Okay...So .V. thinks I MAY be able to compete someday, I am guessing in an amateur division...
...I must admit that I have NEVER thought about ANYTHING of the sort...
However, now that he has said it, it has got my curiosity going...DAMNIT...Lol...Ok, ok, I got the bodybuilding "BUG"...
But not even the bodybuilding...Maybe even POWERLIFTING??? I dunno...HELPPPPPPPPP...
I have a FEW questions for anyone that can help me out please...
What do you do?
How do you do it?
How do you find out information on meets?
What do you wear?
We live in the south/east area...
Thank you to all that can help me out...
First, usually you have to go amateur in order to qualify for professional. I can say this for sure in Bodybuilding. Can't speak for PL.
BB:
For women there are several categories, if you have a decent muscle base you can check out Figure, Women's Physique or women's Bodybuilding. There are a number of smaller federations that are tested or not (usually tested) and the NPC (amateur side of the IFBB) is usually not tested, but has tested shows.
For information, start here:
NPC News Online and NPC News Magazine
Click on the Schedule link - I am not sure if it is posted for next year yet, but all the same shows tend to fall at or near the same times and exist every year. You can look for shows that are in your area. I'm not as familiar w/ the NC offerings but Florida & Georgia have several regional shows. Look here for NC specifically:
North Carolina Official NPC Website
If you have any questions about a show, contact the promoter. Usually they are extremely supportive of any competitors - potential or existing. No question is "dumb" because there's no recipe book on "how to compete". Every state/ show / promoter can be slightly different so you need to look at the specific show of interest for the category(ies) you want to compete in.
Generally for first-timers:
- schedule for 12-16-20 weeks to prep.
- usually for the work that goes into a prep, if you can schedule a couple shows back-to-back it gives you a fall-back in case you can't hit one of the dates, or gives you a second chance to get on stage with the experience & information you gained from the first show. (Just "doing a show" for the first time has its own set of stresses - like "WTF DO I DO???" Once you've been thru it and that 'fear of the unknown' is gone, you can regroup and focus on the second show with a little less panic, a little more feedback from the first show, and usually useful, more time to optimize your conditioning & stage presentation.)
- what you wear -
-- BB usually uses a plain 2-piece suit for Pre-judge (aka "the morning show") where they do the bulk of the judging - symmetry, posing, etc. And you can use the same or get a fancier suit for the night show (which is still part of the competition but is more about the "Show" for the audience.
-- Physique - can use the same 2 piece suit for AM & PM shows. It doesn't need to be plain if you don't want. Most are likely to wear fancy suits. You'll need to google "NPC Women's Physique Division" (or WPD) and "Posing" for more info on the 'mandatory' posing. This division is so new that next year will be the first time it exists at the regional level. It is intended to be for those who are too big or not interested in Figure, but don't have the size / muscle maturity or interest for doing women's BB. (There are usually very few FBB competitors in any given show except the National level shows.)
-- Figure - fancy 2-piece for both AM & PM shows. Posing consists only of quarter turns and usually a couple seconds of model turns. The 'look' is softer / less muscular than the other two, but more than Bikini.
Here's a post I put together a few years ago w/ more info in it. Some of it is a bit old and WPD didn't exist when I put it together:
So you want to compete......
For photos of various competitions you can go to:
RXmuscle:
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Muscular Development:
Muscular Development Online Magazine (I thin you need to register here too)
FlexOnline:
Contests FLEXONLINE
Let me know if you have any more questions. My best recommendation for anything BB (i.e. not PL) would be to go attend a show and just see what you think of it. You can check either the NPC schedule on NPCnewsonline or the NC NPC site for shows near you any time in the near future. Generally that latest show in the season is the NPC Excalibur at the beginning of December, and then the season starts up again in late Feb / early March.
