FOLLOW MUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT ON:

FACEBOOK: MuscularDevelopment Magazine

TWITTER: @MuscularDevelop

INSTAGRAM: @MuscularDevelopment

YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2fvHgnZ

 

GET OUR NEWSLETTER

& STAY UP TO DATE!