In 1991, at age 21, Jon Somers competed in his first-ever bodybuilding competition.
In 2021, at age 51, Somers competed in his second-ever such competition.
Now Somers’ unique journey will be shared with the world in a unique way: a home-grown documentary film following his trip from training to centre stage.
“I’ve got this weird viewpoint on life, that a lot of people talk about what they could have or should have done around significant opportunities,” Somers said. “My viewpoint is, if you have something you want to do like that, make it factual. Capture it. And that’s what it was for me—I didn’t know how it was going to work out, but I was going to capture it.”
“Campaign On: A Lifetime of Athletic Pursuit” is set to premiere in his hometown of Saskatoon on Oct. 8. The feature-length documentary, directed by Saskatoon’s Ryan Bruce, follows Somers through his 77-day journey to lose roughly 50 points, get himself in competition shape and be a part of his first bodybuilding competition in 30 years.
There is a difference between being an athlete and being a bodybuilder, especially one with an eye to competitions. As Somers puts it, even for someone who regularly works out and participates in sports like he does, bodybuilding requires a level of specific commitment and intensity—as well as the physical and mental toll—that is captured in “Campaign On.”
“I wasn’t sure if my body was going to hold up, to be honest,” Somers said. “I knew what kind of volume of training was required, and that was probably the most shocking part, was just how aggressive I had to be in the gym twice a day for that amount of time.”
Despite his life and career taking him in a different direction than continuing his competitive bodybuilding, Somers said he never lost the drive or desire to pursue athletics. The desire to compete never left, either—which is why he told his close family friend Ryan Bruce over lunch one day that he had decided to get himself into competition shape to be in the Amateur Olympia bodybuilding event in Florida in 2021.
For Bruce, the story for the documentary was evident from the start, even if the shape of the story changed over time.
“For me as a filmmaker, it’s a person’s pursuit of a long-lost dream that will forever change their life and make them exactly who they always wish they were,” he said. “You’re shedding these things that weren’t making you your authentic self, but are difficult to let go.”
Both Bruce and Somers said what sets this documentary apart, besides Somers’ compelling story, is how intimate it gets. Much of the footage in the documentary isn’t sit-down interviews, but footage taken by Somers’ sons during the days leading to the competition. The almost behind-the-scenes nature of the film lets people get a glimpse into the kind of intense journey that comes with this kind of endeavour.
The documentary is set to premiere at a sold-out event in downtown Saskatoon, as well as come to YouTube at the same time. The film premiere party is a rare kind of occurrence for Saskatoon, and Bruce said he was excited to bring this big project back to his home and community.
“Why I think I was the right person to tell this story, is because I had a dream of being a filmmaker and that didn’t exist in the community I grew up in. I had to leave home to pursue that,” Bruce said. “It means the world to me to come home and show this movie that I’m proud of to my friends and family and community, and hopefully inspire the community to get behind some of these big ideas in terms of telling our stories and how validating that is.”
Somers credited his family and his friends and training partners in the gym for helping make this second go at a competition a reality. And his pursuits aren’t ending when the credits roll—Somers is working with other athletes to create an athletic community they’ve titled “Old Guard Athletics” that he hopes will create a pipeline from younger to more senior athletes around the world. The documentary premiere is part of a launch event for the community.
Part of the title for the film “Campaign On” comes from that kind of mindset—what Somers describes as a sort of relentless pursuit in athletics, the kind of relentless pursuit that drove him to take on that three-decades-later bodybuilding competition in his 50s.
While the documentary might give insight into many different topics, the core messaging stays strong.
“Our life is full of campaigns, small and long,” Somers said. “If you have a lifetime of athletic pursuit, just campaign on. I never thought I’d have another shot at a bodybuilding competition, but I did it … whatever the next campaign is, have a go at it.”
