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View Full Version : First Bodybuilding Show (NPC The Big Cat)



THE EXTREME
10-24-13, 2:51 am
I know I’m a few weeks late on this one, but recently I’ve transitioned from 12 great years of Powerlifting to competing in a bodybuilding show in a matter of a few months! My starting weight was 240lbs on July 27th and I was able to diet down to 225lbs pretty easily within the first several weeks. It wasn’t long before I realized I needed a hand with getting into contest shape! After a few hours of thinking about who I could ask to give me a hand with contest prep I realized, who better to ask than the biggest and strongest bodybuilder I personally know, my good friend Big Al!!!
The first week I went down to meet him (August 17th), we went over my mandatories and I’ll never forget the look on his face when he said “Dave, we got a lot of work ahead of us if you’re going to do that show in October!” So we began to discuss my diet among other necessary training obstacles I had to overcome in order to come in lean and healthy for the upcoming show (ie. Get out of my powerlifting equipment and training heavy, but not like a powerlifter). He went over my body fat and began to work up the most basic diet plan I have ever seen, even though the dietary method for the last week boggled my mind! So, I drove home and started Week 1 of Big Al’s master plan, which consisted of nothing but chicken, egg whites, flank steak, broccoli, oatmeal, and potatoes. I think this diet could turn anyone into a grumpy asshole. I also modified my training program to work each muscle group in a more appropriate bodybuilding fashion.
Before I knew it, week 1 was over and it was time to head down to see Big Al. Confidently knowing that my body already looked 10 times better than the previous week and I had been practicing my poses for about a ½ hour every night, I took of my shirt and began to go over the mandatory poses. There was a look of relief on Big Al’s face when he told me “You look 100% better than you did last week. I wasn’t sure if you had enough time to get ready for this show, but now I know that if you follow the meal plan and listen to what I tell you, there will be no problem with you being contest ready to get on stage by October 5th.” The orders were to follow his dietary modifications and tweaks to my training program, continue practicing my poses, and to keep doing everything else I’m doing.
The next several weeks were a tough, but I was able to maintain my self discipline and follow everything I was told to change and emphasize during each week. Before I knew it, I was 3 weeks out from the show and decided to follow my poor judgment and put my bench press shirt on when Dan Green and a few more ANIMAL reps from HQ stopped by my gym (Universal Athletics) to shoot a video tutorial. I successfully worked up to 605lbs and felt absolutely no pain, so I decided to go for it. I took the hand-off and lowered the bar to my chest and held it for a press call. About halfway up my I heard and felt a snap, crackle, and a pop in my left shoulder. Thank god Kathy Fields was alert and on that side to catch the bar. Fearfully considering the consequences of what I had just done to my shoulder, I took a few days off from training my upper body. By Wednesday I began to test my range of motion along with cautiously performing some bicep and tricep exercises. I continued to try a little more each day throughout the week until I was able to finally get back on track with my routine.
2 weeks out I was back to lifting normally and rather impressed with how far I had actually come along at this point. Everyone began to notice a significant difference in the way I looked as well as the way I confidently carried myself. I went down to see Big Al, and he also seemed pretty impressed with my physique and how effective his dietary plan was working. So, it’s my second last week before the show, and what better way to celebrate than going to the local Hibachi Grille with my girlfriend to Celebrate. She ordered her usual (steak and lobster), while I pulled my exquisitely prepared bland chicken, potato, and broccoli out of my lunch bag. At that point the mere smell of food I couldn’t eat was enough to satisfy my cravings. Chowing down on my meal from my favorite Pyrex bowl while being watched by the entire restaurant it finally clicked about why we put ourselves through all of this torture and torment of hardcore dieting and integrating our whole lives into the bodybuilding lifestyle. We do it for ourselves and because no one else in the room can. They may ask for tips and tricks in search of an easy way out or a quick and painless workout routine, but nobody else has the self-discipline and determination to put their mind, body, and soul into what they think they want to do.
Prep week begins with the ever so lovely addition and depletion of several foods I’ve missed for the past months of my life, followed by more adding and more depleting foods, and a side of apple pie filling. It was such a disappointment looking forward to the seemingly delicious apple pie filling, but since simple sugar was nonexistent to my body for so long that after the first few bites I had to choke it down. Another unfortunate downfall to this week was that my prep coach had to regretfully inform me that he had to attend the funeral of his good friend who had passed on earlier in the week. I came this far, and while it would have been my choice to have Big Al there, I wasn’t about to let him or myself down at this show.
You know they say “everything happens for a reason”, well this turned out to be one of the times in my life that it was proven to be a true statement. I spoke with one of the other bodybuilders at my gym, which was also doing the show and told him a little about my predicament. He then insisted on me meeting his prep coach just to have someone do a final critique on my posing and work on my routine. The next day he walks in the door with his prep coach and to my surprise standing in front of me was the most accomplished bodybuilder in the Lehigh Valley, Eddie Moyzan. We spent hours during the final week working on fine tuning my posing and routine for the show on Saturday. I continued following Big Al’s amazing dietary protocol, but allowed Eddie to tweak my posing to perfection. The incredible choreography skills of Eddie brought my choppy self-created routine to an entirely different level of precision.
The day before the show came along and it was time to take my final shower and let the spray tanning madness begin. Thank god my girlfriend was so patient with me and fast with her new found spray tanning talent or I wouldn’t have made it to the show with the way I felt and my temporary lack of patients. Coat 1,2,and 3 went on nicely and I looked darker than I could have ever imagined! I attempted to weigh in that night and came in at 199.5lbs. Being extremely disappointed with the extra 1.1 lbs holding me back from making light heavyweight I considered doing cardio to shred off the last little bit of weight, then I remembered what Big Al emphasized “NO CARDIO on prep week!” As I walked away from my treadmill I noticed my diet plan was laying on the desk near my gyms entrance, I picked it up to put it back in my office and quickly glanced at it for one last time before leaving and preparing my food for contest. On the bottom of last page in all capital letters it said “weigh in on the day of contest”. I thought to myself “oh well, I’ll give it a shot.” That night I slept like a rock, I don’t remember waking up more than once to even use the bathroom. 6:30 rolled around and I woke up, grabbed my food and made my way to early morning weigh ins at the cathedral. I stepped on the scale and what do ya know, I was 198 on the dot! Somehow Al managed to dial my diet in so tediously that I didn’t make weight until the day of the contest. Maybe it was coincidence, but who am I to judge… I made weight and that’s all that mattered before I got on stage.
The clock struck 12:00 and it was time for pre-judging, then a meal, then the 5:00pm show. I ended up taking 4th in light heavyweight with the feeling of accomplishment and the hunger to win my next show!
Despite any complements I received after the show, I think I did pretty good for my first bodybuilding show…

Dave Barth
October 5, 2013
“The Big Cat Classic”
Scottish Right Cathedral
Allentown, Pa

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Swolepez
10-26-13, 7:52 pm
Awesome! you looked great bro, congrats!

deanna7272
10-26-13, 11:10 pm
So awesome!! Glad to finally see the pics!! There have been a lot of fellas taking the step to the stage. . . I am sure that seeing what you have "built" over the years is a very satisfying realization. . . Congrats again. . .

RedlegDbell
10-27-13, 12:12 am
Congratulations Dave! From the pics it looks like you were very ready for that stage. Big Al clearly knows what he's doing. Really happy for you bro!

smoothballer
10-30-13, 8:09 am
Huge Congrats Man!

Firefist
10-30-13, 8:33 am
great showing brother.

naturalguy
10-30-13, 8:33 am
Dave, you made an amazing transformation.

BigAl is a good guy to have in your corner

Enforcer
10-30-13, 10:15 am
Great transformation bro. From nose bleeds at the Cage, to bringing a great package to the stage. Nice work bro, keep at it

Chase "BIG COUNTRY" Browning
10-30-13, 10:23 am
Hell yea Dave. You looked great!

Big Al
11-01-13, 9:11 pm
Thanks for the nice words and the confidence you have in me to do the diet.
And thank god Eddy was there to help with poseing(my weakness).LOL