Well, once the date was set (Saturday, October 6, 2001), I started to prepare for the show. I began training for it as early as August 1. Since I had never competed seriously before (much less on an NPC Level IV show, which is a Statewide level show), I signed on the help of fitness and bodybuilding expert Tim Gardner, President of Team Body Tech. He specializes in helping bodybuilders get ready for shows, so he aids you with the training, diet, weekly progress and the equally important posing.
After Tim assessed me, he placed me on a personalized program that required me to do two sessions of cardiovascular exercise per day! In addition, he upped my meals from 6 to 8, increased my vegetable intake and modified my training split. It was at this time that I began to realize all of the sacrifices that are necessary in order to do a bodybuilding show. In addition to all that work, every week we met to practice posing, continue to asses progress and get motivated by the changes of my fellow team members.
As time went by, I realized more and more how important it is to have a support system behind you because training and dieting for a bodybuilding contest is more about mental endurance than anything else. As you go along you begin to question everything!
- Why am I spending so much time in the gym?
- Why am I following such a stringent diet that makes me so hungry and tired?
- Why do I spend so much time tanning?
- Why do I spend so much time practicing posing?
- Why did I signed up for a bodybuilding show in the first place when I have a family and a full time engineering job!
However, if you have the support from your family, a great coach and others that are going through the same thing (like my fellow Team members), then the process is more bearable.
So after all my efforts what was the end result? I competed on October 6, 2001 in the lightweight division-175lbs and below. I weighted in at 162 the night before. In the morning we did the prejudging when you have to go through what is called the mandatory poses and the judges compare you against your weight class competitors and choose a winner (which is not announced until the evening show). At night I did my free posing to music in front of a super large crowd. After everyone went through their individual routines, all lightweight class competitors where called back on stage and the final placings were called out. One by one names were called until it was only me and another awesome competitor called Rich Alvarez. I could not believe I had gotten this far! At this time, I was announced as the lightweight champion. After winning my division, I had to go through the mandatory poses again this time being compared to the heavyweight champion. After the mandatory poses came the posedown where music is played and you do any poses you'd like next to your competitor. Once the dust settled, at around 11pm on that Saturday, I was announced as the 2001 NPC Typhoon Bay Overall Champion!
Conclusion
So the question is, was it worth it? You bet it was. Not only did I tested my mettle and pushed the envelope to the limit as far as my training and nutrition are concerned, but I also got to experience the feeling of being on stage and inspiring others with a physique that was built through tons of hard work and sacrifice.
My advise to those of you that are planning to compete is the following: Know what to expect. Things to consider when you are signing up for a bodybuilding show are:
- Extra expenses due to increased food, supplementation, tanning, posing trunks, contest fees, possible travel fees (depending on contest location), fees for coaching, etc. If your budget is tight, my advise is to not do a show until your finances get better.
- Extra time spent in training, tanning, posing practice, and attending meetings with your coach.
- Make sure that you got your family support because if you have to constantly answer questions as to why you are doing what you are doing your task will be a million times harder to accomplish. Also, it is only fair that you get with everyone around you and explain to them about what it is going to take to achieve the goal of competing.
- If you are really serious about competing, enlist the help of a contest coach like Tim Gardner because that takes the guesswork out of the equation.
- Have fun and when you feel hungry just remember what the goal is and do not make those people around you miserable with a bad mood. Remember that at the end of the day, no one pointed a gun to your head to do this.
