An Austin man recently began competing in the world of body building and he’s finding some early success.

Vahana Dorcis, 26, of Austin took third place out of about 100 entrees at a recent FAME competition in Flordia and he’s looking to do some more.

FAME stands for Fitness, Athletes, Models and Entertainment and Dorcis said the events are just as much about modeling as they are with phsyique. He said competitors can sometimes find jobs from agencies that are in attendance at the events.

“It’s not just about body building. It’s more about health with the FAME organization and anyone can go over there and compete,” said Dorcis, who has lived in Austin for six years.

Before he competed at FAME, Dorcis had competed in a few National Physique Committee competions, where he took third twice, fourth once and first once. Two of those events where in Wisconsin and two were in the Twin Cities.

But he said the competitors are much too big at the NPC level, and he’d rather stick to competing at natural events.

“Some of the guys at the NPC are like monsters,” Dorcis said. “I’ve got a better chance of winning with FAME.”

Dorcis, who is a trainer, got the idea of body building from some of his clients. He gave it a try and found that the diet and posing are the two hardest parts, but he enjoys the workouts — of which he does at least four times a week regularily and up to seven days a week during the body building season.

“It’s more of a lifestyle. You’ve got to have some discipline,” he said.

Fatigue is sometimes an issue, but Dorcis said when the workouts pay off, it’s a lot easier to stay motivated.

“There are days when I get tired. Then I’ll just do a little bit or take a day or two off. It’s not that bad,” he said. “Once you keep seeing changes it’s not that hard to keep going to the gym, otherwise it’s like ‘why am I doing this.’”

The next big competition for Dorcis will likely be in November of 2010.