Reflecting on my first contest
My first contest prep as very interesting. I had no idea how to pose and or how important practicing posing was. I also had no idea what and when to eat. I went into my prep completely blind but luckily I had time and help from my friends at Golds Gym and a nutritionist I know.
I started my prep February of 2017 and my contest was August of that same year. That gave me 7 months to get from 96kgs down to 82kgs which was the weight i went into last year's contest at. That's a 14 kg weight difference. The first place I looked for help was from the more professional bodybuilders at gym. I first tried to cut and paste their diets into my life but as a soon found out, that was a huge mistake.
Take for example two brothers that attend my gym, they are both bodybuilders and both poses spectacular bodies. You'd think them being brothers that would mean that their diets would be the same but it's not. The older brother can eat carbs but is weak to fats and the younger brother does a keto diet meaning he eats little carbs and mostly consumes fats as a source of energy. I'm explaining this to show you that everyone reacts to different macro nutrients differently and you have to experiment with food in order to figure out what works for you.
Last year was a trial and error time for me and I think everyone needs those periods in their life where they experiment with their bodies and figure out what works for them. In many cases people try to use diets they see online or diets they hear about from their friends however your diet is a much more personal thing and should be treated as such.
So in my case I learned that carbs and fats in excess amounts were horrible for me. I had to restrict my carbs to less than 60 grams per day and I also had to get my fats down and from healthy sources like avocados and fish. I was banned from almonds, which was heartbreaking for me because I love almonds. I also had to cut diary out of my diet because diary makes it harder to lose body fat. Dairy hardens the fat in your body making it harder to burn. Finding this out was another blow for me because I loved eating oats and Greek yogurt in the morning. Bananas were another thing I had to keep in check. Sure bananas are healthy and they provide you with energy however they also have a lot of sugars that help to spike your insulin, which in turn makes it harder to lose weight. I had to study about the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load of of different foods. I think many of us would think that waking up and eating a bowl of oats, banana, berries and nuts in milk is healthy. But as you delve deeper into the nutrition aspect of meals and meal timing and macro nutrients then once seemingly healthy meals become drastically unhealthy.
One of the other things I overlooked and I think many other people do this was the impact of oils on your diet. Fats are the most calorie dense macro nutrient out there and if left unchecked it can ruin your progress. For one gram of fat you consume 9 calories, while for one gram of protein and carbohydrate you get 4 calories. Upon learning that I stopped frying my food and chose instead to boil it. I boiled my eggs in the morning and boiled my chicken for lunch and dinner. This helped me to cut back down on the oil I would have otherwise consumed with my meals.
After my diet was taken care of I started to look at my posing. Let me just say this, many people see bodybuilders posing on stage and think it's easy. Trust me, it's not. Posing is hard, posing is extremely taxing on the body. I've only done three contests so far in my career so I'm still a baby and learning. However from what I've gathered so far. I would recommend practicing your poses at least 5 times a week. With a mirror and without, this helps you to go into your poses more naturally without always having to rely on your reflection. The reason for this is that you won't have a mirror on stage. Also if you can get professional help then get it. It's worth it.
I started my prep February of 2017 and my contest was August of that same year. That gave me 7 months to get from 96kgs down to 82kgs which was the weight i went into last year's contest at. That's a 14 kg weight difference. The first place I looked for help was from the more professional bodybuilders at gym. I first tried to cut and paste their diets into my life but as a soon found out, that was a huge mistake.
Take for example two brothers that attend my gym, they are both bodybuilders and both poses spectacular bodies. You'd think them being brothers that would mean that their diets would be the same but it's not. The older brother can eat carbs but is weak to fats and the younger brother does a keto diet meaning he eats little carbs and mostly consumes fats as a source of energy. I'm explaining this to show you that everyone reacts to different macro nutrients differently and you have to experiment with food in order to figure out what works for you.
Last year was a trial and error time for me and I think everyone needs those periods in their life where they experiment with their bodies and figure out what works for them. In many cases people try to use diets they see online or diets they hear about from their friends however your diet is a much more personal thing and should be treated as such.
So in my case I learned that carbs and fats in excess amounts were horrible for me. I had to restrict my carbs to less than 60 grams per day and I also had to get my fats down and from healthy sources like avocados and fish. I was banned from almonds, which was heartbreaking for me because I love almonds. I also had to cut diary out of my diet because diary makes it harder to lose body fat. Dairy hardens the fat in your body making it harder to burn. Finding this out was another blow for me because I loved eating oats and Greek yogurt in the morning. Bananas were another thing I had to keep in check. Sure bananas are healthy and they provide you with energy however they also have a lot of sugars that help to spike your insulin, which in turn makes it harder to lose weight. I had to study about the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load of of different foods. I think many of us would think that waking up and eating a bowl of oats, banana, berries and nuts in milk is healthy. But as you delve deeper into the nutrition aspect of meals and meal timing and macro nutrients then once seemingly healthy meals become drastically unhealthy.
One of the other things I overlooked and I think many other people do this was the impact of oils on your diet. Fats are the most calorie dense macro nutrient out there and if left unchecked it can ruin your progress. For one gram of fat you consume 9 calories, while for one gram of protein and carbohydrate you get 4 calories. Upon learning that I stopped frying my food and chose instead to boil it. I boiled my eggs in the morning and boiled my chicken for lunch and dinner. This helped me to cut back down on the oil I would have otherwise consumed with my meals.
After my diet was taken care of I started to look at my posing. Let me just say this, many people see bodybuilders posing on stage and think it's easy. Trust me, it's not. Posing is hard, posing is extremely taxing on the body. I've only done three contests so far in my career so I'm still a baby and learning. However from what I've gathered so far. I would recommend practicing your poses at least 5 times a week. With a mirror and without, this helps you to go into your poses more naturally without always having to rely on your reflection. The reason for this is that you won't have a mirror on stage. Also if you can get professional help then get it. It's worth it.
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