Everything Else In Bodybuilding

05: How To Survive Long Term In Bodybuilding

Welcome back everyone! In this episode, I want to hammer one point home: Not everyone in bodybuilding has your best interest in mind and that can and will affect your longevity (and success) in the sport.  Plus, I will touch on the power of influence coaches have over competitors. I will tell some stories about personal encounters with clients whose coaches undermined their best interest. I also share my own secrets to longevity in bodybuilding and some things you can do to avoid common pitfalls.  Ready for some real talk?  Tune in today and download 5 Tips Every Bodybuilder and Fitness Competitors Needs To Know Before Before Preparing For A Show!

Key Takeaways:

• Did you know coaches can become possessive (2:10)
• There is a process to competing both pre AND post show (3:35)
• Competing is...a hobby (5:17)
• A true story about how fast a competitor’s confidence was deflated the day before a show (5:50)
• Who were you before the world told you who to be (10:56)
• Why bodybuilding is far from dead (13:27)
• How I survive in an industry where most people come and go in a short amount of time…and how you can too (14:25)

Additional Resources:

Download the 5 Secrets Every Bodybuilder and Fitness Competitor Needs To Know Before Preparing For A Show at http://www.eeinbb.com 

So if you want to learn about all the “other” things in bodybuilding, be sure to subscribe and tune in for new episodes!

--TRANSCRIPT--

What’s goin on everyone. Hey thank you so much for listening to the ee in  bb show. Got a cool story for you guys today. It actually happens quite frequently. 

I think there is so much ego in this industry with coaches who are win and pro card collectors that are also geniuses at marketing themselves as THE coach to work with if you want to win.. so sometimes it’s hard to know if you are making the right decision for yourself. Unveiling the nonsense is a major drive for me and why I am doing this show.

I have to laugh for a moment because …. Did you know that coaches can become possessive?  I had a coach that wouldn’t let her clients work with me without knowing when all their appointments were and had to approve them ahead of time. I would get inquiries from her people and out of respect I would let them know their coaches’ wishes to be notified before working with me. Oddly enough I never heard from one of those clients again after that. Not one.

This was such an eye opener for me how controlling coaches are …. And how easily influenced competitors are by their coaches.  

Most of the time competitors come work with me after they are already working with a coach on the nutrition and training portion of their contest prep and have already picked a show. Most of the time trainers will give their clients their blessing out the gate to “allow” their athletes to work with me. The ones that actually have their clients best interest at heart.  But then again sometimes my opinion differs from their other coaches’ opinion and that can be challenging for a competitor. I believe that at the end of the day the decision is up to the competitor. When I think of high level sports like football for example there is the head coach and then there are separate coaches for different specialties. These specialists are trusted to do their job and do it well. Conflicting messages from coaches not only undermines the confidence of the competitor in the coach, but the competitor’s overall confidence.

Competing means a lot to us. The dedication that it takes to do what we do to get to stage, the last thing we want to feel is that a stone was left unturned somewhere. No one wants to find out that 12, 16, even 20+ weeks of prep was affected by ANYTHING that could have been easily avoided.

For most of us we can’t just get back on stage weekly.  There is a process to competing. You dial into the show and bring your body fat levels down to uncomfortable levels. Then you just as carefully dial out of a show to give your body a break from being on poverty calories and to also have enough time to grow and improve muscle. And if you are on PEDs you have to go through an additional process of post cycle therapy to allow your body to go back to some sort of hormonal balance. I haven’t gone through this process myself since I’ve never taken PEDs but I know people that have and I will be bringing on experts in a future show to shed some light on this taboo topic that gets swept under the rug.  My point in talking about the process of competing pre and post show is to say that there is so much time preparing for a show and in between shows. The last thing you want is to have to wait another 6 months or a year to get another chance on stage to correct something you should’ve known about. 

It always amazes me how influential coaches are over their athletes.   

Something to think about…ask yourself…has your coach asked you what YOU want to do? What YOUR goals are and how THEY can help YOU achieve them? 

I hope one thing you take away from this podcast is that competing is a hobby. Hobbies are supposed to be fun. Hobbies are supposed to be fulfilling as well. I deep dive more on this in the pdf ebook that I wrote. It’s the one I mention in the intro and outro of this podcast.. I really give you some things to make you go hmmmmm.  You are spending a lot of money for this hobby. It should be about you and what your best interests are.  Keep this in the back of your head and go grab the ebook to hear some more of my real talk advice. 

One time I was working with a competitor on her posing for a fitness universe competition.  She had competed before but wanted to up her game and get a pro card.  She was planning to do one of the biggest shows of the year in Las Vegas that attracts hundreds of competitors. Doing the show meant paying for multiple days of hotels, flight, food prep for travel, on top of all the usual show expenses.

And here’s the kicker.  Doing a fitness universe show is very different than doing shows in npc, wnbf, ocb, or even wbff shows. What makes this federation different is you are scored on your individual presentation. You are not scored against other athletes while standing in a row on a designated line across the stage. Instead, you walk out by yourself and your presentation along with your physique is scored then.  No matter which division. From male model, to female model, to figure, you are scored individually.  

So I worked with her for many weeks on a routine that made her look great and feel confident. I played with her angles to accentuate her best features and hide flaws.. She had an incredible transformation and she was excited to get to Vegas and show all of her hard work!  I remember being on our last video call before the show and how excited we both were!  

Then I get a message from her the day before the show that she was told by another coach to not do what we practiced and to do what SHE says for her performance instead.  And remember, her performance is critical in order to score well in this federation! I told her I think she should do what we practiced since, here’s the thing, At the end of the day, it mattered less what she was doing; it mattered more HOW she was doing it! Getting up on stage and looking like you feel like a million bucks will convey enthusiasm, positivity, likability, and attractiveness. For a federation that is looking for exactly these things, it is critical that you feel confident and not be a timid Tiffany on stage or a total bore.   Well, she didn’t do what we practiced ….or stand out because this coach inflicted doubt in her head. In fact, it was like someone stuck a pin in her balloon of confidence. Leading up to the show she was confident and excited because she felt prepared. The message the day before the show to not do what we practiced deflated her confidence because she no longer felt prepared. What an epic fail. 

After the show she decided to try again and this time do what she practiced. She not only lit up the stage, she captured the judges’ attention and took home a first place trophy and a pro card that day.   

So why do I Bring this up? It’s one of the strategies I teach in my free pdf at eeinbb.com if you go to eeinbb.com there is a pdf called 5 tips every bodybuilder and fitness competitor needs to know before preparing for a show.  It’s going to give you unbiased, real talk, advice no matter what level you are on and it’s 21 pages. What I did was grab 5 of the most common mistakes competitors make when en route on their competition journey.  

Before the prep goggles go on, I suggest you read it and keep all 5 key points in the back of your head so you can better look out for yourself in an industry that is unregulated and much like the Wild West.

By the way I recommend you listen to this podcast from the very beginning too. Each of these episodes do build on each other. Just fyi there. Start at episode 1. These are extremely thought out podcasts. What I’m trying to do is guide you guys through a series of ahas starting from a 30,000 foot view and will guide you into more specific topics as we continue forward. So anyways, start at episode 1. 

If you are listening to this right now and thinking …. well, I’ve got my show picked and I feel good about who I am working with as a coach. Awesome. But let me ask you a question that I hope sticks with you throughout your entire competition journey not just one show. I want you to ask yourself, 

Who were you before the world told you who to be?

There is one thing to ask for advice, counsel, seek out professionals, and trust the advice of the dr, lawyer, carpenter, plumber, etc. But also know that there are professions within professions too. I recently went to the orthopedic for my shoulder. I had dislocated it a few years ago when re-racking a barbell and missed the latch on the left side. Recently over the last year, completely unrelated, I have tendonosis in my elbows. I had to go and see a different orthopedic for my elbows than the doctor I saw for my shoulder. Both orthopedics, different specialties. 

There is so much to know in the sport of bodybuilding. The more I competed the more I realized that there is a lot of people who are not specialists who get away with coaching people because, let’s face it, if you restrict calories, most people will lose weight. If you throw Bob on a treadmill for an hour a day after his only previous exercise was walking to get French fries at his lunch break, Bob might lose some weight for a while until his body adapts to the stimulus and it no longer works…and then he needs MORE stimulus to see changes. Such coach then cuts more calories to save the day.   

But really guys, competing shouldn’t suck that bad when you are new. The further you are from your genetic potential, the faster you will see results out the gate…..no matter what you do!  

So the #1 goal of this episode is to help you to see and think for yourself.  I want you to feel empowered.  I want you to say no when it’s not the right fit, seek out everything and anything to be your best and gain a competitive edge. The men out there, you don’t have to work with men to gain a competitive edge. Women, you don’t have to work with just men or women.  

Again….who were you before the world told you who to be?  

You are driven, You are focused, you are motivated to make change. And you want to look, feel, and be your best in the process.  No one should ever have the power to take that away from you for their own self gain.  No coach should disallow you to work with a posing coach when he or she isn’t a specialist themselves.  No coach should have the power to babysit a grown adult on his or her appointments with a specialist.  And no one should have the power to burst your balloon of confidence the day before show by undermining another coach’s months of work with you to bring out the best in you.  Go grab my pdf, read the strategies and real talk I share in it, and never stop thinking for yourself.

There is one more thing I want to touch on.  People say bodybuilding is dead and not like the golden days. Not true at all. There are more divisions that are achievable for people where you don’t need to spend 10 years building the physique to be competitive in them. Things are not going to get back to the way they were. We aren’t going back. standards are higher. Especially with more peds. The bodies are bigger, harder, and the high conditioning levels are now the expectation. More categories keep getting added too so there is something for every body type. Like wellness, that’s new in the npc/ifbb and it’s being talked about being added in other federations like ocb which is a drug tested federation. And add in the men and women 35+ Masters divisions getting more and more populated too. In fact, I saw that there is a world championships for the masters divisions being added to the IFBB in 2022. 

People have asked me… how do you survive in an industry where most people come and go in a short amount of time? I would say because I evolved with the changing environment, never stopped setting personal goals, and kept my health a priority.

Bodybuilding doesn’t have to be short lived for you do the same.  Never stop evolving, learning, setting both short term and Long term personal goals, and seeking out the specialists to help you fine tune all aspects of your show prep so you can become your best over years of time, and not just over a few months of prep.

Go to eeinbb.com and read it. Want you to see bodybuilding from a 30,000 foot view.  You have more control than you think.  Do you, boo.

Alright guys that’s all I got for you today. Go check out that pdf at  eeinbb.com pdf and I’ll see you guys in the next episode. Please please please help me convince iTunes that I’m awesome and go give me a sweet review if you don’t mind. even if it’s not sweet, give me an honest review. Whatever it is that you want.  

And I’ll see you on the next episode 

04: How To Become A Stand Out On Stage (Where Do I Start?)

In this episode I’m going to talk about the steps you can take to create your own unique package on stage. I'm going to share some stories from head judging a recent pro/am bodybuilding show and the key takeaways from the show. I'm going to talk about the competitors who came up to the judging panel after the show and the kind of feedback they received. Plus I’ll touch on a few of the divisions and give some overall recommendations on things to do to be more competitive. I’ll then reflect on the overall direction I’m seeing the divisions going, where I see the industry going, and what you can do to be competitive in a changing environment.

Key Takeaways:

* I’m going to share some stories from head judging a recent WNBF pro/am bodybuilding show and the key takeaways from the show. (3:17)

* Comparing the judging to that of the WBFF and the NPC (5:38) 

* Why it’s critical you know what the judges are looking for and how to get better (7:10)

* My conversation with Ian Mercer about how he taught Kai Greene how to pose (8:59) 

* I’ll also talk about the competitors who came up to the judging panel after the show and the kind of feedback they received (9:48)

* How I came to the epiphany that posing is creating SHAPES (10:50)

* Plus I’ll touch on a few of the divisions and give some overall recommendations on things to do to be more competitive (12:56)

* I’ll then reflect on the overall direction I’m seeing the divisions going, where I see the industry going, and what you can do to be competitive in a changing environment (16:53)

* Summary of what each division needs to focus on to be competitive (18:22)

Additional Resources:

Download my free Ebook, "5 Secrets Every Bodybuilder And Fitness Competitor Needs To Know Before Preparing For A Show" at http://www.eeinbb.com

 

--TRANSCRIPT--

What is going on! Welcome back to the ee in bb show. I hope you are enjoying it. I appreciate you guys subscribing. I m seeing that and I’m seeing the reviews, I appreciate that as well. I do read them. they are something that does get me motivated. Go check them out. even if you hate it just let me know, 

We are talking about all “other” things in fitness and bodybuilding and covering all divisions and federations. It’s the whole theme of the show of course. And I just so happened to have head judged a pro/am show in    New York recently for the WNBF federation so I am going to share some of the key takeaways from the show from the head judge perspective, the kind of feedback competitors received post show, and some industry gossip as well. 

Just a quick recap of some of the principles I’ve covered so far have to do with the credibility of coaches in episode 2 and then in episode 3  I did a deep dive into the different types of pro cards, what they mean, do you make money, and so on. 

Anyone listening that is a competitor wants to win. If you say otherwise you are full of crap. The issue I see in the sport is learning the things you need to do to become a winner isn’t easy. Picking credible prep coaches and posing coaches is a good start. Picking the right federation for you to work towards your pro card and being competitive as a pro is another good start.  But what about you and the things you can do yourself to make you more competitive?  Relying on outside influence to tell you what to do is only going to get you so far. You have to actually do some stuff on your own too..

So today I want to share my recent head judge experience and talk about the common theme I noticed with the feedback the competitors received after the show. Let me first explain that if you are listening and aren’t familiar with how a bodybuilding show is scored, there is a panel of judges with score sheets that sit at a table below and center of the stage. The head judge has the microphone and sits in the very center. The head judge leads each of the classes of competitors through a series of required poses, dictates how long the poses are held, and will strategically move competitors around the stage to better compare the physiques. 

Based on the criteria established for the category on stage, the head judge will move the competitors that best meet that criteria towards the center to assist the panel of judges with narrowing down to a top 5 ranking. Each panel judge scores separately and the judging sheets are passed over to someone who tallies up the scores to determine the winners. In the WNBF the highest and lowest scores are thrown out to remove any outliers. 

So my role as a head judge requires me to have a fast, critical eye the minute every competitor walks out on stage.  I tell the competitors what poses to hit, dictate how long they hold them, and based on my judgment, I strategically move the competitors around the stage.  

In the WNBF we start by scoring the symmetry of each athlete no matter what division. So from bikini to bodybuilding, we are scoring your symmetry, or overall balance, of your physique first.  So I will move the competitors with the best symmetry closer together in the middle of the stage for better viewing so the rest of the judging panel can score them.  I then move on to things more specific to the category like with bodybuilding we are looking for muscularity and conditioning and not so much your persona or character on stage. With bikini and men’s physique we are also judging your body composition relative to the category, but your stage presence and overall presentation matters too.  So the second part of judging is meant for scoring these additional criteria. With bodybuilding it means you will be taken through a series of muscularity poses. On the opposite spectrum, with bikini, you have an additional walking component during prejudging that is used to evaluate your body composition and stage presentation.  Each division is different and looking for different things. 

As you can see, although bodybuilding is a subjective sport, there is criteria in place that the judges use as a guide to find the best match on stage.  And I can speak from experience judging for a dramatically different federation, the WBFF, where they are looking for the most beautiful people in the world with unbelievable stage presence. There are scoring guidelines provided for each division there as well.  But knowing the specifics on what the judges are looking for is critical because if you show up to a WBFF show and shuffle along the stage bashfully you are going to get blown off the stage.  And if you are on a WNBF stage or even an NPC stage and you haven’t figured out how to make your body look symmetrical you aren’t going to be called towards the center of the stage.  

NPC judges very fast by the way. I was at a Bev Francis show a couple months ago in New Jersey and I remember one class on stage was taken through the 4 mandatory poses ONE time and then walked off stage. 4 poses. DONE. Granted the amount of people in the class was small, and as a judge myself I could quickly rank the competitors, but the key point here is at these shows There is no “everyone gets a trophy” and “everyone works hard so give them their stage time” mentality. It’s serious business.  There are too many classes and too many competitors at these shows to dilly dally.  You walk out, hit your poses with the group, and no matter if it’s 2 minutes or 10 minutes, when the judges are done, they are done, and you walk off stage.

So what this means is you as a competitor might spend months preparing for a show only to end up with less than 5 minutes to show off your hard work.  It’s critical that you know what the federation is looking for, what the judges are scoring, and you spend just as much time nailing this part of your show prep as you do your nutrition and training if you want to be a stand out on stage.

You might be thinking, Michele, that’s great and all but what if I don’t know how to get better when I thought I brought my best package to the stage? 

Let me ask you this….how long did it take to learn how to get better at exercise and meal prep?  You didn’t just walk into a gym and know how to deadlift, did you? You might have had some limitations with mobility or some imbalances with muscles that you needed to bring up before you even grabbed the barbell. You didn’t just walk in one day and walk out with the same knowledge as Charles Poliquin, Charles Glass, Dr. Layne Norton, or even one of the smartest people I know in the fitness industry, Dr. Mike T. Nelson.

You first learned your limitations and took the time to improve them.  You were patient with your lifting because you had no choice. You didn’t start with a 600lb leg press because you physically couldn’t push 600lbs. You met your body where it was at and with consistency and time you improved it.  And you know what…..truth bomb right here…..for most of you, you did this on your OWN.  Someone might’ve shown you the right form you need for the exercise, but then it was YOU that did the work to improve. Day in and day out. Week in and week out. With consistency.

Just like with your training, your prep work for the stage component of the competition needs to be a little every day.  It doesn’t need to be fancy pants stuff either.  Or take up hours of time. You don’t need to go to classes.  You simply need a little structure like you have with your workouts.

I was talking with Ian Mercer about posing at the staff dinner after the show I just judged. If you don’t know Ian, he is the posing coach that taught Kai Greene how to pose.  And Kai, in my opinion, is the best poser in bodybuilding.  Fun fact, Kai Green competed in the WNBF before he competed in the NPC/IFBB.  He actually won the World Championships.  Anyways, Ian had Kai pose all. The. time. And Ian didn’t just work with him on the specific poses required in the judging round. Ian worked with Kai on movement in and out of the poses as well. If you watch Kai Greene pose, you will never see him make an unflattering shape.  And it goes without saying that Kai makes moving a body with a ton of muscle look effortless.  That took a lot of effort to make things look effortless. 

Which leads me to the judges feedback from the show.  The most common feedback from the show I head judged, from not just me, but the other judges, had to do with …posing and the odd shapes people were making on stage with their physiques.  It’s such a common theme that stinks because it’s avoidable. Some of the classes there were clear cut winners, but there were many classes where it was a close call. I was talking with the other judges after the show and we were all commenting on how a lot of the posing was really awkward and did absolutely no justice to people’s physiques.  The poses themselves weren’t exactly wrong, if you read the criteria, technically the poses were within the guidelines, but the way they were displaying the pose did no justice to their body.  I told quite a few people to start playing with the angles of their body and try to focus on creating more flattering shapes.  You don’t need to go to a workshop to hear the same thing that I just told you as a judge. Everyone listening today, just like with your lifting, you can do this yourself a little every day.  

Think of posing as creating SHAPES.

I made the same mistakes early in my career. I remember trying so hard to pose that I squeezed everything for dear life in my back pose. I pinched my shoulder blades thinking flexing was going to help show more definition and I squeezed my glutes as tight as possible. You can probably visualize how awful this look was.  I had no idea until I got the stage pictures back how bad the poses looked.  That’s when a light bulb went off and I changed my mindset to seeing posing as creating shapes and flattering angles.  And to chill the f out on stage. Eyeballs do not need to be popping out of your head when you pose. The more relaxed you are the better you will look.

I don’t think people realize that posing is meant to create a shape with your body.  The description of the pose you might read on the federation’s website, gives you a guideline on how to stand and position your body, but it’s up to you to make it look good on you. If the judges are looking for symmetry, you need to take that into account when you are hitting your poses. You might need to change your leg position, your hip position, or your shoulder position to create a better shape on you.  The guidelines are provided for you, but if you understand what the goal of the pose is, you can play with things like your leg, hip, and shoulder positions to see what creates a better shape with your body’s structure. 

And you know what?  You can do this on your own!

Speaking to those right here who are listening and have done shows or preparing for one. What’s the biggest thing you are struggling with? Comment on this podcast episode and tell me what you are currently doing to create the best shapes with your body in your posing …What are you doing about it? Workshops? Posing coach? Something else? Let me know in the comments.

Meanwhile I am going to help you get things into orbit.  I’m going to give examples from three divisions on things you can do on your own to help you make better shapes with your body so you can become a stand out on stage. There is plenty you can do on your own to help you get on a faster path to success.  

First example: men’s physique. The judges are looking for a v-taper, tight waist, overall healthy athletic look, and great stage presence. A lot of times the guys have figured out how to make the v taper, but there are quite a few common issues with the rest of the pose. For example, the foot placement. Often the feet aren’t even factored into the pose at all.  Even though your legs are not technically scored, you still want to create flattering shape for your overall presentation. Like, try to step your feet apart, play with angles, your foot position, spin your foot out, it will change the entire look of the pose. Stagger your feet to try and make your waist look smaller. Play with your posing as much as possible and watch how each adjustment you make changes the shape of your body.

Next example…Women’s figure and even men’s bodybuilding too. Common issues are with the lats. The big wind up like a helicopter to open your lats in your front and back poses is not only not necessary, it incorrectly conditions your body to lead your poses with your hands. Your lats don’t need your hands to open them. If you are sitting down while listening to this and your back is flat against a seat, your lats are pretty much open. When you reach for the steering wheel in the car, you don’t do five arm circles beforehand….for your hands to make it up to the wheel. Nope, it’s with ONE motion, you pick your hands up and grab the steering wheel. Posing should be no different. Open the lats and that’s it.

And, now, bikini.  The back pose is not a vagina pose. There is no need to bend over in this pose.  The judges and the audience are below you so this pose can quickly become distasteful.  Work on spine mobility to lift your torso up, shoot your hips back, and stick the pose. Plus, remember that the judges are looking for symmetry so you should concentrate on creating an hourglass shape in ALL of your poses. If you bend over, you flatten your glutes and narrow your upper body which then makes you look tiny up top and big on bottom….not the best look for symmetry. In your front pose, work on things to accentuate a smaller waistline.

Ok I know I said three divisions but I”m on a roll and want to mention the new classic physique division because it’s the fastest growing men’s division. What makes classic physique so appealing is the aesthetics of the physiques. It’s not just about the muscle, it’s the presentation and the total package. The posing is an absolute art in this division. I watched the current reigning 3x Men’s Physique Olympia champion, Chris Bumstead’s, show day YouTube video and he took the time to have a professional apply makeup on his face to not only match his tan but add contouring and color to best accentuate his features. From the audience he looked healthy and put together. One of the competitors that was briefly compared to him on stage had the usual spray tan applied to his face and no blending or consideration for how his face looked. As he began to sweat the tan became blotchy which only made Chris look better.  Not to mention the posing presentations of all the top competitors in this division blew the doors off any performance that night. So much time went into their performances. They didn’t just show up and hit a few poses to house music. Their presentations were a choreographed posing dance that was entertaining and clearly took a lot of time and effort to put together.  Everything counts when preparing for a show. What you need to focus on the most will depend on the division. Regardless, where your focus goes, energy flows. A small amount of effort daily will go a long way. 

One last thing I want to cover today is the direction I’m seeing the divisions in all the federations going and how this affects your ability to stand out on stage.  Right now we are in a changing environment where physiques are getting more muscular and the standards for conditioning are getting higher.  If you watched the most recent IFBB Olympia contests and compare the physiques to the Olympians from around 2008-2012 there is a huge difference.  The muscle size and the leanness of the competitors is beyond anything we have seen before. There is an IFBB Figure Olympian, Erin Stern, who stopped competing as a figure athlete and completely transformed her body into a bikini competitor.  She changed her training, shaved off a lot of muscle, learned new posing skills, and with quite a bit of effort she not only became a bikini pro, but she won a major contest and got an invite to compete in the Olympia contest.  Understanding the look of your category is critical.  Erin knew she no longer had the size that was required to be competitive in figure competitions so she took a hard look at herself and made the switch to a division where she could be more competitive.  She didn’t win her first pro show. Despite being a figure Olympia champion, it took quite a bit of time to make the transformation on not just her physique, but her stage presence.  In fact, I saw comments she made about having to make tweaks with her posing to become more competitive.  

So as you can see even a former Olympian had to work to create better shapes with her body to best match the criteria of the new division she was competing in.  So if you are bodybuilding, your focus is on size, symmetry, and nailing your mandatory poses in your sleep. If you are a bikini competitor, you need to focus on symmetry, style, and learn how to walk confidently in high heels.  Wellness competitors you don’t need symmetry but you need to pose to create flattering shapes and to nail your stage presentation.  Similar for men’s physique, you don’t need symmetry necessarily but you need to create your best v taper, best angles, and spend time on your overall presentation.  Figure girls, you are a combination of both. You need to nail your mandatories AND work on presentation.  Classic Physique, you need your physique on point, but you also need to know your best angles and shapes to make the posing more of an art.  

Most people underestimate how much preparation beyond just nutrition and training is needed.  And that’s the whole point of this episode.  I want you to spend more time on these other things.  Even a little movement or mobility work every day.  Play with angles, shapes.  I’d rather you do 5 minutes a day of movement outside of your comfort zone than to practice a few poses 1 or 2x a month and hope for the best on show day. Plan your week ahead of time and schedule blocks of time right in your phone that you will dedicate to presentation.  It’s the consistency that will have a greater payoff.  And that’s the point of this whole episode.

Guys if you enjoyed this episode I would love it if you guys would go to iTunes or Spotify and leave a little review and rate it. That would be awesome. I’m going to keep dropping these strategies like this. There will be times I do one strategy over a few episodes or other times like this where I kinda go into a little bit more detail on one strategy.  Very excited for this.  Hey guys, next episode I am going to give you guys something, it’s free, a special class I wrote something I spent  quite a bit of time writing and creating. So anyways the will be in the next episode I’ll tell you where to go. And I’ll see you on the next episode.  

03: Pro Cards 101

In this episode I’m going to talk about what it means to become a pro in bodybuilding and fitness competitions.  I will explain one of the secrets to getting that pro card.  I will also tell you the various options available in the industry to get a Pro card and how my own experiences were different. I will also talk about whether pros actually make money with their pro status and where I think you should compete. Ready? Let’s go! 

Key Takeaways

• Learn how looking like a pro is more than just having the best physique on stage (2:56)
• How earning pro cards is different in the various federations (7:35)
• How do pros make money and what does being a pro mean? (14:54)
• What to focus on when trying to earn pro status (16:22)

Additional resources

Download the 5 Secrets Every Bodybuilder and Fitness Competitor Needs To Know Before Preparing For A Show at http://www.eeinbb.com 

So if you want to learn about all the “other” things in bodybuilding, be sure to subscribe and tune in for new episodes!

 

--TRANSCRIPT--

Welcome to the Everything Else In Bodybuilding show. Very excited you are here. Welcome back welcome back. now, One of the most common things people ask me is how do I earn a pro card, I want to be a pro, I am about to do my first show and I want to win, and where do you think my physique fits best so I can win a pro card? 

I will tell you that, most often, I am going to tell you it’s gonna take more than just a great physique with low levels of body fat. Don’t think you CAN’T earn a pro card at your first show, since there are federations with a one step process to going pro where that CAN and DOES happen, but usually I find that you need strategy to present your best total package and for there to be enough time to develop it. Especially in federations where the road to achieving a pro card is a two step process, which I’ll explain later, where there are a greater number of competitors competing.  Your physique might be good. You might have chosen the right division for your body type. But you might not have enough refinement in your overall package to LOOK the part. And so what I want to do I want to share a few neat stories on how to LOOK the part depending on the federation you choose and what the roads for going pro are like for the different federations.  You CAN earn pro status right away. Maybe not in the divisions that require a lot of muscle if you simply don’t have the muscle to meet the criteria, but if you do, you sure can.. But what does that even mean?  The idea of going pro? 

Let me tell you a quick story.  I worked with a client, Megan, who had competed before but could never break the top 5 at her shows. I think she even came into last place at one of her shows. She had a great physique, beautiful muscle, great symmetry, full quads, tight abs, all great features. She had been trying for years and was discouraged. She reached out one day asking for help because she really wanted to win a show.  As her last resort, she hired me to help her. One of the first things I noticed was the odd shapes she made with her poses.  She was competing in figure division and regardless of the federation, Figure is looking for an X frame with broad shoulders, wide lats, small waist, and then to complete the X with the lower body you should show fullness in your quads and legs that match the level of development that you have with the upper body. Forget how much muscle she had, or how low her body fat level was, Megan’s posing made her look pear shaped, not an X. She had those beautiful quads and toned abs, but the way she was positioning her upper body it made her back look narrow and her shoulders look small.  Think about that shape for a minute and what the judging criteria calls for. If the judges are looking for an X Frame and you are posing like a Pear you will never win. Ever. Don’t care how lean you get, how expensive your suit is, or all the sacrifices you made to get on stage. You will never win.  I don’t care if it’s a federation with a one step process to getting a pro card like WBFF, WNBF, or OCB or a federation where it is a two step process like the IFBB.  One step means you can compete on a local stage and win a pro card; a two step pro card stage means you place in a local show as a way to qualify for a national stage where only there can you get a pro card. If you are posing like a pear you probably won’t even make it past the first stage of a two step process to going pro. So my point with Megan’s story is that she wasn’t even cracking the top 5 because her overall package wasn’t refined. And what I mean by refined, is that it wasn’t a quick fix for Megan to make these new shapes. She had two issues. First, she was used to positioning her body a certain way and now had bad habits. And second, she literally had no mind muscle connection to areas of her back that she needed to access in order to make the new shapes required to be competitive. And this happens all. the time. I see this as a judge for professional men’s bodybuilding. The deal breaker can often be the lats and the inability to open them. Something so simple yet so critical. So for Megan she needed advanced refinement and was willing to put the work in to make it happen. She just needed to know how to do it. So after 8 weeks of following my protocols, BAM, after about 8 weeks she had not only developed the mental engagement she needed to make an X frame with her posing, she also developed a lot more confidence in the process. She was like a different person. She GOT it. She DID it. She KNEW she looked good. And she was now ready to try again on stage. At her next show, she not only broke top 5, she won first place and her pro card. True story. Posing really does win shows. Assuming your physique is on point of course. Megan’s story shows that you can have a great physique but something might be missing that is holding you back from your highest potential. If you leave no stone unturned in creating YOUR best package, you totally can become a pro.

So as you know I have earned pro status in 3 dramatically different federations. I say dramatically because literally the scoring requirements and what the judges are looking for are nothing alike in these three federations. So when I say there are options in bodybuilding, I really mean it. One pro card was in a federation with traditional bodybuilding type of scoring. The second was judged by industry professionals and photographers who were looking for more mainstream marketability. And the third was a federation where Victoria’s Secret meeting fitness meets fashion. In fact, after a few years, this third federation, The WBFF, took out the word bodybuilding from their title completely to distinguish themselves from traditional bodybuilding competitions.  I remember I was about 10 years into competing and had tried pretty much every federation prior to this one. I was in shape and wasn’t doing anything extreme with my diet and nutrition. I remember being at my cousin’s wedding on a Saturday and having a piece of cake and a glass of wine. I might’ve had a cookie too since I love a good cookie.  My aunt Shirley makes the best ones by the way. After every show she always has some waiting for me. So anyways, later that weekend I find out that there is a show being held in Boston that might be fun to try. I wasn’t in contest shape but I was in decent shape and decided to try the show and just have fun. I can still hear the song playing through the speakers as I entered the stage for my individual walk. (Sing it) I stopped at the back of the stage and took a deep breath and looked around the audience. I had a genuine smile on my face and was totally present for the first time on stage. It had been 10 years of competing and for the first time I did a show for fun. I was so happy just to be there.  I had no expectations because I was in shape but I wasn’t that lean. So when it came time for trophies, they started counting down the top 5 placement. 5th place, 4th place, 3rd place, and then there it was, I got second place. I was so excited! And here is where it gets really cool.  No I didn’t win first place, but as we were exiting the stage, the MC called out to me and told me to stick around so I could be included in the comparisons for the overall title.  This was huge because the overall winner earned a pro card. I thought it was odd that I was second in my class but being asked to share the stage with the winners from all three class winners. I just went with it and had fun with it. So all three winners are called out and there I am standing with them on stage vying for the overall title. Once the judges took us through a round of posing, the MC announced the overall winner. It was not me. I wasn’t surprised because I was second place. The winner was the first place winner from my class so I turned and hugged her because she not only won the overall, she won her pro card. Meanwhile, as we are hugging, we are interrupted by the MC again. He calls out my name, so I turn to face him and the rest of the judging panel.  He then says, congratulations, you have also earned your pro card. It was like something out of a movie. I did not see that coming.  

The moral of the story was, although I wasn’t the leanest on stage that day, my overall package and presentation earned me a pro card.  So, yes, your physique matters. Your posing matters. Your energy that you portray on stage matters. It ALL matters. To what level depends on the federation ANNNND the division. so if you choose a stage where your overall appearance is a huge chunk of your score you better spend more time on what I call “everything else.”  If you are in a more traditional bodybuilding category, your important takeaway is that how big your smile is won’t matter as much as how well you execute the mandatory poses. You should be able to do them in your sleep and you better be able to hit them and stick them.  You will look unprepared otherwise.  If you can nail your physique, your posing, and your stage presence, you are likely to go pro at some point.        

So I want to tell you the second part of this, I am going to teach a lot, especially in the first half of this entire show I am going to teach a lot of concepts and principles. But what I want to talk about now is what it actually MEANS to be a pro.  I’m so blessed in hindsight, that I have competed in 6 federations.  It’s only because of having this first hand experience that I can share what truly makes the federations different. I’m against competing where it’s not the right fit for you. For whatever reason. The vibe, the judging process, the standards of the physiques, whatever it is, you might just not enjoy competing somewhere. And there is nothing wrong with that. There is what I think is an ODD idea of loyalty to a federation. I’m sure this will offend people but whatever, it is what I think and believe and I’ll tell you why. Here goes:  unless you are in the top 1% in the fitness industry and have a strong influence on social media, you aren’t going to make a ton of money as a pro.  You might not make any money at all for that matter. Let me say it again, most pros don’t make ANY money from competing. Big concept. Big principle to understand. The truth is you won’t make money.  I can’t think of any other sport that pros don’t all earn some sort of pay check.  With bodybuilding you make money in one of two ways. You earn a few thousand dollars if you win a pro show (and a few thousand might be stretching it unless you are competing in the men’s bodybuilding division at the IFBB Olympia competition). The second way is from endorsements, which are few and far between because bodybuilding is not a mainstream sport. You might get a supplement sponsorship where you get free supplements. Not many actually get actual money to pay for competition expenses. So if you don’t win or place where there is prize money, or have any financial support from an endorsement, YOU will pay for all of your costs of competing.  These costs will add up, so even as a so-called PRO, you need an additional profession that provides you another stream of income to support you.

Compete and try to earn pro status where it’s FUN for you. You might fall in love with the first federation you compete in. Great. Or you might try a couple to find out where you fit best. Once you find the right fit, dump your energy and focus into that ONE federation because YOU want to, not because you feel you have to out of loyalty. Know you won’t make money literally from competing.  The credibility from competing gives you the ability to add to your resume and make more money as a fitness trainer or as an add-on to your resume for some other niche in the industry if that’s something that interests you. In other words, what you do to leverage your pro status, can increase your potential to make money in other ways, not from act of competing itself.  Being a pro doesn’t mean you are going to get on the cover of a magazine either. Ten years ago, maybe, but not now. You need more than just a pro card, you need a marketable image and a following.  And because bodybuilding is not mainstream, you won’t see the sport broadcasted on mainstream television or any of the pros modeling mainstream fitness clothing brands like under armor or nike.  Even as a pro, for 99% of them across all federations and divisions, competing itself is still a hobby.  And like I mentioned in the last episode, think of it like golf, which is also an expensive sport. Compete because it’s fun and you love it. Have a budget set aside for expenses. Don’t skimp on creating your best package because everything counts.  It takes a lot of time and effort day in and day out to prepare for a show, especially if you want to actually win or even earn a pro card. The last thing you want to do is blow your chances on things that were totally avoidable if you were better prepared with a complete package.  

Hopefully you enjoyed todays’ episode, if you did please please please let me know, I would love to, if you are down with it, tag me, I’ll repost you on instagram, and leave a. review. if not had a chance, go to  www.eeinbb.com . There is a free ebook you can download called “ . Thanks so much guys, I’ll see you in the next episode.

02: The Death Of Credibility

In this episode, I’m going to deep dive into the truth behind credibility in our sport of bodybuilding, who has it, and most definitely who does not.  The fact is, most people today still find out about bodybuilding through word of mouth.   This can be good or bad depending on the circle of people you are surrounded by.

Let me tell you - bodybuilding is a highly unregulated sport. There is no standard that coaches and other services in the industry have to adhere to that regulates professionalism and quality control.  Plus, your entire experience in bodybuilding will be completely different depending on what federation and what division you compete in as well. It’s truly the Wild West!

So where do you even start? I am going to deep dive into what makes someone credible in an unregulated sport and explain some of the risks you take by not vetting out industry professionals before working with them. I’ll share other common components of bodybuilding besides coaching that are often not vetted out so you are aware of them.  I am going to talk about three things you can do to vet out any type of coach or industry professional. And I’ll share with you where to not compromise on quality just to save some money.  

So get ready, because we are going to learn some exciting stuff today!

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• The day I understood the vetting process in bodybuilding has patterns (2:23)
• What other areas of competition prep are often mistakenly not vetted out (7:33)
• How undervaluing stage presence can cost higher placements  (10:12)
• The three things you can do to help you vet out a coach (11:21)
• The one principle takeaway from this episode (16:19)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Download the 5 Secrets Every Bodybuilder and Fitness Competitor Needs To Know Before Preparing For A Show at http://www.eeinbb.com 

So if you want to learn about all the “other” things in bodybuilding, be sure to subscribe and tune in for new episodes!

 

--TRANSCRIPT--

Welcome back to the everything else in bb show. Very excited that you are here again. Thank you very much for taking the time. I know this is info that will directly influence your entire experience in bodybuilding and perhaps even your longevity and overall enjoyment in the sport.  Hey guys, today I am going to talk a little bit about, I want you to know what makes someone credible in the sport of bodybuilding and why credibility is dying.  I’m going to talk about some of the most common bad habits to look out for, how to vet out a coach, and what types of coaches are worth the money. I am going to tell some stories from directly working with clients and also from experience as a judge and a competitor myself.

I remember back when I owned my fitness facility this one day….I had been working with a first time competitor on her posing and presentation for her figure competition. It was the Tuesday of her final week of prep. her show was Saturday. So again, she was only four days away from her first amateur show on a small local stage. Her divisions included novice and she was going to try the open division as well. I’ll never forget this person crying in front of me because she was so tired and so hungry. She was dizzy, light headed, and she was struggling to find the oomph to do the extra cardio she was prescribed by her prep coach (and when I say prep coach I mean nutrition and training coach). And she still had three more days to go. I had been working with her for quite a few weeks and had seen her body continue to wither away. And not in a good way. The goal of a bodybuilding prep is to maintain as much muscle mass as possible while losing body fat. Her trainer had her on tons of cardio and very low calories which caused her to lose a LOT of muscle size.  With her body type, she should never have been on that type of protocol. And now she was four days away from her first show and emotionally crumbling before me. The irony is she didn’t even look as good as she could have with a protocol that matched her body type better. Her first show should be exciting and fun, and what she was doing was not only unsustainable, it was setting her up for a massive rebound after the show.  I remember going into my stash to grab her some of my b vitamins to help her feel better and the absolute fear on her face of having this b vitamin drink. Guess what she was afraid of…. The like THREE grams of carbs in them.  She was in mental agony from consuming a few carbs and fearing it would ruin her show prep. She had never done a show prep before and had no idea that what she was going through was not OK. She didn’t know any better. And she was trusting her coach.  The funny part of the story was, she felt better with some vitamins, but a week after the show she contacted me to grab the same brand but wanted to know the ins and outs of the vitamins before getting them herself and talk about the protein powder I take.  In fact, her spouse wanted to sit down and go over ALL the ingredients. Of vitamins you guys. Nothing crazy and no, this is not a secret code of sorts to call PEDs vitamins.  Just b vitamins.  So the irony of the story is there was more time spent vetting out the protein and vitamins and how they would affect her body than there was the competition prep coach and how THAT entire process would affect her body. 

Up until this moment I had heard other horror stories from competitors and friends in the sport but this was the moment that I encountered someone’s suffering first hand and realized how much of a pattern it really is in our sport. And this was without PEDs. I’ll talk about PEDs on another episode. So the patterning our sport… It goes something like this: Someone calls him or herself a prep coach and shows pictures of what the physiques on stage look like. Competitor now thinks such prep coach has a magic wand and can make him or her look like that.  Competitor has never fully felt happy with his or her appearance before and wants to do something extraordinary.  Competitor believes prep coach has a magic wand so it doesn’t occur to question the process or ask for any additional credentials. The Bodybuilding diet must be hard since the word on the street is it’s common practice to bring suitcases of desserts and wine to the show so you have it to eat the minute you get off stage. So the competitor just goes with whatever the prep coach says to do. Good or bad. they have no clue that this person is going to be responsible for their physical, mental, emotional, and overall health.  But watch out for those b vitamins though!! 

And it’s not just with prep coaches that competitors don’t fully vet out the process, I see this lack of research and understanding in many other areas of competition prep too.  From stage attire, stage performances, and here is a biggie. 

How about the costs involved in competing. You guys, this sport is not an inexpensive sport.  Expect it to cost thousands, not hundreds of dollars to compete. I’ll deep dive into specific costs involved in the sport on a later show but just know that financially, bodybuilding, is like golf. It’s just as much of a hobby and you will spend more for better quality supplies, lessons, accessories, and venues. You get what you pay for…but with bodybuilding the risks are much higher if you go cheap because now your health is at stake. 

Another common trend people underestimate is how individual this sport is with not just nutrition, but posing and stage presence too. For many, their first show is literally the first time they have ever performed on stage before except maybe that one time in middle school 20 or 30 years ago. Most of the people that would come to me for an overhaul of their stage presence underestimate how much work it is and how much time it will take to be great at it.  The biggest pattern I see with many of the competitors I work with is how many have areas of their body they have little mind body connection.  Many times you guys are so darn tight or completely unaware of muscles you are not even firing that are not only inhibiting your training gains, but making my posing instruction something much more of an overhaul than you anticipated. Think about dancers for a second. They are limber, agile, and completely aware of every part of their body in space. Now think about bodybuilders. They are great at performing exercises at the gym, but curling a dumbbell, squatting, or hip thrusting like a boss isn’t the same thing as performing posing sequences on stage.  Posing is more like a dance on stage and requires you to be a different state of mind than at the gym where your eyeballs pop out of your head during a heavy lift.  And this posing epiphany often doesn’t happen until you get judges feedback that says your posing was a hot mess on stage and you need to do something about it.  It’s only then that you realize there is a lot more to competition prep than just diet and training and you need to find someone with the proper set of skills to help you.

Perfect example, I remember this one time I was judging a show and a competitor with an amazing physique was given third place instead of first. She was competing in a division that had a column on our judging sheets for stage presence and overall presentation.  This column represented 1/3 of her score. One. Third.  I remember distinctly how she stood awkwardly on stage, how she was creating weird shapes with her posing and how unflattering it made her look, and how she didn’t smile or even look like she was having a good time. Her stage presence was one of the worst on that stage. So when she scored lower in the stage presence column, it brought her overall score down and she placed third.  She came up to the judges after the show to receive feedback and I told her that her stage presence needed improvement.  She was baffled and not expecting to hear this.  Although she had a coach that helped her with her nutrition and training, she completely underestimated the other components to competing that should have also been part of her protocol.  And now she wasted an entire prep getting her body stage lean only to not score as high as she could have had she been more prepared for the actual stage performances.

Sooo where do you even begin to vet all this stuff out?  Well, some of what I am about to share is going to be unpopular …. but someone needs to say it. Are you ready? 

Ok here are three things you can do to vet out any type of coach, and really this can apply to any of the custom services offered in the industry as well. 

Number 1, find out their credentials. 

And by credentials I don’t mean number of social media followers, how great they look in their come-hither photos, or the one show they did last year that they got a first place trophy at. Find out their education background and unless they have a ton of experience, it better be more than just a personal training certification since I believe personal training and competition prep training are two separate professions. If you are researching a prep coach, he or she needs to have advanced knowledge about nutrition, exercise, health markers, and proper recovery since competition prep is a dance of all of these components.  Your body will be taken to very low levels of body fat so someone who has advanced education such as a phd in nutrition and or exercise physiology is my preference  Think about it - would you go to a doctor that never went to medical school?   If a prep coach does not have a phd with a formal education, find out instead of he or she has earned a higher level of education based on the amount of years and clients they have worked with. If you have never read the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell it’s a fascinating read about the best, the brightest, most famous, and successful people and what made them different . He mentioned in the book a 10,000 hour rule which basically means that in order to achieve greatness you need an enormous amount of time under your belt.  He goes on to say that you can achieve this 10,000 hour rule in any profession after just 20 hours a week for 10 years. Some people can rack up the 10,000 hours in a lot less time than others. So having said that, a prep coach can be an expert with enough years of consistent experience as well.  So I suggest finding out how long they have been coaching, any advanced education they have, and how many clients they have worked with.       

The second thing you can to do vet out an industry professional is to ask for references. If they push back I would consider that a red flag and wonder what they are hiding. You want to talk with others this person has worked with to find out about their demeanor and their level of responsiveness. How do they treat their clients?  How quickly do they respond to questions? And are they receptive to questions?  You want to make sure that the personality of a coach is something you WANT to work with.  And you WILL have questions. You want someone that will take the time to answer them and not make you feel stupid for even asking them.  There are coaches that are humble, respectful, enthusiastic, and want to see you succeed. And there are coaches that more than anything want to see themselves succeed and will boast about the number of wins they have.  The road to the competition stage is a long one and a very personal experience for you. Don’t underestimate how important it is to work with coaches that mesh with your personality.

And the third thing you can do to vet out a coach is something that most often never even occurs to people. The third thing you need to do while vetting out industry professionals is to find out if they have any preference or restrictions on coaching athletes for specific federations.  This goes for not just prep coaches but also posing coaches, suit designers, and group workshops. When I started in bodybuilding you could compete wherever you wanted and there wasn’t this stigma attached to you if you tried a different federation. I’ve competed in 6 different federations over my career and I’m happy I did so because every federation experience was different and I learned first hand where I fit best and where I’ll never compete again. It also gave me the foundation to coach athletes on their stage performances across all divisions and federations too. Today, it’s much more complicated.  With the rise of social media there has also been the rise in the popularity of teams with prep coaches as leaders.  People walk around wearing clothes with their team logo at shows and for many that can be attractive to feel like they are a part of something. It can also be limiting because often times prep coaches will only prepare clients for specific federations.  This is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s something to be aware of when you are vetting out a coach and want to try different federations. Same thing with posing workshops, suit designers, and posing coaches. Often there are people that only know the posing style of one federation. And regarding suit designers, there are different looks for suits depending on the category and the federation so it’s important to find someone who knows the specifics.   

So there is one principal I want you to take from this episode today / this one principal is that you need to see right now is that there are different specialties in bodybuilding that need to be vetted out separately because literally anyone can call himself or herself a contest prep coach or posing coach simply by self proclaiming they are a coach.  This means that someone can literally compete in one show, win a trophy, and go on social media to market themselves as a posing coach or contest prep coach…and get clients.  Often they only know or work with one federation or one division and this can be limiting for you if you aren’t sure where you want to compete. Also, this is absolutely critical you guys, there is a major difference between a personal trainer who is educated in teaching you how to exercise, correct form, and can provide a general overview of healthy nutrition. This is lifestyle. Then there is contest prep where in most divisions you will bring your body fat levels down from fit to a level of leanness that would be unhealthy to maintain for a long period. There is also a major difference between going to posing workshops to learn how to pose from someone who has earned pro status and poses well themselves in that one federation.  They will show off their beautiful stage presence and tell you to watch and follow what they do. This is generic and you are simply learning the basics.  You won’t learn how to be great or how to structure your posing practice so you can get better on your own. Then there is hiring someone who analyzes your strengths and weaknesses, gives you a structure to follow to get better, and helps you create your own individual persona so you are a stand out and not a hanging out like a potted plant on the side of the stage during prejudging.   Bodybuilding is not an inexpensive sport in more ways than just financial. Take the time to vet out prep coaches and posing coaches. Prep coach and posing coach fields are like the dentist versus the orthodontist. They are related fields, but two very different specialties.  If you have the right team of people, bodybuilding can be a fun hobby you can do into your 40,50s, 60s and beyond.   

Hopefully you enjoyed this episode and hopefully this lesson was powerful for you. That’s the biggest thing I want you to see. Hey Michele I’m a competitor already. That’s great. Often you can be doing well but there could be reasons you could be doing better. One could be that you might not be working with the right people and don’t even realize it.  I am going to talk more about that. Hopefully you enjoyed the episode today. If you did please go ahead and leave me a review on Spotify and itunes . I really appreciate that. I want to keep doing these and it’s jus fun to see the feedback and see if you actually like it.  Give some honest feedback. Idc if you hate it. Feedback in general would love that. And if you would like to go ahead and get a pdf download on 5 tips you need to know before your next competition at www.eeinbb.com. guys I’ll see you in the next episode!

 

OUTTRO 

What are things you need to know before competing in a bodybuilding competition?

EE in BB is dedicated to taking out the guesswork in the industry and exposing all these strategies.  

Learn 5 things I think you should know before your next show by downloading your free ebook called 5 tips every competitor needs to know before your next competition at www.eeinbb.com It’s all the no nonsense information you need whether you are male or female, bodybuilder, physique, figure bikini or wellness competitor.  It’s free so just go download my 5 tips every competitor needs to know before your next show at eeinbb.com.  

01: Meet Michele Welcome and What To Expect From The Everything Else In Bodybuilding Podcast

Is bodybuilding about selfies, steroids, magazines, and muscles?

How do I become a successful bb or fitness competitor?

Where do I even start if I am new?

How do I gain a competitive edge and place higher?

How do I gain confidence and stand out on stage…if I’ve never really been on stage?

And the biggest question of all, What are the judges looking for anyways??

 

Hi! *friendly wave!* My name is Michele Welcome. This is my new show, and I’m so excited about it! You may know me as a posing teacher, a bodybuilding competition judge, or maybe as an athlete, but in this show, I’m going to talk about all the secrets to pre and post competition success.  Competing in bodybuilding and fitness is so much more than a nutrition or an exercise plan.  Nutrition and training are important, don’t get me wrong, but what federation you compete, who you choose to work with, the advice you listen to, and your mental and physical health are all equally as important.

But first, before we get into all this juicy stuff, in this first episode, I’ll tell you a little bit about how I started out 20 years ago, and what I learned from my early years of competing and how it all changed for me. 

I’ll then go on to share some key points about the sport as a whole and share some takeaways that are important to consider before you even think about competing. 

So buckle up, and let’s dive in!

Key takeaways:

• Why I’m doing this show and the purpose of it (2:10)
• How my first contest prep was a scam and since then I’ve never been the same (5:54)
• Struggles with stage freight (19:24)
• The phone call that changed it all (28:17)
• That having a great physique is only going to get you so far (32:20)
• Things you should question when competing (34:09)
• How the diversity of my background applies to you (37:55)

Additional resources

Download the 5 Secrets Every Bodybuilder and Fitness Competitor Needs To Know Before Preparing For A Show at http://www.eeinbb.com 

So if you want to learn about all the “other” things in bodybuilding, be sure to subscribe and tune in for new episodes!

 

--TRANSCRIPT--

Hey, Welcome to the first episode of EE in BB. I created this show specifically for two reasons. To cut through all the misinformation and bias in the bodybuilding and fitness industry , you know, like about the pink elegant in the room everyone pretends they don’t see… and to have a platform to teach strategies on how you can gain a competitive edge no matter where you compete, because let’s face it… your entire experience, good or bad, will depend on the federation you choose.  This subject is near and dear to me because of my personal experiences early in my career when I did not understand these concepts or the industry as a whole plus the many eye openers I’ve had over the years as an industry veteran wearing different hats, like judging competitions or when doing complete posing and presentation makeovers on men an women competitors.  I understand how much competing means to every athlete no matter what division or federation. And if you are a fitness fan and not a competitor I know how much you respect and love being a part of this sport and learning all about it too.  

So in this show I am your host Michele Welcome and I am going to be here the whole time with you. It will largely be just me sharing strategies and answering burning industry questions over the course of the podcast itself. But prior to understanding this stuff I started bodybuilding at a very young age and experienced many ups and downs and hard lessons.  I got my start …. It was really at 20 years old when I was fresh out of college after graduating a year early and I was conned by a local startup modeling agency into competing for a fitness modeling contract.  So I want to tell you about the purpose of this show and what it’s about.  It was from this first fitness transformation at a very young age and then spending about 8 years or so continuously dusting myself off and getting back up after many crash and burns competing in bodybuilding competitions. That’s a lot of years of hard lessons!  8 or even 10 years of them.  I am going to reference contest prep a lot. If you have never heard of contest prep it’s literally the process of transforming your physique to a level of leanness and preparedness required for the show and division you are competing in since every division has a different level of muscle and leanness. So I want to share all these strategies and shed light on secrets in the fitness and bodybuilding industry and what actually changed it all for me.  

Because ever since about the 10 year mark everything changed for me, it was a pivotal time, when i started judging shows, owned a gym, I was hosting competition prep workshops and I was teaching 1 on 1 sessions to competitors on how to break out of their comfort zone and slay the stage…way before it became the thing to do like it is today.  It took me a while to streamline all my strategies and teaching style, since the fitness industry does not come with a manual so I had to compile all the different patterns over many years, notate what worked, what didn’t work, and now after 20 years in the industry I have built my own blueprints and protocols that work.  it’s been more rewarding for me to mentor others, give the honest feedback that a competitor needs to hear not necessarily what he or she wants to hear, and teach strategies that expedite their progress so an entire prep isn’t wasted on avoidable mistakes that cost higher placements or their sanity post show, lol.  I think back to when I started and how I wish I knew then what I know and teach others now so I could’ve been better quicker.  But then I guess it’s because of 20 years of learning myself and educating others that I am sitting here to talk about it all.  And you are probably sitting here and saying to yourself, should I be listening to this show?  Frankly if you are a new or seasoned bodybuilder, physique competitor, figure, fitness model, wellness or bikini competitor, if you are having success as a competitor and want to get better, if you are completely lost as someone new to the industry and want an unbiased resource with the most diverse qualifications to educate you on all divisions and federations, or if you love the fitness and bodybuilding industry and want to learn more about it from an insider’s perspective, then this show is for you. 

Like I said I really did get started right after college which was quite a long time ago and learned some hard lessons right away and pretty much throughout my first ten years in the industry. There were some successes here and there too which kept me motivated.  Not at first though. When I did my first contest prep I didn’t even know it was called contest prep.  This so called prep came before I even found bodybuilding, and as I said before, it was for a contest where I tried to win a fitness modeling contract.  

I had done some promotional modeling while in college and at 5’7” I was an inch or two too short for any commercial or mainstream modeling.  I had graduated a year early with an accounting degree and was hired by a large accounting firm even before I received my diploma. Get this, I went to school to be a doctor and came out of school 3 years later as an accountant. Life is funny sometimes, isn’t it?  Probably not a shocker, but I was bored with accounting within the first year. I certainly didn’t fit in. I remember one time sitting in a boardroom for my an annual performance review with management and instead of hearing about my performance, the anonymous feedback from someone in management was about my clothes.  It said something like “club clothes don’t belong in the work place.” I remember responding to management and saying that it would’ve been nice if someone pulled me aside to let me know they didn’t like my outfit earlier instead of embarrassing me in my annual review. Corporate America and me never did jive.  

Anyways, having been a 3 sport athlete since I could hold a ball, I loved fitness. Even in high school I intuitively grabbed the meal replacement shakes at the grocery store, I think it was Ensure or something like that, to have for breakfast before school. This was way before protein shakes were a thing and there were better options.  So now that I was a college grad, bored as an accountant, not playing sports, going to school after work for my masters, and living on my own, every free moment I had I was reading about nutrition and exercise with my only goal being to stay in shape and healthy.  

And then I got a phone call that changed it all for me.

The call was from the company, which was a start up modeling agency, that had hired me to do promotional modeling while in college.  They had new business partners who were going to host a contest where the winner would get a fitness modeling contract.  I had just enough trust to overlook  all of the red flags, believe me, I see them now loud and clear, because as I said I had done some promotional modeling for them in college .  Instead I latched onto the idea that this could truly be my big break into fitness and my way out of accounting. I had no idea that the entire contest was a scam.  Looking back now the whole scenario was just BAD.  From the screening call that was done by the organizers to see if you even qualified to compete. It was brilliant. The urgency and the exclusivity tactic making you feel like this was your only chance in life was brilliant.  I fell for it hook line and sinker. And sink is the perfect word because this opportunity to compete required me to pay THEM $2-3,000. I didn’t want to be an accountant for the rest of my life so I truly believed this was an opportunity I could not miss out on….aaand gave it my all.

I was all in.  

I hired a trainer that I learned about from a friend at the gym to help me get into my best shape possible. Over an 8 or 10 week period I ate the same thing at 5 meals. Literally the same thing you guys.  Want to know what it was? 1 cup of cottage cheese. 8 almonds.  And 1 slice of pumpernickel bread. I knew nothing about macros, just that I was instructed by my trainer to eat a certain ratio of foods. I played it safe and just ate the same every day so I wouldn’t mess anything up. Still to this day I won’t eat cottage cheese.

I was up at 4am every day to be to the gym for 5am cardio before work. You can probably relate to this. I worked an entire day at the accounting office, and then after work on some days I went back to school at night for my masters degree classes, and on other days went back to the gym to meet with my trainer for my workout.  I never missed a workout, cardio session, a class, or a meal.

After 8 weeks, I saw changes in my body I had never seen before. My abs were showing for the first time in my life. I was even more motivated and excited for the contest.  Since the contest required us to wear a swimsuit and walk on a modeling runway elevated above the judges, I hired a local seamstress to make me a custom made turquoise blue two piece bathing suit. I also found 5 inch silver heels with rhinestones and a stiletto heel to wear. I left no stone unturned preparing for this contest.    

After my 8-10 weeks of prep, it was go time. I hopped on a plane by myself with my pumpernickel bread, almonds, and cottage cheese and flew to Miami to get on a cruise ship by myself to the Bahamas.  I can still remember the line to get on the ship.  This so called exclusive opportunity didn’t seem so exclusive with a line 4 hours long with others who were sold the same opportunity as I was.  At first I thought the people waiting in line were audience members and didn’t realize they were contestants since there weren’t a lot of people who fit the criteria of I was told they were looking for when I applied.  Plus it also seemed odd that there was a photo shoot going on before the contest was supposed to take place. I didn’t think much about until I found out after the contest that the girl in the photoshoot prior to the contest  was the winner and the whole thing was predetermined. Of course I didn’t know this when I got there so I waited the 4 hours and boarded the ship anyways.  From there it kept getting worse. The ship was extremely dirty, old, and we were sandwiched like sardines in the rooms with complete strangers for roommates.  The contest itself was a hot mess too.  I was crushed and wanted to crawl under a rock. I had put in a lot of effort, time, and money for my big chance and it was a fraud.  The disappointment and embarrassment I felt on that plane ride home was unlike anything I had felt before.  The contest, my transformation, the possibilities, all of it, meant a lot to me.  And I know there were a lot of people watching my progress so I dreaded telling people how much of a fail the contest was.  I share all of this to say that I know what it’s like to prepare for a contest for the first time, whatever your motives to compete are.  How you give it your all, how much it means to you, and how thrilling it is to see your body change in ways you never thought possible. How laser focused you are. how your entire relationship with food will never be the same, And how lost you can feel after the show if you aren’t prepared for it. 

I also know that once you do a show you will never be the same either. 

In this podcast I want you to know, and thanks again for listening, that I speak to you not to preach, (no one likes that annoying know-it-all) but to share, and relate to you too, in what you are going through.  And I don’t care what federation you come from either.  I am happy to have you here!  a competitor preparing for a show gives his or her all no matter where the show is..  I haven’t met a competitor yet that has followed his or her diet and training protocols less because the show they prepared for was in a smaller federation like OCB or a large federation like NPC.  Everyone works hard. Everyone matters.

After that fitness model fail I went to my first bodybuilding show to cheer on my friend Shelley Cassky who at the time was 47 years old doing her first competition. By the way, at that time there were only the bodybuilding and fitness divisions to choose from.  Figure, bikini, fitness model, and now the wellness categories didn’t even exit.  I never in my wildest dreams saw myself as a bodybuilder. All I knew about bodybuilding was what I saw on ESPN growing up with very large muscular people with very tan skin.  I was so inspired seeing my friend Shelley on a bodybuilding stage and have never been the same since.  I wanted to do it too.  After experiencing my body change and build muscle while preparing for that fitness model contest, I believed that maybe I COULD and I wanted to see what I could accomplish.

So I hired Shelley’s trainer, John Yobst, to help me prepare for a bodybuilding show.  I’m about 22 or 23 and everyone around me thinks I’m nuts except Shelley, John, and my new friend Ann Walsh who was a personal trainer at John’s facility and a former competitor.  I remember Ann’s first words to me were, “nice hamstrings.” I didn’t even know one could have nice hamstrings. Everyone else was less than supportive. Co-workers at my work place thought nothing about constantly critiquing the pre-made food I brought into the office in my cooler. They often waved sweets in front of my face and would try to entice me to have just one.  My boyfriend at the time kept telling me not to get too big and told me my muscles were unattractive.  My family didn’t know what to think of what I was doing.  And I remember someone telling me I was too young to be any good.  The lack of support was hurtful, but after the crash and burn from the fitness model contest, the burning desire to be competitive in bodybuilding was more important to me.  It was at least a real contest. 

That first bodybuilding show prep was very intense. My trainer had my nutrition and training covered and showed me what the poses I needed to do looked like, but I was every day stressing about getting on stage to actually do them.  Plus there was a 60 second posing routine you had to do to music which gave me even more anxiety.  This was all new to me and I didn’t want to look like a fool.  Most people don’t know this about my story. A lot of you are coming from my posing clients, maybe I competed with you, maybe I judged you at some of your shows. Welcome, thanks so much for coming, but did you know, i struggled with stage freight?  I literally dreaded my individual posing routine.  Oddly enough it also irritated me that I had this anxiety in the first place. I was determined to conquer it.  To this day, this determination to conquer the stage evolved into a passion of mine to help others conquer their fear, anxiety, and lack of confidence as an educator on posing techniques and stage choreography.  But at the time of my first shows there was no such thing as a posing teacher. No one really put much emphasis on the posing really, so I figured I must be the only one petrified of being on stage.  I was lucky that my friend Ann took me under her wing and helped me make up a posing routine to a 60 second clip of the Madonna song, Vogue.  Having something prepared helped me tremendously. When I placed second at my first show and received the best poser award I was floored and couldn’t wait to tell Ann.  She was my first phone call because of how much her help meant to me. I was hooked and wanted to keep going. So I did a few more shows, actually won an overall title, and then completely crashed. The dieting, the training, the cardio, all caught up to me. Post show I didn’t want to get out of bed from fatigue. I struggled with a positive relationship with my physique and having a healthy balance with food and training.  I had no confidence.  I thought that I had to do a show to feel motivated enough to get into shape where I felt good about myself. Using shows to get in shape and then falling off afterwards is like an unhealthy binge and a purge of sorts.  I thought all of these feelings, emotions, and struggles were just me.  No one else ever talked about them.  So I suffered in silence like I’m sure many of you do, until now, because I will be talking about these things openly.

About a year or two after my last bodybuilding show, this new division called Figure surfaced.  It was supposed to be a division that rewarded the look of a fitness competitor but did not require the fitness routine.  In my mind figure seemed easier than bodybuilding because I didn’t have this posing routine to worry about and at the time I didn’t think I needed to diet as hard as I did for bodybuilding.  I wanted to learn more and maybe give it a try.  I heard about a fitness camp being hosted by Cathy Savage in Boston so I bought a ticket and went to the event. Little did I know that at the fitness event Cathy would tell me to get on stage in 3 weeks for my first figure show. Cathy has a no nonsense attitude so I figured what the hell, why not.  I still had my silver stiletto heels from the fitness modeling competition years before so I pulled them out of storage and Cathy found me a 2 piece figure suit to borrow for the show. I totally winged it and didn’t prepare for the stage component. I figured I had been on stage before so I would figure it out that day when I was under pressure. I didn’t realize how nervous I would get to walk around on stage and pose. I was so afraid I would forget what direction I was supposed to walk in. In fact, on show day I couldn’t stop my left leg from shaking on stage I was so nervous. I had not conquered my stage freight. I was so upset with myself for letting that happen too especially since I had won best poser awards in bodybuilding.  There was something very different about walking in high heels on stage and making my posing look sassy that was out of my comfort zone.  I vowed to never let that happen again.  And today I help others do the same.

I also mistakenly thought show prep for a figure show would be less difficult. I learned quickly that it required just as much effort, it was just different,. I competed in more shows and continued to struggle with the post show nutrition and training motivation without another show as motivation.  I struggled with confidence on stage and dreaded the stage walk every time.  At the time Cathy Savage was the only person who called herself a team and she had relationships with all the federations. Unlike today where teams are a thing now and most teams require you to compete in their designated federation, at the time, there wasn’t that divisiveness. So I competed everywhere over the years. And I’m glad I did because I learned first hand how different each federation is and even earned pro cards in 3 dramatically different federations. 

At the 10 year mark I was pretty seasoned. I had many years of trial and error, ups and downs, and had built a physique that was competitive.   I had started judging competitions and seeing competitors make the same mistakes that I had made. I also empathized with what they felt on stage knowing exactly how nervous, excited, determined they were.  It was from judging shows that I realized it wasn’t just me that felt these things when competing.  When competitors would come to me after the show for judges feedback I could see and feel how much the feedback meant to them.  Not everyone took the feedback well, but I knew that being honest is what they needed, not necessarily what they wanted.  I remember this one time a competitor who just did her first show came up to me to find out why she placed third.  I remembered her immediately because she stood out on stage….in a bad way.  Her posing and stage presence was so bad that there was no way the judging panel could justify giving her first place and getting a pro card. A pro should look like a pro from head to toe, not just in their physique, but how he or she carries themselves. She was not ready to be a pro until she embodied what a pro is.  And I was the honest one that told her that.  Needless to say she stormed away angrily because she felt that her body was the only thing that should matter. Unfortunately on our judging sheets there is an entire column for stage presence that made up 1/3 of the score.  Knowing the judging criteria of the division you are competing in was something that I learned that day needed to be emphasized to competitors so you don’t come in third when you could’ve come in first place. 

And then in 2013 I got a phone call.  With another opportunity.   

I can remember being in my hotel room in between the prejudging and finals at a show I was competing at in Las Vegas.  This call wasn’t a scam like the earlier one, but it was equally as life changing.  On this call the owner of the gym I went to asked me if I wanted to buy the gym.  I didn’t know how, but I knew with every ounce of my being that I needed to buy that gym.  I knew I could help my community by being a mentor in nutrition and training…..annnnnd I was even more motivated to have a place to host workshops for competitors to learn about posing and everything that goes into preparing for a contest.   Posing classes are a dime a dozen today with everyone who does a show hosting them and calling themself a coach. But back then the concept of competition workshops was new, with really Cathy being the only one I knew hosting them, and I felt I had something special to offer. Having competed in 6 federations with an original background in the division of bodybuilding, having to learn about stage presence as a figure competitor, and then having a different perspective as a judge for every division in bodybuilding competitions, I knew I could help competitors with the one piece that petrified me the most when I started….posing and presentation.

I had no idea how many people struggled with this. IT WASNT JUST ME!! ALL THOSE YEARS I FELT ALONE…..

and wanted the help until I started offering it. I was mind blown! 

I had people traveling all over New England, up to 4 hours of travel each way, to come learn how to pose, walk in high heels, open their lats in their back poses, and help with creating unique personas, building confidence, and the list goes on.  I couldn’t believe how much demand there was! Parents would bring their kids to me to learn to pose for their first show, men, women, all walks of life showed up at my door.

I knew I had something special to offer when competitors would come back after their shows to work with me again for one of two reasons. One reason, to keep improving because they wanted more practice to turn pro.  Another reason, which was unique to my abilities, was to learn a new division or a new federation’s posing and stage requirements.  I could quickly switch hats among all of them.  

What started as group classes, quickly became exclusively private lessons. I learned how people learned, what made people tick. Not everyone learns the same and what motivates one person isn’t the same as another. I couldn’t believe how many people struggled with walking in high heels. How many people struggled with creating the shapes required for the mandatory poses too.  And how many would come to me because competing in their first show was something they were doing later in life and wanted to feel good about themselves.  I was their confidant pre, during, and post show.  I was with them for the ride to the stage as a friend and a mentor who knows what they are going through. I was there for them after the show to help give perspective and honest feedback… and more importantly, knowing what they didn’t know about post show struggles, I was there for them after the show too.  

Basically what I learned over the years from clients from all division and federations coming for help, it occurred to me, that the nutrition and training protocols for contest prep, although they need to be 100% on point, should only really account for 50% of your focus. Whooaaaa

Think about it…. you prepare for weeks, even months for a competition, show up with the best body on stage but then get second or third place because you couldn’t pose.  Or place in the middle or even last because you didn’t fit the criteria the judges were looking for? Or maybe even struggle with self love post show?   There is so much more to competing than just diet and exercise. 

And this is what I’ve become obsessed with is, Just like the show into says, the ee in bb is all of the rest of the stuff that goes into before, during, and after contest prep that should make up the remaining 50% of your focus. What are all the things you need to know, what are the strategies that will give you a competitive edge, and what are the red flags in front of you that you might not see that you should know about and be warned about.  I am going to teach and share on all of these topics. If you apply all of this to your contest prep, and THEN also have a bomb physique, the sky is the limit for you.  Having a great physique is only going to get you so far. When the stakes get higher, when the shows get bigger, take it from me, a contest judge, the reasons the judges mark you down become smaller and smaller.  

And your mental and physical health are equally as important.   You SHOULD question nutrition protocols. You SHOULD be educated on why you are being told to take certain supplements. You SHOULD look at all options in the industry. And you should never feel like you have no idea where to start to find information about other divisions, or other different federations. Because at the end of they day, this sport is and will always be for 99% of people who compete, a HOBBY. You can either burn out in the first year or make it a fun hobby you can do off and on for decades.   Like golf, bodybuilding is an ageless sport that if you are smart about it you can compete into your 50s, 60s, and maybe even beyond.  I still have competitors who come back to me for guidance 7 years after coming to me for help with their first show. Sometimes it’s to try a new division, sometimes it’s a new federation. 

And to this day, I am still doing my do wherever I see fit too.   At the time of this show I am preparing once again for a contest where I am going after a 4th pro card 20 years after my first competition experience. I’m documenting the journey on my instagram and YouTube pages (michelewelcome, with one l)  if you want to follow along. And no, I don’t eat pumpernickel bread and cottage cheese, although I could fit them into my macros if I wanted.   

and I don’t want this to sound weird like I’m some celebrity or something, but the reason I believe I have had people drive 4 hours to come see me in person is because of the very processes, strategies,  I’ve created over the years and the truth bombs I share with them that give an honest outside perspective from not just a coaches view, but a judge, and ultimately as someone who understands them as a competitor.

It’s been a lot of fun over the years but there are only so many people I can reach with a 1 on 1 approach so that’s the purpose of this show and why I’m doing this. 

And since I started I haven’t had someone NOT become better in some way. Not to toot my own horn or anything, because no one likes people that drink their own coolaid, but truly, the people I’ve worked with not only have an outward transformation of confidence, but they become more confident and more empowered in their every day lives. Not everyone has earned a pro card, or a first place trophy, but they all transformed in some way because of the things I know to focus on and the things I know not to focus on…and that’s what I’m excited about with this whole show.

Bodybuilding is an unregulated sport and I hope to de-mystify how to even get started and how to be come successful both on and off the stage.  And that is the purpose of this show.

Hey guys if you have not done so, you likely haven’t because it’s the first episode, 

Go to www.eeinbb.com and there is an pdf ebook you can download where you can get an overview of 5 things any competitor, from men and women bodybuilding, physique, figure, wellness, and bikini, things you should know before competing in your next show.  You can download the pdf can get a great overview of things I believe are important to know. I’m going to deep dive into the strategies on the show, and share a lot of cool stories too.  What I also want to do is dedicate episodes here or there, where I deep dive on just one topic or one strategy. Or on another episode stare a case study on how I approached this one client’s transformation and why it worked so well. 

I’ve worked with a lot of clients over the years and have 20 years of not just competing, coaching, and judging, but I’ve also spent many years educating myself on additional areas like 3 personal training certifications, 1 nutrition certification, becoming a RYT-200 embodyoga instructor and going to a modeling and acting school where I learned about runway modeling as well. 

It’s because of the diversity of my skillsets and background that I am able to do this.  And again not trying to toot my own horn, but I haven’t seen anyone with the level of diversity of my background or people to be able to educate on all of this stuff. I see a lot of people who do one or two shows and think they are qualified to coach others by applying the protocols that worked for them.  There is not a lot of good info on all the other things in bodybuilding that are just as important as nutrition and training.  And I’m excited to share all this with you. 

Anyways, guys thanks so much. If you would be so kind, please subscribe to this if you think this will be interesting for you. Also rate it…if you can leave some feedback that would be fantastic, very very excited to hear that from you  as well.  

And if you would be so kind, if you share it, I will repost whatever it is that you tag me in. Guys thanks so much.

I appreciate it and I’ll see you guys in the next episode. bye.

OUTTRO -

What are things you need to know before competing in a bodybuilding competition?

EE in BB is dedicated to taking out the guesswork in the industry and exposing all these strategies.  

Learn 5 things I think you should know before your next show by downloading your free ebook called 5 tips every competitor needs to know before your next competition at www.eeinbb.com It’s all the no nonsense information you need whether you are male or female, bodybuilder, physique, figure bikini or wellness competitor.  It’s free so just go download my 5 tips every competitor needs to know before your next show at eeinbb.com.  

Everything Else In Bodybuilding Trailer

Welcome To The "Everything Else" In Bodybuilding Show!