Its been about a week since competing at nationals this year and just wanted to share the experience with you guys.
First of all, thanks for those who contacted me, supported me and were interested in how i did. Those who know me, know how i plan, prepare, and taking competing seriously.
First of all, I cant tell you how competitive my weight class was. 30 competitors in my class alone. There was an elimination at 15 ( 16 competitors only walk on stage and did quarters turns then were sent home,no posing)
And some decent guys did not make the cut. At this point, i was happy to make it this far. Welterweights are conditioned as I could not find a guy in the class that was clearly out of shape or did not belong.
wow , that is alote.30 guys in the same weight class competing.
Actually my prep went great. I was very focused and on track. I have plenty of progress pics, i just didnt post because i wanted to stay focused and felt i didnt need to push my name out anymore. Getting back to the last few days..
I ran into some problems the last few days( 5 hour flight, 3 hour time zone change). This was the day before the show, and I totally made some changes in how i normally approach the last days to deal with this. Totally my own fault as Im not making excuses, just sharing what happened.
I normally get in shape, coast in and change almost nothing. I dont deplete, load, cut sodium, etc. etc. But, i almost always compete a short distance from home..
Now many experts could say, " you should have, or should have done this" but why,? This thread is not supposed to be a bragging thread but i have more than a few times walked on stage hard and dry doing things this way.
The USA is in Las Vegas which is a 3 hour drive and the regional shows are only a 30 min drive from were i live. I have never had a problem of holding water, losing condition etc at these shows. Even last years nats was a short flight compared to flying to Atlanta.
But anyways, i have to say.... I have never so many quality competitors.. I know some people are looking at pics online and may disagree but pics are not 3d and dont always give all the facts.
Second of all.. MD's photos are very large( the larger the pic, the less detail). They did provide excellent coverage and quality photography, but what im saying is, you don't often see everything in the pics on stage.
But as far as competition goes, there were some really good guys that didn't make the cut and didn't get to pose. That goes to show you the quality of the competitors this year. Just my luck, my class was probably the most competitive class in the show.
And some of the guys looked huge! Freaks from all over showed up and some just have great shape, smaller joints, better insertions and are conditioned well too. The NPC nationals for this weight class draws the best, since its the only show all year you can earn a pro card. Winning at the USA was great, but not enough to give me a pro card. This is the show i have to win.
My goal is to absorb all I can from the experience. Im surely going to figure out how to fly out to Florida next year and deal with the climate change, time change, flight, etc. ( its a 5-6 hour flight)
But also, the work begins now, to bring more muscle, more overall size and shape. And really focus on bringing my 1,2, 3 week out condition to the show.
Believe it or not i had a really good time. I had a great shoot before i left with Iron Man Magazine. Also, I did a nice gym shoot as part of my contract for a product that will be re launched and marketed soon, Taraxatone and Xenadrine Hardcore.
It was great meeting Dan Newmire and his girl, it was really cool talking, and meeting a few of the pro muscle members.
Brad Davis was someone I had a great time talking to as we bumped into each other several times. He is a one thick dude( can i have some of his muscle and he can have some of my condition) . He did great, he looked awesome and was in my shoes, as his class was stacked. He made the top ten (8th) which is very respectable. He is a great bber and a super cool guy. I hope i see him again soon. As he totally did a great prep and came to represent.
I just wanted to thank everyone and share a shot or two leading up to the show. And 2 from the show
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