New Girl!

[alice29]

Hi everyone,

I'm 18, 171cm tall, around 61kg and 14% body fat.

I recently lost 10kg and turned my lifestyle around since I found out I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Really into this new lifestyle now, I love it! I workout 6 times a week and eat clean,

Is there anyone out there who can tell me a bit about how a newbie such as myself could look at getting into competing? i.e. what are the lowest level classes, what their standard is, where I can go to watch some, etc.

I'm nowhere near a level where I could do them right now, but I'd like to have something to work towards! Just an idea at the moment

Cheers

[Pseudonym]

Welcome Alice! You're right... the best idea is to get along to a competition and have a look at the different classes for yourself. Check out our event calendar to find a show near you. Whereabouts in the country are you?

[alice29]

Thanks, I'm at uni in Wellington but I live in Napier in the holidays.

What kind of shows would have the lower level stuff in them? I don't really want to go along to see the extreme stuff because that's not what I'm really interested in doing.

[M.T]

If you are in Welly can't look past the Powerhouse Gym. Should check it out.

[Shutupandsquat]

competing in what exactly?

[alice29]

Thanks for the gym suggestion but I'm already a member at a gym for the year!

And I don't know exactly what I'm looking at competing in because I don't know what all the different levels/classes (for females) are called. Can someone please explain them to me?

I'd just be interested in the lowest level stuff to start out with obviously. Any suggestions as to how to get into that?

I've seen big competitions advertised but they all seem like really intense stuff for people who have been doing this for ages. How do people start out in this world?

[Shutupandsquat]

I'll clarify; bodybuilding or powerlifting?

[alice29]

Body building, but not the extreme stuff!

[Dinahlady]

Which gym do you go to?

[alice29]

Club Kelburn

[Dinahlady]

Sorry - don't know anyone/anything about that gym,

The best way is by researching stuff online such as bodybuilding.com, or pics on gofigure.co.nz and muscleimaging.com and going to see shows etc.

The most important thing is to know that competing is serious and you need to take your health into consideration. When listening to peoples/trainers advice you have to be aware of what could potentially be harmful to you in the long term, because if something does happen noone else will have to deal with that but you. I recommend watching some of Layne Nortons metabolic damage youtube videos to get some real perspective on the dangers of competing before looking into all the cool shiny stuff like pics of hot girls all ripped and the sparkly shiny suits, or the highly produced promo videos that some of the top competitors put out there.

Okay downbuzz over.

In bodybuilding in NZ there are different federations (or companies that run competitions) mainly NABBA, NZFBB, and NABBA-WFF. each of these have different rules and similar but different categories that you can compete in as a female.

Sometimes you can't just "choose" a category to compete in, you have to look at your body shape, type and muscularity and see which one you could realistically compete in. You also never know how you really look until you get really lean. It can be good to diet down and then decide.

So a quick breakdown

NZFBB - women don't do routines.

Bikini - kinda like a swimsuit contest - less muscle, less lean, smile lots, judged on sex appeal as well as body. wear a bikini like your normal beach bikini but some sparkles and strut up and down. high heels.

Figure (they have a novice figure category) - slightly more muscle, leaner and do slightly more bodybuilding poses but not all. high heels.

Bodybuilding/physique. - can be confusing as in the states they have two separate categories but in NZ they just have one for womens bodybuilding called womens physique. They dont wear heels and do proper bodybuilding poses.

NABBA - women do routines that are 60 seconds long to music where they show off their body etc.

Shape - like figure but not as lean or muscular and their posing is slightly different. good for "beginners" i guess.

Figure - lean as - but they have novice too.

Womens bodybuidling/physique as before - novice too.

They also have a "teen" category which you can do if you were "19 on the year of the competition"

NABBA Wff - similar to nabba but Have athletic category aswell which requires you to be a certain weight for your height - people are usually quite lean.

Search for all of the federations on google and on the federation website it will explain the categories as well and any height weight or age restrictions as well.

In my opinion its wise to have a lot of your own knowledge first, diet down a bit and increase calories as high as you can again a couple times before you set your mind on the show (really really important before you start dieting for a competition to have a healthy working metabolism which means being able to eat maintenance calories (2000 or more) without continuously gaining weight, and having the knowledge to reverse diet out of your goal, as being in competition shape and on competition calories all the time is not sustainable)

[teamfatboy]

Excellent post by Dinah...loads of great advice.

Have a look at the calendar on GoFigure here and the two Wellington comps are 7th and 14th September.

Pop along to a show, have a look - that'll give you a great idea.

[alice29]

Dinahlady that was incredibly helpful, thank you very much! I think I'll go along to a few of the shows people have mentioned and have a look I really appreciate your advice!

[Abbey]

I'm 19 and i started powerlifting just under a year ago. POWERLIFTING IS AMAZING! I have often thought about bodybuilding too but for now powerlifting is where its at. Loving it. If you want to know more about powerlifitng i would be more than happy to talk to you. You may even like to start a small powerlifitng cycle which helps get your body used to the exercises and works at where your strength is but also newby gains are awesome too... you get strong very quickly and very fast. "5x5 stronglifts" might be a good base before starting bodybuilding maybe i dont know for sure but i did that cycle and i think it is just so good that any new person coming into weights should try it out. Helps with technique etc Hope some of that helps. Mail me if you're keen for a chat and welcome

[Dinahlady]

I definitely agree with Abbey!

Learn about training and learn to enjoy training and getting stronger to the highest degree you can, understand how nutrition will affect your growth, recovery and metabolism though experience and then if you are still interested in the aesthetic side of it after a while then all that knowledge and strength will definitely help you go a lot further in your competing than just going aiming to look like someone in competition shape from the get go.

And I definitely think its better to have a learning and strength based mindset to help keep a level head to face the mental challenges of competing!