PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: Impoverished Haiti is not renowned for its bodybuilders. Only a handful of gyms exist — air-conditioned ones where the country’s tiny elite and foreign aid workers work out, and outdoor ones used mostly by Haitians of modest means. But the country’s small bodybuilding community got a rare chance over the weekend to show off their cut and well-oiled muscles.

Ten bodybuilders, half in the medium-weight category, half in the heavy-weight, took the stage at an athletic center in the Carrefour district outside the capital of Port-au-Prince. A few dozen supporters showed up to cheer as the athletes flexed their pecs, lats, biceps and triceps, dancing like robots to American pop music.

Few in Haiti practice bodybuilding. The required protein shakes and vitamins are brought to the country by friends and relatives, and gym memberships cost money that might otherwise go toward food or a child’s education.