Sightings/Experiences of attending bodybuilding competitions

[UKBeefy]

Following on from the muscle sighting thread I thought I'd start on for those of us that go sometimes to competitions and post any interesting sightings either on or off stage.

I went yesterday with quadlickeruk off here to the EFBB London and South East show which is a qualifier for the EFBB British Finals in October. I've not attended this particular show before but have attended other shows at the same venue (for some reason the NABBA show is 4 weeks before at the same venue).

The actual contest line up was one of the best I've seen with plenty of entries and some particularly big first timers and intermediates. There was absolutely freaky Junior U21. He had the biggest guns and commensurate upper body of any junior anywhere. He spent so long just whipping up the crowd with endless double biceps and single biceps poses.


The crowd as ever was heaving with "biggies" - the beefed up types who until u sit next to them or they try and squeeze past u on the row do you realise quite how huge they are. Also you get the side glances along the row of side on views of big arms, especially forearms and the view forward is of an array of wide backs stretching T shirts and sweatshirts.

I thought at one point I had got eye contact with one seriously big guy. He must have been all of 5ft8 and reckon about 250lbs - bulging every where including triceps that really stuck out in profile under is super stretched lycra top. He has such a beefy butt and heavy thighs - no chance whatsoever of those knees touching. Oh to have had him come over and talk. All I got was a possible semi long glance in the toilet and as ever nothing happened.

Anyhow if anyone else has been to a contest recently perhaps we could start a trend of contest reports - eg talking about who was on stage, what was interesting in the crowd etc?

[UKBeefy]

This was the U21 guy I mentioned.

[falseyedee]

kazowie! he's a beast. love the huge arms/torso and tiny waist combo.

[UKBeefy]

Yeh as he gets older he is going to be definitely one to watch - bring his legs up and he will be awesome.

I think his name was Sav something.

[beefguy]

That is crazy, to think that guy is U21!!! once he sorts his legs out he will have the whole package. If he keeps it up and goes for mass he will be invinsable at comps. the future of bbing is bright.

[musclesed]

crazy... he's unreal!
u don't know his name? wonder how we can find out...
he's awsome..

thanks so much for the pics!

[dfbd]

I've never been to a competition before, but I hope to someday. But there's one thing I've always wondered about- what kinda people generally go to these things? Like who makes up the audience? You suggest a lot of bodybuilders themselves whatch, but other than that what is the crowd like? Is it all young guys? Gays? Mostly men? All ages? I'm honestly curious, since bodybuilding never seemed like the kind of support that would attract "mainstream" attention, yet from what I can tell the audiences are always pretty huge.

[UKBeefy]

Well at some point it should be on the www.efbb-npc.co.uk website.


The audience at shows tends to be about 90% people directly connected with those competing - eg relatives, gym buddies, friends etc. There is usually very few people who just look like fans or built people who are not in a group of buddies etc. I always think that more gay guys would be there but I think alot are either a bit unsurre of how things work or genuninely have never made the effort to know when contests are and how to get tickets. Once you know when the contests are in the year then it is easier to keep track.

I've always been surprised that more muscle fans don't go to shows as it is the best chance of seeing built men albeit ones u can only watch rather than chat up. Still it is good for those of us keen to get bigger to get some cameraderie effect - eg feeling like you fit in at a contest - looking beefy enough to be credible. I get a real buzz about it. One show in London in October I recognised a few gay boys in the audience but not seen many.

[dfbd]

ah, interesting. Are the shows usually very expensive?

[UKBeefy]

Well the most recent shows I have been to are about the GBP 12 level =$20. I think the real difficulty is finding out when the show is, where it is and how to get tickets. The last one I went to had a single guy on a telephone number selling tickets using only postal money orders sent to his address as payment (ie no checks, credit cards or ability to pay cash on the door). Talk about making things hard for newcomers.

Also the theatre for the 2 main london shows (Nabba + Efbb) is in an outer suburban non-descript location (Hayes) 25 minutes walk from the nearest transport stop.

I think on other threads I have commented that shows do not seem well publicised beyond the gym world. Certainly it is not obvious how or where to go to see shows.

[dfbd]

One other thing I was curious about-

Do most bodybuilding shows generally feature both male AND female competitors? Or is it just one gender.

I only ask because I've never been a fan of female bodybuilders. It would really kill the mood if I had to sit through an hour of them.

[UKBeefy]

There are mens and womens classes. However the turnout for the women is generally much smaller than the men - typically 2-6 competitors in total rather than the 30 -40 competitors in the various mens classes. The women tend to get alot of support - they often train at the same gyms as the big men and everyone from the gym cheers them on.

I agree that there is not much in it for us gay boys during the womens classes. The womens figure classes tend to be more about a dance routine to music as much as posing which I suppose in some ways can be appreciated aesthetically. The physique womens class to me just looks a bit too gynaecological for me - expecially if the contestants are wearing micro bikinis etc.

[glammaman2000]

...most contests are filled with white ethnics(mostly Italan)HUGE guys,usually with a big-hair girlfriend,her fingernails deeply implanted in the BF's biceps.About 1/3 of the audience would be gay.Overall,these are guys who would love to compete,but they can't bear the thought of having to lose A SINGLE POUND!(cutting up)As you said;lack of advertising is a big problem for most contests.

[UKBeefy]

Yes I would second Glamman's post - there is something about most bodybuilders choice of girlfriend - they always seem to have overly large, overly done hair and tend to be quite small and spindly themselves although I suppose if you put them next to a normal sized guy they would look less undersized than next to their 240lb man.

I'm surprised you say 1/3 of the audience is gay - from all the contests I have been to I would identify the actual gay part to be much less perhaps under 10% unless there are alot of total closet cases who are mates/gym buddies with the big guys.

[glammaman2000]

...DON'T FORGET THE DYKES!&a lot of the gay guys ARE big guys!