45: 10 Tips For Your First Prep Part 1: Picking The Right Category

Welcome back to the show! Today I’m starting a new series where I share 10 tips to help you better prepare for your first competition. The first tip I'm sharing today is to pick the right category. I break down each of the categories in detail to help you better understand what they are, the goal of each of the categories, and help you better determine which one fits you best.

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Additional Resources: -Want to learn how to pose for NPC, OCB, or Fitness Universe? Register for the next virtual posing clinic at http://www.learntopose.com -Want to feel fully prepared on stage at your competition? Join my weekly posing classes at http://www.weeklyposing.com -NEW weekly posing class called “Posing Mechanics for all men and women divisions” now available on Sundays! http://www.weeklyposing.com -FREE posing tutorials for Figure, Bikini, Wellness, and Men's Physique competitors at www.learntopose.com -FREE ebook “5 Things Every Bodybuilding and Fitness Competitor Needs To Know Before Preparing For A Show” at www.eeinbb.com -Grab your “My Own Motivation” tank top at shop.killitwithdrive.com -Want to WIN your next competition? I can help! Learn more at: www.posingwinsshows.com

Key Takeaways: *The Bikini Category (3:15) *The Men’s Physique Category (4:30) *The Wellness Category (5:50) *The Figure Category (7:52) *The Women’s Physique Category (9:21) *The Classic Physique Category (12:30) *The Bodybuilding Category (16:05) *Pageant style shows and their categories (16:20)

Welcome back guys! Just me here on the mic again today with a new podcast series I’m doing that breaks down my top 10 tips for all you new people thinking about doing shows. This is also a great refresher for you veterans too. A lot of you new people probably stumbled across this podcast after a lot of bumps and bruises while combing through all the nonsense out there trying to figure out this thing called bodybuilding.  My federation is better than yours. Our federation is better because we are natural. My federation is the most prestigious. My federation is the most glamourous. You will hear me say over and over that the best federation is the best option for YOU. This is the most exciting and one of the most expensive hobbies you will ever take part in. So regardless of which federation you choose, today, I’m going to talk about the first of my 10 tips to help you better prepare and feel more confident for your first prep.

Starting with the different divisions. There are so many to choose from it can get confusing. You’ve got bikini, wellness, men’s physique, figure, classic physique, open bodybuilding, women’s physique, and then you have other divisions that are more glammy like fitness model, model, muscle model, and so on. Knowing where you best fit is important because it can be discouraging to spend all the time an money preparing for a show only to place really low in a category for no reason except your body was better suited for a different category. 

So let’s start with the bikini, men’s physique, and the wellness divisions. Bikini is looking for an athletic amount of muscle and a proportionate physique. The amount of muscle required in the bikini division is the least amount you are going to see on a bodybuilding stage. This is usually where people start when they are new to training and bodybuilding, and especially after a weight loss transformation. You will see the bikini competitors in non drug tested federations leaner and more muscular than drug tested federations so if you are brand brand new you might want to make note of this. It can get confusing when you start looking at pictures. In fact, I saw a social media post recently of a side by side competitor photo from a coach who only works with clients training for NPC and IFBB shows, which are not drug tested. The “before” photo of his competitor looked like the “after” photos of what many new competitors look like when competing for the first time on drug tested bikini stages.  So this might help you put things into perspective when I say the look of bikini is different in drug tested versus non drug tested organizations, but it’s still the least amount of muscle required among all the different categories.

Men’s physique is the entry level division for the men’s categories and requires t