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The Question: Entering your first bodybuilding competition can be nerve-racking. Many first-timers can use a prep guideline (that includes training, nutrition, & supplementation tips) to be prepared and prevent making crucial mistakes. How should one prepare for their first bodybuilding competition? What are some common mistakes that a first-timer makes when entering a bodybuilding contest? How can they prevent these mistakes? Bonus Question: What mental challenges should a first timer be prepared to fight as the competition near? Show off your knowledge to the world! The Winners:
2nd place - 50 in store credit. 3rd place - 25 in store credit. To use your credit, e-mail Justin @ justin.podzimek@bodybuilding.com for more info.
Preparing for your first bodybuilding contest is definitely a big decision to make. Making this decision, I think one should be ready to do the following:
If you get those severely in check, I feel as though the rest becomes a little easier. The first and most important thing one can do to prepare, is evaluate their own physique. How lean am I now? How long do I need to diet to be ready? What type of metabolism do I have (endomorphic, mesomorphic, ectomorphic)?, and what body parts do I need to give more attention to, in order to have the most balanced and symmetrical physique I can when I stand on stage.
Keep the carbohydrates from sources such as:
The only time I see fit, to include any sugar or refined carbohydrate, is in the morning. Any other time of the day can cause insulin spikes unneeded, which will lead to more stored body fat.
Here is a sample diet for a 225 lbs. bodybuilder, for his first 2 weeks of dieting: Meal 1 Meal 2 (Pre-workout) Meal 3 (Post-workout) Meal 4 Meal 5 Meal 6 After this two week period, one would asses his physique and the gains he has made. If you are endomorphic, chances are you will need to continually drop carbohydrates. If you are ectomorphic, you might want to keep carbohydrates in as much as possible in order to stay as full as possible, but you also are more insulin sensitive and therefore will need to carbs to maintain your hard earned muscle. Example Of Next Two Weeks For Endomorphic Carb Consumption:
Weeks 3-4: Drop carbohydrates by 25 and assess. Example Of Next Two Weeks For Ectomorphic Carb Consumption:
Weeks 3-4: Keep carbs the same and asses. This is an example of how to properly diet for a contest. Remember, be patient and I will cover a little bit more extreme strategies for dieting later in this article.
One knows, that when preparing for a contest, that he or she will need to have a cardiovascular training plan nearly as strong as their diet and strength training plans in order to achieve that crisp, contest winning conditioning. What I recommend is that a person inserts 2, low to moderately intense 30 minute cardio sessions per week, as well as one high intensity cardio session, completing a minimum of 15 intervals, per week. The combination of low-moderate, as well as high intensity cardio, is the fact that bodybuilder will get the benefits of both. Low-moderate intensity cardio will increase blood-flow, uptake of nutrients, and an accelerated metabolism.
Also, its important to note, that just as an ectomorph will be able to consume more carbohydrate during the diet, he will also probably need less cardio. An endomorph, is the opposite end and will most likely need to increase his cardio throughout the contest prep. Here is a sample of a cardio routine for the first 2 weeks of the prep: Monday: 30 minutes on the elliptical, treadmill, or stationary bike. Fast walking, as well as jogging can also apply. Wednesday: HIIT (High intensity interval training): 15, 40 yd sprints with a minute rest in between sprints. Friday: 30 minutes on the elliptical, treadmill, or stationary bike. Fast walking, as well as jogging can also apply. Assess after 2 weeks and add or subtract frequency as necessary.
The third piece of the puzzle is strength training. The biggest thing a competitor needs to realize is that you are not using this time to gain muscle mass. You are using this time to refine, shape and condition your muscle that you worked hard for up to this point. Related Strength Training Articles:
Here are some things to remember when choosing your workout program for the contest preparation period:
Here is my FAVORITE pre-contest training program known to many as Power/Hypertrophy, a term coined by Layne Norton pro-natural bodybuilder and Bodybuilding.com writer. Power/Hypertrophy training consists of 2 power days, upper body, then lower body. These days are to build and maintain strength and are more of a powerlifting approach.
This will keep the weight heavy, but keep it from being in that maximal range where people tend to get injured. It then comprises of a day off. The next three consecutive days are hypertrophy days and these days you want to have a little higher volume while keeping reps between 10-20. NOTE: I've trained body parts up to 3x per week with no injury or overtraining experienced. Day 1: Upper Body Power: I prioritize Chest and Biceps in this workout because they are my weakest body parts and I want to hit them with as much intensity as I can. Typically here's how this day looks:
Day 2: Lower Body Power: Same mentality.
 Click Here For A Printable Log Of jb_pl_42's Day 2 Workout.Day 3: Off Day 4, 5, 6: Split your body parts up together (usually upper body, body parts into push-pull - i.e. Chest/Back, Chest/Biceps, Back/Triceps, Legs/Shoulders). Back and triceps are two of my better body parts so I keep those together on Day 4. On Day 5, I hit legs first, and then a small volume of shoulders as I feel those are my best. On day 6 I hit chest and biceps, they are my weakest and I give them the most volume. On all these hypertrophy days I never go below 10 reps and sometimes go as high as 30. You can use the barbell/heavy exercises you use on power days, as well as incorporating other machines and isolation movements into your routine on these days.
Besides the obvious, one thing people fail to do before their first contest is practice their posing. Practicing your posing until you have it down pat, is a must. Picking simple music, with a simple routine for your first competition is also the way to go. Remember, as with diet, training and cardio - be consistent by practicing your posing multiple nights every week and picking a posing routine and music that allows you to feel confident onstage and gives you a high rate of execution on each pose. You can look amazing, but if you haven't practiced your posing, it will show up on competition day.
Diet, cardio, and weightlifting are the three physical aspects of the contest prep that will develop your physique into a lean and conditioned body. However, these don't always go so smooth and there are mistakes that can be made. Here are some of the common mistakes that a first-timer can make when entering his first bodybuilding contest:
To address mistake #1, I think it's evident most - when a competitor is not honest with himself and doesn't give himself long enough to diet - on stage. The lines aren't there, they appear with little or no detail or separation, and they really don't look like a bodybuilder should look on stage. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF AND GIVE YOURSELF LONG ENOUGH TO DIET.
Add 2, low no-carb days per week, into your diet for 2-4 weeks. If initially, dropping carbs by 25 grams wasn't enough, add these two low no-carb days into your diet and give yourself 4 weeks to evaluate. You can only incorporate strategies like this if you GIVE YOURSELF ENOUGH TIME. So be patient and make adjustments. The biggest problem this mistake creates is it leads to mistake #2.
Mistake #2 was created by all the so called "gurus" that feel there needs to be some drastic water-sodium manipulation during the final week of contest prep. This is bogus. If you aren't lean enough, you aren't lean enough. If you didn't lose enough body fat, then no matter what you do with your sodium and water, you will NOT look better onstage and you risk health issues from not having enough water in the body and severe cramping that can lead to more complicated medical matters than I am allowed to give an opinion on. Again, keep things simple and avoid drastic measures such as this.
Addressing mistake #3 - DON'T make a drastic change in your training. Keep your volume in a range that your body is used to. If you are a low volume trainer and want to incorporate more volume into your contest prep because you feel like you need to, increase it gradually, just like with carbs. Don't go from 150 grams of carbs a day, to zero and expect to be able to stick to your diet. Don't go from 50 sets a week, to 100. You'll risk injury and overtraining.
As the competition date nears, I feel the biggest mental challenge people face is who else is in the competition? How do they look? Am I better than them?
You can only control what you do during your prep and nothing else. If your going to be 200 lbs. at contest, your going to be that weight and if someone comes in weighing 220 lbs., who cares? That's them. It has nothing to do with you. The biggest thing you can do is focus on yourself throughout your prep, focus on being the best you, you can be and the rest will take care of itself.
Bodybuilding is an individual sport and nothing you do during your prep, can affect the look of someone else come stage day. Be all you can be. Nothing more, nothing less. You are there to compete against yourself, let the judges decide the rest. And that's all I have, hopefully you first-timers will gain something from this and have a successful contest prep, for your first bodybuilding show. Bodybuilding is a great sport and it can bring the individual to heights he has never experienced before. Always remember, do it because it's fun!
jb_pl_42
Having taken on the task of my first bodybuilding competition at the advanced age of 47, I took a very thorough approach. My first step was to watch as many competitions as possible. Not easy to do in a small town in Utah, but thanks to BB.com and all it's resources and links, for the 8 months that elapsed between my decision to try a competition and the day itself, I was able to watch a variety of shows on my computer, from amateur to pro, natural, to not so natural, men, women, teens, any show I could.
USE all the guidelines you can, and distill them to fit YOU!! Don't listen to any ONE person, unless you've hired them specifically for that purpose.
Posing is different in each. Supplement testing is different in each. Judging is different in each. It is YOUR responsibility to find out how your particular show is entered, tested, run, and judged! All that info is on the organization web sites. Once you know what show you want to do, you can set your training and nutrition schedule. I went so far as to e-mail and call specific show sponsors and organization heads to be sure I didn't use anything I shouldn't. (I don't use anything you can't get at a supplement store in the mall, anyway, but some places don't even allow over the counter diuretics, and some allergy meds can be a problem. It's best to remove all doubt.)
I have my diet plan mapped out down to the last week including show day! (Again, like with your training, the diet plan is an individual thing, and everyone's opinions are only their opinions unless you're paying them to get you results.) Having a trainer and nutritionist is GREAT if you can afford them. Otherwise, if like me you're on your own, take in as much info as you can and personalize it. No one should know you better than YOU.
Elbow higher than shoulders on double bicep poses. Elbows forward on the same plane as the chest in lat spreads. Pose from the legs up, always exhale, smile, chest high, etc. etc. There are enough excellent materials on proper posing technique that being ignorant of at least the fundamentals is simply unacceptable. Again, a live coach, GREAT idea if you have one. Even pros benefit from a trained objective eye. But for a first show, an instructional DVD (and BB.com has several, ALL of which I ordered and studied) a mirror, and a video camera can do quite adequately. Posing is also a great workout in the final month.
Too many variables to cover unless you've honed in on YOUR show. Generally, they're all similar, but details matter. As much as detailed obliques, pose sequence and length of music for free posing are important details. Get your music ready ASAP, and your routine choreographed ASAP. The sooner that's done, the sooner you can get familiar and comfortable with your presentation.
Get your tanner early and be sure you know what it will look like. Darker is usually a little better. Too light never shows well on stage.
Get your posing suits. Plural. Have a back-up to the back up of your back up. Stuff happens. Be ready for spills, stains, etc. Have your own bands for pumping up. Amateur pump up rooms are less equipped, more crowded, and less reliable than a pro show. Have flip-flops to wear. Pack a bag with:
  Click To Enlarge. Pack Rubber Gloves In Case You Need Help Finishing Your Tan.
All the things I've mentioned to do to prepare are areas where a first timer can make mistakes.
If, however, you follow the general outline I gave and the study advice I gave, and have done your homework and practice EARLY in the process, from posing to color, and used the mirror, a knowledgeable friend, the video, and all the tools at your disposal, your confidence should be HIGH. You're ready. Your huge, dark, lean, dry, confident - READY. Now, pump up, oil up, and go strut your stuff!!
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