oh boy. So you are doing a BB show in 10 weeks. Assuming the diet & training are tight, first get as much information about your particular show as possible. Generally the BB requirements are:
Pre-judge (morning) show:
- Use a plain color suit (no patterns, etc.)
- They do the symmetry round including general line up, standard poses and quarter turns. Find out what are considered "standard poses" for your show. You can usually contact who ever is running the show -- is it NPC? Then get the name of your state's NPC rep and see if they can get you the requirements for std poses. For ex, they may include a lat spread or a most muscular poses as mandatory, so you should know how to execute that to your best advantage. Even if you look great, if you don't look like you came to the stage prepared, the judges will hold that against you.
- Probably will include a 60 sec individual posing routine -- this is similar to your posing routine to music at the night show, with no music. Because you have no music, it looks stupid to just do your night routine without music. (This is what a lot of people do because they really weren't aware of this part of the competition. But what you really want to do with this is take 60 seconds to display your best poses. You can even just do your best mandatory poses and leave it at that.
Night show:
- Here you can use either your same suit from the morning or a fancier one. You should also ask about wearing jewelry, including things like belly rings. The figure / fitness competition is much more about presentation so you will see people w/ a lot of fancy jewelry w/ the outfits, but BB they usually don't like all the distractions. I had to take out my belly ring for my shows. If you can't take it out, its ok though. And also if you have any tattoos, try to cover them w/ some coverup makeup or something.
- Posing routine with music -- for the night show you usually get 90 seconds (as opposed to the 60 sec routine w /no music in the morning) and with music to do your thing. Here's where you again want to show off your best poses and keep the dancing & other distractions to a minimum. My trainer recommends for first timers to simply do your mandatories again but to music. E.g. do 2-3 poses in the center of the stage, move to one side of the stage & show 2-3 moves to that side of the audience, and then back over to the other side of the stage for the other sid of the audience. Or you can compose your own routine. MAke sure whatever you do, hold your poses for a good 3 sec each so the judges can get a good look. DO NOT under an circumstances bend over and show them your butt! My trainer actually says keep the back poses to a minimum again because you are turning your back to the audience and really you want to keep eye contact w/ the audience & the judges. Make sure you are always looking at & smiling at the judges. Don't let your gaze go out & stay out into the audience. The night show is your chance to give a performance & really entertain the crowd. Those competitors who show personality & look like they are having fun on stage are usually the most fun to watch and stand out. Those w/ excellent physiques but who dont' look comfortable on stage don't do as well as they could.
Show prep:
- Protan! Don't use Jan Tana products. Apparently now you can find people who can airbrush you w/ protan instead of doing the squirt & brush yourself. You should ask around about that. The NPC or your show rep may have suggestions as well. Get at least 2-3 layers of protan -- i.e. spray it on, sleep in it, shower, next day repeat until you have a smooth and dark even tan. Also I've heard lots of venues won't allow Dream tan -- this is stuff that lots of people like to use because you just put it on - not several layers and waiting for it to dry, etc. HOWEVER, because you just put it on, it tends to easily smudge and will get all over everything. So most places just don't allow it to be used.
- At the show itself, definitely bring a spare small bottle of protan for touch ups. And usually right before you get called out, while you are in the pump-up area, there are expeditors who have clothes covered in PAM (yes the cooking spray) who will rub you down & give you the "shiny" look.
- And also make sure that your face is dark enough. Often you put all the layers of protan on your body, but its hard to get it on your face and leave it there to dry. But you end up looking really blanched out on stage. This is antoher thing you might be able to find a salon that does airbrush tans & just get your face done.
- Makeup - if you know someone who does makeup for photoshoots or whatever, this might be the way to go so you dont' have to mess w/ doing good stage makeup. Otherwise you can go to the MAC counter & have someone do you a good make over for stage & show you how to apply it yourself. Again you want big & strong so you dont' look washed out on stage.
Posing suits -- there are some links on a post from iamfirmin that I included for suit makers. Unless you already have done that. (I can't link it here because I'm on a proxy connection)
Routine & music -- find out what medium you need to provide your music on -- tape or CD and make sure that you have at least one spare AT the show in case something happens to it. If you can download your music from the internet & rip it to CD that is sufficient. You just need 90 sec of music that is queued up at the beginning of your CD or tape. (They won't set you up on a particular track of a commercial CD -- you need to give them a single cut on a single CD or tape that is cut to 90 sec.) A DJ could mix this for you or you can just make the tape / cd yourself. It doesnt' need to be several cuts mixed like you often see with the fitness competitors. Just something that is upbeat, not too masculine (i.e. dont' do a heavy metal cut), allows you to not have to bounce around or move fast and can hold 3 sec poses. The music should be background and not distract from your posing. And again,. you don't need to dance around or anythign fancy. Just make sure you can move comfortably on stage. Don't make your routine too complex that it messes you up. And generally, I dont like getting down on the floor for any posing because you might wipe out and it just doesn't look smooth. (My opinion). And ALWAYS SMILE!!!
- Posing -- Practice your mandatory poses ALOT. Be able to hold them for 30 sec at a time. It is great conditioning exercise and helps to bring out the detail in your muscles. I'd recommend at 4-6 weeks start spending at least 15 min after training doing your posing. Do it in a mirror so you can get oriented, but also becau video tape yourself. You get a better view of yourself and you can also see in your mind how it is presented to the audience instead of you look in the mirror. I found if I see it in the mirror, it screws up my directions once I get on stage.
For posing, check bodybuilding.com for some info. Also there are videos called "Perfect Posing" that are good. And you can also order videos of past large NPC & IFBB shows from
www.repetrope.com. I think they also have some posing videos as well.
- Depending on how many competitors, they usually allow everyone to do their routines, but they will do the mandatories again and all that from the morning show.
Aside from the actual show prep, are you comfortable with the diet & training tweaks during the last week of show prep? I.e. carb depletion, carb-up, water depletion, etc? This is really where you need to have your prep dialed in and I don't know what resources you have for that.
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