To begin with, attend a few competitions before you enter one. Watch how the participants put together their program and what the winners do that the others don’t. See how they carry themselves and what poses they use to accent their muscles. Take notes and, if you get the chance, ask questions from those in the know.

You’ll need to plan well ahead of time before competing yourself, so start early – as much as six months to a year! There’s a lot to consider and a lot of work to do before you go on stage.

Take a look at your body and find the muscles that aren’t as toned as you’d like them to be. A muscle building competition is all about perfect bodies – or at least as perfect as you can get them. Just because you’ve lost a bunch of weight doesn’t mean you should be competing. You need strong muscles with well-defined tone in order to win.

Pick some music that will get the crowd excited. Your routine will be your calling card and will determine whether or not you have a strong performance. Your music should contribute to how you pose and what you focus on when in front of the judges.

Your attire is important as well. The purpose of body building competitions is to show off well-toned muscles, so you should show as much skin as possible, but do so in a tasteful way. Swim suits are the best choice – Speedos for men and bikinis for women. You’ll want a comfortable fit so that you can move about easily and show all of your hard work.

When you have put together a posing routine, have someone video tape it for you and then watch it with a critical eye. Have someone else watch it as well and point out the things you are doing right as well as the things you are doing wrong. You can then work on the areas that need to be strengthened prior to the contest.

You need to pay special attention to your diet and workout routine. It is very important that you maintain the pace that got you here in the first place. Before entering body building competitions is no time to slack off. You’ll need to be diligent, but the effort will pay off.

There are many, many muscle building competitions that you can enter when you’ve reached the point where you want to start competing. Local as well as national competitions can be very grueling, so know what you are up for. Body building competitions are great places to show off what you’ve worked hard for – a ripped, toned body. Good luck!