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The Road To The Show: by Justin Napolitano
Ok so I am writing this to give you an little insight about who I am and what it takes for a novice to get into shape to compete in a natural bodybuilding competition. The show I am going to compete in is promoted by long time natural pro, veteran Sean Sullivan. The show is called the OCB Maine Event on September 29, 2007. I know I am a long way away from this show, but the reason to start now for me is that I started at about 23% bodyfat, my goal is to get to 10-15% bodyfat by April. To get ready to compete I am getting help from Dr. Joe DeMarco, a veteran of the natural bodybuilding community. For those of you that don't know what competing naturally is I will give some information a little further down, but let me start with some information about myself.
I have co-owned Maximum Nutrition Centers with my brother Joel since 2004. I have a condition called Sub-Aortic Stenosis, which required me to have open heart surgery at the age of seven on February 13, 1985. I am greatful everyday for my parents being the strong people they are. If they didn't make the decision to have this done I would not be here right now. I am a survivor of 22 years (yes I am 29 now) and have a check up every year. There is the possiblity that I might also have to have another surgery later in life. After undergoing open heart surgery at the age of seven, health and fitness became crucial to my day to day survival. My passion is to help people reach their fitness goals through diet, supplementation and hard work. I co-promoted the OCB Natural Yankee Classic for the first time in 2006. I wanted to ensure this show continued as a Yankee Homecoming tradition in Newburyport, MA each summer and look forward to promoting many more in the coming years. I am married and have a son who was born in August 2005. Below I placed links of my diet, workouts, supplements, and photos of my journey. I hope you will join me on my journey to my first natural bodybuilding competition.
To compete naturally is a combination of desire, both mental and physical strength, as well as strict training and dieting.
According to the Organization of Competitve Bodybuilders website, "Many people shy away from competition because they think they have to be huge, or have to have years and years of weight training experience. These are common misconceptions that are due in part from supplement company ads and many of the more popular magazines primarily showing professional level athletes who aren't drug-free. Many people think these images are what it takes to be a physique competitor. These people are often surprised by the difference once they actually see a local drug-tested competition. A wide variety of physique types and conditioning levels can be seen at local drug-free shows. Some athletes compete after only a few months of weight training experience too. It doesn't take years of training to compete. Drug-free competition is more about conditioning (lowering body fat) to show more detail in the physique. When more detail shows in the muscles, a person appears more muscular. Natural bodybuilders look like regular people with their clothes on, but when the clothes come off… look out! They look much bigger, especially under the lighting conditions on stage.
Many figure and fitness competitors think that they need to be at a certain low body fat percentage before even beginning their contest prep. This is untrue. A competitor simply needs to allow enough time to lose the desired amount of weight. For some this is 8 weeks, for others it is 16 weeks. Another misconception with the fitness division is that a competitor must be a gymnast in order to do well in the routine round. This is not necessary. While gymnastics skills do enhance a routine as they display moves of both strength and flexibility in one, if a competitor masters several strength and flexibility moves, has a well-choreographed routine to well-mixed music and is poised and perfected, she can place very well in this round."
More information can be found on the OCB website.
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