Skin: Color and Tone
Did you know? The largest organ in your body is your skin, your liver comes in second. What does this mean? Your skin is what the judges and everyone else sees of you. And, being the visual creatures we are, it's good advice to take a little extra time out to make sure that you have a flattering skin tone and color during the competition.
There's actually quite a few things you can do to improve your appearance in this area. One of the biggest sources of blotchy skin or a bad complexion is junk food and chocolate. As a seasoned bodybuilder who is into health, dieting down, and getting cut up this probably isn't too big of a problem. Nonetheless, diet is extremely important to your skin and overall health in the long run. It's recommended to eat at least 5-6 servings of fruits and veggies per day. Also, make sure your body is getting all the vitamins and minerals it needs with a good multivitamin/mineral supplement. This will keep your skin and body healthy and looking good.
Another problem that plagues bodybuilders is stretch marks. Avoid massively bulking up during the off-season, rather go for the cut look, eat right, and gain about 10 lbs. Vitamin E lotion will keep your skin moisturized, soft, and without as many scars or wrinkes.
Of coarse, when talking about your skin looking good, the most common thought probably relates to your tan. Unless you have naturally dark skin, you will want your skin to have a deep tan for the competition. Darker skin shows the striations in your muscles better and looks better than pale skin.
How do you get tan? Well, you can take the more permanent natural approach...sun tanning and tanning beds...or you can use a route that is becoming more and more popular...tanless lotions and creams, pigment pills, or a combination of both.
First, a natural sun-derived tan looks good and is more permanent. The only drawback is that if you lie out too long and get burnt, you increase your chance for melanoma--especially if you have fair skin. Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer. In this year alone, more than 44,000 cases will be diagnosed. Those who are at the highest risk expose themselves to the sun for intense, short periods of time. That's why sunscreen is very important. No matter how dark you are, you should at least put on a light amount of sunscreen. Obviously the lighter you are, the stronger your sunscreen must be. This way you will block most of the harmful rays that burn and let in rays that tan.
Next, another popular method for tanning in recent years has been tanning beds. The ultraviolet lights allow minimal burning rays to touch your skin, while mainly tanning. Fair skin tanners should go only 15 minutes max with maybe even a little sunscreen on sensitive areas like the nose. The longest duration anyone should tan in a bed is 30 minutes.
Last, the desire for artificial "tan-in-a-bottle" is growing faster than ever before. More and more people are deciding to stay out of the harmful sun and "put on the tan". This can be a truly effective method for competing bodybuilders. In the 80's, a lot of "instant tan" products left skin looking yellow or orange...not natural looking at all. But since then, Jan Tana, Pro Tan, and others have come out with revolutionary tanning products that work and look just as well, if not even better than a natural tan in some cases. Another popular method used to darken the skin is by taking a new ASN product called Canthaxanthin. It uses the natural food substance called canthaxin to darken the pigment in your skin safe and effectively from the inside out.
Many bodybuilders find a combination of tanning options to be effective, such as tanning in beds with Competition Tan. Or Canthaxanthin with Bronzer. Choose the tanning method that is safest and most effective for you...but be smart!
Nearly all (if not all) bodybuilders oil up before the competition to highlight and give definition to their muscularity. Some of the most popular products are Jan Tana's Posing OIL and Pro Tan's Muscle Juice Pro Posing Oil. Either way...remember how important it is for your skin to look healthy and tan at the competition.
Shaving Down
Virtually all competing bodybuilders shave down to before the competition to show off their muscles. You definately don't want to hide them behind a coat of hair. Also, your skin will be able to put on a better natural tan without the hair.
Some bodybuilders use a razor and shaving cream to shave it all off 2-3 months before their competition, then keep it off by re-shaving weekly. It takes a bit of practice, you don't want to nick yourself before the show.
Another quick and easy method for getting rid of unwanted hair is Jan Tana Hair Remover. It smooths on, safely removing all the hair, then washes off. A few bodybuilders are allergic to this, but just to be sure try a small patch and see.
Be sure to give yourself enough time to experiment either with Jan Tana Hair Remover or regular shaving before the competition.
Hair Styling
Make sure you don't have a bad hair day at the big competition. It's not supposed to count...but for some reason I think you'd do better without the afro-puff or the rodman-do...maybe I'm wrong. Some bodybuilders just shave their head completely bald. That makes it very easy to style (not recommended for female bodybuilders). With your leaned-out, good looking bodybuilder face, and a good-looking do, it will be hard not to look good.
It's usually best to get a fresh haircut and have your hair styled before the competition. It's really worth the extra few bucks. Clean cut is usually the best way to go. You don't won't to hide your massive delts or upper back muscularity with long hair. Put on a lot of hair spray to make sure your style holds thoughout the show.
Facial hair is not a problem, unless you're a female...otherwise, beards and mustaches are welcome at the competition and won't affect your ranking as long as you don't look like Santa. If you're balding, you might consider hair transplants, hair tonic, or just shave it all off.
Posing Suit Choice
Suit color is usually not too big of a deal, although when you where a suit that compliments your coloring and hair, you will look better. Follow the color chart below for some excellent suggestions.
Then, check out our HUGE SELECTION of Posing Suits and get the fastest delivery and lowest prices! 
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