How to Prep For Your First Bodybuilding Show (What to avoid)

In this video I'm going to show you how I lost 60 pounds for my first bodybuilding classic physique show and WON! I ended up taking first place and I learned a lot on the way, which is directly going to help you better prepare for your first show.
IG:   / alan_jaramillo  


Even if you're not thinking of preparing for your first show this can relate to anyone who's looking to lose a large amount of weight like 20 to 60 pounds.

Starting off, I was around 230 pounds in roughly 20% body fat. My face was a lot rounder and I was working out a bit differently than a normal bodybuilder would. I was definitely training more to be a power lifter at the time and I had to switch up my training to be more beneficial to hold on the muscle mass during my prep. My starting macros were 240 g of carbs, 215 g of protein, and 60 g of fat. My starting cardio was 15 minutes per week and I was training six days in the gym To start off prep!

There were many things that change during prep but those big changes didn't come in till the last two months. For the most part the first six months were very stable and we didn't change much. This is often a mistake most people make. And if you decide to do your own show this is why it's crucial to get a coach. When you are trying to coach yourself, It's very hard to take your emotional attachment to your way out of the equation. There were many times where I wanted to make changes because my body was not losing weight but since I had a coach who was looking at progress pictures weekly, he was able to see changes and we kept things the same for the most part which ended up being the best thing for me. The more changes you make the more Your body is going to adapt to.

If I were to make one recommendation to anyone, it would be to make sure that you pick a cardio that you can build upon without causing more pain. I decided to choose running and I have a very bad history of shin splints so when the cardio got really hard, my shins splits just kept on getting worse. This made prep a lot harder because I had to constantly worry about mobility and I had to go get work done by a professional to help me cope with the pain. I would recommend some thing like stairmaster, cycling, or incline treadmill walking because they are very low impact activities!

As far as mistakes to avoid, there are plenty that I think make or break a prep!

Too much cardio too soon is definitely some thing that most
Athlete to make the mistake of doing. Things only get harder during prep so if you start off your prep with a lot of cardio you're gonna end up doing more with low energy towards the end of your prep. This is exactly why I think having enough time really helps with coming out on top in the end.


This leads me into number two, which is making sure that you have enough time. I had eight months to prepare for my show and I had 60 pounds to lose. If I had to try and lose 60 pounds in three months I would've most likely been able to do it but I would've lost a lot more muscle mass in the process and that the rebound would've been catastrophic. If you have more than 15 pounds to lose I would definitely prep for longer than 3 to 4 months.

The next mistake I would avoid is setting your calories to low at the start. This is very similar to picking too aggressive of cardio to start… The lower you start your calories, the lower they are going to be at the end of prep.

When you cut calories to aggressively you end up losing more muscle mass than you would if you take things slow! That's a mistake I would highly advise against making because you want to look as full as possible.

Hiring a posing coach is absolutely a necessity when you're competing in a show. I personally feel that I want my show because of my posing and it's not because my posing was better than anyone's, but I knew how to pose to make myself look bigger on stage next to guys that were 20 to 30 pounds heavier than I was at the time. The reason my posing is so important is because it's all an allusion!

If you can, I would avoid a bad coaching at all costs! When you were going ahead and hiring your coach for your show, make sure you speak to them about what their process looks like and make sure you talk to them about any general questions that you have! I do offer contest prep coaching and I also offer lifestyle coaching for people who want to lose 20 to 60 pounds, so if you were interested in applying, the link is below:

https://www.theshortcuttoshredzbluepr...

Lastly, poor sleep is some thing that really impacts your prep. Not only does it impact your daily Weigh ins, But it really does impact how full you come into your show. You want to retain a lot more muscle mass and that comes along with getting very good sleep.

I hope this video acts as a guide for you to navigate your first show! If you have any questions, feel free to comment down below!

Thanks for watching!