Barbie Barbell’s BodyBlog

Well I am back from the NPC JR USA Bodybuilding and Figure National Championships. WOW what an experence that was!!! I did not place as high as I would like but considering what happened the morning of the show I am grateful I was even allowed back onstage for the finals that evening. Just an FYI I chose not to lay in Tanning beds nor do I bake my skin in the sun just so I can have a nice tan. I use a competition spray tan and all last year I had no problem getting as dark as I needed even with my fair complexion. Last year I would get 2 coats of spray tan and I was instantly dark. I have done this for 3 contests last year and at least a dozen photo-shoots. The spray tan is necessary under bright lights because the bright lights fade out white skin and you can not see any definition making you look soft and smooth even if you are down under 10% BODY FAT. Now that you know that I will tell you what happened the day before and the morning of my competition. I arrived into Charleston South Carolina Thursday early afternoon and Mary Hobbs of Team Texas Muscle arrived the same day. I checked into the hotel unpacked took a quick shower and headed to Mary’s room for my first spray around 4PM then again that evening at 9PM was my second spray. My dad waited for me in the lobby as he does not like me being alone in the hotel so he escorts me everywhere (thanks Dad) to make sure I do not get hassled by anyone. Well when I walked into the lobby he looked at me and asked if Mary had sprayed me. I told him yes and he said I looked as light as I did before I went in. Mary had said the same thing so we booked another spray for Friday morning around 10PM. After that morning spray I still was not as dark as I needed to be so we booked another session that afternoon around 4PM once again when I walked out of Mary’s room my dad had a funny look on his face and said he thought the tan looked a little strange. Well after a couple of hours went by Dad called Mary and said he felt that I was still not where I needed to be with my coloring so we booked a 5th spray again at 5AM the morning of the competition. Now after 3 sprays most people are so dark you can not tell if they are black, Hispanic or white. So you would think after a 5th time I would be as black as charcoal, but I still did not look right but I was out of time and had no choice but to move ahead as I had hair and makeup at 6AM and the morning rules meeting was at 8AM. Well as I started back stage I walked under the bright lights and I looked at my arms and I had a funny color going on but still really was focused on getting ready for the stage. Once I was in my suit and started warming up I had several girls tell me I had a funky color with my tan so I walked over to the mirrored wall and looked at myself and I was in shock! I was horrified at my color I looked greenish yellow and I was 15 minutes from the stage. I panicked and did not know what to do. I had no choice but to go onstage as I was. I was so embarrassed but I managed to just keep a big smile and act as if nothing were wrong. My dad was sitting on the press row with Dave Palumbo and after my poses I stepped to the left side of the stage just a few feet from where they sat and I was out from under the bright lights and I could see Dad and Dave and they both had funny looks on their faces but managed to smile at me and give me a thumbs up. After the morning show was over both Dave and my Dad came back stage and they saw me sitting off to the side of the room in tears as I knew my scoring was poor due to the funky color of my skin. The bright lights combined with my greenish yellow skin made me look much softer and made me look like my skin was holding water. Dave Palumbo offered to help fix my problem and told me not to worry he would have me looking awesome for the night show. Dad took me back to our room and I spent the next hour in a hot shower scrubbing spray tan off my body. After I cooled off we went over to see Dave and his staff took me in and used a different spray and after just one spray I was darker and yes brown this time. In fact I was darker after just one spray that I have ever been with 3 sprays before. I went over to the arena early so I could get under the bright lights and bingo I looked great. I felt so relieved but I knew the damage was already done because the scoring is all done in the morning show. So I just wanted the judges to see what I really looked like with the right skin tone. Well as they say in Show business, "The show must go on" and it did! I stepped out on stage under the bright lights and I heard several people yelling at me cheering me on, I felt so good knowing that everyone and especially the judges saw the leaner more defined me at the night show. One judge came up to me backstage after the show and said awesome job and was proud of me for sticking it out and getting back onstage looking so much better that night and told me that the bad tan had really hurt my scoring and had I looked as good as I did that night I would have placed much higher. He did not tell me where I placed as they only called back the top 5 girls for awards at the show. So I went home not knowing at all where I had placed. I did not find out until Monday morning that I had placed 15th out of 25 girls when Dave Palumbo sent a link to us with the placing for the show. So placing 15th out of 25 was short of my goal of being in the top 10 but hey after the horrible reaction I had to the tan I felt very grateful that I placed as well as I did. Dad had even said on Sunday that he hoped for top 20 so I was happy to see top 15.

 I look back now and I do not regret anything that took place at this show. There is no one to blame for the reaction I had to the tan. Mary Hobbs is one of the best in the business when it comes to contest preparation as most of the pros at the Olympia use her, she is that good! The only thing that happened is my skin had a reaction to an ingredient in the spray we used and the Ph in my skin turned me that funky color.  I want to thank Mary Hobbs for doing everything she could to get me looking right, Mary I love you and I know it had nothing to do with you and I want the really thank Dave Palumbo for offering to fix me so I could present myself properly at the night show, Dave you saved me thank you so much!!!!!! Now a very special thanks to my dad for helping me hold it together under so much stress that day. I was ready to fall apart several times but with his support I managed to keep my head on straight and get it together for the night show, I don’t know what I would have done without you Dad:>) Thank you so much for being there for me!!

Now outside of my funky tan here is my observation of myself after I had seen the video and pictures online. I think I still need more size in my chest, back and shoulders. I looked to be the smallest girl in my height class. My plans are to put 10-15lbs of lean body mass on my frame ASAP.

My plans over the next 6 weeks are to continue my contest preparation and compete July 16-18 at the NPC Teen Nationals in Pittsburgh PA and then I plan on taking the next 8-12 months off from competition and focus on gaining the size I need to compete and win at the National level. I feel in a years time I can gain the 10-15 lbs I need and come back to compete and win my IFBB pro-Figure card. I am on a mission and I will not stop until I succeed.

I look back and see that this was a great opportunity for me and an awesome learning experence. I am not discouraged at all and I blame no one for what happened. It was a chemical reaction with my skin and the spray used on me thats all nothing more. I know now that I can still manage to compete under extreme situations and I have learned a valuable lesson for future shows by going through what I did. As I sad before I want thank everyone that helped make it possible for me to be at the JR USA and being the youngest girl (17) to ever compete against the National Level Women’s Competitors. I felt privileged just to be on the same stage with those ladies that I can now call my peers because I too and now a National Level Competitor and the youngest in the history of the sport. So I look at my first National show as a huge success and one step closer to my ultimate goal of being a Pro! OH yes one important fact I am 100% drug free competing against those that are not and I still held my own!!!

I hope that some of you can learn from my mistakes and understand that things may not go as you always plan them but to outcome can still be a success. Always do your best to search for the positive even in the worst of times. I know I did for this show and it makes a huge difference in the end if you are positive and not pointing your finger at everyone around you for what happened. I accept my situation with a smile and knowing I learned a valuable lesson at this show and I will always remember that as bad as things may seem it could always be worse and to be thankful for what I got. Gratitude creates a great attitude!!!!!!!!!!
peace,
Amanda Harris
NPC National Figure Competitor   

This entry was posted on Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.