Showtime

Don't worry!!! Relax!!!

No, you did not confuse the dates and missed my first competition. It is still scheduled for June 23, 2012 and as of today, there is still plenty of time for you to plan your attendance and to get your T-Shirt or Tank Top to show your support .

This week's post is only about my trip to the NPC Lehigh Valley Championships 2012 on Saturday May 26th, 2012 at Dieruff High School in Allentown PA .

I have never been to an actual bodybuilding competition, so before hitting the stage myself on June 23rd, I wanted to see one and get an idea about how they are organized, what is actually happening, what kind of environment it is, etc.

So I went on the National Physique Committee's website a couple of weeks ago to check out their schedule page about any upcoming shows close by. 

It happened that the Lehigh Valley show was not only within a manageable 2 hour driving rage but also fell on a weekend that I had no other plans.
Long story short, last Saturday I took a little road trip to Allentown.
Since I had plans that evening, I just wanted to see the prejudgment and got to the event just on time.
Besides the simple venue (High School auditorium) the show was very interesting and instructive, being the first live bodybuilding event that I attended.
Seeing the organization of an event like this, the procedures, what is expected from the contestants and the different routines and poses really made this trip worthwhile.
It was interesting to see the different calibers of competitors, not only between the various classes, but also within the same class. Just by looking at the athletes and their shape, posing and stage appearance, you could easily spot who had some show experience, who worked on their poses, who had someone experienced helping with the contest preparation  and who followed his or her diet to a tee.
I took a lot away from this show, which will hopefully help me with my preparation and on the actual show day, so it was definitely money and time well spent.

Women's Bodybuilding

Men's Physique

Master Men's Bodybuilding "Relaxed"

Master Men's Bodybuilding "Front Double Biceps"

Novice Men's Bodybuilding "Relaxed"

Novice Men's Bodybuilding "Front Double Biceps"

Open Men's Bodybuilding "Relaxed"

So enough of the show, back to me. 

I am now only four weeks out and starting to make the first adjustments to my diet. While I have been already on a very strict diet for the past 12 weeks to reduce my body fat, I will now have to fine tune my body to achieve the desired dryness/hardness for June 23rd. 

To appear more vascular and exhibit a dense hardness I will have to decrease my muscles' water retention and make sure they appear full and hard. 

The first step to achieve this within the next 27 days, I had to remove the Creatine from my diet. Up until now I would add 5 grams of Creatine to my pre- and post-workout meals, which has helped me over the past weeks to maintain and for certain muscle groups even to increase my strength and mass. 

While this was obviously desirable, it also caused my body, and especially my muscles to store extra water, which I will now need to loose to appear more defined and cut on stage.  

Let's see if this slight adjustment will have the desired effect and if I can maintain my mass and strength for the upcoming weeks.

Dry, Drier, Driest

June 23rd is the new June 16th

It's official, the decision has been made. Instead of starting at the OCB organized Central Eastern Seaboard on June 16, 2012 in Wilmington, DE, I will be competing a week later at the Philadelphia Championships in Swarthmore, PA.
This competition is sponsored by the National Physique Committee (NPC), one of the premier amateur physique organization in the world. The NPC was founded in 1982 and many top athletes in bodybuilding, fitness, figure, bikini and physique have started their careers in the it or used it as a stepping stone to move on to the International Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness (IFBB) Professional League.

After a lot of thinking and consulting with my coach Jack, we came to the conclusion that multiple reasons favor the Philadelphia show date and that the event should be a better first time show for me. 

First and foremost, the actual show date of June 23rd much better accommodates my busy work schedule. As I mentioned in my previous posts, I have to fly out to Las Vegas, NV in June and this business trip falls right into the week leading into the Central Eastern Seaboard show. I am worried that all my hard work will go to waste if I have such a distraction and major stress in a week where I will drop my carb intake completely and drastically reduce my water, as well as sodium intake. An additional week should give my body enough time to rest and recover from the exertions of traveling across country.

Second, I was already kind of looking ahead and thinking about competing in the Delaware State/Delaware Open Championships on August 11th, as well. Since this show is also organized by the NPC, it makes more sense to just do two shows within the same organization, instead of doing two shows with different ones and paying two quite pricy membership fees. 

Third, after looking closer at last year's OCB event, the competitors and their body types, I feel that with my body size and composition I would not really meet the criteria by which OCB competitors are judged.
Being 6'8" tall I have already naturally a slight disadvantage compared to other shorter bodybuilders in terms of proportion and width but think I that I will feel more comfortable, with my the mass and frame, to compete within the NPC.

Since the "new" show date is only seven days after the initially planned event, I will just continue with my preparation the way I have been. The only downside is that I will have to wait an additional week before I can finally "eat" again.

For all my friends who want to support me at my very first bodybuilding show, here are the exact dates and times:

Philadelphia Championships
When: Saturday June 23, 2012
Where: Players Club of Swarthmore, 614 Fairview Rd Swarthmore PA 19081. 
Prejudging begins at noon and the finals are scheduled for 6pm. 

Your support would be greatly appreciated!!!

With this "slight change", I am now officially half way through my contest preparation and, as of today, 48 days out of my first competition. Everything is slowly coming together and the results of changes in my diet and work out, as well as increased cardio and posing are finally starting to show. At his morning's weight-in, the scale read exactly 265.0 lbs., a drop of roughly 26 lbs since the beginning of my journey on March 4th. My energy levels and spirit is still up and my stress level is, without the worries of competing right after a stressful trip, way down. June 23rd, here I come!!!

Once you're halfway home, you know that you can probably get the rest of the way there.