My First Natural Bodybuilding Show

Posted on by Revive with Stephen Hall

Highlights, thoughts and feelings

First off I apologise for the lack of a newsletter last week, those of you who follow me on the social media know I competed in my First Natural Bodybuilding show. This was through the NPA and was the South East Championships. As I said it was my first show, I actually never planned to do it but I am so glad I did, because I learnt LOADS!
The Game Plan
  1. Shave body hair and apply tan, to best show off muscle detail.
  2. Eat/drink enough to achieve fullness but so not to ‘spill over’ and look less defined, and maintain this look.
  3. Ensure to come under the upper cut off limit for the lightweight novices weigh in.
  4. Pose to best demonstrate symmetry, size and definition to the judges.
The above is the basic elements to what I was trying to achieve on the day, essentially to best represent my physique to the judges and meet their criteria. However, being my first show, not everything went to plan, so let me take you through the reality.
The Reality
  1. So I had been shaving my body hair for the past month. I thought that was fine. However, for some reason I didn’t consider my underarm or forearm hair. This counted against me and the judges picked up on it. Lesson learnt, get rid of ALL body hair (facial hair is OK). Second, my tan, this was a bit less certain, the night before my girlfriend kindly applied a layer of pro tan. The next day you’re advised to shower it off, I did so and it looked very weak. So we did another layer, this was an error as the showering off process is very important to its proper application. Back stage we had the finisher by pro tan, and were applying this, it wasn’t going on so well due to adding the extra layer of tan in the morning. But we felt we had gotten a dark enough tan, and from some pictures you’d think we did. However, we were wrong, I looked washed out on stage. The lights were VERY bright. The judges commented that it looked like I didn’t have a tan, and looked washed out. Again, counting against me. They stated that I may well have placed higher if I had amended the above two points. Yes I am very disappointed in myself, but I will not make these errors again!
  2. My coach had provided some guideline macros and meal timings to eat. These were quite wide and he said it would really depend on how I was responding on the day. But I have been dieting for over 30 weeks, tracking my macros with precision. So I definitely have a pre-occupation with hitting numbers and so was too focussed on tracking then I was on the impact on my body. This led me to not achieve a pump or fill out, I was flat and didn’t look my best. 
  3. This one was hit. Weighed in after my breakfast well below the cut off and then just sipped on water till the final weigh in. It was at 11am, so obviously you had to be careful about how much you consumed beforehand. However, I expected digital scales, but they had old fashioned ones, and so I question the degree of accuracy.
  4. I have been practicing my posing each week for months. However, not spending much time on it and when into the final months you’re pretty exhausted all the time. So my willingness to practice was very low, plus I personally don’t have any good areas in my home to pose. So looking back, I would practice more early on, and then make it a habit to pose every single week, and film it. However, my posing on the day was OK, but I didn’t angle myself to the judges. This was key error on my part, and you will notice it in the videos (youtube link below), it makes a massive difference. Also I held my legs too close on some poses, purposefully done, but looking back, it was an error, making the sought for X frame hard to come by.
So there you have it, I messed up a little. However, learnt a great deal and the mistakes made are pretty easy to fix and work on. It wasn’t like I was told I was top heavy, or wasn’t lean enough. So it was a very positive experience. My main show is now in 2 weeks time, below is what I am going to do to improve upon my performance and do myself justice :).
Actions
  1. In comes Veet, to rid the under arm and forearm hair! And to get a perfect tan I have booked a professional tan on the day, it was expensive, but I think worth the investment. I will not get these two things wrong!
  2. Stop being such an obsessive tracker. I do not need to be precise with macros on the day, I just need to eat carbs and fats to achieve the look I desire. Pizza post weigh in and plenty of food, that is not tracked, only tracked by how I am looking.
  3. So for this show the cut off is even lower, so since my first show I am continuing to lose weight. I have been consistently under 75kg for the past few weeks, but of course weigh in is not first thing, so I need some leeway.
  4. Continue to practice my posing up until the show and be sure to angle myself towards the judges during the competition.
Overall the show was an AMAZING experience. People there to show off their hard work and share their journeys with one another. Some had lost huge amounts of weight to be there, and that in itself is commendable. I won’t lie, it was stressful, and I am a stressful person, so that didn’t help.

For my next show I am going to almost sit back, relax and just do my best, no point stressing because overall it is just about getting on the stage and enjoying myself. For me the journey getting here has been the reward, trophies or placings are nice, but mean little in reality. I have learnt SO much getting to such low bodyfat levels, and will use this not only to help others but it has given me confidence that I can achieve anything.

I vlogged the whole thing, to check it out visit HERE.