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Contest Preparation
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Bodybuilding Competition Prep Tips
Having competed in so many shows over the years, I often get asked what it takes to prepare for a bodybuilding contest. It really isn't as hard as most people think, but it's harder than most can imagine. The training part is easy. You really don't need to change anything if you're happy with the way your training is going. If you're not, there's a ton of good trainers available to assist you. The hardest part of contest preparation is conditioning. You need to start dieting for a show, sometimes months in advance. Depending on how much weight you need to lose, this will be the basis for you're diet. To be really competitive at a show, it's not unheard of to be between 3 - 4% bodyfat (man). This takes a tremendous amount of effort and preparation. The first thing you need to do is find out how much bodyfat you have. You can do this by buying bodyfat calipers or going to a business that specializes in it. Once you have determined how much bodyfat you need to lose... game on.
Here's an example of what you're up against. If you weigh 200 lbs. and you're 20% bodyfat, you have 40 lbs. of fat. That means that your lean body mass is 160 lbs. In a perfect world you would end up 166.4 lbs. at 4% bodyfat. You'd have to lose 33.6 lbs. of fat to get down to that 4% mark. Here's the thing though... almost nobody loses just fat in the process of losing weight. That's why it's extremely important to continually have your bodyfat tested throughout the process. You want to insure you're losing fat instead of muscle. Most people would tell you that you only want to lose 1 - 2 lbs. per week in order to slow down the loss of muscle. Based on the 33.6 lbs. you need to lose, you can plan on dieting anywhere from 16 - 20 weeks for your show. This is pretty common with many competitors.
If this is your first show, I recommend that you either hire someone to help you with your diet plan, or at the minimum, find someone who competes and ask for their help.
The next thing you need to do is learn the poses that are mandatory in the organization you plan on competing in. Usually you can find those poses on the organizations website. Once you know what the poses are, you can either get help from a fellow competitor or browse the web for the many videos that exist on the subject. All I can tell you is practice, practice, and then practice some more. You can't practice enough.
Body color. Nothing worse than dieting for 20 weeks and learning your posing just to have a lousy color on stage. Dream Tan seems to be the product of choice, but there are others as well. I personally use 3 - 4 coats of Protan, followed by 2 - 3 coats of Dream Tan over a 3 - 4 day span.
Plan on doing you're fair share of cardio to help burn bodyfat, and plan on having some food withdrawal. My diet plan consist mainly of chicken, brown rice, and green beans. You want to select foods that are low on the glycemic index. This will keep your insulin levels low and help you lose bodyfat. There's lot's of foods that are acceptable. A trainer can help you make the right choices and help keep you honest in the process. Once you have done a few shows and gained some experience, you can handle it all on you're own.
Sounds like a piece of cake, right? All I can tell you is that it's an experience you will not likely soon forget. Good Luck!
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