# How I Screwed Up My Entire NABBA Prep DAY Of The Show (But Still Qualified For Finals)



## DarthMaulscle (Dec 26, 2012)

{Not exactly a journal as such - as its a recount of the day i competed - but Im looking to start a journal when i begin bulking - so i thought this would be a great time to start, and I can also cover my upcoming 2 shows}

Hey guys, never competed before, but thinking about competing? Well if you plan on doing a 12week + prep and DONT want to completely screw it up - do the opposite of what I did! Here we go....

Just a bit of preface - im 27 years old, and have competed since 2012. Im from the UK and compete mainly in NABBA. I've competed every year since 2013, minus 2017. I did quite well in the Novice class in 2014, placing at finals and then moving into the Mr Class (I compete in class 2)

On May 6th I competed in the NABBA North Britain qualifier, doing a 17 week prep. Class 2 at the North Britain is (usually) the busiest of the Mr classes - with some years seeing over 12 competitors in the class. The quietest i've ever seen it is 8 competitors.

So After a 17 week prep I screwed up BAD - day of the show.

Long story short, I developed a toe infection on my left foot big toe. Im also a pro wrestler, and went through a few matches and training sessions where my foot was repeatedly being stomped on. For weeks my toe looked "weird" but nothing strong enough for me to think anything of. A couple of weeks ago my toe randomly swelled up really bad and began pussing "sheeeet".

Doctors appointment - was prescribed antibiotics 10 days before my show. I was going to wait until after the show before taking them. But a nurse in my gym overheard a conversation I was having and asked to look at my toe. She said my toe was already too badly infected and if I didn't begin the antibiotics it looked bad enough where id be in hospital within a few days on a drip of antibiotics "phuckkkkk". I began flapping. I began taking the antibiotics and my toe got WORST. I went back to the doctors the following thursday (when my 1 week prescription had ran out) and was given another prescription of a double dose.

Timeline - this was 4 days out from the show (Thursday).

I train at a gym ran by a former Mr Universe - Eddy Ellwood - and he helps prep me. He had me deplete from the Sunday-Thursday and then begin carb loading on Friday. This is standard practice for my preps, something i've done (almost) every show ive competed in.

Friday - 700g carbs. Felt good. Saturday - 700g carbs. Felt good. Sunday (show day) - 45g carbs hourly from 6am. I was wrestling the night before the show, got home at midnight and went to bed not long after. I woke up at 3am and couldnt get back to sleep. Around 6am I began eating my 45g carbs. I napped at about 7:15am and woke up at 8:30am with no appetite. I ate another meal about 9 am and headed to the gym for one final condition check. 10am Eddy checked on me "bang a few hundred more carbs into you".

I mixed up a pack of baby rice (a standard carb source I eat daily during prep) and ate it. Within minutes I felt bloated, my stomach was rock solid and I felt queazy. I put it down to wind, and we headed off to the show. Everything was down hill from here...

Check in deadline was 11am. I got there at about 10 to 11 to sign in. Filled in the form.... I was the only competitor. WTF.

Straight away I felt underwhelmed. So much prep to not actually "compete" against anyone.

I sat down and was just chilling with my mate while we waited for the show to begin. I began to feel more sick, had more wind and felt dizzy. From about 11:15 untill 1pm i was on the toilet violently crapping.

A first aider at the show saw me and asked if i was ok, I explained the infection I had in my toe, the antibiotics I'd been taking.... and it was off to the emergency room. "****kkkkkk"

I was palmed off there in all honesty, but the verdict was a stomach bug brought on by my infection, antibiotics and my diet.

I was going to just sack it off and not go back. Infact we didn't even think we'd make it back to the venue in time, even if i felt like competing. Eddy got in touch with my mate and told me to come back, pose, and then go back to the hospital. From what he'd seen me look like in the morning, he said I would receive an invite to finals. The nurse looking at me offered no real insight other than "you've got a stomach bug - give your body a rest and dont compete". She kept us there way longer than we needed to... so we got back to the Venue as class 3 was on stage... I was straight after.

A mad rush ensued to apply my dream tan, I went on stage, borderline about to crap myself. The biggest plus of the day was not actually shitting my pants on stage.

The positive I took from it - judges invited me to the British Finals end of this month which im going to do.

Literally the absolute worst competitive experience i've ever undergone.

TLDR: If you have something wrong with your body, no matter how small it might be, go see a doctor. I might have been able to get the antibiotics weeks prior and avoided being a mess day of the show.

Video attached shows my condition on the morning, and the bloat i had later that day at the hospital. There's no good footage of my posing routine, but ive included some mobile footage that my girlfriend was able to take.

It also goes into more detail about what happened:






I've covered some of my cut (and my pro wrestling) in my youtube vlog series "shreddycut" playlist is here incase anyone wants to check them out:






My next plans are PCA this Saturday, then onto the NABBA Britain Finals.

I was considering the 2brospros event in June - doing the classic physique class. It would be another 4 weeks of prep after the Britain Finals. However Im aware its an IFBB pro qualifier show - I dont think im at that standard yet, and its £150 to enter. So im still weighing up what I should do in regards to that.

That will be it for competing this year.

Id like to keep a journal on here covering my off season, in which my plan is to balance pro wrestling, staying in relatively lean shape for that, increasing fitness levels for wrestling, and adding on quality mass to be more competitive next year in NABBA, PCA and possibly the 2brospro's Classic Physique class. If it's of interest to members on here, i'll keep this thread updated with text updates along with my youtube videos?

Thanks for reading guys.


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## DarthMaulscle (Dec 26, 2012)

So this past weekend I competed in the PCA North East show Classic Class.... and had another disaster haha!

No trips to hospital this weekend thankfully - however I didn't place. I asked for feedback at the end of the show (was told we had to wait and ask after the show as they wouldn't reply to messages) so I hung around, watched the show (which was really well ran and had great attendance) and I was told I was too big for the class and should have done Mr's.

Bitter sweet - as between the cost of entering the show, tan, petrol, parking etc, it cost me about £150 to basically be completely overlooked as I was in the wrong class. I felt they should have pulled me from the stage and put me into the Mr Class.

However, normally I compete in NABBA and I always doubt myself and think im too small. So to be told I was too big for classic and should have done the Mr class kind of gives me the confirmation that I do belong in the Mr classes.

I didn't really change anything up for this show, so not carb depletion or loading. I just trained and ate as normal until the day of the show and did it - so it wasn't really a hassle trying to get ready for this one.

I have the NABBA Britain this weekend, but I think i'll compete up until the end of June to really continue to get into better condition before I start a steady increase in calories to put some size on for the remainder of the year.

Video entry for this past weeks PCA show is here, including my posing routine, the class itself, and day of eating on the show:


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