CANADIAN PHYSIQUE ALLIANCE CPA NOVEMBER ISSUE | Page 56

AM I READY TO
COMPETE?
By Juan Rojas
Do you remember the
feeling when you first
started training and how
quickly you fell in love
with it? Do you
remember when your
body was constantly
improving? Maybe after
seeing that, you started
learning about the world
of competitive physique
shows. Maybe you’ve
thought about
competing yourself and
question if you’re ready. I
constantly get messages
from individuals looking
to do a bodybuilding
show. Although it makes
me happy to see that the
beautiful sport 
of bodybuilding is
growing, it frustrates me
as these individuals have
no business even
thinking about such an
advanced concept. The
funny part is that many
of these individuals are
not even willing to take
the advice to develop
muscle first and think
about a competition
later. Although there are
divisions that allow for
both men and women
to compete with less
muscle mass, it is still a
competition where
muscularity is required.
Some people are so
focused on doing shows
for the wrong reasons
that they 
decide to do a show with
barely any amount of
training under their belt.
Physique competitions
are a little bit different
than other competitive
sports. Most of the time,
in many sports you pick
up, you can get a solid
grasp of the
fundamentals and you
can improve quickly in a
few months. It requires a
few hours a week of
practice and then you
can go home and
resume your normal life.
You might have
tournaments to attend
and if you miss a
practice here and there,
you can still come back
quickly and pick up the
skill with no problems.