Contest Prep - How to

I did open and masters. I felt novice was a waste. I felt I was in good enough shape to place and wasn’t going to waste my money on novice. I remember I went to my old trainers show like 2 years before I stepped on stage and though omg I can never compete with guys like that. Then after a few years of training I was doing the exact same show. You look great like fodsod said. I’d jump right into it if I were you.
 
@fodsod thats freaking awesome that you've been at this that long , and not only do you still have a passion for bodybuilding but are still going strong living the lifestyle everyday ! Unreal man , thats not something you see to often !

Seriously though what do you attribute to having that kinda longevity in bodybuilding? Because it seems like more often than not guys tend to crash and burn in this sport . Either injuries , health complications , or alot of the times just plain lack of interest and they up and quit ?!

Obviously its not a one size fits all answer , but im just curious what your take on it is ... Did you stay a little more conservative with your training and peds over the years ? Or are some people just genetically better suited to handle the stesses of the lifestyle ? Is it all just the mentality you have ?

The reason i ask is because Ive always loved bodybuilding and training , but because I played football in college I never really devoted my time to bodybuilding in my teens and early twenties. And then after a rough patch in my life i really just got consumed with bodybuilding again in my late 20's , but because I started so late I feel like I've only got so much time to really make a competitive run , so I end up standing real close to the line between making maximum progress and longevity ! I know im starting ramble a bit , but what im basically trying to ask is how do approach pushing the limits competitively without falling victim to alot of the pitfalls that come along with it ?

Thanks for any input you have to offer , and hope this question is still in the general theme of the thread. .

Never too late to start. Trust me I think the same thing. I was skinny all my life. I’m 36. I got married 11 years ago at age 24-25 I was 126 lbs lol my ex wife was 124. I never had a desire to lift. I always was a basketball player. Lean and lanky ha. I got divorced and needed an outlet and my job has a little gym and I joined because I was scared to be around the big guys at most gym. I trained for about 5 years nattty. I didn’t know shit. I thought protein powder made you big. One day at work this lady said you have good genetics you want to meet my husband he does shows. I said sure. He took me under is wing and trained and taught me for free for about 2-3 years. He taught me about gear. I’ve been on gear now 4-5 years now. I still laugh because people always ask me questions about diet and working out. I still consider myself the 126 pound kid not this fitness guy. I wish myself I started much younger but all I can do it work extra hard.
 
Never too late to start. Trust me I think the same thing. I was skinny all my life. I’m 36. I got married 11 years ago at age 24-25 I was 126 lbs lol my ex wife was 124. I never had a desire to lift. I always was a basketball player. Lean and lanky ha. I got divorced and needed an outlet and my job has a little gym and I joined because I was scared to be around the big guys at most gym. I trained for about 5 years nattty. I didn’t know shit. I thought protein powder made you big. One day at work this lady said you have good genetics you want to meet my husband he does shows. I said sure. He took me under is wing and trained and taught me for free for about 2-3 years. He taught me about gear. I’ve been on gear now 4-5 years now. I still laugh because people always ask me questions about diet and working out. I still consider myself the 126 pound kid not this fitness guy. I wish myself I started much younger but all I can do it work extra hard.

Great story and I appreciate your honesty bro. We all have our silly mental hang-ups when it comes to our opinion of our own physiques. That feeling of being a 126# guy is what will drive you to push to be better and better for the rest of your life. Embrace it and use it.

I always enjoy hearing how people got started. I played football my entire childhood up through 10th grade in HS. I saw a bodybuilding show on ESPN at age 14 and was hooked. I told my step dad (who was watching with me) that I wanted to be a bodybuilder and he gave me a milk crate of Muscle and Fitness and other bodybuilding mags and it was 100% full steam ahead from there.
 
Never too late to start. Trust me I think the same thing. I was skinny all my life. I’m 36. I got married 11 years ago at age 24-25 I was 126 lbs lol my ex wife was 124. I never had a desire to lift. I always was a basketball player. Lean and lanky ha. I got divorced and needed an outlet and my job has a little gym and I joined because I was scared to be around the big guys at most gym. I trained for about 5 years nattty. I didn’t know shit. I thought protein powder made you big. One day at work this lady said you have good genetics you want to meet my husband he does shows. I said sure. He took me under is wing and trained and taught me for free for about 2-3 years. He taught me about gear. I’ve been on gear now 4-5 years now. I still laugh because people always ask me questions about diet and working out. I still consider myself the 126 pound kid not this fitness guy. I wish myself I started much younger but all I can do it work extra hard.

Yeah i absolutely agree its never too late to get into bodybuilding competitively , especially when you see guys like @fodsod that just defy aging lol. Plus , its not like I train to compete. I compete because I love training and the lifestyle , so its not like im banking on bodybuilding to pan out into a career or anything like that lol. But its just the competitive nature in me to wanna be the best at anything I do .

I dunno though , Ill see where I stack up here in May though , its gonna the my first noteworthy show . The competition has been weak there the last couple years , so I thought it was gonna be a cake walk originally . But in the last couple weeks ive seen some relatively big name coaches posting progress pics of some clients they are prepping for it that look decent . My size will be good , its really just gonna be down to conditioning how well i do.
 
Yeah i absolutely agree its never too late to get into bodybuilding competitively , especially when you see guys like @fodsod that just defy aging lol. Plus , its not like I train to compete. I compete because I love training and the lifestyle , so its not like im banking on bodybuilding to pan out into a career or anything like that lol. But its just the competitive nature in me to wanna be the best at anything I do .

I dunno though , Ill see where I stack up here in May though , its gonna the my first noteworthy show . The competition has been weak there the last couple years , so I thought it was gonna be a cake walk originally . But in the last couple weeks ive seen some relatively big name coaches posting progress pics of some clients they are prepping for it that look decent . My size will be good , it'll really just gonna be down to conditioning how well i do.

Don't sweat the progress pics. All smoke and mirrors for marketing purposes. I don't take good pics at all. My physique just doesn't show well in pics most of the time ( I have zero picture skills also) but get me on stage and that's a whole other story. Show day on stage is all you need to worry about. Guys miss the peak or get nuts close to show day and make mistakes. You know the deal. It's who's best on that one day.

Big shows are the best. That means you get to actually beat quality competitors and see how you really stack up against quality opponents. I'd rather take a close loss in a big show than win a shitty little one that no one cares about.

Besides, the only thing you can do is show up as good as you possibly can and then it's out of your hands and on the judges. Different day and different judges who knows if the winners would be the same.

Keep your head down and keep pushing man. Give the judges no choice but to give you all 1's.
 
Don't sweat the progress pics. All smoke and mirrors for marketing purposes. I don't take good pics at all. My physique just doesn't show well in pics most of the time ( I have zero picture skills also) but get me on stage and that's a whole other story. Show day on stage is all you need to worry about. Guys miss the peak or get nuts close to show day and make mistakes. You know the deal. It's who's best on that one day.

Big shows are the best. That means you get to actually beat quality competitors and see how you really stack up against quality opponents. I'd rather take a close loss in a big show than win a shitty little one that no one cares about.

Besides, the only thing you can do is show up as good as you possibly can and then it's out of your hands and on the judges. Different day and different judges who knows if the winners would be the same.

Keep your head down and keep pushing man. Give the judges no choice but to give you all 1's.
Thanks for the advise and encouragement, I appreciate it ! Yeah thats definitely gonna be my approach the next 12 week is to just put my head down , get tunnel vision , and try to stay stress free as possible!
 
Based on your current pics I'd have passed on novice and went open and masters. You're going to kick your self when you realize you look better than most of the open guys. LOL.

Definitely get into the masters. Prep is costly and time consuming so get the most out of your show as possible.

That's my worry, that I won't do open and see I could've taken it. Fuck it, i'll do all 3...
 
From the what I’ve gathered through research and by my experiences, salt or sodium manipulation is pretty much a myth for most people.I’ve went low/no sodium and was flat as hell. No pump or blood flow at could be achieved. I think it’s better for most people going into the last week to not mess with sodium fluctuations. Come in lean and manipulate your water intake and maybe take a little diuretic to help push the water ever so slightly.

What’s your thoughts on this @fodsod
 
From the what I’ve gathered through research and by my experiences, salt or sodium manipulation is pretty much a myth for most people.I’ve went low/no sodium and was flat as hell. No pump or blood flow at could be achieved. I think it’s better for most people going into the last week to not mess with sodium fluctuations. Come in lean and manipulate your water intake and maybe take a little diuretic to help push the water ever so slightly.

What’s your thoughts on this @fodsod

I agree 100%. I’ve never messed with sodium restriction/loading because it’s such a gamble.

I can see adding some sodium in if you’ve depleted too much with a dietetic that only effects sodium retention but you better know damn well what you’re doing. Hell most coaches just send guys for a burger and fries to solve the lack of sodium issue.

Most wouldn’t even be in that situation if they hadn’t been trying to correct a mistake they already made or are trying an extreme approach to make up for poor conditioning.

I almost always use a diuretic but it’s always as little as possible to keep from flattening out completely. My body is prone to swing from one extreme to the other if I try to manipulate variables too much.

So like @rutman stated it’s best to try and stay in the middle of the road and don’t risk looking like shit for a very mild improvement at best.
 
I use Gillette Mach 3. As long as you knocked off the long gorilla hair the triple blades will do the job in one pass.
 
Also, 24 hours out to show (and during) what is y'alls intake looking like?

I keep doing the same thing that Friday that I’ve been doing all week. Food intake stays the same...water intake stays super high until around 6pm, then I’ll cut it off. But I don’t want to throw my body any curve balls not knowing how it’ll react the next morning. I’ve tried carb depleting and loading that last week, but it’s never came out that great.
 
I keep doing the same thing that Friday that I’ve been doing all week. Food intake stays the same...water intake stays super high until around 6pm, then I’ll cut it off. But I don’t want to throw my body any curve balls not knowing how it’ll react the next morning. I’ve tried carb depleting and loading that last week, but it’s never came out that great.

I’m pretty much the same. I did the water loading. Like 3 gallons a day. Mon-Thursday. Then Friday one gallon gone before 6pm Friday as well. Last year I carbed up a ton on Friday all clean but crazy amount of foood. This year I have another guy we are going to try carb loading carb up doing tue week instead of just Friday. We shall see.
 
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