Should I Compete in Physique or Bodybuilding?

Okay so im 18 I know I still have a long time to grow
I just competed in my first show last week in teen physique at the battle of texas, i placed third but if my poses were better i couldve placed higher, for some reason I just couldn’t flare my lats at ALL on stage, I was nervous since it was my first time i guesss, I could do it easy in the room the night before
But I was planning on competing classic physique July 8th at the battle on the bay in chorpus Christi…
My goal is to one day become iffbb pro just like everybody else’s, and I was just curious in what yall thought I should start pursuing it in… Physique or bb? Or even classic physique if they even have that in ifbb pro? I’ve been told my waist isnt small enough to go pro in physique but I was just curious what yall thought…? I could have been a lot leaner and dryer during this show but I plan on hitting my prep a lot harder this time around. I usually get measured at 6 foot tall but they put me down at 5"10 on my height card, i competed at 180 i was hoping to get down to 170-175 but it just didn’t happen… Just curious on yalls thoughts…

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Lats and shoulders are the most important muscles in physique shows , you need to gain more mass in those muscles. Your body generally and your legs specifically are small for a bodybuilder so I think you’ll do better in physique ( for the current time).

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Curious what the wheels look like. Also, it goes without saying that your conditioning would need to be much better, and 6’ at ~175 doesn’t sound like what you would expect on. BBing stage.

Any other pics (turnarounds?)

S

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all I have atm…

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@landonc43 I think you will be able to do bodybuilding or physique in the future! I want to chime in more when I get back on. Congratulations for competing so young!

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Thanks! I definately liked physique… But I’ve just been told my waist isnt small enough to be able to go pro in the future… I definately couldve looked a lot better and dryer on stage but im just kinda stuck in between going bodybuilding, physique, or classic physique

At this point I would advise you to just compete in physique and grow into the bodybuilding class. I think long term you can do either but if you want to focus on dialing in presentation and water drop/conditioning, then the place to do that RIGHT NOW would be physique, and work towards growing into teen bodybuilding.

Essentially develop competition experience in your current class as you work on jumping up. Short term vs Long term goals–you develop skils and a path on your way. Now this isn’t the only way to go, it’s just one option. However I think you have room to focus on growing big time without worrying about outgrowing the physique class in the next year or anything. Regardless of which class you go you will need to grow a lot.

Also waist size depends a lot on presentation as well as the size of your shoulders so while it may be true that your waist is too wide, I don’t know that I would be so quick to take that to heart–you have a lot of growing and learning to do.

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Just as @Aragorn stated, there’s not much to go by in regards to your waist because you still have a lot of development left in you. I was going to come back and reply with more information, but he pretty much stated to what I intended. You have well developed pecs and lats and an upper back, but you have enormous potential to make your limbs pop more. Your torso dominant, which I think is actually very important in physique considering they like the sleek, top-heavy, V-tapered look, which I would never be able to pull off because I am structured like an arms-dominant clunky barrel. :slight_smile: (I did try physique at my one and only show so far though, and came in second to a guy that looks more like you).

Also (and don’t take this the wrong way), keep up to date on what’s going on in the IFBB and NPC and befriend people who do what you do. That you don’t know if the IFBB has a CP class when it was in this year featured in the Mr. O show for the first time, MIGHT imply one (not you per se) doesn’t know what’s up, if you catch my drift. It’s easier to take up your lofty goal if you have the in-person, real life guidance, especially with what PED’s you will need to take to excel at such a high level in the future.

And being you’re so young, and while we’re on the subject of PED’s, I hope you are very careful and put in the necessary work before you take them: years of hard training and adequate nutrition! Realize what you’re getting into when you aim to become an IFBB pro and don’t neglect the other avenues of life (education, a trade) along the way.

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This can’t be emphasized enough.

PEDs are only worth a damn if you can get superb (not decent, not ok, not even ‘good’) results from your knowledge of nutrition, training, and your work ethic. The story of people looking for a shortcut to their own work ethic and knowledge shortcomings with PEDs is so common it is almost a Proverb. People are so damn quick to pull the genetics card they don’t understand what it really takes to excel. PEDs are a “trump card”–they won’t let you win a contest if you aren’t already in position to win before them. I would watch Dave Tate’s youtube video on Human Potential and listen to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7WUHVA9lqE

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Great video of Dave Tate, thanks for posting Aragon !

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I love that video in so many ways!

“Are you gonna be a fuckin patriot or not?” Kills me, every time haha.

it’s a great really well thought out response to an interesting question. But it really flips the script on what most people think. He’s right–human potential is SO much higher than we think it is. Tell them they can do it IF they work hard, skill development, knowledge base, then worry about the other stuff.

“Just because you have a sticking point doesn’t mean you’re not going to go further, it means you need to get smarter” needs to be tattooed on high school and college walls everywhere.

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By PED’s i assume your talking about aas. Just never heard them called that before, but ofcourse I’ve thought about them for sure, I mean who doesn’t lol, but I’ve told myself I want to see how big I can get natty before trying anything like that, because I have dramatically changed my body in the last year (i will post a pic) so I know I have a lot more in me natural. I did just start a cycle of sarms though, I’ve never tried them before so I did a little bit of research before buying them but im going to do an 8 week cycle of sarms during my lean bulk just to try it out, that video helped out a lot also so thank you to who posted it!

we’re not really supposed to talk drugs in this part of the forum, but I will say that SARMs, contrary to what you might have heard, can still cause suppression (trust me on this) so I would still consider a SERM PCT and even bloodwork if you can.

Just my opinionated advice which you of course have no reason to blindly follow: stick to freaking food! And perhaps protein powder, which I consider just another food item anyway, if you want to, for convenience or because you simply like it. You don’t need a damn thing fancy at this point, other than perhaps BCAA’s before lifting and cardio when you are prepping. I have no idea why you are thinking of ANY cycle at this point with the amount of muscle you need to and can gain at this beginner-intermediate stage on your LONG journey.

Gain all you can with lifting and food, and then consider what you want to do or even SEE if you can be competitive in the NPC as a drug aided competitor who might have a shot at going pro! This is going to be a long process, and from being a fan and follower of bodybuilding for a long, LONG time, I believe those who rush things fall short of what they could be or run into problems!

I’ve competed once so far, in a natural federation, and from my first prep, a brutal one at that, I’ve learned that one of the most important elements in all of this is TIME, above all the rest of the resources we have. Every other resource comes under the umbrella of time or behind it!

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I am already 1.5 weeks in on the cycle and im only doing an 8 week, all im taking is GW And YK-11. And another called laxobolic but it’s not a sarm, I have nolvadex on hand just incase I do need a pct and some letrozole just incase i notice anything related to Gyno, i shouldnt need a pct for this but im going to just to be safe, after this im not going to take anymore supps except creatine and bcaa’s until my show, once I start my cut i might take some other fat burner and thermogenic supps just to help with fasted cardio and such
I’ve done my research on the sarms and they are pretty safe, i also did a bunch of research on gear for the past 2 years(which is why im not gonna take any until i just can’t grow anymore natty or can’t get out of a plateu later down the road(atleast 21). I know my test levels are so high right now anyways so im trying to use that to my advantage, I’ve always been a gym rat since I was like 14, it just wasn’t until this year that I realized how much of a role nutrition and cardio plays into it also. I really appreciate the advice and support from all of you though and I loved taht video! It really changed my mindset on some things (in a positive way). Im going to stick with physique and classic physique for this next show july 8th. Hell I might even do teen bb if im looking good enough, my main problem this show honestly I think was my nutrition coach… Specially during peak week, just what she had me doing didnt get me dry at all (and i stuck to it 100%) so Im gonna try a different nutrition coach this go round and see how it goes since I don’t know shit about nutrition. But I mean I was only paying her 55 a month so I guess you get what you pay for…

Ah, just food seems so much simpler. :slight_smile:

You do know that even if you do not do AAS but use stuff for so-called PCT, that you will still be tampering with the HPG axis, right?

I know, but I want to be as safe about it as possible… It would just be a mini pct anyways so i shouldn’t have any problems
I was going to add some Clomid too but figured that was a little overkill for sarms