After The Show Is Before The Show

Wow the last weekend has been quite an experience. I have depleted and reloaded my body with carbs, dehydrated it, had it "painted orange", participated in my very first bodybuilding competition, won my first bodybuilding trophy and finally had my first cheat meals in 16 weeks. Talking about an emotional roller coaster ride.

Now a week later, I am still overwhelmed by all the support and encouragement I received this weekend from my friends. Thank you for all your Facebook posts, text messages, phone calls etc. A special thank you goes out to all of those who actually made it to the show and supported me "live". Your attendance and cheers really, really meant a lot to me and I cannot thank you guys enough. I am truly blessed to have such amazing friends like you. Thank you!!!

But let's start from the beginning. 
My peak week diet went as planned and outlined in last week's post.

Wednesday afternoon I started carb loading, stopped my sodium intake and slowly reduced my water. Friday after lunch I completely stopped drinking water and basically dehydrated my body for the next 24 hours until the contest. This was probably the hardest part of the contest preparation and the most exhausting one in the 16 week period. Having temperatures well above 90°F didn't really help to make the whole water depletion experience more pleasant.

In the afternoon I got three coats of fake tan sprayed on, which by the way is a whole other story by itself, and at night I was finally allowed to eat my hamburger with bun, fries, ketchup and everything.  

Saturday morning I met up with my trainer Jack at the gym for the final preparations and to go over my posing one more time.
I packed my posing trunks, extra clothes, towels, rubber bands to pump up my muscles, all of my other supplies and obviously my food in two bags and headed to the competition. This was finally it. Almost time to shine.

I arrived an hour early at the show location, an old theater building in the outskirts of Philadelphia and was greeted by two long lines of "orange" people waiting to either purchase their NPC card, register or weigh-in.
Once I dealt with the registration process I sat down in the theater and started nibbling on my pre-contest foods.
To further dry out my body I had a mix of half of a box of Quaker Oats Granola and two cups of dry oats, which I continuously snacked on until I had to get on stage. Then, starting two hours before the show, I had a tablespoon of strawberry jam every 15 minutes and a ring of dried pineapple every hour to provide me with energy.

My little "lunch" box, dried pineapples, water, granola/oats mix and two jars of strawberry jam

After the competitor meeting we went backstage and started to get ready.
An air-conditioned dance rehearsal room served as the pump-up area, but since it was beyond crowded, many contestants, including myself chose to "set up shop" in an area right next to the stage.
If you've ever been behind the scenes of a theater stage you know exactly what it looks like. It is a big open workshop with plenty on power tools, hardware, lumber, etc. and hot as hell.

An exclusive look "behind the scenes" of a bodybuilding show

Thirty minutes before going on stage, I applied some Pro Tan Hot Stuff, put on sweat pants and a sweat shirt and started to pump up with rubber bands.
The combination of sauna like conditions in the work shop, sweat pants, Pro Tan Hot Stuff, exercising and being without water for 24 hours started finally taking its toll and I began to feel a little lightheaded. 
However when it was time to hit the stage I felt an amazing rush and mentally got into the "zone". 
All the exhaustion, thirst, pain, fatigue, hunger etc. were simply gone and I felt like this was my moment to shine. My sole focus was on keeping good posture and hitting my poses strong to show off the result of my hard work.

Novice Heavyweight "Relaxed"

Super Heavyweight Side Chest

Super Heavyweight Front Lat Spread

Super Heavyweight Abs and Thighs

I competed in two different classes at the show, Men's Bodybuilding Novice Heavyweight and Men's Bodybuilding Open Super Heavyweight. At 6'8" and 251.8 lbs. I was the tallest and heaviest contestant that day and competed against 13 other contestants in the Novice Heavyweight Class and against four others in the Open Super Heavyweight. 

After my second stage appearance I was completely exhausted. My entire body was sore, my muscles started to cramp up and my mind just drew a blank.
I was done. Spent. Finished. 
At this point I did not want to compete ever again. Hell, I didn't even want to go back for the actual show at 6pm. All I wanted was some water, food and sleep. I thought to myself well, you have done it, you can cross that off your bucket list. NEVER! AGAIN!

I walked out of the backstage area and was greeted by a number of friends who came to the show just to support me. Some of them even drove more than two hours just to be there for me. The feeling was overwhelming. Seeing them wearing "Team Six Eight Fitness" Shirts, hearing their "critique" of my performance, getting complimented, getting teased about my slightly unnatural skin color and just talking to them was highly motivational, and once I finally sipped on a bottle of water, got some electrolytes in me, and ate a hamburger and fries, my spirits were finally back. 
I couldn't wait for the evening show, so I could perform my routine and find out how I placed.

Thanks for the great support!!!

When it was finally time for the evening show, the atmosphere behind was completely different than in the morning. Since the judges had already made their decisions during prejudging, everybody was more relaxed and laid back. 
I warmed up again and went on stage to do my 60 second posing routine. Even though I competed in two different classes I had to perform my routine only once. 
Unfortunately I only ended up in ninth place in the Novice Heavyweight Class and had to put all my hope into the Super Heavyweight class. 
Since there were only four contestants over 225lbs. and the top 5 of each class were supposed to receive an award, I was pretty sure I wouldn't leave empty handed, but being the competitive person I am, I didn't want to come in last. 

Super Heavyweight Top Four

Finally the moment of truth came. We were all standing in a "relaxed" pose waiting for the judges to call out the 4th place and you can't believe the excitement I felt when they didn't call out my number for it. 

Even though I only finished third, I felt like a winner and was very proud of my award.

3rd Place Philadelphia Championships 2012 Super Heavyweight Class

In the months leading to the show, I was fantasizing about the foods I would eat afterwards. I had dreams of All-You-Can-Eat Chinese Buffets, plates loaded with pasta or greasy pizza, but when the show was finally over, I wasn't hungry at all and only wanted to drink water. I actually felt kind of bloated and slightly sick from all that granola, sweet strawberry jam and dried pineapples.
However once I got back home, my appetite slowly came back and I had some late night appetizers at a restaurant nearby.

Post Show Cheat Meal

Last Sunday I woke up completely sore and still exhausted, but managed to force myself out of bed to get some tasty breakfast.

Breakfast the day after

Now that I had my first show behind me and ate some unhealthy, but amazingly delicious, foods, I actually couldn't wait to go back to the gym and work on my weaknesses. 
Looking at the contest pictures, I realized that I will primarily need to focus on my legs, arms and chest to become more competitive. 

Yes, you read correct, MORE competitive. I want to continue with this sport and try to add more size and lean muscle mass. I have "licked blood" and am eager to get back on stage. 

The rush, the feeling of achievement, the crowd, the lights, the atmosphere, simply everything is highly addicting and I am definitely hooked. 

Since I am already in show shape, I am planning on maintaining my current physique and maybe even improving some of my weak areas and doing another show in six weeks. 

My next competition is going to be the Delaware Championships in Wilmington, DE, which is another National Physique Committee (NPC) sponsored event, so Sunday afternoon I was back in pre-contest mode.  

This past week I switched my diet back to what it has been over the past 15 weeks, dropped the Glutamine , reduced my vitamin C and B6 intake to "normal" levels and started again with OxyElite Pro . 

Even though most of my workout remained the same, I made some major changes to my leg routine to try adding some size and definition to my quads over the next couple of weeks and moved my leg day to Saturdays. 

I am not sure if it was the OxyElite Pro or the leftover carbs from the weekend but I had some intense workouts this week with plenty of energy and motivation. August 11th cannot come soon enough. 

Delaware Championships

When: Saturday August 11, 2012
Where: The Delaware Theater Company, 200 Water Street Wilmington DE 19801. 
Prejudging begins at noon and the finals are scheduled for 6pm. 

Your support would be again greatly appreciated!!!

The "fun" is over, now back to work.