The Day Of The Contest
April 28th, 2002 - Morning
I'll have pics from the show online very soon!
I was the first person to arrive, along with my brother. I made sure I had everything I needed and more before I left. I won't get into the poor promotion job done by the promoter, but let it be known, that it was TERRIBLE!
I used Dream Tan for the contest. It was very easy to apply. A few tips:
Shave your face that day
Wipe of your body with a towel before applying the tan. This will get rid of any dirt or junk on you.
Go light on the face.
I was the only teen there, so I automatically won the Teen class. Because I was the only teen, I was allowed to participate in the open class as well. All the competitors there were in great shape and all had contest experience.
Preparing To Go On Stage
They had dumbbells backstage to warm up with. I just did some basic lifts. I borrowed a bendy bar thing (No idea what it is really called) from one of the other competitors. This thing worked great for pumping up my chest.
Round 1: Standing relaxed
The head judge told us that we were to stand completely relaxed. No flexing or anything at all. I followed orders, but no one else did. The judges moved us around in the line up a couple of times. After that, we filed off the stage.
Round 2: Posing to music
I was the last person to go during this round. Everyone said I had the best posing routine. All the other guys just did the basic poses to music. I, on the other hand, had kneeling poses, pulls, grasps, and other elements.
When they called my name, I just walked out there, took my position, and waited for the music to come on. Once the music started, I did my thing. It is a lot harder to do a routine when you're on stage than at home with no one watching you. Needless to say, the judges and promoter were very impressed with my routine.
Round 3: Mandatory poses
We did all the basic mandatory poses:
Front Double Bicep
Front Lat Spread
Side Chest
Side Tricep
Rear Lat Spread
Rear Double Bicep
Ab Thigh pose
Most muscular
On top of those, we did:
Victory (Hands over head)
Side Oblique shot
Rotating Leg
Hamstring shot
Double Calf raise
We were on stage for a while. The judges moved us around in this round too.
Round 4: Posedown between the top 5
My first posedown. I really didn't look at what everyone else was doing. I just did my thing.
Placing
I ended up getting third place in the men's open and received a plaque. I felt kind of bad because the guy who placed fourth came all the way from New York just to get beat by some 18 year old punk. OK, I didn't feel bad at all :). The two guys that placed ahead of me were both in great condition. The guy who got first place was 32 years old. And the guy who got 2nd place was 28.
All in all, it was a great experience. I enjoyed competing as well as preparing for the competition. I learned a lot about posing over these last 10 weeks. I committed myself to a contest and I did it.
Reflection
I feel I was holding a little too much water on contest day. This being my first time ever trying to shed water, I think I did a decent job.
Too much flab on the love handles. I feel I needed about 2 more weeks to have been in top shape. I decided to do the contest at the spur of the moment, giving me only 10 weeks to diet down. I did maintain my muscle mass though.
I learned so much that will help me in my next contest. I'm not exactly sure when that will be, but I'll let you know.
I want to thank everyone for reading this section. I would also like to thank everyone who emailed me. I'm sorry if you did not receive a reply, but I received a ton of emails.
I'd like to give SPECIAL THANKS to:
Ryan DeLuca (You made this possible!)
Layne Norton
Sean Glassman
Big Red (You three helped me a great deal along the way. Both with preparing and just being friends.)
I promise to do this same thing for my next contest. I also promise it will be even better than this time!