3 Questions to Ask Yourself before Starting your First Contest Prep in Physique Sports.
Introduction - Set yourself Up for Success
Awesome - so maybe you’ve been lifting for quite some time now, your muscles are looking pretty jacked at the gym, and you’re finally ready to take on the next challenge. You say to yourself “I’m going to compete in my FIRST physique competition!” knowing it’ll be a long, tough, yet rewarding experience.
Whether you’re interested in men’s bodybuilding / physique or women’s figure / bikini, you’ll need to consider ALL of the expectations, roadblocks, and potential challenges you might face before diving into your first-ever contest prep. Want success? Well you better be prepared.
In this blog, we’ll discuss the top 3 questions you need to ask yourself before making an official decision to undergo your first competitive season in physique sports:
What is your main reason for competing?
Are you ready to compete - physically, mentally and financially?
Finally, do you have a game plan when contest prep is over?
Without further ado, let’s get into it!
1) What is your MAIN reason for competing?
This is arguably the most important question you’ll need to answer before deciding if contest prep is right for you at this time (if ever, possibly). Without a proper reason to compete, you might find yourself asking “is this worth it?” just a few weeks / months into prep. As you continue to dig deeper and reach lower levels of body fat, your mind will eventually need to be stronger than your body. Having a powerful reason for carrying on will help you overcome any moments of doubt or uncertainty. Ultimately, a “good” reason to compete will be created and defined by YOU, but here are a few things to help you figure out if your purpose is durable enough to get you through the struggles that come with contest prep:
Things you SHOULDN’T do physique sports for:
To gain more social media attention
To impress people you know (and especially for people you don’t know)
To solve internal body image conflict or poor diet habits
Things you SHOULD do physique sports for:
To truly uncover the amount of muscle you’ve worked hard to build
To challenge yourself in something that seems almost impossible to you - but you love the push that it gives
To be more comfortable doing something uncomfortable
2) Are you ready to compete - physically, mentally and financially?
Yes, there are technically 3 questions here - but each one requires equal attention in order for you to move forward with your decision to compete in physique sports.
Where does your body stand physically?
Despite that many physique athletes do not compete to best other people or place top 3 in their class (aka they’re doing it to be the best version of themselves), the sport is still very competitive from a muscularity standpoint - especially in today’s world of both genetic and hard working individuals alike.
Before rushing into contest prep, you really need to look at yourself in the mirror and ask if you’ve built enough muscle. Obviously, this is a very subjective measurement but most successful first-time athletes have at least 3-5 years of consistent and intelligent training under their belts. The more experience you have, the better chance you’ll have against other competitors.
Assess how much additional body fat you have to lose, relative to your expected competition date(s). Even if you do have a sufficient amount of muscle mass built, you’ll need to make sure that your starting body fat percentage is manageable enough for you to diet down relative to when you plan to step on stage. Generally, an athlete should aim to lose .5%-1% of their body weight per week (e.g. a person that weighs 170lbs may aim to lose .85-1.7lb per week) leading up to their show in order to create a manageable diet and preserve as much muscle as possible. If you do not think you can reach an extremely low body fat percentage (~4-7% for males and ~12-15% for females) by the time of your show date, then you might have to consider starting your contest prep earlier OR choosing a different show that takes place later in the year.
Tread carefully with existing injuries. The physical demands of contest prep will be higher and higher as you continue to lose more body fat over time - therefore putting your body and its overall performance in a vulnerable position. Be sure that you are 100% injury-free before you begin your extended fat loss phase.
Is your current mental state prepared for what’s to come?
Just as important as being physically ready, you must ensure that your mind is in the right place before you compete in your first-ever physique competition. If you have a lot of existing personal challenges going on (ie work, family, life in general), then you may want to consider focusing on improving those aspects first as contest prep will only require you to balance additional priorities and become more efficient in time management. Here are a few situations to think about:
Work - are you in between jobs? did you just start a new position? has work been extremely busy lately?
Travel/Vacation - do you intend on traveling a lot this year? are you going on vacation soon? how many vacations do you have planned?
Stress - do you feel that current pressure and worry prevents you from fully focusing on your nutrition and training?
Furthermore, it’s invaluable to have a strong support system that will always be by your side to get you through a competitive season. Find friends and family that you can talk to that understand and appreciate your journey. However, never try to force anyone to know exactly what you’re going through and do your best to live as normal of a life with them throughout the entire process. If you can successfully compete in an entire season without a loved one noticing, you’ve created a win-win situation for everyone.
Do you have enough funds to make this a successful contest prep?
Let’s be honest, living a fit lifestyle in general isn’t cheap (although you should never put a price on health) - so don’t expect contest prep to be any different. Here is a checklist of everything you will need money for from the moment the season starts until the very end:
Food, nutrition, and supplementation
Registration + membership fees and polygraph testing (for tested organizations)
Flight, travel and hotels (if competing out of town)
Posing trunks, shorts, bikinis
Spray tans
Lastly and arguably the most important investment is hiring a good coach. If this is your first time to ever compete in a physique sport, you will want to have a coach, mentor, and supporter that will guide you through a successful contest prep. Your coach should be able to lighten the load on your end and offer you a customized experience, individual nutrition/training programming, and undivided attention to your wellbeing through the season - especially when things get hard and tough. For posing purposes, you’ll likely want to find someone who has experience in the class you’re looking to compete in (ie men’s bodybuilding poses are much different than men’s physique routines).
3) Do you have a game plan when contest prep is over?
This is the topic NO ONE is talking about enough. Not many people discuss or ask about what they should do after they’ve reached their “final” body transformation (whether it be through contest prep or even in general fat loss situations). Don’t just worry about the ‘before and after’… but also consider the ‘after-AFTER’. If you don’t, you might experience the prolonged consequences of negative self image and/or disordered eating.
It’s not recommended to expect that you will be “stage-lean” forever - regardless of how cool the selfies and photos look. Before you start your contest prep, take a look at yourself and accept that having some body fat under your skin is perfectly normal. After an exhausting competitive season, your body will actually sustain a multitude of health implications (ie vulnerable immune system, increased lethargy, disordered eating patterns, and more) and will want to go back to normalized body fat and lifestyle conditions.
Work with your coach months in advance to decide what plan is best for you once the season is over. Many people either consider taking on a “reverse-dieting” approach (meaning that you’re gradually introducing more calories back into the diet week-over-week, month-over-month) or decide on a “recovery diet” where they’re adding calories back much faster in order to speed up the process back to a healthier baseline. Here’s a very loose example timeline of events of how you could potentially structure your plan of attack post-contest prep:
End of your last official bulking phase before contest prep starts - lean bulk
Contest prep officially begins (X amount of weeks, Y amount of months) - extended fat loss
Competitive season comes to an end - reverse or recovery diet begins
Performance, body fat and eating habits are back to normal
Improvement season (aka off-season) begins - implementing lean bulk, maintenance, and fat loss phases as needed
Best of Luck on your Competitive Journey
Despite all the meticulous topics we covered here, it should be emphasized that competing in physique sports (while not for everyone) is one of the most rewarding endeavors that an individual can do in their lifetime. You will learn more about yourself than ever before and likely implement many positive takeaways into your normal life once the season is over.
Do your best, enjoy the process, and inspire the people around you to fulfill their own passionate ambitions.
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Hope you found this helpful! If you ever want to pick my brain or chat about tackling your own goals through 1-on-1 fitness coaching, feel free to send me an email at coachcudi@gmail.com or message me on Instagram @jhon.luke
CUDI out ✌️