I competed in the masters classic physique 40+ division. It was an enormous class, so I feel blessed to have landed in 7th out of 19.
Like many of us, I have a difficult time seeing anything but my flaws (God knows there are plenty of those present!), and a great deal of difficulty seeing my strengths.
When we lined up backstage, I though to myself : “Well, I drove 8 hours to finish around 15th!”.
After making first callout (I was SHOCKED!!!), then seeing prejudging pictures, I had was very, very happy with my conditioning, but standing in that lineup, the improvements that I need to make are blindingly obvious.
My back and arms, utterly suck… I have to find some way to put some size on my arms and add some thickness to my back. Especially with this large frame and long torso. I don’t know what it’s gonna take to flush out those lats, but I have to figure something out.
My legs were as good as, or better than, anyone there, but (as has always been the case with me) like I said, my back and arms SUCK. So that's going to be my sole concentration & focus for improvement over the next year.
At the end of the day, I went to Pittsburgh with two goals…
1. To look like I belong, and not get embarrassed.
2. To make the first callout.
I accomplished both of those goals, so I do take a small bit of satisfaction there. I’m absolutely thrilled with my conditioning conditioning,. It’s always nice to get visual confirmation that the suffering was worthwhile!
What I’m really walking away with is a very clear idea of where I stand and just how much work I have ahead of me in the coming 363 days.
It was an awesome experience, as I said in the other thread, I got finally meet
@scooby Prep. What a cool guy. Someone I’ve been following and conversing with online for years. It’s always nice when you get to meet someone and they are just as, good a person in real life as they appear to be in their online persona.
@ScoobyPrep is one of the real ones!
NPC News Online has some of the professional photos. I'll send an attach a few of them here, as well as one random iPhone shot that my wife took from the audience that, for some reason, is my favorite picture from the whole show.
Oh, and Mods... can I please have IFBB Pro under my profile pic now?
