The walls of the run-down Park Cinema, in bustling Shar-e-Now district, are plastered with Bollywood film posters, some peeling at the edges in the heat.
"I used to exercise under the Taliban but there were very few clubs you could go to back then," said 33-year old Rahmatullah, clutching the gold cup he won in the heavyweight 90 kg class.
Resembling copper-plated statues in their tiny, skin-tight underpants, competitors showed off their painstakingly toned muscles, contorting their bodies and tensing their metallic bottoms, backs, thighs and stomachs.
Afghan police, armed with AK-47 rifles, wove through the cheering and excited audience, a reminder that conservative, Muslim Afghanistan is in the middle of a war and that the Mr. Afghanistan contest might not be to everyone's taste.
"The television only shows the men from the waist up and they say which provinces they are from, but won't name them," smiles Mohammad Reza, who trained one of the finalists.
Reza was more worried about the use of steroids and synthetic hormones by some competitors.
"Their wives are worried about their health, some have problems having children," said Reza, adding that drugs were available "everywhere".
None of the competitors interviewed by Reuters admitted to taking
performance-enhancing drugs.
"This is absolutely not allowed. All the competitors here have been tested.
There is no doubt that today none of these men are using the drugs. We fine anyone who's found using them 50,000 afs ($1,000)," said Farhid Ahmad Sediqi, head of Afghanistan's union for sport and athletics.
Shukrullah Shakili from Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous parts of the country, was named Mr. Afghanistan 2009.
"I feel so much happiness, I can't take it. I feel like my past problems are behind me. I am from Helmand, my financial situation is not that good and I don't believe it," Shakili said.
Shakili, flanked by an entourage of some 20 supporters, said he had done bodybuilding when the austere, Islamist Taliban ruled Afghanistan. He said they never bothered him and only took issue with him shaving his beard for competitions.
"The Taliban are supporters of exercise. The Taliban only object to the fact that athletes have to shave their beards. I tell them that I am a sportsman.
They see my sport, what I do and they congratulate me and they don't bother me," Shakili said.
