A few weeks ago, I competed in a Men’s Physique Competition at one of the most iconic venues in the world, Muscle Beach, Venice, California, as part of the Mr and Ms Muscle Beach contest. I came 5th place in my category. Here’s a small insight into my experience.
Muscle Beach, Venice, California
I wasn’t sure about competing initially. I talked to the lady sorting athlete registrations, and showed her my physique. “I don’t want to look out of place.” I said.
“I think you should definitely compete.” She looked me up and down. “You’ll look great in the Men’s Physique Category.”
Her colleague interjected, “My saying is, you’ll regret the things that you don’t do, rather than the things you do, do. You should just do it! What’s your name?”
I signed up, in the Men’s Physique Medium height category, then proceeded to the gym to meet some of the other athletes who I’d be competing against, where I received some nice compliments and had some good conversations. Everyone was really friendly, there were lots of athletes from America (obviously!), China, and Asia. Because it was the 4th July, Independence Day, it was a big show, with a lady singing, DJ, and Muscle Beach had been transformed into a staged area where several hundred bodybuilding fans were watching the show from an amphitheatre style setup.
Despite the setup, it felt fairly relaxed. In my previous Men’s Physique competition, there were 8 mandatory poses, mandatory tan, requirement to achieve single digit bodyfat, but for this Mr and Ms Muscle Beach competition, there were only 2 mandatory poses (front and back), and the tan was optional. It felt a lot more fun.
After a lot of waiting, they finally announced, “Men’s physique Medium on in five”. We all scrambled to the weights in the gym to get a final muscle pump before heading on stage. I decided to rep out as many dips as possible, to pump up my pecs and triceps, then did a few curls and pushups before heading on stage.
I stepped on stage with the other athletes. The audience applauded, it was only several hundred people but looked like a sea of people staring in my direction. The head judge instructed. “Turn to the back.” then after a few seconds “Now turn to the front”.
The issue I found with an outdoor competition, was the lighting wasn’t consistent. With an indoor theatre, the overhead lighting is consistent, whereas outdoors, there can be different shadows and inconsistencies depending on the time of day and sun. I looked down at my torso and angled my body out of the shade so that the sun accentuated my abdominal definition more, flexed all upper body muscles and smiled. To my surprise, I got called back for the finals, in the afternoon.
Before the finals, every single athlete was called onto stage, from every category, as a lady sang the American national anthem to a standing audience. The man next to me shouted “America!” halfway through her song, interrupting her vocals.
Several hours passed, then I was back on stage. There were 6 of us left in the finals of my category. “Ok, we only want to see top 5 now”
A man with a clipboard addressed us back-stage. “If your number is called, head back out on stage, if not, I’m sorry, please stay back here”.
I thought to myself, this is it. I’m out of the competition. He started to call out numbers. Then to my amazement, “Number 215”. That was me. I looked down at my number pinned to my shorts to double check. Yes, that was me. I was still in the competition. I stepped out onto stage again, and after a few more minutes of flexing and posing, was handed the 5th place medal, which I was very pleased with. It would have been ironic for an Englishman to actually beat the Americans on Independence day, but I was just happy with the experience, placing in the top 5 was a big bonus. I didn’t win 1st place, but my measurement of success was just to be able to step on stage at that iconic venue representing England, so in my mind, I was successful that day.
