From: "Nettles, Olin" Subject: I competed! Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 16:10:58 -0400 Well, I took the plunge, and wanted to briefly share with the Weights folks my experiences. On Oct. 4, at age 36 and after 22 years of lifting (well, not always so seriously), I competed for the first time in bodybuilding, in the Gold's Classic right outside of DC. It turned out to be a very positive experience, and not anything like the grueling ordeal you hear about. Yes, I dieted heavily, but nothing extreme, and broke that diet on many, many occassions, and felt just great the whole time. I think slow and steady is the way to go. Guys were backstage bragging about their strict regimins of no carbs, no dairy, no water, no air...whatever..and you know what? I beat some of them! Anyway, it was a good contest for my first one. VERY laid back. Everyone seemed so relaxed backstage! And there were all types, but basically everyone was pretty much at the same level (except for a couple of freaks), which made me feel like I fit in. The shaving and fake tan stuff was messy, but kinda fun in a costume-party kinda way after a while. I really didn't know what I was doing, but I ended up looking no different from any of the others. I expected just a handful in the over-35 class, but there were 10, and most looked better than the 20-somethings! I think I posed OK, but there again I just taught myself from a video, no coaching or training or advice. I freaked out a little because I was called out with the first group of 5 or 6, then I was the only one asked to remain with the second group of callouts..so I had to go through all the mandatories twice! I also entered the light heavies. The crowd was very responsive at the evening show, and things were even more jovial backstage (the real judging having been done in the morning). All in all, I think this was the prefect contest to get my feet wet. Enough contestants to make placing in a class mean something, but yet most of the guys more or less at my level, even though I was one of the very few who had never competed before. I learned a lot about my body by doing all this. And I would encourage anyone who is thinking of competing to go ahead. There seems to be a mindset that to compete you have to look like the guys in the magazines, have upper this and outter that all developed, etc. Not so! Some pretty ordinary-looking guys with lots of weak points (including myself) did OK and had fun and learned a lot, without sacrificing a normal life along the way. OH, how did I do?? I got two trophies! I was 5th (of 10) in the over-35s, and 4th (of 7) in the light heavies. Olin J. (Jim) Nettles ojn.apa@email.apa.org ojn@cais.com