Federation: IFBB Elite

The 2019 -2020 contest season opened up 30 min east of New York City. Surprisingly, the 4 hour drive from my hometown, Columbia Maryland was relatively smooth.  I stayed at the Hyatt House (Hilton) that was recently renovated and my sister and I joked that we would be back to stay.  The neighborhood was really quiet and the service that we received was first class. The rooms were very modern and the amenities top notch. When you are on the road, the small things matter.  We checked in on a Friday evening.

The competition was held the following day at a nearby hotel (The DoubleTree) in one of the smaller ballrooms.  This was by far one of the smallest competitions I've competed in regarding competitor turnout in my 24 year history.  In my class there were 5 competitors ranging in age, build, and experience level.  There's something to be said about smaller competitions because the crowds really let you know they appreciate your hard work, are very rowdy, and a majority of the audience spent time with the athletes afterwards.  This is the one thing I love about competing.

If I had a complaint, it would be the pump up area.  It was carpeted and they poorly taped paper on it.  It made an annoying sound when you walked on it, and ended up ripping and tearing.  Everyone pretty much complained about it.  The stage lighting was very bright and tended to make everyone a bit lighter that we should have been.  The swag bag had a pen in it so that was pretty embarrassing as well.  Most competitor swag bags have supplement samples, a t shirt, and other miscellaneous items.  We look forward to the effort promoters put into competitions that makes us feel valued.

Photos and videos courtesy of my sister Rachael

The Competition

This show was a Natural sanctioned one, with winners taking a urinalysis test afterwards and qualifying to compete in Miami that summer.  Class winners earn pro status and compete in the IFBB Elite. Since the show was small (A first year show which is typical plus the amount of competitors ranged around 30 or so for all classes and divisions), all classes were combined.

Master's and Open classes were judged together instead of separate.  I competed with bantam and middleweights and to me, this is not a fair way to judge. Essentially, it was like scoring an overall winner versus individual weight classes.

They did a good job moving us around and gave a fair comparison so I guess not all was lost. At the end of the day, they placed us where they would have for the overall so it ended up being efficient.

Video clip courtesy of my sister Rachael:

Final feedback

This was my first time competing with the IFBB Elite and won't be my last.  The judges were highly qualified and provided me with awesome feedback which I will work on in 2021.  Overall, they said my presentation, posing, routine, and conditioning were spot on. 

One judge suggested that I sit on my rear double bicep pose to consistently bring out my hamstring development and on a personal note, my trunks tended to hike up my ass a bit too much so in the future I'll get a new cut and will also use some Bikini bite to keep them in place.  I don't think the audience minded that too much....lol but it's not a thong contest. 

The most surprising part of the critique is that they suggested that I drop about 5 pounds, which would put me right around 198 lbs.  In this federation they have a clear distinction between classic bodybuilding and classic physique.  They recommend that I stay in classic bodybuilding as the class is designed for athletes who don't (or want to) carry an extreme amount of muscle. They tend to reward athletes who will best represent the United States in International competition.

I will look to turn pro in this organization starting in 2021 when they have pro qualifying events in the states.  This federation was originally part of the USA IFBB but they split and now they are prominently in Europe and Asia and bring teams from the United States to compete.  It's a long and complicated story that I'll go into one day on a separate post.  In 2021 I will also look to compete as a light heavyweight and will end up being a heavyweight after carb loading.