{"id":31966,"date":"2026-10-18T16:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T16:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=31966"},"modified":"2026-10-18T16:07:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T16:07:00","slug":"rangitikei-bodybuilder-bulls-gym-founder-stu-pearce-heads-to-las-vegas-for-inba-pnba-olympia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=31966","title":{"rendered":"Rangit\u012bkei bodybuilder, Bulls gym founder Stu Pearce heads to Las Vegas for INBA-PNBA Olympia"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI\u2019m quite humbled to be leading an amazing team of athletes who will be representing New Zealand on the world stage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He qualified through the INBA-PNBA Pacific Rim Championships in Auckland on September 12.<\/p>\n

Pearce has been around gyms since he was 17 and has a military background.<\/p>\n

He said bodybuilding \u201ckicked in\u201d during his early 40s.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, the goal certainly wasn\u2019t to take it particularly far. I\u2019d got into a role in the Air Force that I absolutely loved and I put everything I had into that position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat meant that my training, nutrition and everything else went on the back burner and by the time I finished that role, I was about 20 kilos heavier, quite out of shape and needed a big, scary challenge to kick my butt into gear.\u201d<\/p>\n

A friend suggested he enter a bodybuilding show, which he initially laughed at but ended up competing and winning at 43.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat pretty much lit this fire in me for the sport,\u201d Pearce said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the structure, I love the discipline that comes with it and I think that speaks to my military background – that regimented approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat started off as a one-and-done bucket-list challenge has turned into something that I never would have imagined and would not have thought would lead me to stepping on stage at the pinnacle of natural bodybuilding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old represented New Zealand at the Olympia in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing vibe, you get to share the stage with these phenomenal athletes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe camaraderie backstage, the sportsmanship and everything is just next level and, of course, it\u2019s Las Vegas, which is just a crazy city at the best of times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearce will compete in the classic physique category in the 50-plus division.<\/p>\n

He hoped to place as high as he could and make New Zealand, the Rangit\u012bkei District and his gym proud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling really confident and I\u2019m comfortable that I\u2019m going to bring the best physique to the stage and do the gym proud,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pearce co-founded The Foundry Gym with Dave Fenwick in June<\/a>. It now has 340 members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s really humbling is, with the gym being a relatively new entity, the support and encouragement that I\u2019ve received from not just the gym membership but the wider community has been absolutely phenomenal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks to the community spirit we get in rural New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not every day that the words \u2018Bulls\u2019 and \u2018Las Vegas\u2019 get used in the same sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearce said the gym had 1917 people through the doors in September, nearly equivalent to Bulls\u2019 population of 2110, according to Infometrics\u2019 June 2025 data.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re stoked; we couldn\u2019t have imagined that we\u2019d be doing this well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
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He said bodybuilding \u201ckicked in\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1780,"featured_media":31967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-olympia-winners"],"yoast_head":"\nRangit\u012bkei bodybuilder, Bulls gym founder Stu Pearce heads to Las Vegas for INBA-PNBA Olympia - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=31966\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rangit\u012bkei bodybuilder, Bulls gym founder Stu Pearce heads to Las Vegas for INBA-PNBA Olympia - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cI\u2019m quite humbled to be leading an amazing team of athletes who will be representing New Zealand on the world stage,\u201d he said. 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