My journey to WNBF Pro card in 2015

After winning UIBBN World Championships in 2012 i knew that next year ( 2013 ) is gonna be my year off from competing. I want always improve and I am never happy with how I look. So beside some powerlifting goals my main goal in bodybuilding was to improve my back - width, thickness and my arms. So with simple but efective plan - I was working hard all year in 2013 and I was happy with my progress. My BW was around 90kg all year round but with solid rock hard abdominals and leg muscles. I worked up to 160kg in benchpress for single rep with strict - competition fashion; in deadlift my one rep max was 255kg - my new PB; in squat 5 reps with 220kg - strict deep squat ass to the grass. I didnt do much of cardio - but what i did was drills - every other day i did hill sprints - stair sprints - skipping rope - box jumps etc., very short but intense sessions. I really loved it and enjoyed it. But my plans for year 2014 to compete didn't go very well. Lots of things happend in my private life and I decided not to compete and skip another year. It was for me very hard decision because I love competing but I had no choice. I knew my focus and energy just isn't there. So suddenly I had another year in front of me for improving and getting better. I was very exciting and couldn't wait. I kept everything very simple. My food and my training was priority after work. I had a plan and very clear vision how I wanna look like and what I want to achieve.

In 2015 - I started with my contest prep - officialy - in march - just couldn't wait any longer - for my UKDFBA/WNBF contest in October. I was already in great shape and I knew that this is good advantage for me. I had more than six months time with only few kg to lose. My goal was to lose weight slowly and keep as much muscle as possible. One of the things how you can measure this is your strength in gym - i kept almost all my "offseason" poundage on all lifts right up to the contest in UK. This year was first year competing while I was injured - I hurt my back of the leg while heavy squatting - my silly mistake - so I couldnt squat for couple of weeks and couldnt do weighted lunges and stiff-leg deadlifts. But I had to find very quickly some solutions to my problem. I started doing more exercises ( up to 10 for my leg workout - compare to 4-5 before ) but with less sets in total. Also started with bodyweight lunges every morning before breakfast - 300 lunges. My strength was still good even without heavy squats. I still could leg press over 500kg for 12 reps and I worked up my squats back to 140 - 160kg for reps and I kept it until the end of my contest prep. 

Cardio - i did 20min. after every session as always and sometimes did HIT instead - Hill sprints outside or stairs. Also started with powerwalk on empty stomach couple of times per week on days I didn't weight train. But must admit - this was the hardest contest prep ever! I had two jobs, opened my e-shop, got injured and had to train around that. It was very challenging. 

My first "warm up" contest was INBA GP Hungary on 6th June 2015. It was my heaviest ever onstage - my BW was 84,8kg and I was competing in under 173cm category open men with another 10 competitors. It's been more than two years since I was competing last time so I was little bit nervous but I felt amazing. I was enjoying every minute onstage and backstage ( I went there with my girlfriend and she did amazing job with all her help ). Not many people knew about me competing as I wanted to keep it quiet. For this contest I didn't do any changes in my diet nor water manipulation - I treated it as "regular" day/weekend.  I finished 2nd and couldn't be more happy. I've got great feedback from the judges and after I washed my tan off we were heading to Bratislava to catch up some natural tan on the beach :-)

Straight after this contest I made decision to compete in Dubai for INBA World Championships the week after Hungarian GP. So with less then a week I had lots of things to organize - hotel, plane, registration etc. I was exciting to go there as it was place I never seen before. I was very relaxed compare to other competitors because I knew that it's all fun and the most important thing for me was to enjoy this another experience on my journey. Again I decided that I will not make any changes within my diet but this time I drunk less water on the day of the show. I've got great pump and even my vascularity was good. There was no weight-in but my weight was 84,6kg the day before competition. I was competing with 10 another guys in open men class 2 ( 5'7 - 5'9 ). I was happy to go through to finals ( final 5 competitors ) where I placed 5th. I was happy with the results as I knew that I couldn't compete for top places without being in 100% top shape. It was good experience, very hot weather, great food, met some new people. But at the same time I felt that this federation INBA is not my cup of tea. Just my opinion and feeling. World Championships was on 13th June and after my return back to Prague I was again 100% focus on my main goal this year - to get a Pro card winning UKDFBA/WNBF International in October.

I spent my summer ( august& september ) in US, San Diego. I think I will write another blog about this as there is lot of things to cover :-)

Fast forward October 11th, UK. I took the plane on friday night from Prague. My friend Milan Panek was waiting for me at the Airport. I stayed in his house as a guest for what I am very thankful as he was my great inspiration and top pro bodybuilder. 

Saturday 10th October was UK Championships UKDFBA and it was my day off. We went to watch some of the classes on this day but most of the day was relax. 

Sunday 11th October was my big day. UKDFBA/WNBF International - my big chance to win Pro Card - my dream that suddenly felt so close and possible. When check-in in the morning I weighted something over 80kg so I had some time and I knew what to do... I went outside in warm clothes and was jogging good hour around football pitch! But it was worth it as once I came back I was just under 80kg. So I made it to middle weight class under 80kg with another 9 competitors. I knew that I was in shape of my life. I had a goosbumps all over my body when pumping up backstage. Also had a great feedback from my friend Milan Panek ( who was also competed that day as a pro ) and from Ian Duckett - my long time inspiration and one of the few old school guy I know. I knew that winning my class will be tough as Damian Lees was in it and he also wanted to get Pro card. But I was 100% focused and was concentrating on myself. Our class was onstage around 4pm and it took good 40 min. in total to judge this class, perform free posing routines and announce placings. I won this class U-80kg and was over the moon but soon realized that I will go for the overall very shortly. So after taking some pics on stage I went backstage to get ready for the overall battle. Top Natural bodybuilders were fighting for the overall title and Pro card. Steve Howarth, Matt Argall, Nigel St Lewis and others. I felt great. I knew that if I give it my best I can win this. It was long time onstage under those hot lights in front of full audience. I could see faces my rivals how much they are sweating. It was tough. And then came the moment I will never forget. They called just two names - Nigel St Lewis ( heavyweight winner ) and myself. You could feel the tension and drama in the air. Obviously the judges had hard time to decide and they were looking at us from each angle again and again and again. After while it was over. Lots of sweat and testosterone on stage. After posedown to music they announced the winner. Five men standing. But only one winner. And this year winner of the overall International Championships, The Championships belt and most importantly his WNBF professional status, in head to head contest between two men... Martin Petrooooo!!! 

It was amazing feeling, so emotional, words can't describe how I felt inside. I was so overwhelmed with winning my Pro card that almost forget that there was a Pro show straight after the overall. So I went backstage to get ready again for my first pro show this time. There was five pro's competing for the prize money from all over the Europe. All outstanding champions. I believe I was there the "smallest" guy but it didn't matter as I was in great shape and I believed in myself and enjoying this amazing opportunity. I placed 2nd and couldn't imagined better end to this day to remember. 

Great show, great atmosphere, nice people, great judges, people in the audience. 

My dream came true... I will upload some photos and in the next blog I will talk more about summer in San Diego and other two contests I entered in the end of the 2015.

http://www.drugfreebodybuilding.co.uk/2015international.shtml

Thank you for reading. 

Coach Martin

www.udoschoice.cz