Competition Day Checklist

by Kareem (Reemo) Petteway

The last thing you want to do is be away from home and find that you have forgotten a vital item. Creating a checklist and marking it off will save you a lot of stress on competition day. You will find through your experiences that there are other items you may want to bring along for convenience to better prepare you for your big day. Log those items for future use to make your competition day that much more enjoyable!
Below is a comprehensive list of suggested items you should include:
 

Tanning Products
Make sure you bring along extra tanning supplies for those last minute touch ups and adjustments you may have to make. Proper tanning is essential for displaying lean muscle and accentuating your physique. Some of the most popular products are Pro Tan and Dream Tan. Several other tanning and bronzing products are available. You should experiment with all or a combination to find what works best for you. Research this in advance because some, as in the case of Pro Tan, require several applications while Dream Tan is applied the day of the show. Bring along a few pairs of latex gloves to apply tanning products and oils.
 

Posing Oil
As with tanning products, there are also several posing oil products on the market. Jan Tana, Muscle Juice and Pam cooking spray are some of the major products used. You want to only apply enough to produce a light sheen because while posing oil helps enhance your physique, too much will do just the opposite and hide your definition. Be sure to have a trusted and experienced individual to assist applying your oil and check yourself in the mirror before stepping on stage. Keep a dry towel handy to pat yourself down if you go a little overboard.

Posing Suits
For prejudging, you should wear a posing suit that is solid in color and adjusted to your body type. If possible, you should have one custom made to fit the curvature of your body. Some suits tend to sag or be too tight in certain areas. Bring along a spare in case you get oil or bronzer on it. At the evening night show, you can wear specialized trunks with several colors, designs, etc. This is where you have fun and get a chance to entertain the crowd.

Posing Music
You should be sure to bring 2 copies of your posing music on high quality cassette or CD. Two copies in case something happens to one, and a cassette and DVD are recommended if the show accepts both. If a DVD created on a CPU fails as it sometimes can on some sound systems, the cassette will serve as backup so you can still pose to your own music selection. If you burn a CD for your music, using a CD-R will minimize chances of it not working properly on the show’s sound system. CD’s that have problems are often the CD-RW type which some sound systems aren’t compatible with. The music should be queued, ready to play and preferably with no other music contained on the media. You should also label your music with the proper side to play, your name and competitor number so that it may be returned to you after usage. Recreating posing music over and over again can be tedious and expensive at times.

Food
Bring enough food to last you until the evening show. Many contests require an early morning check-in and can be hours before you actually hit the stage. The last thing you want is to be undernourished on stage when your body needs fuel the most! Plan accordingly and be sure to include all of your supplements, food and water to make it through the day.

Personal Items
This includes all personal hygiene items such as spray deodorant, tooth brush, contact/eye glass casings, identification (required for Master’s classes and some polygraph tests), and your organization member card. And bring along a camera to take some shots of yourself and other competitors to look back on and cherish the experience.