Deciding on Whether or not to Compete

[rockymtncowgirl]

First, I will preface this post by stating that my profile on here is not up-to-date.
I am interested in competing. I have never done it before but have done some research and toying with the idea of entering a show in June of next year, which gives me plenty of time to decide, prepare etc. One thing I am having difficulty with is deciding which category I should go in. At this point, if I were to prep for a show right now, I would have enough muscle definition to compete in bikini. However, I want to compete in figure. My questions are as follows:
- Is there enough time between now and the show to put on enough muscle to seriously consider competing in figure? Is such a goal realistic? (I know it's hard for anyone to say without seeing pictures of my current state, but in general?)
- In the event that it is not possible to gain that much muscle, should I compete in bikini, or should I be continuing to focus on muscle building instead of cutting down for a show?
Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated!

[Cass40]

Hard to say without pictures.

If you wanna do figure, you should continue to focus on that and not do bikini just because you're not ready yet.

[rockangel]

Hard to say without pictures.

This.

But if your goal is figure, and that is the division you really are interested in, then I would not waste time in bikini.

Bikini typically has a different look and different posing style, so it doesn't make sense to me to train for a look and style that your heart and head are not into. And when you don't feel it, it does show on stage.

Also, why drop a lot of money on a division that you don't want?

[rockymtncowgirl]

That all makes sense. To my first question: Is it realistic for a bikini competitor to set the goal of gaining enough muscle to compete in figure in time for a show that is eight and a half months away?

[rockangel]

That all makes sense. To my first question: Is it realistic for a bikini competitor to set the goal of gaining enough muscle to compete in figure in time for a show that is eight and a half months away?

Honestly, we would need to see pictures of where you are right now. After that, it depends on the amount of muscle you have now, the federation you are looking at competing in and on what level you are looking at.

Typically, my first response is to say that no, this is not a realistic goal based on the fact that muscle gain is very slow for women and the fact that for most feds, the body fat needs to be lower for figure, which will require more time dieting, especially since this would be the first time competing and you don't know how your body responds to prep yet.

If you are seriously looking into competing, then I would hire a coach now to work with you in the off season and then prep you for the show. They would be better able to assist you in where to go.

[rockymtncowgirl]

Sounds good. Thanks for the advice

[jcarlino28]

No advice but I have a friend competing in bikini soon and while she's happy with it, she wishes she would have done figure instead. Something about the way the bikini competition is vs the figure. She says she'd feel more comfortable in figure. Good luck!