YEREVAN / MOSCOW — My interlocutor is a 32-year-old professional athlete and fitness trainer Kirill Chakryan. He studied at the Moscow Sports Academy, specializing in theory and methodology of combat sports and weightlifting. Kirill is a bodybuilding champion of the Moscow Oblast (region) and the Moscow Championship in the weight category up to 85 kilogram (2015), ten-time champion of the Cups and Championships of Moscow in weightlifting, two-time champion of All-Russian weightlifting competitions and of weightlifting competitions among the CIS countries, candidate for master of sports in bench press and powerlifting, candidate for master of sports in bodybuilding, master of sports in weightlifting.
Dear Kirill, I am very glad to introduce you to Armenian readers internationally. We are always glad to see Armenian surnames in any field, in big sports and in such a visual sport as bodybuilding is. It is said about bodybuilders that they think only about their bodies for 24 hours – is that so?
Good afternoon, Artsvi, I also want to greet all the readers! Bodybuilding, in my opinion, is one of the most difficult sports, as it requires dedication 24 hours a day. To achieve ideal proportions, a bodybuilder as a sculptor hones his body day after day. This requires a lot of training (especially on lagging muscle groups) and also devoting a lot of time to sleep and diet. Exercises, sleep, food — all three of these components are necessary for the growth and changes in the muscles in our body. If something is missing from these three things, the result can hardly be expected. Answering your question: a bodybuilder thinks about the body for 24 hours, otherwise the result simply will not be.
Your father, Arkady Chakryan, a weightlifting coach, if I am not mistaken, was engaged in bodybuilding after 50. So age doesn’t matter in bodybuilding?
My father Arkady Borisovich Chakryan has been fond of sports since childhood. In the 1990s there was a cult of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who led many to workout and lift weights in basements. In the 1990s there were few opportunities, therefore he, like many others, trained with weights at home. Once my father brought my brother and me to the weightlifting section of CSKA (Central Sports Club of the Army), where we began our path of professional athletes, he watched our training, then he began to slowly study this sport himself, which led him to the head coach position of CSKA weightlifting. Being self-taught, he mentored masters of sports and candidates in masters of sports, also helped international champions of sports in preparing for competitions. One was Ruslan Albegov, who over time became an Olympic medalist in weightlifting. Not long time ago, my father decided to perform for the first time and try out as a bodybuilder, winning the Moscow Region Championship in bodybuilding in the master category. I think he thereby managed to set a good example to his peers and young people, that it is never too late to try yourself in something new and that even at 50 you can look good!
I believe your brother and sister also had a big influence on your development as an athlete.
