"It depends how serious you want to take it," said Copeland, 34. "Bodybuilding to me is what everybody does when they go to the gym, but there are different levels to it."

Competitive bodybuilding goes beyond the intense preparation spent in the weight room. Dieting plays an important role in one's appearance while focus keeps bodybuilders on track.

"At the competitive level, there is a lot of focus and commitment," said Copeland, who has been involved in it for eight years.

Mike Castillo, who is also competing tomorrow, said dieting is one of the challenging aspects of bodybuilding. While he restricts himself to foods such as chicken, fish, turkey and complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, yams and white and brown rice, staying away from local food is the hard part.

"It's disciplining yourself at staying away from that for three to four months," said Castillo, 34, of Kapolei. "When you go to family gatherings, graduations, birthdays, there's always good food in front of you. That's one of the biggest challenges."

Copeland works out as much as three times a day while Castillo hits the weights twice a day.

"It's very intense with the lifting, especially when the carbs are a little bit lower and it's harder to push yourself," Copeland said. "Mentally, that's one of the biggest challenges to mentally push yourself."

Castillo and Copeland got involved in bodybuilding because they were looking for something competitive in nature.

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What: Hawaiian Islands Bodybuilding Championships Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall When: 6:30 p.m. tomorrow Admission: $20 to $40. Also: In addition to the Hawaiian Islands Bodybuilding Championships, other titles up for grabs are the Junior Hawaiian Islands Championships, Over 35 Masters Championship and Women's Hawai'i Fitness and Figure contests. Guest posers: Matt Duvall, Carla Freda and Johnnie Jackson. Duvall and Freda won national championships last year. Jackson, a former light heavyweight champion, will be attempting to deadlift 700-pounds in three repetitions.

"The doctors advised me to stay away from heavy lifting and to do rehab, but being competitive myself, I couldn't find myself doing nothing," said Castillo, who set state powerlifting records.

Unlike powerlifting, Castillo found himself using moderate weight amounts with strict form. After doing well in his first competition, he decided to give competitive bodybuilding a shot.

In 2002, Castillo won four local shows and since then, has been switching among bodybuilding, powerlifting and strong man events. Few do all three, especially within one year.

"It is (difficult) but that's a lot of the reason why most of the athletes call me nuts," said Castillo, who set a world bench press record in his weight class in March. "It's a personal challenge knowing I can push myself to the limits and also a good feeling to know I'm one of the few elites who can do that."

Learning new things such as how the body reacts to macronutrients, when to take certain nutrients and making his body look bigger on stage has kept Copeland in bodybuilding all these years.

"Everytime I do it, I learn something and that gives me the control to know that I can make constant changes," said Copeland, who works as a personal trainer. "Learning each time is the fun part and it gives me the confidence to know that you're able to achieve any results you want and be able to keep doing them."

The winner of the Hawaiian Islands Bodybuilding Championships qualifies for nationals.

"My main goal is to qualify for nationals and ultimately place in top five in a national level show," said Copeland, who has competed in 16 shows, placing first in four of them, second in six of them and third in three.

"This is considered the biggest bodybuilding show in our state," Castillo said. "Winning that would be pretty prestigous and self-gratifying for putting myself in all this stress."

Castillo, who owns a supplement shop, sees winning as leading to things like getting a pro PRO card and sponsorships.

"We don't consider ourselves muscle-bound people," Castillo said. "With our physiques, it can take us to different avenues in our life.

"If I fare well, if I do good, I'd like it to become a career of mine."