On the 26th of March we witnessed the first Men’s Physique division to be held in Culver City, California. I competed in the show and was surprised to see so many men keen to compete in this all-new division of the NPC. Going in to the show one of the things that seemed to be on everyone’s mind was that since Men’s Physique is so new and the criteria were so vague, we really didn’t know what to expect. I think even the judges were the same, admitting that they hadn’t quite figured out yet what they were looking for. This would be the first chance for Californians to set the standard for what would evolve into Men’s Physique in the future. Since I was up close and in the mix I will give you my perspective of how things went down on the day.
My preparation for the show involved some dieting, training as normal, practicing walking and “posing”, and cosmetic preparations such as hair style, shaving and applying tan. I wanted to bring a look of being lean, muscular and healthy looking without being extreme in terms of either condition or muscle size. Therefore my preparation involved a few things that differed from what I would normally do for a bodybuilding show. The first thing was that my diet was clean and a little restricted in terms of carbs but it wasn’t ridiculous and it was only three weeks in length. I also didn’t carb up for the show and I didn’t pump up before I went on stage giving me an intentionally flatter look. Since it wasn’t a bodybuilding competition I didn’t want to look like a bodybuilder. This was partly from what I wanted to display and also based on the thoughts of a number of trainers at Gold’s.
The day itself was interesting. We had to arrive early at 8 am for the competitors meeting and check in. After that was all over I had to get my tan evened out and applied to my face via spray tanning booths that were located in the rear parking lot. It was a cold day and the spray tan was even colder, believe me! After that it was more or less a matter of waiting until the division was called back stage. There were heaps of guys back stage because it was such a popular category. I was in the tallest of three height classes and we were last to go on stage. So I was just hanging out in the pump up area checking out what everyone was doing. There were a few cameras floating around filming us. For the most part the competitors were pumping up just as you would for a bodybuilding show. As previously mentioned I didn’t pump up and the reason was I didn’t want to look full or vascular on stage as the bodybuilder look and extreme muscularity was thought to be marked down (according to the guidelines we had).
We were eventually called to go on stage and all twenty two of us (in my height class) lined up and listened to the back stage organizer’s instructions. We were divided into three line ups of approximately seven competitors and performed quarter “model” turns in front of the judges. We then stood at the side of the stage and individually walked to the middle/front stage to perform quarter turns. Finally the judges did three or four call outs where they tried to sort out who was to place where. I ended up being in the middle of the second call out in which case I knew I would not place in the top five but would be fairly close. It turns out I ended up placing seventh which wasn’t too bad overall.
I received a variety of feedback from the judges. I think the fact that there was such variety in the feedback shows that the judges themselves are still coming to terms with what “Men’s Physique” is. Some judges said I needed to improve in terms of conditioning. Others said that my abs needed to have deeper cuts showing all the way down. Some told me my color was too light (I took a shower before the night show), because in fact I was very dark at the prejudging. One judge said all he was looking at was abs and chest (which I honestly found a little disappointing considering it is “Men’s Physique” not “Men’s Abs and Chest”). Additionally another judge thought my conditioning could be a little better but the main problem was that I didn’t look full enough and he wanted a natural bodybuilder look. One of my trainers Jerome Ferguson thought I wasn’t displaying my abs well enough and that I should have shown more personality and flavor to the judges and audience.
At the time of writing it has now been a full week since the show was held. I have thought about all the feedback I received from judges and others and studied the photos on the muscle contest website. If I knew then what I know now about that particular show I would have prepared a little different. I would have dieted maybe another two weeks in advance and included a little cardio to lose some more body fat. I would have carbed up moderately and definitely would have pumped up before going on stage. I also would have paid extreme attention to how hard I was tensing my abdominals on stage (I was tensing all the time but based on Jerome Ferguson’s feedback and the photos I have seen I could have been contracting harder). If I had a good six months I would also have done more weighted abdominal work to bring out more of the deep lines in the abdominals. I think these things combined would have put me into the top five. But that is ok, it was just a matter of thinking they might want one look and the judges going for a different look.
So what were the things the judges were looking for physique wise? In my opinion the biggest thing that the top five placers in Men’s Physique tended to have was well developed, ripped abs with deep cuts in the muscle. Otherwise they tended to be looking for a muscular, well developed, natural looking upper body. Based on some of the feedback chest development seemed to also be a defining feature of the top competitors. The look from the front was very important but the back didn’t seem to be very crucial at this stage (and some of the judges said so). Legs and lower body shape, again as they were covered up were not really considered at all. Other things like stage presence and a pleasing facial appearance were probably also reasonably important but the physique seemed to be the main focus.
This of course may change over time since this was one of the first Men’s Physique shows. The judges are still figuring out exactly what the want and the competitors will define this at numerous shows over at least the next year or so. I look forward to witnessing how it turns out. For me though, it’s time to continue my off-season and keep developing my physique.
