On June 9, 2007, I competed in my first bodybuilding show. It took me four years of attempts to finally make it due to interferences with work, buying a new house or poor timing. The show was the OCB Pacific NorthWest States bodybuilding competition.
I started training and dieting for the show 5 months out to make sure I could have time for adjustments seeing as this was my first time. The dieting was miserable as was losing strength for quite some time. I made my way from 198 pounds at 18.5% bodyfat down to 155 pounds at 4.5% bodyfat. That was a serious transformation. I was stressing it right up to the last two weeks when everything starts really cutting up and coming into place.
I competed in both the Novice and Open classes of this show to really gain some good experience. There was a mandatory polygraph the morning of the show to check against illegal substance use since this was an all natural show. Below are some pictures and details of the show. Full contest results can be seen by browsing through the OCB's website to the 2007 contest results HERE.
The first picture above was me coming out into the seating area right after the awards ceremony to visit family and friends that came to support me. This particular shot was a happy guy showing off the results of many months of hard preparation. Right after the competition, we went out to dinner so I could finally eat a real meal besides boiled chicken and sweet potatoes. I was so ecstatic with winning first in Open class that I took my trophy into the restaurant and set it on the table with our group. However, the looks I got at Cold Stone after dinner as a scrawny, bright orange guy were amusing.
The second picture is me back at home with the trophies up on the mantle. They managed to stay up there for a couple months before getting moved to the back room to make space for wedding pictures. And as much as I enjoy and admire the trophies, the wedding pictures are much more pleasant to look at thanks to my beautiful bride being in them!
