sportsri's blog

First Bodybuilding / Physique Competition - SportsRI

Recently I competed in my first bodybuilding / physique competition in October 2021 at the NPC East Coast Cup and then at the NPC New Englands.

I had begun to consider the possibility of competing a couple of years ago when I began to be more conscientious with respect to diet and upped the intensity of my workouts. A few people at the gym asked if I was interested in competing and thought the new categories of classic physique and physique competition would be a good place to start. The plan initially was to start preparing in January 2020 and compete in the fall of 2020. Of course the COVID pandemic meant that all competition dates were delayed several times. As a result the final contest preparation started in June for the October 2021 contests.

Nutritionally, I first determined my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) so that I would know my calorie requirements and be able to manage increasing or decreasing calories appropriately. I calculated my BMR using an equation. Next, to confirm the calories needed, I set up a meal plan to meet those daily caloric needs and followed it for a week. I weighed myself at the beginning and end of the week and since my weight was stable I figured the calculation was accurate. Therefore I could use the meal plan and simply add or subtract calories as I progressed through contest preparation. I generally ate 6 meals a day and although I needed to reduce calories I never went below 2, 000 calories per day. I kept to a diet high in protein throughout contest prep, greater than 1g of protein per pound bodyweight. Typically I would do meal prep on the weekend and one other day during the week. I ate chicken, egg whites, and a protein drink every day and fish and beef a couple of times a week. Carbs were oatmeal, rice, rice cakes, cereal or potato. The one meal that seemed to surprise and disgust many people was the combination of chicken and oatmeal but it works well when reheating in the microwave as the oatmeal keeps the chicken moist.

As far as training I generally did a 4 day split of Legs, Chest and Triceps, Back and Biceps, and Shoulders. Most strength training workouts were about 75 minutes. I generally did cardio for 30 minutes 6 days a week. No cardio on leg day. Cardio was generally MISS (Moderate Intensity Steady State) cardio. I was fortunate in that I retired in July so I was able to do the cardio in the morning and then several hours later I would do the strength training. I found that allowed my body to be fresh and maintain my strength through the contest preparation period.

I worked with a personal trainer and we initially met once every couple of weeks and he advised me on nutrition and training. In addition, he checked my body fat percentage using skin calipers. The skin caliper method measures subcutaneous fat and was used as one way to track progress during contest prep and make decisions on any changes such as cutting calories or changing the amount of cardio. During the last month of contest prep I met with the trainer every week.

An important goal was to be contest ready about two weeks before the competition so I did not have to make any drastic changes with respect to diet, cardio, or training during the contest ‘prep week’ one week before the contest. I did make a few minor changes with respect to water and salt intake but did not do any zero carb days or diuretics which some people utilize. Therefore I was able to cruise into the contest feeling healthy and still able to workout as needed.

The final prep before the competition was the spray on tan the evening before the contest. It was an interesting experience as you are in a room with several tents and each tent has one bodybuilder standing naked or nearly so and a person, usually a woman, who sprays on the tan which is quite cool and made me shiver a bit. By the end of the session I had an incredibly dark tan which seemed odd since I have never had a tan in my life. During the tanning session I had the opportunity to see a number of competitors and realized that I did belong there which gave me confidence going into the competition.

The competition was like a number of sports tournaments including wrestling tournaments in that there was a great deal of hurry up and wait which made it difficult to time pumping up and eating and drinking. Once you are out on stage for either the mandatory poses or the individual free posing the time flies. Backstage most everyone was friendly among the chaos.

After the first contest, the NPC East Coast Cup in New Haven, I basically kept my nutrition and workouts the same for the next two weeks leading into the NPC New Englands in Boston. At each competition I won the Masters 60+ Physique and Classic Physique categories and was second in the Open Bodybuilding Bantamweights and Masters 60+ Bodybuilding categories.

Since the competition I have been working to gain lean mass. I was 139 at the first competition and the bantamweight cut off is 143.5 so I have some room to gain mass and push towards the weight limit. My goal was to gain 20 pounds over the next few months and then I would begin cutting once I decided on what competition to do this year. Twenty pounds may seem a lot but one gains about 5 pounds within days after the competition. I have now reached that goal and managed to remain relatively lean. I will stay at this weight through January and make a decision about any competitions in 2022 at the end of January. The earliest I would compete would be late spring.