To be honest: it went very poorly. I basically came in last in all four categories I entered. The only person I beat in True Novice and Open looked like he entered as part of a bet or joke from his high school or college buddies and the one guy I beat in Masters was ridiculously out of shape. In Novice I came dead last.
To say I’m disappointed is an understatement. My friends and family all feel I should’ve placed higher, but they’re biased of course. I don’t have any high rez photos yet and I’m waiting on the package I paid for, but the photos/ videos I have seen seem to suggest that the judging was a bit odd as I was beaten by guys who were smoother, smaller, less symmetrical and didn’t know how to pose at all.
Ultimately it doesn’t matter. I was either judged fairly and looked like crap; or I was judged unfairly and got shafted. The end result is the same: I really don’t see myself wanting to compete in bodybuilding again any time soon, if ever. The cost in time, energy, stress and money wasn’t worth it and I could have put that towards something far more rewarding. I have other sports and hobbies I love and excel at.
The experience itself wasn’t that great as the organization didn’t seem to know what they were doing. They couldn’t figure out where they wanted the athletes to stand, how they wanted to enter or exit the stage or where they wanted them to stage in the pump up room. The lighting, I was told, was terrible; and in the live stream playback when the athletes stepped forward to do their posedown they all but disappeared. It didn’t happen to me, but they lost the music for a fair number of other athletes.
The format was different than typical with basically no prejudging only finals in the morning. It was nice to be done by 10:30 though.
For some reason everyone was heighted an inch shorter than actual. I am 6’ 1.5" according to my doctor, multiple times; they measured me at 6’ 0.5", and everyone else I talked to noticed the discrepancies. If an athlete was close to their weight cap this could be a serious problem. Lucky I wasn’t.
This show was nothing like the ones I’ve attended as a spectator: no IFBB pro guest poser, no vendor area, no sponsors that I could see.
Funny enough, the best part of the experience was the nice lady who tanned me up and the conversations I had with the other competitors while waiting in the various lines. I learned about a new, local, doughnut place.
I did get a couple trophies though
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In the end: the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.
Afterwards though I’m feeling better physically. I’m no longer tired all the time. I look bigger and fuller again (still have abs though). I’m getting more compliments from random people again.