CONTEST PREPARATION
How to look your best on stage
by Dave Spindel, M.S., C.P.F.T.
You have worked long and hard getting ready to compete on stage. The goal of this presentation is to display the efforts of your labor by showing the judging panel, and (less importantly from a scoring standpoint) your friends and relatives, your condition. The judging phase of each contest requires you to be compared to other athletes on a stage, typically under bright stage lighting. To look your best, regardless of your original skin color, you need to have a golden color. This color is necessary to capture the frequencies that are emitted by this type of lighting. If you make the mistake of getting on stage with a good "walking around tan" or think that because you are dark skinned in the first place, you will be sadly disappointed when you are washed out by good stage lighting.
The other issue that needs to be addressed is "perceived conditioning". In order to do your best on stage you need to look as hard as possible. This hardness will be the result of minimizing your bodyfat. The lower your bodyfat the more vascularity will be seen by the judges. Fortunately, there is now an excellent product (Pro Tan's Hot Stuff) that can be used to show more vascularity, and hence, give you the look of being in better condition.
The subsequent material offers you a tried and proven pathway to maximize your contest stage appearance. It is exactly the way I have prepared my clients to successfully compete at the highest levels of the bodybuilding.
Note: All products referenced in this article are cited in bold capital letters (i.e., PROFESSIONAL POSING OIL) and are available by clicking the PRO TAN COMPETITION PRODUCTS link immediately following the article.
- Wednesday (If extremely light skinned start this process on Tuesday. If dark skinned start on Thursday)
- Evening -
- Shower with SKIN SCRUB or with a loofa pad to exfoliate and prepare a clean layer of skin. (This will minimize the blotchiness that later comes with old layers of skin shedding).
- Apply 4 ozs. of PROTAN INSTANT COMPETITION COLOR by spraying the Protan directly onto the applicator then painting, in light coats, the body until the 4 ozs. is used up. (Note: go light on the pourous areas such as the knees and elbows). Let this coat air dry for about 30 minutes.
- Thursday
- Morning -
- Take a shower, with soap and water only. Do not use anything more abrasive than your hand. The carrier from the Protan will come off, but the dyed layer of fresh skin will remain. After the shower, apply SUNLESS TANNING LOTION to moisturize, and continue the coloring process. Wash the lotion off of your hands when finished.
- Evening -
- Repeat Wednesday evening, step 2, only.
- Friday
- Morning -
- Repeat Thursday morning, step 1.
- Evening -
- Repeat Wednesday evening, step 2, only.
- Saturday (Contest Day)
- Morning -
- Repeat Thursday morning, step 1.
- If additional golden color is needed (and it usually is), apply TWO MINUTE BRONZER.
- Event
- When your class is called to pump-up, and not before, apply HOT STUFF VASODILATOR to bring out your vacularity and improve your look of stage hardness .
- Pump up.
- Apply PROFESSIONAL POSING OIL for a gloss finish (never use mineral oil - unless you like the look greasy fried chicken) or MUSCLE SHEEN for a matte finish. Note: for most stage lighting situations the Professional Posing Oil works fine.
- After the event
- You can remove the color with the remainder of the SKIN SCRUB. This will minimize the post contest blotchiness as the color wears off.
REMEMBER: YOU WORKED LONG AND HARD TO GET INTO YOUR CONTEST CONDITION - DO NOT WASTE ALL OF THAT HARD WORK BY NOT SHOWING IT TO YOUR BEST. IF YOU FOLLOW THIS PLAN YOU WILL MAXIMIZE YOUR EFFORTS!!!
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