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It was 12 weeks ago that I decided to make a run for local amateur bodybuilding competition, the INBF Northeast Classic, to be held in Worcester on May 15th 2004. It has been over 2 years since my last competition taking some time out to help around the house with our new son Tyler but I so desperately wanted to get back into the scene. The main drive wasn’t the fact that I truly enjoy the competition or the fact that I will be able to see my six pack once again, it was the chance to win a newly added class called the “Mr. Worcester” and “Ms. Worcester” class. To have the title “Mr. Worcester” would mean more to my side job as a Personal Trainer than having a 1st place finish in my weight or age division.
So the journey begins as it does for many bodybuilder hopefuls, carefully planning out your next 12 weeks in hopes that you hit it just right. When to cut calories, when to start cardio when to start tanning when to start practicing your posing and the list goes on an on. I was determined to hit it right but not to go too overboard with everything which will only stress you out and backfire on you. I started focusing on loosing 1 to 1.5 pounds per week until I reached my goal weight of 152 pounds. I was currently at 170 pounds and needed to lower my body fat from a very respectable 7% to the low 4’s or high 3’s.
The workouts continued as normal for the first few weeks. I’d wake at 4:00am, 4 days a week, splashing some cold water on my face, getting my wife’s coffee ready for her before heading down to my Workout Studio in my basement all by 4:30 in the morning. One hour later, I had finished working one body part and I’m heading back upstairs to shower and be at work for 7:30am. Once at work, I would also have my 2 servings of Bran Cereal mixed with water and protein mix, making for a perfect high carb, high protein breakfast. This ritual continued for about 4 weeks. The weight was coming off and the body fat was dropping but not as fast as I wanted it to. The cardio training came next and the only way I would be able to fit this in was to wake up even earlier! So I set the alarm for 3:30am and the whole ritual started again. The 35 minute cardio program was added to the end of each workout.
Dieting was my next focus and determining when to cut out certain foods. I was allowing myself one cheat meal per week and that was most likely going to be our Friday night pizza. The weekend was normally pretty disciplined but I wouldn’t hesitate to go out and eat every now and then…as long as I extended my cardio the next day, I wouldn’t feel as guilty. Now the weight was dropping and so wasn’t the Body fat. Slowly, I made it into the 5% range and then I got stuck. For a week or two nothing was budging, a reduction in something had to be made and that had to be in the form of carbs. By lowering my carbs to about 80 grams a day and making my calories up in the form of extra protein and/or good fats, my weight continued to drop. This is also when I started having miserable sleeping patterns, something that I am very familiar with during past dieting. I would crash between the hours of 8:00 and 8:30pm only to wake between the hours of 1:00 and 2:00am. I remember being so awake that it made no sense to stay in bed, so I would get up and take care of small projects I had going on around the house before I would go back into the gym. By now, it was about 4 weeks away and everything around me was suffering. I would head to work with a full head of steam but by the time 11:00a.m. rolled around, I was like a bump on a log, not moving too far from my desk unless it was to get water. I would always make it a habit to head out during lunch just to get some fresh air and to walk around in some nearby retail stores. Even though I was dragging my feet, I felt that this was necessary to keep my metabolism motivated. I can remember judging my days by rating how much strength I had as I walked up a flight of stairs at my place of employment. Eighty percent was a good day and 50% was a poor day. I had many poor days. Not only was work suffering but the people close to me were as well, my attitude got worse. I was grumpy (to put it nicely) and I felt like I neglected my 1 1/2 year old son at night simply because I became a vegetable once I sat in the recliner. I was certainly depriving myself of carbs and the lack of sleep was playing deeply on me but I was determined to reach my goal.
To try to shorten this story let’s just jump to the last week of prepping before a show and the weird ritual that many of us go through to get ready. The Sunday before the show, your water intake has just increased by 50%. Now, I am getting up twice during the night and not the usual one time. You also increase your sodium load as well, an extra shake here an extra shake there…how would this taste with salt on it, try it…hmm not too bad. Your heavy water consumption continues until Thursday while your salt along with any thing with sodium in it stops cold turkey by Wednesday. In place of salt, you start supplementing your body with potassium at each meal so your bodies fluids continue to function properly and your nerves don’t short out. By now, you should have a very good tan, an important factor if you want to bring out your muscularity on stage. So tanning was done 2 -3 times a week up until the final week in which I am now going everyday right after work. It is a very stressful week but the adrenalin keeps you going because you know that in just a few days you can eat like a horse!
The day of the show arrives. I wake up at 6:00am and prepare my foods for the day. Four cups of freshly made rice with a dash of cinnamon and a little sugar sweetener added for flavor. For breakfast, I treated myself to ½ cup of oats with 1 scoop of whey protein. From there on, until I got on stage, I would have ½ cup of rice every hour. Along with that, I brought along tons of protein bars, oat bars, dried fruit and fruit candies to be eaten mainly after the prejudging. This keeps the carbs in your body flowing and helps with that “backstage” pump. Also in my gym bag was my arsenal of prepping gear such as instant tan, posing oil, extra posing suits, rubber gloves (don’t ask), towels and my music CD which is used during the evening when you put your body in motion to 1 minute plus of music.
Prejudging started at 10:30am, several classes and several competitors…over 120 in all. The INBF NECLASSIC (see www.neclassic.com for more info) is known to be one of the toughest and largest show in the states. I am competing in 3 classes: Lightweight, Masters (40+) and “Mr. Worcester”. The Mr. Worcester class has been revived by main sponsor LoFat KnowFat grill, owner CEO, Tim Kurtz (www.knowfat.com). Up until now, the last time the Mr. Worcester class was around was several years ago. The first two classes I was in were extremely tough, finishing 3rd in both classes which to me was totally fine because the one I truly wanted was the title of being “Mr. Worcester”. My chance was finally up, when I heard that one of the contestants was Al Pirela who has already received his “Pro Card”, I have to admit, I was a little bummed out. Al has been competing for years and is well know in this business as always being a top competitor.
We walked out on stage as our class was called, I wasn’t too nervous and I was hoping that this would be quick and painless. The other 2 stage appearance I had made earlier in the day, had wiped me out a bit and soreness was starting to set in. We started to go through our quarter turns which is 50% of your score being based on your symmetry. Next came the muscularity round. As the head judge calls out “front double bicep”, “Front Lat Spread” and then came the side poses. Again the judge calls out, “best side chest”, “best side tricep”. Earlier in the day, I had good friend Lynn Cooney judge which side was best to show and as luck would have it… the left side was the best to show for every pose, this made it easy to remember. On to the back poses, “Back Lat Spread”, “Back Double Bicep”. I remember on that last call out almost loosing my balance as I was getting my legs into position. Hopefully, I didn’t spend too much time getting ready or the judges would have already overlooked you. Then, finally came the poses that everyone is waiting for. This is where the crowd goes crazy and you are now giving every ounce of energy that you have left in your body to these last two poses. Hit them right and the crowd will cheer and the judges will score you high. The head judge calls out “Abs and Thighs”. The crowd cheers at a moderate level….hmm, not to pleased huh? Well, I will show them in the very last pose called out. “Show us your most muscular pose” said the judges. “Crab most Muscular”. The crowd goes crazy! But are they cheering at me I wonder? So I continue to tighten up my legs, my chest and every other part of my body allowing every ounce of energy to flow through my muscles to show off all the muscle striations that most people never new existed. We continued that pose for good 30 seconds which may not seem like a lot to most people but seems like eternity to us! “Thank you” says the judge, “back to your front relaxed”. Thank god I remember saying to myself as I am huffing and puffing but trying to look calm and relaxed at the same time. The judges have made their decision at this time and the results were handed to the emcee. In this class there is no 2nd or 3rd announced, only the 1st place finisher will have the glory of being on top. “And the winner of the Mr. Worcester title goes to” (a little pause) “Steve Constantine!”. Yes!!!!, I did it, I took 1st and all that hard work has finally paid off. The first thing that went through my mind was, this is awesome being “Mr. Worcester” and the second thing was “Where’s the Pizza”. Steve is a Certified Personal Trainer If you would like to reach him you may Email him at or Call 1-508-612-4633 See his website for more info: Website: www.2-fit.com
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