If you have the will power, discipline and work ethic to get your body in the best shape ever, why not take it a couple of steps further and compete in a bodybuilding or physique competition?
If you do not know where to start or what to do, maybe this article can answer some questions.
When I decided to do my very first bodybuilding show this year, I had no real clue about contest preparation and timing, and almost completely relied on the expertise of befriended bodybuilders.
Now that I have a competition "under my belt" and am in the middle of preparing for another one, I thought it might be beneficial to write down my contest preparation as some form of step-by-step competition guide.
So if you are thinking about entering a bodybuilding competition yourself, maybe the following "timeline" can give you a rough idea of what to expect and help you with the timing of the steps that go into a proper preparation.
The first step is to decide what organization you would like to compete in and then choose a competition. There are several organizations out there, with the NPC, the National Physique Committee as the largest one in terms of members and offered events. Once you picked an organization and a date, the actual planning can start.
12-16 Weeks Out:
Diet
Depending on their current physique and bodies' shapes most bodybuilders begin with their competition diets 8-16 weeks out from the competition. If they are maintaining a very lean physique all year round, they might find a shorter period (4-6 weeks) sufficient enough.
The competition diet is a full-time commitment and probably the hardest part of the contents preparation. Workouts and cardio sessions may last for one or two hours, but following a strict competition diet is a 24 hour job. It will require a lot of will power, proper planning and a good amount of preparation. The ultimate goal of this step is to loose the maximum amount of body fat, NOT body weight, while maintaining as much lean muscle mass as possible. However once you start loosing body fat, you will also loose some muscle mass. The rule of thumb, if done correctly, is usually one pound of lean muscle mass per three pounds of body fat. So knowing your body's actual daily caloric intake requirement is key. There will be no room for "cheat meals" or even small "snacks" outside of your meal plan.
You should monitor your progress every week by taking pictures, measuring your body fat and recording it along with your body weight and measurements of key body parts (circumference of your neck, chest, arms, waist, quads and calves). Once you get close to the actual show date these changes should be recorded and compared daily to make adjustments to your diet and workouts.
Workout
Besides starting your competition diet, you might also consider making slight changes to your workouts and putting more emphasis on isolation exercises and focus on perfect form. With this being said, the goal is also to maintain the hard gained muscle mass so compound exercises and heavy lifts should still be a major part of your training routine.
However with fewer carbs in your diet and decreasing body weight, your strength will eventually also decline, so no false pride when it's time to drop some plates to avoid a sloppy form or low reps.
In addition to lifting weights and doing cardio, you should also practice your posing for 15 minutes on a daily basis. It is important to know all mandatory poses and being able to hold them for an extended period. Once you have the basics down and can hold them without shaking or cramping up, you can start working on your individual posing routine.
6 Weeks Out:
If you haven't already done so, now might be the right time to finally register for the competition and start acquiring all necessary supplies (see post "Supplies, supplies, supplies for a list of "competition essentials").
Ordering your supplies now should give you enough time in case something is back ordered, needs to be custom-made or exchanged.
Once your paperwork is submitted and your registration is official, the entire preparation process becomes even more real and the level of intensity increases.
4 Weeks Out:
In order to start depleting your body from excess water storage, you should stop taking creatine at this time if it has been part of your competition diet.
If you're like me and not blessed with natural dark skin and don't frequent a tanning bed on a regular basis, you might want to think about starting with it now so you can get a solid base tan over the next month.
Most organizations require some sort of membership in order to compete in one of their events, so if you don't want to wait in line on the day of the show, you should also consider getting a membership card at this point. Completing all the necessary paperwork now should allow for enough time to have it mailed, processed and returned in time for the competition.
3 Weeks Out:
To achieve further water depletion I significantly increase my vitamin C and vitamin B6 intake at this point.
2 Weeks Out:
14 days before the show you should increase your daily posing practice to at least 30 minutes and continue working on your routine. If you haven't picked a music track for it you also might want to get on that so you can start practicing with music and fine tune your timing.
At the two week mark, I also I bump up my glutamine intake and start taking sugar-free nitric oxide supplements to increase my vascularity. My preferred nitric oxide booster is Vasotropin from Gaspari Nutrition
.Final Week:
As the preparation process enters the last week before the competition, everybody has their own method to appear as ripped and vascular as possible on Saturday. Common methods are fat loading, carb depletion and loading, sodium loading and depletion and playing with the water intake. However since every body is different and reacts different, there is no general formula and you will have to experiment what works best for your body to achieve the desired physique.
I am still experimenting myself with different methods, but for the Delaware Championships, my schedule looks like this. As you can tell, my peak "week" will already start this Thursday, 10 days before the event.
Thursday until Monday
For a period of five consecutive days I will follow a carb depletion diet and workout plan. The idea is to completely drain the muscles' glycogen storage and prime them for carbohydrate loading.
In addition to a diet made up almost entirely of protein and fat, high-rep/low-weight workouts in the morning and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio sessions in the afternoon should further accelerate the depletion process and prepare the muscles for the carb loading phase.
Each workout and cardio session will also be followed by posing practice.
Tuesday
Tuesday's morning workout session will mark the last actual weight training and cardio session for the week and will be a high intensity, full body workout to reduce the muscles' glycogen storage as much as possible. Following immediately after this workout, the carb loading process will start to replenish the empty glycogen stores.
Wednesday
The carb loading process continues, however the carb intake will be reduced from the previous day and the amount of protein increases.
Practicing the mandatory poses and working on the posing routine should be done for at least 30 minutes.
Thursday
The Thursday before the show is usually my "grooming day".
Besides getting a hair cut and trimming fingernails and toenails, I also remove all unwanted body hair that day. To avoid any misunderstanding, I do not wait until two days before the show to completely shave, wax or whatsoever my body, I just re-shave. Hair removal is quite a procedure and very time intensive, so I remove it all several weeks before the show and just "maintain my hairlessness" until the competition. There are various methods to get rid of your hair, which I will cover in more detail in one of my future posts.
Since I am slightly OCD, I also like to pack my bag for the competition (rubber bands, towels, posing suits, paperwork, extra clothes, supplies) that night, so I have everything ready to go and an extra day, Friday for any last minute errands.
Continue practicing your poses and routine.
Friday
After posing in the morning, try to relax the rest of the day and get off your feet as much as possible.
One day before the competition would also be a good time to get your spray tan on. Regardless of the color of your skin, one or more coats of spray tan should be applied, since the darker you are, the more defined your physique will appear on stage.
Since I am personally not a big fan of orange bathrooms, I just take advantage of professional services and have them "paint" me (and clean up the mess afterward).
Prepare and pack your food and snacks for the next day and get a good night's rest.
Saturday
It's finally show time.
Everything that can be done is done by now.
Make sure to have your bag, cooler, food, two sets of posing suits, some extra towels and cash for unexpected expenses (parking, food, fees, etc.) and head to the event to be on time for the registration and competitor meeting.
If you, despite any common sense, have not registered for the event yet and/or need to obtain an organization membership, plan to arrive at the venue way early to give yourself enough time to stand in multiple lines and take care of the paperwork. Also, most events will only accept cash for registration, membership fees, etc. so stopping at an ATM along the way might be a good idea.
Once you are signed in, it is finally time to enjoy the fruits of your hard labor and to compete.
August 11th is only two more weeks away, so in accordance with the above timeline I will be looking at some major changes in my diet and workout regiment this week. Every single one of the next 14 days is already planned out, so I know exactly what to expect and can prepare my meals in advance.
For the five days of my carb depletion diet, I have 320 oz. of chicken breast, 21 gallons of spring water, 4 lb.s of lean steak, 4 lbs. of lean ground turkey, 3 bags of broccoli and 1 bottle of extra virgin oil on my shopping list. As mentioned above, I will start this process on Thursday, so I moved my last full leg workout before the show from Saturday to Wednesday. My leg workouts have been pretty intense over the past weeks, so I will definitely need some carbs before and after the gym. Doing legs earlier should also give them more time to rest and allow for some of the excess water under the skin to disappear.
"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."
Vince Lombardi
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