Written by Dorian Yates
09 November 2017

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Are You Ready to Compete?

Getting Under the Bright Lights to Flex

 

 

Every year, I speak to thousands of fans both in person and online. Many of them have questions about training or nutrition, but another very common theme is that they are interested in entering a bodybuilding competition yet aren’t sure whether or not they are ready to do so. Since it seems to be such a frequent concern to many of you out there, I thought it made sense to help you figure it out for yourselves.

 

Is Your Physique Up to Standards?

The first major consideration is, have you built a physique that “belongs” on a competition stage? There is no screening process at the local and regional level, so anybody who can pay the organization dues and entry fee is welcome to get up onstage. This doesn’t mean everybody that competes should compete. Firstly, have you built an acceptable level of muscle mass? Bodybuilders are divided into lower and higher weight classes most of the time, with varying degree of size as one would imagine as you go all the way from bantamweights (up to 143 1/4 pounds) all the way to super heavyweights (over 225 1/4 pounds). Yet even the lighter competitors have a certain look of a “bodybuilder.” The amount of muscle mass is certainly far more than what the average untrained person carries, and even more than what most guys in gyms have.

 

Next up, have you managed to develop all your muscle groups more or less evenly? Bodybuilding is a physique competition. It’s not an arm contest, or a chest contest, or a contest to see who has the best abs. No body parts should overwhelm the others, and none should be glaringly weak and lagging behind the rest of the body. So if you have a good upper body and skinny legs, you need to bring those wheels up before you think about putting on a pair of posing trunks and painting on a fake tan. If you have big shoulders and arms but your chest and back look like you’ve never done anything for them, get back into the gym and work hard to bring those up. Nobody is expecting you to have flawless balance, proportion and symmetry as a beginner; but a certain amount of balance is required. There is often a lag time between when many guys get the urge to compete and when they actually do, because the smarter fellows will assess their physiques first and see what may need some serious work before that day comes.

 

Can You Diet Down Into Proper Condition?

This is really a two-part question. First, can you endure the rigors of eating very strictly, sustaining yourself on far fewer calories and grams of carbs than what you’re accustomed to, for 12-16 weeks or more? There will be cravings and you will feel tired and hungry much of the time, especially in the final two or three weeks. You’ll also be doing a good deal more cardio than ever before, often on little to no carbs. Not everyone can handle this. They end up either cheating on their diets and not competing in proper condition, or withdrawing from the competition.

 

The other major part of this question about whether or not you can diet is, are you psychologically prepared to intentionally become smaller, lighter and weaker? That doesn’t sound very enticing when you put it like that, does it? But the reality is, to get into contest condition you will need to trim off as much body fat as possible. In the end, under the stage lights, you will actually appear to be much larger if you’re truly shredded. But you won’t be as “big” as you were in the off-season when you were anywhere from 20-50 pounds heavier, and you will have lost some strength too. How much weight you use in the gym is hardly relevant in a contest where you’re being judged purely on your physical development, but some guys have a very hard time mentally losing strength if that’s something they pride themselves on. Some contact me weeks before their contest, very upset that their bench has gone down from 400 pounds to 320, or their squat is only 315 when it was over 405 in the off-season. Nobody stays as strong all the way through a contest diet, and in fact it’s not even safe to continue trying to handle 100 percent of your off-season weights. Many, and this seems particularly true in guys who started out skinny and got into bodybuilding to become bigger and more imposing, can’t deal with getting under a certain target bodyweight they had in their heads that they saw themselves competing at. Again, this is where some guys cheat on their diets, put the “brakes” on their diet or just quit the contest altogether. If you can’t wrap your head around the idea that being heavier on the scale and lifting more weight in your workouts doesn’t matter when it comes to getting ripped and winning a bodybuilding contest, competition probably isn’t for you.

 

Have You Been to at Least One Contest?

One thing I always emphasize to aspiring competitors is to attend at least one contest first. Not only will you get a better idea of what the standards are in terms of the physiques that do well, but you’ll also get a sense of how the whole event is run and how the sport is judged. You will see the whole process and thus it will be at least somewhat familiar once you get up there yourself. Otherwise, you’re likely to find it all overwhelming and you’ll look at best awkward and uncomfortable onstage the first time, and at worst scared out of your wits.

 

Are You Prepared to be Judged Subjectively?

Bodybuilding is quite different from most other sports. In most sports, the winner is fairly clear. It’s the guy who crosses the finish line first, the team that scores the most goals, or the guy who knocks the other guy out! Bodybuilding is judged far more subjectively, by a panel of judges. They are all experienced and have distinct criteria by which they rank the athletes first to last, but even so, each man or woman at that judging table has his or her own opinion as to what the ideal physique is. One may lean more toward the more massive bodies, while another might tend to favor shape and proportion. Still others might value condition higher than other attributes. In the end, the judges are looking for the competitors with the best “total package” of size, structure, shape, condition and presentation. Someone who isn’t familiar with what judges are looking for is likely to place much higher values on the qualities they have, and ignore or put less value on qualities they lack. For instance, a guy who is huge but not in condition might think he should win simply based on his superior size, just like another guy who is in dire need of mass but happens to be striated from head to toe may feel his condition should warrant a win. Oftentimes, these competitors are shocked and outraged when they don’t win. The fact of the matter is, all you can do is prepare and look your best; and the rest is up to the judges. Rest assured that they do get it right most of the time. And if you happen to place poorly and don’t understand why, you only need to politely ask the judges after the event what you can do to improve in order to fare better next time.

 

So that’s it. If you are unsure about whether or not you’re ready to get under those bright lights and flex your heart out, hopefully I’ve helped you answer that question.

 

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