Introduction: Embrace Your Passion for Bodybuilding
So, you want to get started in the sport of bodybuilding? Listen, I am not mad at you, honey, because I absolutely loved my time as a competitor.
As an IFBB Pro who had the honor of stepping on the Olympia stage, I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything in the world.
I always encourage women who have that bucket list goal of competing, many left wondering whether it’s too late for them to get on stage. I say, honey, listen, it’s never too late.
Exploring Your Options: Master’s Classes and Open Categories
If you are a woman over the age of 35 looking to step on stage, this conversation is for you.
It’s at 35 and up that the Master’s classes begin, and don’t you get it twisted because these Master’s competitors bring it on the stage.
You’ve got that muscle density on your side, that lowered estrogen for many of you, helping you get harder and leaner as well. So, if getting on stage is on your bucket list, this conversation today is for you.
Personal Experience: Success Beyond Age Limits
I’ve had the great privilege of helping women in their 40s, 50s, and beyond earn their Pro cards in the IFBB and in several natural orgs.
When I’m telling you that the sky is the limit, it really is.
It depends on your genetics, structure, your starting point, and how long you’ve been competing in general. But there are two phases that I want to talk about today that you need to consider when it comes to getting ready for a show.
Pre-Prep Phase vs. Pre-Contest Phase
Your contest prep begins well before you even begin the prep. What does that mean?
For those of you who are experienced competitors and have done shows before, your contest prep starts the moment you step off your stage in your final show of the season.
For those of you who’ve never competed before, your contest prep begins in what I call the pre-prep phase. Let’s break down the difference between your pre-prep phase and your pre-contest phase.
Assessing Your Mental and Physical State
The first thing you need to do before you step out there, honey, is to make sure this body and mind are right. Bodybuilding is more of a mental game than anything.
Sure, the physical aspect is there – the training, the diet, all that stuff.
But if you don’t have the mental toughness to tough it out all the way to the end, honey, you are not going to survive this prep.
Contest prep will have you questioning your sanity, it’ll have your emotions up and down, it’ll have you judging every inch of yourself and just going insane if you allow it to.
But if you take time before you go into your contest prep to work on your mindset, to work on your body to bring yourself to a place where you don’t have to move Heaven and Earth to get ready for a show… And, if you can do that before you begin your actual prep, this is going to be a lot easier of process.
Evaluating Your Physique and Setting Goals
The first thing you need to do is take an honest look at your physique.
Where are you right now? If you need to lose weight, if your body fat is pretty high right now, you need to focus on getting your body fat down.
You need to focus on losing weight.
For some of you, that might mean that your contest prep isn’t for another six months to a year, maybe even a little longer, especially if you have more weight to lose first.
Take on that task.
Bring your body to a point where you’re at a nice level of conditioning and we can be able to see clearly what division you would fit best in.
Designing Your Training Program
Which leads to the next thing. You’ve got to put together a program that’s going to help you to build your physique in the smartest way possible.
Now, we’ve talked about the shape that the judges love to see on stage, and that is the x-frame.
It doesn’t matter what division you’re in, the x-frame still is something that we like to see. It’s just posed differently and it’s of different sizes and shapes and conditioning between the different divisions.
But make no mistake, it is still there. So what does that mean? That’s going to mean that you’re going to have to sit down, take a look at your body, and see what parts need to be brought up and how you can do that most efficiently and effectively.
Addressing Mental Blocks and Food Issues
I would even say the pre-prep phase is a point where you want to take care of all that mental mind taffy stuff, any kind of food trauma or any kind of eating issues that you might have.
This is the time to get this out of the way because, honey, you don’t want them wearing their ugly heads during your pre-contest phase.
I discussed the mindset game in this video, so be sure to check it out.
Navigating the Pre-Contest Phase
Once you’re ready and your body is at a place where, again, you don’t need to move Heaven and Earth to get ready for a show, body fat is a little bit more on the athletic side… This is where you want to go ahead and take a look at what shows are coming up and when you want to step on stage.
You need to give yourself enough time to prep, honey.
Okay, listen, 12 weeks ain’t enough, okay?
Eight weeks ain’t enough.
You need a full 16 to 20 weeks, and if this is your first time out who’s a little bit more seasoned, 16 weeks may be perfect for you. It really just depends on your starting point. This is where working with a great coach can help you out.
Key Considerations in Contest Preparation
Your number one goal when it comes to competitions and prep is to keep as much muscle on as possible as you get leaner and leaner.
That’s tough to do as a natural athlete, so you’ve got to make sure you’re not starving yourself. You’ve got to make sure you’re getting enough protein in the diet.
You’ve got to make sure that even if you go low carbs, that you’re not going so low that it’s detrimental to your goals. And also, you’ve got to make sure that you’re not spending hours upon hours upon hours of cardio.
Oh, my stars, if I can tell you how many times I have seen a body ruined – a perfectly good-shaped body – ruined on a stage because of the overreliance on cardio, honey, I’d be a millionaire.
Conclusion: Embrace the Possibilities
Training smarter is the key.
Training hard is a part of it, but if you’re just training hard for the sake of training hard and it’s giving you the opposite of what you need – you’re flat, it’s making you stringy, it’s making you look crazy – then you need to be doing something completely different.
And a lot of times, you find coaches who over-rely on cardio to get their clients to be leaner and they start starving them with these super low-calorie diets or eating just chicken and asparagus and tilapia for every meal.
That is not the way to prep.
If you need to do that, you need to either find another coach or choose another show.
Look, this contest prep stuff, it’s science but it’s not rocket science.
Yes, it is more than just trying to lose weight. It is more than just trying to put on muscle.
There is a lot more nuance to it. But with consistency, with work, and with the right support behind you, the sky is the limit and you can do really well. And I’ve seen it with my own competitors, so I’m confident you’ll discover it’s the same for you.
The Smarter Approach to Your Prep Always Wins in the End - Download My FREE Contest Prep Crash Course
Look, the one thing I want you to learn from everything I share is that you can indeed have a SMART prep, and look amazing in the end. You CAN do things the right way, and WIN on stage.
All it takes is working with the right advice and tips to help you to get there, and to truly develop into the amazing athlete that you already are.
I pride myself on developing my competitors. To TRULY guide them, hands on, to their best. To be there for them for that motivation, mental support, honest feedback, and attention to detail that will get them to their winning physique.
I created this amazing eBook to help you to start to take a smarter approach to your prep – all while looking your ABSOLUTE BEST on stage!
In this eBook I’m breaking down everything you need to consider when it comes to cardio and weight training for prep, dieting for your show, posing and presentation tips, and so much more!
Plus, I’ve got some really great bonus videos that will help you to master the game, and figure out exactly what you need to do to ensure that you look like a star up on that stage.
