Road to the BNBF Welsh Qualifiers 2011 - Progess Journal

No didn't make it :( had to get something done in the morning so decided to go in the evening instead, but by the time it got to leaving, I was just so tired that I didn't go

I'm a bit gutted really, as I really wanted to go, for the day and to see how it all goes down as that would definitely be useful. Would have been great to meet you two as well. But I'm sure I'll get that pleasure at the Welsh :)
 
I thought so, will add Welshy to my cheer list.

I'm J.T over there as well, don’t post much though as I am nowhere near as hard core as the majority on there and don’t want to sound stupid! :(

Tell Welshy good luck and knock’em dead mate. :)
 
So today was a good day. Felt full of energy and in good spirits

First day on new portion sizes, and well that's not so good. I'm so frickin' hungry. All the time!! You should see me when food comes round. I get it ready in front of me and sit there watching the clock until it's bang on eat time (yep I'm that strict lol), then it's like when they throw meat into the lions cage, I'm like an animal. But before I know it, it's finished and I'm still so hungry :(

On a more positive note, everything is now bought/ordered/booked ready for the show so I'm properly ready to go. This time last week, 4 weeks didn't feel long enough and I wanted a little longer, now 3 weeks seems so long and I just want to get on stage
 
OK, here's my little rundown for show day. Just want to say though that I'm not and never have been a competitor. All of my knowledge is from going to shows, helping the wife prepare for show competition and being involved in our local BNBF club meets on a regular basis where we get to spend time with the pros, judges and other competitors with years of experience :) I'll probably end up missing something out but will add it if I think of it.

All of the information below is just my take on the build up and the day. There is no 100% right or wrong, it's just a guide and somebody else may suggest a different way of doing things.


The build up - preparation...
Ignoring diet here as that is a very individual thing, your next most important thing is probably your.....TAN. Yep, get the gravy browning out :D

When you buy your tan you will probably get a body scrub included. You want to be using this in the shower every day at least a week before competition. Some people will start their tan on on the day of competition and they're usually easy to spot....they'll be the ones with tan running down them on stage. Start putting your tan on the day before competition, possibly even with a base coat on the Friday evening. Give it time to really soak in, adding more coats throughout the Saturday until you're dark enough. Apply maybe another topup coat on the morning of competition but try not to add to much, the earlier the better. Of course, you have already had a practice with this, right? ;) If not, do it now. Apply some and see what happens. How dark is it? How well does it go on? Does it look patchy? Don't panic...it will probably look patchy at first but as more coats on you'll even out.


Arriving at the show...
When you arrive you can sign in for the comp to let them know you're there to compete. It's not unusual for people to not turn up if they think they're not ready. Once you're done, you can hang around until it's your turn to go on stage. The BNBF are very good at helping out. There will be plenty of backstage help to get you where you need to be at the right time and somebody should call out in the foyer when you need to be backstage.....but they won't come hunting you down. If you're watching the other classes on stage it's your responsibility to make sure you're back stage when you need to be. The BNBF guys will help as much as they can, but they can't hold your hand all day :) Get the running order for the day and you can roughly work out when you need to be back stage. Bodybuilding is also a very friendly 'sport' and you'll find that competitors also help each other out quite a bit.


Show time... 1.00pm
Now it's time to step on stage. You'll walk out in number order and line up on stage. There should be two lines on stage, one towards the front and one towards the back. Initially you'll come out to the front of the stage and the first thing you'll notice is how little you can actually see. The spotlights in front of you mean you may not be able to see a great deal out front. Seeing in to the audience is hard, which may be a bonus so you don't poop yourself :D

You will line up and stand in your front relaxed pose. The head judge or MC will then take you through your quarter turns and then on to the compulsory poses. After this, you will all be asked to stand in line at the rear of the stage.

Now it's time for the call outs. The head judge will call out, by number, competitors they want to see at the front of the stage. They'll call out about 4-5 people and you will walk to the front line and stand front relaxed. They do this so they can compare individuals side by side. You will then be asked to perform all of your poses again. They'll get you to swap places, move to the rear line and bring others forward and maybe call you out two or three times, or not at all. Practice your posing again and again and again. If you're called out 2, 3, 4 times all with quarter turns and compulsory poses you need to hit them hard each and every time. Your body will be aching and going in to cramp. Practice, I can't emphasise this enough. When you're on the rear line, again...keep posing, hard. Never relax, you're always being judged. When they're looking at the front line they're also looking at the rear line to see who they want to compare next.

Once the judges are happy that they've seen all the want to see then you're done and will be asked to leave the stage. That's it, pre-judging is complete :)


The evening show... 5.00pm
This is all about your routine now. The main work has been done and the judges have probably 80% made their mind up on scoring but you can still win it or lose it now so keep going. Each competitor will come on to stage one at a time and perform a posing routine to music of their choice. Your routine should be 60 seconds long (double check this) and will, hopefully, be showing off your best poses. Again, make sure you're back stage in plenty of time to pump up and get yourself settled.

Once you have completed your individual routine you will then go backstage and wait. Once everyone has done their routine, you will all come back on stage and line up at the front. The judges will usually ask you to go through your quarter turns and compulsory poses so those in the audience that weren't there in the daytime can see everybody again. Once complete, you'll be asked to go to the rear of the stage where the MC will announce the placings. You'll be awarded your trophy and take place at the front of the stage for a few photos.

That's it, you either walk away with a trophy or you don't. But whatever you do, walk away with your head held high knowing the effort you put in and knowing you did it whilst others talk about it. Only those that have gone through competition prep will know how hard it truely is. Give yourself a big pat on the back.


Hope this helps in some way, just shout if there's any Q's :)
 
Awesome awesome awesome!

Thank you so much mate, that's hugely helpful :)

Regarding tan, only thing I'm worried about with it is putting it on, my girlfriends going to be doing it for me, but I'm hoping that it's really not that difficult a task. Putting it on, is it really something you can mess up? Or as long as you take your time is it pretty straight forward?
 
No worries :)

With the tan, I did Sinead's first time around and we were pleased with the results having never done it before. Having said that, we did do a couple of test runs before show day to get a feel for it and to guestimate how many coats she might need. If you don't want to do a full body test (for obvious reasons) then do a decent size patch on your stomach and thighs to get a feel for it. Initially it might seem a bit patchy but with a bit of practice you'll learn how to start blending it in and filling in any "holes" you might see. You'll probably need 3-4 coats, maybe more...it all depends on your skin and how it soaks in with you.
 
You'd probably have enough for two shows in a bottle so you'll have enough to do a few test patches with multiple coats and then 8-9 full body coats would be my guestimate. Put it this way, you'll not run out with one bottle :)

What tan have you got?
 
I got the recommended Show Off tan that they send you the link too in the BNBF welcome pack.

That has made me feel so much better. I was worried it would only be enough for a couple of coats at most
 
Nah, you'll have plenty, don't panic about running out :)

Will no doubt catch you on show day so happy to help out if I can although obviously Sinead takes priority :p

Oh, one other thing is you can't take any help backstage so when you're there your girlfriend can't go backstage with you to top up tan or anything. If you need to top up either one of the helpers will do it for you or you're free to drop your trousers outside and do it there :D

Also, have you seen photos of somebody with competition tan on but in normal daylight? It's VERY dark. Don't just chuck on one or two coats and think it will do. try and look at some pics if you can to get an idea of getting the right balance.
 
I think I'll do as you recommended and go for a base coat Friday and then one the next evening, then one on the morning of the show. So things like the oil/sheen or tan enhancer as it's called in the stuff I got, do the helpers have to do that for you before you go on stage? That's kind of a relief as at least I know it will get done properly

Definitely be good to meet up on the day mate, you've been an amazing help so far already though :)
 
Here's a link to a page taking the mickey out of bodybuilding tans :D
http://www.paleisthenewtan.com/2010/09/more-weird-bodybuilding-tan-fails.html

It's actually a good example of the level of darkness you'll probably want to be looking for. Some of those people are VERY dark but you want to be there or thereabouts. The bottom pic is probably the best one.

I'd say coat one Friday night, coats 2 & 3 on Saturday and maybe coat 4 Saturday if you feel you're not dark enough. If you want to post up or email me a pic on Saturday I'm more than happy to try and help judge your colour.

Leave Sunday morning tanning to topup any patches you'll get when sleeping. You might also want to get hold of an old duvet cover and sleep in that, helps keep your good stuff clean whilst keeping material contact to a minimum :)

Wear loose clothes on the day as well.
 
Oh, I knew I'd forget a few things :)

Don't tan your face, hands or feet until the day of the show. They'll only need one light coat as the tan will take to these areas much more than the rest of your body.

Also forgot the posedown in the evening show :D
As said above, after the judges have seen all the routines and then take everyone through the quarter turns and compulsory poses they'll get you to return to the back of the stage. The part I missed is that whilst they're totalling up the scores to pass to the MC, competitors do a posedown where music will come on and everyone gives it large on stage. Be prepared to get to the front and give it some :D Just have fun, expect people to get in front and out-pose you. It's all just a bit of a laugh for a minute or so.
 
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