On Saturday night, Maurice Harrell will change from the polite, unassuming young man that he is to … “the Incredible Hulk.”

“You’re making me angry,” he’ll say as he rips off his shirt. “You won’t like me when I’m angry.”

Harrell’s hopes are that his themed performance will catch the interest of the audience and receive high marks from the judges at the Trojan Classic bodybuilding championship.

Harrell will be one in a long lineup of body builders who will vie for weight division championships in the first body building show hosted in Troy.

The daylong event will be held at the Claudia Crosby Theater on the campus of Troy University and gets underway at 9 a.m. with the preliminary competitions and concludes with Showtime, which begins at 5 p.m. Admission is charged.

“Body building is like an art,” Harrell said. “It’s all about muscle perfection – about balance, about proportion.”

What the average Joe knows about bodybuilding is probably limited to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, model, businessman and politician. However, bodybuilding is a “sport” that is growing in popularity both among participants and spectators.

“Bodybuilding is an interesting competition to watch,” Harrell said. “During the preliminaries, the judges tell you which poses they want to see. But when it’s ‘Showtime,’ the contestants have 60 seconds to do their routine of poses. A lot of times, the poses are done to music and a lot of the body builders have themes.

“When I competed in Austin, Texas, recently, one of the themes was Superman and another was Thriller and that was very interesting.”

Harrell has been involved in the sport of bodybuilding for only year; however, he placed fourth in Austin, Texas that was his first competition.

“I wasn’t really pleased with my finish, though,” he said. “I thought I should have placed second. I would have been pleased with that.”

Harrell is hoping for a top finish at the Trojan Classic on Saturday.

Since he is competing for the second time, Harrell said he knows more what to expect and is better prepared and will add a hint of showmanship to “Showtime.”

Harrell is a personal trainer at Troy Health and Fitness and also owns and operates a taxi service in the Troy area.

After the Trojan Classic, he plans to take a year off to build up his muscle mass and then plans to do shows in Canada.