ShreddedCheddar's picture
ShreddedCheddar
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+ 8 Competing and YOU!

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Boom! (In my Mark Lobliner voice) ShreddedCheddar coming at you live and direct with another installment of...... Something.... Idk.. Anyway. I want to talk about competing and how you should go about it. Now, this is from personal experience and this is my personal opinion. As always I welcome any and all feedback.

I've had the pleasure of seeing several people with amazing physiques here on Eroids. I have also had the pleasure of seeing MANY other physiques with a LOT of POTENTIAL! That goes for the men and women. Weather it be body building, Men/Women's Physique, Women's Figure, Women's Body Building. All of it. There are some very very beautiful bodies on here. No homo. I strongly encourage you that if you truly believe that you are one of these people then you are selling yourself short in not competing at least just once. Even if you think that it is something that you would never do. Do it anyway! Have some fucking confidence in yourself! Just to say you did it, but more importantly to learn an entire plethora of things about you and your body. This sport is about growing. Not only in the physical but in the mental as well.

Here is my "checklist of things I believe you should do and the way you should go about it....

1- Pick your place. Meaning find what division is best suited for your body and that you believe you would like to compete in. Be realistic. Do not set yourself up for failure or to get your feelings hurt. If you're a male and you weigh 210 pounds, don't think you're going to get up there with the 202 guys. You better try the 195 class. Those 202 dudes may have cut from 220-230 and are fucking jacked!

2- Find a show that you would like to do. NPC or whatever. I don't care if you pick a small state show or even a regional show. The reason I don't care what show you do is because they will have a "Novice" division and an "Open" division. This where you need to decide if you can put your pride to the side and take some real constructive criticism. If you decide to do Novice you will be with other people that are showing for the first time. Which more than likely will have a very small group. If you decide to do Open you will be competing against people that have shown before AND people that have not shown before. My suggestion is that you show in both if the promoter will let you. This is called crossover. You could do Novice and place great. Top 5. Then go and show in Open and place 10th. I would do Open if you feel comfortable doing that. Heres food for thought though.... If you don't place yourself outside of your comfort zone then how do you expect to learn and grow and see how far you can go?

3- Get a coach- Yep! I fucking said it! When finding a coach do NOT just get with the first one you come across on. Find several others and talk to previous clients and talk to them. Ask them how their experience was. Are they still with that coach? How well did they place? Did they compete in the same show you are wanting to? Is he/she hated by everyone in the Body Building community? Does he/she have ties to people that are higher up? Write down a list of questions you would like to know and get them answered. You're putting your trust in this person to put you in the best show condition possible. It's a relationship and you get to be as picky as you want to be. So please do so!

4- Posing classes- You can find these via Google or maybe even your trainer can show you how to pose or even knows somebody that has posing workshops. I highly.... HIGHLY! Recommend that you learn how to pose. You have busted your ass for years and you're going to put it on a stage for 1000's to see. you better show every detail of it. I know CarlosDanger has my back on how important presentation is!

5- Tanning- Normally there is an artistry studio that will have booths for tanning set up at a local gym or where the show is being held at. I wouldn't suggest doing your tanning for the first show or two. Again this is a presentation thing. Don't get on a stage with a fucked up painting. If you want to get you some Protan and learn how to do it yourself after that then please go ahead. If you have an artistry studio do it, it would only cost around $100-$120.

6. Packing- When packing for a show there are so many things to make sure you have. Here is small list.

-Duffle bag. Put all your shit in! Duh!

-Yoga mat. You'll need it to lay on backstage.

-Resistance bands. Every one will be fighting for the weights in the pump up area. Go ahead and have your bands in your bag and go off to a corner and pump all you want buy yourself. Take your time and don't worry about anything except getting on that stage and bringing the pain.

-Food. I'm not going to say what food to bring. That will be up to your trainer if you decided to get one. (You better have fucking got one) If you have a 6pack bag pack that bitch with everything! Be prepared for anything.

-Shit Sheet. This is a trashy sheet that you have laying around the house. You don't care if it gets crap all over it. It's going EVERY WHERE with you. You have tanner on you and it will rub off on everything you touch. So keep this with you to keep from ruining your tan and your stuff.

-Flip flops/sandals

There is a ton of other things but I can't think of all them off the top of my head. Just sit down and make a list and pack things that you may need and bring with you just incase.

7- Support system. I can't tell you how important it is to have someone there to support you. Family member. Close friend. Training partner. If you decided to go with a coach that is out of town be sure to have Facetime or Skype available on your phone. Sometimes people just need to hear from there coach before they hit the stage. Also depending on the show they may not allow family members backstage. I can't tell you how amazing it was when I came out on the stage for finals and I heard Anbro scream and cheer for me. Then to hear her and my support system cheer when I placed 3rd made me smile from ear to ear and made my entire experience that much better.

8- Have fun! No matter how it turns out have fun and be proud that you got up on the stage. You will come out of this with a wealth of knowledge and experience and that is priceless.

9- This one is more geared to the women. PLEASE be confident in yourself. Here is a story from my experience.

There was a female competitor who was doing figure. Beautiful face. Beautiful smile. Beautiful every thing. But when you looked at her stomach it was obvious she had several kids. Stretch marks. Extra skin. It looked like a fucked up hacky sack that was missing half of the beads in it. Now this woman worked her ass off in the gym, dieted, bought her bikini, tanned and stood on a stage in front of 9 judges and 1000's of people with her stomach looking like that. She smiled, kept her head up and stood out there like she was the shit! You know what? That made her twice as beautiful and sexier than a lot of the other female competitors. Even in my mind that made her body look better because of the way she carried it. She was confident and proud and believe it or not you get judged on that as well because you are representing OUR sport. That goes for men/women in every division class or whatever. So smile, be happy, enjoy it and learn.

I'm sure I've missed a few or several things but I just wanted to throw this out and here and maybe plant a seed in a few of men and women's head. Hope you guys enjoyed this. Feel free to chime in and add anything I may have missed.

UgtaBkdNme's picture

Nice post. +1

JASON_C's picture

Great post. +1 and bookmarked.

guitarplayer1's picture

Excellent post coming from a man with experience!

Might I add that if you have not ever been to a show it would be beneficial to attend one to see how things operate and if that is for you. One of the best things about attending a show is the positive vibe that looms everywhere. +1

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ShreddedCheddar's picture

Good point! I actually got to attend the 2012 NPC Nationals and it was my first show that I had been to. I got to meet Lee Haney (Who has become a good friend of mine.), Leo Ingram, Shawn Rhoden, Sadik Hadzovik, Phil Heath, Jay Cutler, Cheryl Cook and Bob Chichero. I think I slaughtered Bob's last name. But then a year later I ended up doing my first show and qualified for the 2013 Nationals and decided not to go. The reason that I decided not to go it because "Just because you qualify for Nationals does not mean you are national quality". So I've focused on growing during my improvement season. I plan on doing four shows. All qualifiers and if I do qualify again them I'll do the nationals this year.

ShreddedCheddar's picture

Pegged it! I thought about this after the EBC. We have a large group of people with potential and I would love to motivate them to compete just for the hell of it. Who knows we might even have another future IFBB pro.

SexWeightsProteinShakes's picture

Great read bro. Saving this and +1

In a promo × 1
ShreddedCheddar's picture

Thanks, Playa!

robb's picture

Great post bro, full of useful info. Im thinking of doing one this year, I'll definitely be rereading this again!
+1

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ShreddedCheddar's picture

Thank you, Bro and please keep me posted.

ShreddedCheddar's picture

That is church! It bit me hard! I feel in love with the process. Yea it was hell but the emotional payoff and satisfaction I received made it worth every second.

ShreddedCheddar's picture

I compete in Men's Physique or as the rest of the BB community calls it.... Men's Bikini. We are classed out by height. I think MP should stay by height but when it comes to BB it should be don't by weight for sure. You need to get your ass in a comp, Man! Is be stoked to see that!

WINNING's picture

Great post Cheddar, its takes a true champ to step on stage and Complete. Excellent post I will be attending my first Bb show this year, not competing, but just to watch. This is on my bucket list of things, I love the way you described it in detail, in this post. Win or loose at least you can say you gave it a shot. +1 Great post

ShreddedCheddar's picture

Thanks, Bro! Please keep me posted as well and if you have any prep questions please shoot me a PM. I have another article I'm going to do explaining the "refeed and mini cut during improvement season.

Viking if you see this I would like your help with that article if that's a possibility.

VIKING EVOLUTION's picture

LIVIN IT JUST READING THAT BRO...... FK I JUST BLEW OUT THE MIRROR POPPING A MOST MUSCULAR IN MY JAMMIES LMFAO!

ShreddedCheddar's picture

Shoot me and address and I'll send you the money to replace that mirror! Lol!