The evening before a bodybuilding competition is very odd. It’s not like other sports, where you psych yourself up and get excited. The general mood, rather, is one of exhaustion, almost anti-climactic, like when you would count the days until Christmas as a kid, and then, five minutes before you’re done opening gifts, you realize the entire process will be over soon. You have to remain calm, and somewhat detached. There is no real “competition” on the next day– the work has been done, the training is over, the meals have been consumed, the countless hours on the stair mill and treadmill have been logged, and all that remains is to walk in, smile, pose, and hopefully collect a trophy.

A few hours later, our friend and coach Dan Kelsey arrived, with his wife Bridget and newborn Isabella, to look us over and give us last minute tips. The night was filled with subtle buzzing back and forth from room to room, trying to coordinate and make sure everybody was fully prepared for the next morning.

We all retired around midnight. Me and Yuri had to set our alarms to wake up in the middle of the night to eat more food (for Yuri, it was McDonalds, and for me, more chicken and potatoes). We all woke up around 6am, starting to feel not-so-great, applied our last coats of stage color, put the finishing touches on our suits, and continued eating. Starting at 6am, my caloric intake increased tremendously, as I started consuming simple sugars along with my protein and complex carbs. Every hour, I would consume chicken, potatoes, and two rice cakes coated heavily with peanut butter and jelly, along with a handful of cashews. I followed this protocol from 6am until after the prejudging (around 4pm), and also started throwing in candy, cookies, and other “bad” items, in order to fill out my depleted muscles and give my body a “fuller” look on stage. But without water, consuming all that food, even though delicious, can feel pretty crummy. Honestly, though, I was just happy to get to eat again, so I kept shoveling it in!

The event was held at the Mendel Theater (at Drexel University, in Philadelphia). Walking the four blocks from the hotel to the show was tiring– again, it was close to 100 degrees outside, and we were all covered in stage paint and head-to-toe black sweats. To an uninformed observer, we probably looked like a band of strange overgrown Oompah-Loompahs.

When we walked in, the first thing we found out was that the show was going to be big– REALLY big, as in, a LOT bigger than it has been in years past. Last year when I attended, there were roughly 50 total competitors. At this weekend’s show, there were 102 total competitors. Somehow, word had gotten out that this show was a “good show”, fun to compete at, so a lot of stiff competition had made the journey, from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and a handful of other surrounding states.

What did this mean? It meant the show would be a lot more competitive than we had initially thought. Not that it mattered– we had all trained as hard, and dieted as consistently, as was humanly possible. The stiffer competition simply meant we might not rank quite as high as we had hoped. But, alas, in the world of physique competition, you never know who else is going to show up– and thus, when it comes to one’s placings, “it is what it is”. As long as you have done your homework and brought your best possible package, you can’t be upset with your final placing.

The show is split into two segments: the prejudging (from noon to 4pm), during which all of one’s placings are assigned by the judges (though they don’t yet tell you your placings); and the evening show, during which all of the competitors present their routines to the audience (friends and family), and awards are given out to the top placings in each class.

Because of the increased volume of competitors this year, the organizers were thrown off guard slightly, and everything ran a bit crazy throughout the morning. Once the show got under way, it became obvious that the accommodations backstage were somewhat lacking. Rather than having a traditional pump-up room to apply last minute oil and color, we were all herded into a hallway beneath the stage that ran the length of the building. And there sat one-hundred bodybuilders and figure girls, all sitting in the stifling heat, stinking like Pro-Tan, dry, dehydrated, sticky from peanut butter and jelly, and waiting for glory.

The fitness girls went first, followed by the bikini class. My client Carly Sanders competed in the bikini class, and had a good showing (this being her first show). She didn’t make the top five, but impressed the audience and the judges with her good looks and stage presence.

Figure was up next. Unfortunately, I could not be upstairs to watch my wife Nikki, so I was totally clueless as to how her showing went. I sat waiting downstairs in the crowded hallway, nervous to hear the report of how she did.

Twenty minutes later, as I’m getting ready to hit the stage myself, Nikki literally comes RUNNING up to me in the downstairs hallway, shaking, smiling, almost crying. My heart leapt into my throat– what was wrong? “I made top callout!”, she tells me. Meaning, in a class of 17 for figure tall, she was called out in the first group of 5 girls– virtually guaranteed a top placing– and placed directly in the middle of the group. This meant she had a very good chance of winning her entire class.

It took all of my self-control to not burst into tears right then and there. I was so happy for Nikki. She has wanted to compete for a long time. We actually met and became friends in 2006 because we were both planning on doing the same show in 2007, the first one for both of us; and while I made it to the stage, she never made it all the way through her prep. I have watched her struggle to compete for several years now, knowing it was one of her long-term goals. And now, a mere 11 months after giving birth to her first child, here she was, physique totally revamped, ready to win her class at her first show, and a very competitive show at that.

I got myself slightly more under control (though I still don’t know how) and continued my warm up so I could head out on stage.

Yuri would be next to hit the stage in the men’s novice lightweight division. There were roughly 15 men in the class, and he was called out in the first group of 5– again, a sign of a good placing.

I went next in the men’s novice heavyweight group. Amidst approximately 15 competitors, I was called out in the first group of 5 men. At a typical show, the novice class is not quite as competitive as the open class, and the same held true here. However, given the sheer size of this show, even the novice class was pretty stacked, and Yuri and I were both very pleased to get called out in the first group.

After men’s novice, they move onto men’s open bodybuilding. Yuri was first as a middleweight. The middleweight class at this show was unbelievably stacked. Yuri didn’t quite make the top 5 callout, but still had a very respectable showing among some stiff competition.

Joe went next in the men’s open light-heavyweight division. Again, he barely missed being called out top 5 amongst several competitors that were simply beyond our current level of competition, including the individual who would eventually go on to win the overall.

I was last to go in the men’s open heavyweight division. In a group of nine men– the nine biggest guys in the show, mind you– I was again called out top 5. By this point, I was shaking and starting to fatigue underneath the hot lights of the stage, but I continued to smile and do my best to stay poised on stage.

That concluded the prejudging portion of the event, and we were given an hour break to rest, grab some food, and mull over the events of the morning show. They don’t tell you your exact placing after prejudging, but you typically have a pretty solid idea of where things stand headed into the night show, based on the morning’s callouts.

At the night show, after fitness and bikini came figure. Liz Paesani was also in the figure tall class, and didn’t make top 5, but gained some valuable stage experience. She looked good on stage, and fairly confident. I know for a fact that she will only improve on her placing for the Maryland State in August.

They called out the top 5 for figure tall, and of course, Nikki was amongst them. When the dust settled, she didn’t quite end up with the first place we had hoped for, but she earned a very respectable third place in a very tough class. I glanced over at our daughter, and then at my wife on stage, and felt an incredible swell of pride in my chest at all we have accomplished in this past year.

Men’s novice bodybuilding went next. Yuri performed his energetic routine, complete with flips and handstands, and the audience loved it. He ended up taking 4^th in the men’s novice lightweight division.

Men’s novice heavyweight was next, and I was one of the last competitors in the division. Before I went out, all of the other competitors in my class performed high-energy routines to rock or rap songs. When I took the stage, I tried something a little different, and performed my 90-second free posing routine to a ballad. This was definitely out of character for me, and difficult to wrap my mind around– I tend to prefer more high-energy, upbeat presentations. But I wanted something slow and elegant that I could dedicate to my daughter.

Halfway through my routine, I turned to face the audience and struck a pose with my arms overhead and my face raised to the sky. The bright overhead lights blinded me momentarily, and I was completely lost in the moment– happy for my wife’s awesome showing, happy for my clients that did so well in the show, happy for my training partner Joe, happy that a handful of friends came out to watch, and simply happy to be on stage, celebrating the moment. I took it all in, in that one moment, and I will never forget how wonderful it felt.

I ended up placing 5^th in men’s novice heavyweight, and was pleased with the result, given the level of competition. For men’s open bodybuilding, they quickly handed out the trophies; both Yuri and Joe narrowly missed the top 5, while I took 5^th in the open, as expected after prejudging.

I would like to thank all of my friends, family, and clients (those still reading this) for all of your support during this journey, which has been punctuated recently with some interesting events to say the least! The last several months have had some of the best standout moments of my life, many of them inspired by you, the individual reading this right now. Most importantly, I would like to thank my beautiful wife, Nikki, for being able to put up with my occasional grumpiness the last few weeks. Given everything we walked through together, I couldn’t possibly be happier with the end result.

And as I did last evening, I would like to “dedicate” this show (if such a thing makes sense) to the newest addition to my clan, my ever-smiling daughter Raven. ()

I’ve hope to soon have video and lots of pictures up on my site ( www.DavidJohnstonTraining.com). For anybody

interested, I will be sending out information on our next show, the Maryland State, to be held in Rockville, MD, on Saturday, August 21^st. For anybody even remotely interested in this odd sport we participate in, I invite you to come check out the event! (Some new hardware for the mantel, which I now get to (have to) share with my wife!)

-David A. Johnston

6/27/10

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