# So You Want To Compete in A Body Building Show?



## Onk (Sep 27, 2016)

*So You Want To Compete in a Body Building Show?* By Onk

*Introduction:*
As someone who has competed naturally and enhanced, having never had a coach or personal trainer, I’ve read a lot of bull shit regarding competition preparation. A lot of key focuses are missed or skipped over, and there’s a lot of poor information out there that is too specific and not tailored to the idiosyncrasies of our different bodies. 
Here are my synthesized notes that cover the fundamentals of why you may want to compete, choosing a federation, how to train, diet, prepare and be emotionally ready for a completion.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s tough. Being prepared will help you out tremendously. 

*Deciding to Compete:*
This is the hardest part, getting started. Unless you’re 6 foot and 220lbs with 10% body fat, you probably don’t know what your body will look like on stage. Dieting down will show your body in a new way, you’ll need to know how to pose (or pose better) and you’ll need to train differently. Not to mention, it’s a mental struggle. It’s hard. No drinking. No partying late at night. You’ll be tired. Work and relationships will be harder. BUT, you’ll have memories and discipline like never before. I’d recommend it. 
The one thing I don’t recommend is stepping on stage and not being muscular. This is bodybuilding. It’s insulting when little shits get on stage without dieting or any decent muscularity. Work your butt off and have something to show for it. Take it seriously or don’t do it at all. 

*Emotionally:*I’m putting this in early as it’s very important
Competing is hard. You’ll be asked by HEAPS of people about your diet and training non-stop. People at the gym will constantly ask how much longer left. No one will ever ask about your emotions and how you’re doing. Make sure there’s at least 1 or more people that know to ask about your emotions. Other competitors are best here. They know the pains. 
Just make sure the person is a good listener and you can vent. You’ll become somewhat obsessed with calories, training and every nuance of the competition day. If people know what you’re going through, it makes it easier. Share the burden.
I’ve known a lot of competitors (men and women) that obsess about their up-coming show. They have no lives outside of their training, they develop eating disorders and it becomes a vicious cycle. Be very careful here, as your newer, leaner body will be a great achievement and become your new benchmark for looking good/fit. 
Pro tip, organize events away from drinking and food. Go to the beach, do a hike (there’s some cardio for you), take your meals with you if it’s a event/trip covering multiple hours. Have a life outside of the BBing contest. 
Personally, if my BBing ever affected my relationship with my partner, I’d stop straight away. I love the process of lifting weight and doing shows isn’t worth losing loved ones. Chances are if you’re reading this, BBing isn’t your job and income source, which means, there’s more to life for you. 

*Choose a Federation:*
Choose a Federation with a show that suits your timetable, your weight class, your category (physique vs. BBing vs. Classic) and your legality of hormone supplementation. IFBB and NABBA don’t test for steroids, diuretics or thermogenics. INBA, for example, has been known to. In my view, as a BBer who does use Vitamin S, I don’t do natural competition as it isn’t fair. If I win one…that doesn’t give me any joy. Also, I can’t speak for everybody here, but it’s the general consensus to HATE guys that pretend to be natural BBers, yet they take gear and win natural shows. 
Think about that before you do it. If you get found out and tested, then you have a lovely ban from your relevant sports anti-doping agency for x number of years. Your family and friends can find out. Any sponsors (if any) will never touch you again….also you’re annoying the guys that are natural. I’ve seen BBers pushed down stairs as they file off stage because they are jerks. Fake nattys get the same treatment. 

*Dieting:*
Don’t take this the wrong way, but 95% of people misjudge their body fat levels. I believe it’s due to ego. Chances are, you’re fatter than you know. As such, use this to plan your dieting down approach better. Rule of thumb is that you can lose 1% of your weight a week manageably, so if you think you have 20 pounds to lose, give yourself 14 weeks just to be sure. The last 4-6 pounds are hardest of all, so give yourself time. Also, if you really had 30 pounds to lose, you won’t step on stage and be embarrassed when you’re ~10% and the other guys are ~6-7%. Keep proteins high and don’t be afraid that you WILL lose some muscle. IFBB Olympians still lose muscle. You aren’t the genetic exception. It’s okay, it’ll come back. 
Calculate your TDEE and then set a caloric intake that will achieve your goal. Re-calculate it every 2-3 weeks as TDEE drops as your weight drops. I aim to lose about 1% of total weight per week as my max. Hence, if you have 20% to lose, you’re starting your diet longer out than a guy that only has 5% to lose. 
Also if you start doing more gym sessions and cardio then your activity levels have increased increasing your TDEE.
*
Weight Training:*
No days off, don’t miss muscle groups, hit them all. Research shows that hitting a muscle 2-3x a week is most beneficial, so do so. Bro splits of chest day, back day, leg day, shoulder day etc. aren’t for BBers. Be careful of depleting glycogen. You’ll already feel like shit, so smashing your muscles will make this worse. Noting, that this is calorie and carb dependent. The greater your caloric deficit, and if you have to run low carb intake, you’re more likely to be tired. Higher carbs, you can get away with more volume. 
Keep the weights as high as you can, that way you’ll lose less muscle. Simply drop the volume if it’s too much for you. Be wary of increasing volume. It’s a tradeoff and you’ll have to lower weights to do this. Chances are your training is becoming cardio with weights if you do this. 

*Cardio:*
I’m not a big fan of cardio.  I always find diet and weights are enough. If you aren’t strong enough to diet, you probably shouldn’t be BBing. However, I do feel good after a good walk on the treadmill, so can see some purpose here. Use it to increase your caloric deficit if you need to. Don’t overdo cardio as it’ll tire your body for weights, making it harder to lift as heavy.
Don’t believe the myth that getting on the step machine or bike will lose you gains. People walk on treadmills as they’re so tired it’s the lowest impact cardio you can do. Also, big BBers are taking a fair bit of tren and possibly clen/dnp. This doesn’t allow them to do the harder cardio varieties. 

*Posing:*
Know what schedule your preferred Federation has. Learn the mandatory poses they employ. Make sure you know if a posing routine is compulsory or not. In IFBB it is, and many people have been caught out with no practice or music ready. Posing to a song you’ve never heard before, with no idea on transitions will suck and are NEVER advised. Do your research. Takes 10 mins to find out or to call the organizer and ask. 
Pose for a good 15-30 mins a day. You need to watch videos, attend free posing classes the Federation puts on and ask friends to help you. Practice without a mirror as you won’t get one on stage day, so you’re comfortable. Practice with a mirror and correct your mistakes. Hold your poses for a good 10 seconds each, the more the better. Come competition day, you’ll be on stage for maybe 10-20 minutes. This means you HAVE to impress straight away and do it quickly. 14 weeks of prep comes down to a short time. Some guys blow it by walking on stage and not contracting their abs and showing a bloated belly. Hold everything tight and practice this. Practice walking with abs in and lats slightly flared. Be ready to be moved around on stage for comparisons. Also, you’ll be sweating and hot, so get used to it. It’s f’ing tough on stage hitting every pose and tensing everything. Your abs and lower back will be hurting. It’s okay, it’s worth it. 

*Grooming:*
You’re on stage and being judged. Time to look your best. Get your hair cut within 1-2 weeks before the competition. You need to rid yourself of body hair so choose a method. Shave, wax, laser are the normal ones. I prefer waxing as shaving will just make it grow back quicker. For me, waxing 4x a year is enough and it’ll help rid some water held in your skin. I also find my comp tan looks better after waxing as opposed to shaving. Laser I’ve never tried. Some of the girls I know and train do this, but they’ve usually lasered years before and just get a “touch up” or “maintenance” laser.  
Have a good shower before you get your tan put on as you won’t be able to put on deodorant once tan is on as it’ll make things a funny colour. You don’t want to be smelly and upset competitors and judges. Brush your teeth. On stage with bright lights it’ll show. Your teeth if not clean will show every single yellow spot. It’s horrendous and makes any smiling ineffective. 
Organise your spray tan well in advance. Find some posing trunks (or board shorts if doing physique) well in advance. I have two pairs of posing trunks, blue and red. I ask my spray tanner what colour will work best with my spray tan. Also, they can tell you what everyone else is wearing so you can always wear a colour not to look the same as them.

*Peak Week:*
Have a plan for peak week. I’m not going to give you one. You’ll hear terms such as water load/deplete, sodium load, junk load, carb load/carb up.  
Don’t just try something if you haven’t done it before. At least practice once. Water loading and carbing up usually go hand in hand and aren’t too hard to pull off. Keep it simple. 
Always go on stage a little hungry. Being overly full usually means your belly will be bigger and say goodbye to those abs you worked on bringing out….

*Substances:*

Steroids – If you are taking steroids, know which ones work coming into competitions. Usually a mix of test, a DHT (primo/mast/winny/var) and tren is the go. If you aren’t ready for tren then something anabolic that keeps muscle will do. As with diet and training, this is totally up to you and your experience. If it works for you, simply run test into a show. If you’re using test/tren/mast/drol/winny/slin/HGH then more power to you. Just don’t overdo it, spend too much money if you don’t have much spare and don’t try new things at the last minute. 
Be careful of injecting too much test. It aromatizes and risks you holding more water than you want. Be careful of EQ as you may be hungrier when trying to cut weight, though some love the vascularity it brings.  Don’t inject within 5 days of the competition. You’ll automatically be disqualified from ANY Federation for showing injecting marks. IFBB might not test, but they sure don’t want to be seen advocating illegal steroid use. 

Aromatase Inhibitors – I nuke my estrogen levels the last week to help lose water. I have enough pseudo test from the oral steroids that I barely even notice. Letro is your friend. Otherwise, be careful and again, practice this before doing it. 

Thermogenics – DNP, clen, t3/t4, ECA can all be used in different ways. As I said earlier, I prefer my diet to do the main lifting. I use t3 in conjunction with tren and t4 if using HGH. I’ve never used DNP or ECA. Don’t overdo it. You still want energy to lift weights and go about life in general. Remember if using DNP and clen, drop them well before the last week. They make you hold water. 

Diuretics - I like potassium sparing ones such as dyazide. Like steroids, some Federations ban their use, some don’t.  Do some research on what your Federation approves of, then some testing if you are going to use one, and see if this works for you. I find they have much more visual effect at lower body fat. 

*Post-Show:*
Here’s where people go crazy. You give yourself one day MAXIMUM to eat whatever you want afterwards, and then you keep training and eating clean. BBing is a life style. I know people who eat recklessly for a week or two afterwards and gain 10-40 pounds….they look like marshmallows. By giving yourself a day, you’ll at most eat 4-8k calories which can be burnt off quite easily. 
Make sure to plan this out. I’m 2 weeks to my next show and I have it already written down. Mexican food dinner, chocolate mousse dessert. Next day I only want a Chelsea bun, 2 dohnuts (pink and chocolate) and then a slice of ricotta cake. Baked goods are going to call to you, as are pizza, burgers and chocolates. Don’t go crazy. If you’re a BBer you probably don’t eat this stuff often anyway. So why start now?
After a cut, your body is primed to put on muscle again. Bring your calories up to maintenance for a few weeks after the show as you transition towards bulking again. Going straight to hulk smash bulk mode will lead to fat gain. You’ve just been losing weight so you’ll have lower t3, lower leptin, lower test, lower natural insulin levels, lower igf1, higher ghrelin, higher NPY etc etc. If you’re competing natural you won’t have the fat burning and androgenic properties of steroids to help.

Don’t waste this. Enjoy your hard earned 24 hour junk binge but then get back to work and get back to Gain City, population YOU. 

*Summary:*
As a TL;DR, make sure you’ve chosen the correct Federation for your skills and substance use. Make sure someone knows what you’re going through and your emotions are in check. Be careful of becoming obsessed. Do your homework, know what works for you and be prepared.
Most importantly, enjoy yourself. The process of working out is a privilege many people in this world can’t afford, don’t have time for or can’t physically participate. You’re one of the lucky ones. Shows are a good way to hone these skills, create some lasting memories (and photos) and possibly win some money.


----------



## automatondan (Sep 27, 2016)

I dont think we have a whole lot of information here that deals with basic (competition) bodybuilding FAQs.... My personal vote is for a sticky.


----------



## ECKSRATED (Sep 27, 2016)

Nice post

Make sure u shave your ass crack cus no one wants to see ass hair poking out your thong!!!!!


----------



## Onk (Sep 27, 2016)

automatonDan said:


> I dont think we have a whole lot of information here that deals with basic (competition) bodybuilding FAQs.... My personal vote is for a sticky.



thank you, I'm def taking that as a compliment 

I've read too many BBing prep websites, forum posts and blogs to count, and never seen any comment on the emotional stresses, basic grooming and what Federation to choose. As steroid use is a taboo subject, I suppose people don't want to seem knowledgeable about those things when they have a name and face associated with their prose.


----------



## Onk (Sep 27, 2016)

ECKSRATED said:


> Nice post
> 
> Make sure u shave your ass crack cus no one wants to see ass hair poking out your thong!!!!!



between friends, getting your butt waxed is a very weird procedure. Doesn't hurt at all, calves and genitals hurt much more, but you have to go on all fours like doggy style and spread your cheeks.....

The first time I ever got it done my reply was basically "you want me to do WHAT!!!?"


----------



## automatondan (Sep 27, 2016)

Onk said:


> between friends, getting your butt waxed is a very weird procedure. Doesn't hurt at all, calves and genitals hurt much more, but you have to go on all fours like doggy style and spread your cheeks.....
> 
> The first time I ever got it done my reply was basically "you want me to do WHAT!!!?"



Sounds like it hurts then....


----------



## Onk (Sep 27, 2016)

automatonDan said:


> Sounds like it hurts then....



doesn't hurt, just an uncomfortable position you will never get used to. I'm not one to bend over, naked, infront of any person and then spread my cheeks...

the wax is just warm and because there isn't too much hair there, quite painless.

I mentioned calves and genitals because calves, the hair is quite thick, and genitals there's no good way to spread it out. You basically pull your shaft to the other side of the wax and hold very tight...


----------



## NbleSavage (Sep 27, 2016)

Great post, Onk. I second the vote for sticky.


----------



## bvs (Sep 27, 2016)

Well written onk, as an aspiring competitior information like this is absolute gold. Gets my vote for sticky


----------



## Onk (Sep 27, 2016)

bvs said:


> Well written onk, as an aspiring competitior information like this is absolute gold. Gets my vote for sticky



let me know if you ever do. I have more info for aussie comps as I've competed in INBA, ANB, NABBA and IFBB. That's the major 4, with a few others out there depending where you're from. That and we may end up at the same event!


----------



## stonetag (Sep 27, 2016)

Good post. Is there a competitive advantage to being hairless or what exactly?


----------



## grizzldsealpoacher (Sep 27, 2016)

excellent read man thanks for sharing ! def worth a sticky in my op


----------



## DieYoungStrong (Sep 27, 2016)

Good thing I don't want to compete in a BB show. I'd cry like a bitch if someone waxed my taint.

Good post though Onk! I respect the work and dedication it takes to get on stage.

Do you happen to be related to Gronk btw?


----------



## ToolSteel (Sep 27, 2016)

Onk said:


> doesn't hurt, just an uncomfortable position you will never get used to. I'm not one to bend over, naked, infront of any person and then spread my cheeks...
> 
> the wax is just warm *and because there isn't too much hair there, quite painless.*
> 
> I mentioned calves and genitals because calves, the hair is quite thick, and genitals there's no good way to spread it out. You basically pull your shaft to the other side of the wax and hold very tight...



Speak for your ****ing self. They'd need 6 boxes of quick-clot on deck if they were gonna rip my ass fur off.


----------



## motown1002 (Sep 27, 2016)

Great post.  This is dead on!  

MT


----------



## Onk (Sep 27, 2016)

stonetag said:


> Good post. Is there a competitive advantage to being hairless or what exactly?



It does matter on the amount, colour and thickness of hair, but it's the idea that you want the muscles to be as clear as possible. I have some blonde hairs on my back I don't worry about since you can't see them in bright stage light. All my darker hairs (virtually everywhere else) goes. Anecdotally, my stomach hair does blur my ab defintion a bit. 

When I get waxed, it takes off the top layer of dead skin which also helps you look ever so slightly thin skin (marginal at best) and you'd be surprised, but all the hair on your body can weight a small bit. Water and glycogen will account for much more, but when you're trying for a weigh in, everything helps. I've seen guys shave their heads because they're afraid that extra 50g of hair will put them over...

also, I have a suspicion that Judges would be unimpressed if someone did show up hairy on stage as socially, it's not seen as attractive as hairlessness. 



DieYoungStrong said:


> Good thing I don't want to compete in a BB show. I'd cry like a bitch if someone waxed my taint.
> 
> Good post though Onk! I respect the work and dedication it takes to get on stage.
> 
> Do you happen to be related to Gronk btw?



No relation. Gronk is australian slang for "dickhead" with shades of other meaning. Onk is a nickname I got back at 10 years old when I came to school and told my friends of a dream I'd had where I rode a kite and threw grenades at ppl.....nickname was Onkite and became onk for short



ToolSteel said:


> Speak for your ****ing self. They'd need 6 boxes of quick-clot on deck if they were gonna rip my ass fur off.




hahahaha you'd be amazed how smooth shitting is after getting it done then.


----------



## stonetag (Sep 28, 2016)

ToolSteel said:


> Speak for your ****ing self. They'd need 6 boxes of quick-clot on deck if they were gonna rip my ass fur off.



Fukin Amazon rain forest ain't got nothin' on my ass jungle. TMI?


----------



## automatondan (Sep 28, 2016)

Onk said:


> It does matter on the amount, colour and thickness of hair, but it's the idea that you want the muscles to be as clear as possible. I have some blonde hairs on my back I don't worry about since you can't see them in bright stage light. All my darker hairs (virtually everywhere else) goes. Anecdotally, my stomach hair does blur my ab defintion a bit.
> 
> When I get waxed, it takes off the top layer of dead skin which also helps you look ever so slightly thin skin (marginal at best) and you'd be surprised, but all the hair on your body can weight a small bit. Water and glycogen will account for much more, but when you're trying for a weigh in, everything helps. I've seen guys shave their heads because they're afraid that extra 50g of hair will put them over...
> 
> ...



This sounds extremely unpleasant.... Guess my bb dreams have come to an end....


----------



## automatondan (Sep 28, 2016)

Double post, sorry


----------



## Amanda4450 (Apr 3, 2020)

Onk said:


> *So You Want To Compete in a Body Building Show?* By Onk
> 
> *Introduction:*
> As someone who has competed naturally and enhanced, having never had a coach or personal trainer, I’ve read a lot of bull shit regarding competition preparation. A lot of key focuses are missed or skipped over, and there’s a lot of poor information out there that is too specific and not tailored to the idiosyncrasies of our different bodies.
> ...



This is great!! I’m considering getting out of my comfort zone and making a goal to do a show in a year. I’ve been trying to read and watch as many videos as I can. So thank you!!


----------

