Muscle Building and Comptitions
You have worked hard to become the professional body builder that you now are. All those hours training, eating right, taking various supplements and resting have finally lead you to the next stage… What exactly is the next stage though? Well it is time to start entering in the natural bodybuilding competitions. There are many various aspects of entering in a body building competition, so lets have a look at them to make sure that you are as ready for them as you think you are.
We need to firstly look at some of the different websites that hold information about various body building competitions, here a just a small selections of them:
http://www.usbf.net/
http://www.worldnaturalsports.com/
http://www.nanbf.org/
http://www.naturalbodybuilding.com/
http://www.nationalgym.com/nga/index.php
http://www.snbf.com/
http://www.inbf.net/
http://www.wnbf.net/
http://www.npcnewsonline.com/
Before throwing yourself into a competition, you need to doubly make sure you are actually eligible for entry, look at the requirements of the particular competition to find out whether you can join. There are usually entry deadlines and maybe even some fees to enter, so make sure you know all the ins and outs before making the jump.
When you have found a contest you want to enter, you will have to diet. This can be considered as the hardest part. You need to lose as much body fat as possible just before the contest, but you have to still maintain your muscle mass. You will need to keep a healthy and nutritious diet and perhaps use some of the various supplements available to body builders. You will lose about one pound of muscle for every three pounds of body fat that you end up losing.
If you do not already know how to pose, you will need to learn before the competition starts. The poses will effectively show your muscles that you have gained in the best way possible. Your physique does matter to how you look, but sometimes someone who knows how to pose right to show off their muscles wins, even when someone else actually had a better physique. So the key is to learn how to pose properly. The poses you will typically need to know are the Front Double Biceps Pose, the Side Chest, The Side Triceps, the Front Lat Spread, the Rear Double Biceps, The Abdominal Pose, and the Rear Lat Spread.
You will also need to have a tan, you will not win if your skin is untanned. There are products specifically desinged that you can use for this, that are specifically meant for competition tans, but you will probably need to spend some time in the tanning booth as well.
Lastly, you need to make sure that you have a membership for the organization holding the contest. It will more than likely be required. You will need some various music of your own to use when you are posing. You will need posing trunks (bring two or three pairs). Bring protein and potassium snacks and tanning lotion. You will need to use some posing oil as well. It can be useful to have someone with you who can help you apply everything you need.