Just wondering who is currently in contest prep mode and when your shows will be.

I'm 3 & 1/2 weeks out from my first show - a NASF Natural show in Hampton, VA on Sept 17th. I plan to do the Masters and open. My second show is an OCB contest in PIT two weeks later on Oct 1st. This will be the first time that I have ever managed to fit in two shows in a season so that will be something new for me.

Good luck to everyone who is getting ready for a contest! You have company out there!

I am. I am just under 9 weeks out from my Oct. 22 comp. Mr. and Ms. Natural Ohio (ONBF)

I am too! 4 1/2 weeks out (Sept. 24th)...Natural Hawaiian. I am also shooting for the Armed Forces Comp in October (no posted date yet). My first venture into female bb!

I've got an NPA show in Richmond, VA in 7 weeks and an NGA show in Roanoke, VA 5 weeks later. Mad Dog do you see a lot of military entries in the Tidewater area? Good Luck to all of ya!

Gregg

Hey, new to the boards here. I'm planning on doing my first show through OCB in Blacksburg, VA in about 9 and 1/2 more weeks.

Shafe, That should be a great show - those guys from Blacksburg are animals! I'm going to watch that one from the sidelines - good luck

Gregg - There do tend to be a lot of military entries in the tidewater area shows, but the NASF has one or two shows each year that are just for Military, so some competitors wait for those. One is coming up in October.

Shafe - Good luck to you in your first show. Take a look at the search feature for great threads on topics that you are wondering about. Also feel free to post your questions.

Do you have a coach/mentor that is giving you some guidance and helping you with posing?

What show divisions will you be entering?

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I'm only 20, and about two years ago I was a pretty obese guy (290 lbs, 6' frame) so I'm hoping I can find some tricks to hide stretch marks/loose skin. As far as posing goes, I plan to meet up with the guy who introduced me to Beverly to work on posing, etc. Show divisions...I'm not sure? If you know of any other shows that would be more on my level (extreme amateur) I would appreciate being made aware of them, thanks!

Shafe - I think that they will have a novice divison in Blacksburg, and they may also have a young mens division so you could possibly cross over and enter both if you wanted to do so.

The Fitness and Physique magazine web site has a page that lists many natural shows from different federations by state and date. You should be able to find several listed there that you might want to consider. The Blacksburg show is a new show - so it has no track record as far as what the expected level of competiton will be. That can vary anyway from year to year. You never know who is going to show up. Let your goal and motivation be to be your best. If you do that you can walk away satisfied - and you might just walk out with a trophey under your arm too, depending on who else stands on the stage next to you that day. If you go to win, you set yourself up for dissappointment. If you go to have fun and be your best - you have won before you stepped on stage. Sounds like you are already a winner having dropped all that extra weight and bf - congrats on the great effort and good luck with your first show. I only live about 2 hours away from Harrisonburg so if you don't get the sort of help with coaching and posing that you need give me a shout and I'll offer to help if I can.

VA MadDog I've been doing Novice class entries. I got a late start at age 46 so I have the quandry of going up against all ages in the novice bracket. Shafe the 20 year olds usually kick my old butt in the novice. This time around I think I'm going to cross over to the Masters 40-49 class, the only problem is that the guys in the Master class have been doing this for a long time and have it together big time. So like MadDog said I go out there for myself with a sense of humor and it all depends on your level of training and dediction and who shows up for that particulr show.

I have started out using a trainer and still go by to have him change up my work out every few months. I had someone initially help me with the posing and routine. I have recently bought a video on posing as a reference.

a1scuba - If you ever want help with your posing give me a shout. I only live an hour away from you. I have found it very helpful when I have received "live" coaching on posing as you can both see the demonstration and make the changes and adjustments real time getting instant feedback. A good time to get that kind of help is about 4 weeks out, when your definition starts to come in and thus it is easier to refine the mandatory poses.

One of the things that you don't want to have happen is that you enter a show and are placed lower than you might have been due to poor posing. Posing is something that a person has full control over so it is an area where you can excel if you put the time and effort into it.

I have found that the Masters class can vary a great deal from show to show. One show the Masters winner takes the whole show, in the next almost no one is really in competition condition. Actually novice classes can be like that also. I have been lifing for 25 years, did some BBing as a young man - then took a long break from competition just getting back into it seriously about 5 years ago. I'll also turn 46 next week. Some of us older guys can still hang tough - lol, it sounds like you have made great progress in meeting your BBing goals. Keep up the good work!

MadDog-Thanks for the tips. I'll just be happy to finally get shredded for once. I've always started to make the effort, then ended up stopping short of my goal.

a1scuba-I'm not really familiar with the members here, but I'm guessing you'll wind up doing just fine.

I'll definitely be looking to you both for some guidance in the coming weeks. Thanks again.

quote:

Originally posted by mussy:
I am. I am just under 9 weeks out from my Oct. 22 comp. Mr. and Ms. Natural Ohio (ONBF)

I too will be competing in the ONBF Ohio show. I am doing the INBF Cardinal Classic in Youngstown the week before. My conditioning is coming along well. This is my first time competing and I am pumped!

Rish_55 Good luck with your prep. I did the Onbf last year and thought it was a good comp. See ya there.

hey vamaddog, i am also in nasf old dominion this year. i placed second behind ray lovelace in the 35-44 masters last year. this year i stayed on a tighter diet and am coming in at 5% at 209lbs. i will say hello at the meeting and i must say you thoroughly trounced the other competitors in your class last year. see you in the men's open also. good luck.

Hey mass master. Send me a PM with your email address. Look forward to seeing you next Saturday. Did you do the open class last year?

Va MadDog,, rleecorning@yahoo.com... carbless brain as of now. email me. later.