I competed in my first men’s physique show last month.

It’s similar to bodybuilding, but you wear board shorts, and it’s more upper body-focused.

I actually prefer training my legs, and mine are more developed than my upper body. But men’s physique only has four poses (bodybuilding has 10+), so it felt more beginner-friendly to me.

The Bigger Whys

  1. I’ve competed in powerlifting and strongman, and wanted a new challenge
  2. I want to put on a lot more muscle, and the leaner you are when you “bulk,” the better
  3. This Socrates quote has been increasingly top of mind as I approach 30 (in November): “It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable”

Call it corny, but I didn’t want this regret later in life.

A Change of Plans

I took a few stabs at writing this article.

Each and every time, it turned into a full-on fat loss manual… with a sprinkle of my show experience. I had to remind myself that many people are — kindly — just reading this to see how the show went. And that there are 10+ years of fat loss resources — articles, podcasts, emails, free guides, and more — elsewhere.

So I whittled things down, and mostly focused on the show… with a sprinkle of fat loss advice (I couldn’t help myself).

Preamble aside:

The Timeline

I made the decision to compete last September, and had a February show in mind. A few life twists and turns later, I needed more of a runway, and chose a May show instead.

This ended up being a double-edged sword, because although it gave me more time to prepare… I severely underestimated how mentally taxing it would be.

(After being in some form of “diet mode” for so long.)

If and when I decide to compete again — not for 12-18+ months, at least — I won’t prep for any more than 3-4 months, to avoid this happening again.

My Starting Point

This photo was taken last fall, at the beginning of prep:

I was just over 200 pounds: slightly “fluffier” than I typically walk around at. It was also — clearly — my first time posing.

Even as a lifelong lifter and 12 year industry veteran, this has always been way out of my comfort zone. A voice in my head tells me it’s for “truly” jacked people — not “regular”-looking people like me.

So that was quite the hurdle: taking myself seriously posing.

My Middle School Weight

I knew, going into this, I’d have to weigh 170-something to be stage lean.* I haven’t weighed that since middle school.

(For context, I’m 6’1.”)

Anybody I mentioned this to thought it sounded extreme. But candidly, most people — especially men — carry way more body fat than they think, and underestimate their body fat percentage by 5-10%.

In any case, a 20+ pound loss meant 16+ weeks of dieting, depending on (A) how aggressive my plan was, and (B) how religiously I stuck to it.

*Based on what most natural competitors at my height weigh on show day.

A No-Brainer Investment

Shortly after I decided to compete, I hired a coach: IFBB pro Justin Randall.

It’s crazy to me how many coaches yammer about “investing in yourself”… but don’t actually do the same. Especially since, beyond a certain point, success has very little to do with “knowing what to do.”

It has everything to do with having systems in place to implement that knowledge.

This isn’t to say I didn’t learn from Justin (I did) — just that the “real” value of coaching often lies in:

  • Having someone to collaborate with
  • Having someone to lean on when you’re struggling
  • Having someone hold you to a higher standard than you’d hold yourself

Justin did a great job of this, and didn’t pull any punches when I got complacent. And knowing I’d have to answer to him made a world of difference.

Food is Fuel…?

One of the first things Justin said to me when prep started was, “Food is no longer for pleasure.”

I personally tell my clients the exact opposite: that food is NOT just fuel. That it’s an important part of culture, socializing, celebrations, and more.

…So who’s right?

Neither of us. For Justin’s clients, food is largely a body manipulation tool, yes. For my clients — who never plan on stepping on stage — it’s more than that. The takeaway here is that not every piece of advice is for every person. And a good coach — like Justin, or myself — can help you sift through it all, and tell you exactly what you need to hear.

My Diet

This is where my first attempts at writing this article turned into 5,000+ word manuals.

So much to the chagrin of my writer brain… here’s a simplified overview:

  • This was basically all I had: chicken, eggs, vegan protein powder, rice, beans, oatmeal, blueberries, bananas, apples, mixed greens, water, coffee, and diet soda (*gasp*)
  • I could’ve mixed things up more. But if you want your diet to be “exciting,” you also have to be okay with spending more time shopping, prepping, and doing macro math: all hard no’s for me (especially later in prep)
  • When Justin adjusted my macros — something most people do FAR too often — I didn’t change my foods. I just adjusted my portions. Things don’t need to be any more complex than that
  • I was generally at 1-1.2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. This prevented unnecessary hunger and excessive muscle loss. My fats were fairly low, since at nine calories per gram, it eats up your calories pretty quickly. Carbs were kept as high as possible to support my training

I checked in with him every week: photos, weigh-ins, an update on my diet and training, and anything else I thought was noteworthy. Any changes he made to my protocol were relatively subtle.

(Until closer to the show, where there were more moving parts, and I relied heavily on his expertise.)

There’s also the obvious stuff: zero alcohol (extremely, extremely costly for dieters), almost entirely homemade meals, and absolutely everything on a food scale. I wouldn’t have the right to expect great results otherwise.

Read that last sentence twice.

Social Situations

I didn’t live like a hermit during prep (until the last few weeks). I still hung out with family and friends, went out, and lived my life.

But my goals required me to make different decisions than everyone around me. I once brought chicken, rice, and greens to my sister’s cookout. Another time, I met friends at a bar, and only drank diet soda while they had burgers and beer. There were situations like this galore.

And guess what?

  • The world still turned
  • My ability to connect with everybody wasn’t negatively impacted because I didn’t eat and drink exactly what they did
  • Nobody actually gave a shit — especially if I assured them I was having fun
  • Nobody woke up the next morning and said, “Can you believe how rude Sam was yesterday? He only ate and drank what worked for him!”
  • I never personally woke up and regretted honoring my commitment to myself

I realize this stuff sounds obvious. But these are some of the most commonly cited reasons for eating poorly in social situations.

(Wanting the “full” experience, catering to other people’s discomfort, not wanting to be “rude,” etc.)

Am I saying you’ll have to sacrifice as much as I did?

No.

But the stories you tell yourself in these situations are probably holding you back. Because not only is there a quick point of diminishing returns when splurging… but what you put into your body is one of the most personal, important decisions you can make.

You don’t owe anybody an explanation. You don’t have to cater to anybody’s insecurities about their decisions. And it sure as hell isn’t “rude” to do what works for you.

My Training

I trained anywhere from 5-6 days per week, but never more than 60 minutes per session. I chose highly stable exercise that lent themselves to high “force production,” typically in the 6-12 rep range. Priority number one on every set was approaching “true” failure.

Here’s what I mean:

The first exercise in this video, a Plate-Loaded Incline Chest Press, is an example of a “highly stable exercise,” where all I had to focus on — for all intents and purposes — was pressing as hard as I could.

Compared to something like a Single-Arm DB Bench Press, where you have to focus on balance and stability:

This doesn’t make it a “bad” exercise. It’s just not as good for maintaining and developing muscle.

You may not think this matters to you if you don’t plan on competing. But if you want to lose as much fat as possible, you CANNOT neglect this. Because a calorie deficit only ensures weight loss. To lose fat, specifically, you need to hang onto every ounce of muscle you can.

Meaning the best “fat loss workouts” aren’t the ones that burn a bunch of calories.

They’re the ones that retain the most muscle (a byproduct of training close to failure, tracking your workouts, and setting small PRs every week).

For cardio, I just walked on an incline treadmill as much as Justin told me to. We wanted to avoiding anything more stressful, so my workouts wouldn’t be impacted, and so I wouldn’t be even hungrier.

My Lifelines

The longer and harder I dieted, the more crucial these became:

Meal Timing & Calorie Spacing

Things generally looked like this:

  • 6AM: ~600 calories
  • 10AM: ~600 calories
  • 2PM: ~600 calories
  • 6PM: ~600 calories

This was my only fighting chance at not chewing my arm off. Granted, that was inevitable later in prep — but why suffer more than you need to?

These focal points are criminally underrated by the “Just be in a deficit!” crowd. You’ll never stick to your diet if you don’t prioritize both.

Walking More

No, walking isn’t just a calorie-burning tool. But it does impact your metabolic rate more than any other controllable factor (yes, this include your group exercise classes and Peloton workouts).

Simply put, the more I walked, the leaner I got — faster.

Sleep Hygiene

Your sleep impacts how quickly you lose weight, the type of weight you lose (muscle or fat), hunger and cravings, your workouts, and even cognitive function.

No, it’s not the flashiest focal point.

But if you want to amplify your results in a MAJOR way: make every effort to check these boxes as often as possible. Or don’t, make your diet unnecessarily hard, and see fewer results.

Your call.

Time Management

Again, a “dull” focal point. But as the adage goes, “Show me your calendar, and I’ll show you your priorities.”

That’s why I left nothing to chance: workouts, walks, grocery trips — even when I cooked. People say this stuff is important to them… but it’s usually nowhere to be found on their calendar.

Redefining “Hard”

Before doing this prep, I thought dieting under 2,500 calories was somewhat hard. I sometimes thought getting 8,000+ steps was a pain. I didn’t really like training when I was hungry.

As prep got underway, I quickly realized how soft I was being, and how much more I was capable of.

I consistently stuck to a sub-2,000 calorie goal because I planned better and didn’t negotiate. I routinely got 12,000 steps by simply not leaving my walks to chance. I trained when I was so weak that getting out of the car felt like a feat of strength.

(Sounds theatrical, but I often sat outside the gym for 10+ minutes before dragging myself inside.)

If you told me, deep in prep, I could go back to 2,500 calories, 8,000+ steps, and only “pretty hungry” workouts… that would’ve felt like a reprieve. This made me question — in a good way — where else I was tossing around “hard” too loosely, and where else I had more to give.

Posing

Like I said, I sucked at posing, and felt pretty uncomfortable doing it.

Fortunately, my buddy Stephen Gannon — a veteran trainer and online coach — came to the rescue. He’s won multiple shows, both because he has a great physique, and because he presents it so well: half the battle on stage.

So once per week, I drove to his house, did my poses, and adjusted whatever he said.

Funny enough, much of his focus — and this shows what a great coach he is — wasn’t my actual posing. It was getting me out of my own head, so I’d take myself seriously as a competitor.

The result was a much more comfortable show experience (Dare I say fun?), and I even managed to place.

(More on this in a moment.)

The Tan

In powerlifting, you weigh in, slip on a singlet, and lift as much weight as you can. In strongman, you basically do the same.

But men’s physique is a whole different world. Presentation is everything.

Two weeks prior to the show, I went on a scavenger hunt at Walmart for all the things I needed for a smooth tanning experience. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. It was far cry from pressing a log over my head.

Regardless, I showed up the day before the show, as requested, in my oversized button-down and sweatpants. I stripped down to my boxer briefs, and they nuked me:

I felt like a Jersey Shore cast member:

But I have to admit: it felt nice to not be Casper-white for a few days!

Show Day

This is where Justin really worked his magic.

I’ve gotten lean before — but never this lean, and I had no idea how to look “dry and hard” on stage (the goal of any competitor).

Yet again, I relied heavily on his expertise. I checked in with him every few hours (beginning the day prior), and did whatever he asked — whether that was having just a few more sips of water, or even a drizzle of honey. It got really nitty gritty compared to anything I’d done before.

I entered in three divisions:

  1. Debut: first timers only
  2. Novice: competed before, but never won
  3. Open: everybody

I also hired Stephen to be there with me for last minute posing practice and adjustments. Again, I think the biggest benefit here was how much he got me out of my head. The other competitors were super nice, too, which made for an even more comfortable experience.

When it was our turn to go, everybody lined up backstage and pumped up. This just means we did Push-Ups, Curls, etc. to get a little blood into the muscles, and look more jacked.

(Presentation, baby.)

Then the judges called us out, and we hit the four poses one by one. As Stephen warned me, this was sneaky tiring: to flex as hard as possible for minutes at a time without shaking.

Here’s one of my favorite shots, since I worked really hard on my back:

I’m not particularly thrilled with these, but here are some other photos from before I stepped on stage:

You’d think that I’d be super happy after getting down to 7% body fat. But ironically enough… my body dissatisfaction increased the leaner I got.

This could be an article in itself, but the point I want to drive home is that contrary to popular belief… having a flatter stomach will NOT make you proportionally happier. It may help with confidence to some degree, sure. But it’s not the happiness needle-mover people think it is.

(This is what’s called “the arrival fallacy”: thinking that lasting, meaningful happiness is waiting for you on the other side of a specific accomplishment.)

So don’t make the mistake of placing your happiness in a future scenario — especially one that’s tied to a specific weight or body fat percentage.

That’s just not how this works.

Sexy Bitch

On a much lighter, funnier note… I was in for a surprise after the show was “over.”

I’m pretty thorough, so I have no idea how I missed this — but after the group poses, we were expected to go back out on stage, by ourselves, and do a 30 second “freestyle” with any poses we wanted.

Well then.

I sighed, lined back up, and did my best:

I didn’t even realize until after the fact that the house music they provided was Sexy Bitch by David Guetta and Akon. Well-played, guys.

My First “Cheat Meal”

Aside from photos, this was the most common question I got: “What’d you eat after!?”

This was my 2,500+ calorie “appetizer”:

Multiple Little Debbies, Reese’s, and cheese as a “palette cleanser” between sweets. I came prepared!

I ate literally all of this on the hour drive home, then had calzone, cheesecake, and ice cream.

I took this screenshot before the day was even over

It was fun, but I felt awful. And was quickly reminded of the main reason to eat well that has nothing to do with fat loss: you feel so much damn better.

Don’t get me wrong; I had my fun for a full two weeks afterward. But the ROI stopped being there, so I’ve tightened things up dramatically, and gotten back to my norm.

Post-Show Plans

No, I don’t plan on competing again any time soon.

Here’s why:

  1. Getting this lean isn’t healthy, and it takes a little while for your body to recover
  2. It wore me out mentally, too — and I need a breather
  3. As a natural lifter beyond the beginner stages, it takes a very long time (years) to put on appreciable muscle (3-5+ pounds)

So even if I was eager to compete again soon, I wouldn’t look much different on stage. And I don’t personally see the point of that.

(That’s why I always gave myself at least a few months between powerlifting meets and strongman shows: to have a legitimate runway to improve.)

As a whole, I’m glad I stepped on stage — largely because of that Socrates quote.

Now I’ll never have to look back and wonder what I could’ve achieved.

That said, I’m obviously nowhere near my potential in this space. So after taking some time to gather myself, get healthier, and put on size… I might revisit competing, and see what else is possible.

If you read this “whittled down” 3,000 word recap, and got something out of it: I’d love to hear from you! You can shoot me an email here, even if you just want to say hello.

Also, if you haven’t already: be sure to request a free copy of the One-Stop Nutrition Guide:

It includes my go-to grocery list, 20+ high protein meals, healthy snacks, supplement recommendations, and more… and I give it away to every new member of my private email list.

You can click this link to join, and get immediate access to the guide.