Kiivikas: conditioning needs to be sharper
28th Estonian Cup in bodybuilding and fitness: Kiivikas
That’s the 92nd competition behind me and my 21st overall win at Estonian contests in the bag. Considering the spring field, the result was predictable, and the absence of so many of our top Classic competitors made it even easier. That said, I give credit to every competitor who came to challenge, and for me the Salme stage is like a home hall, where you can compete 100 times and it’s still good to go back. I haven’t seen lighting as good as at Salme very often in my competition career, and the same goes for the whole complex, including the backstage rooms and the backstage area, i.e. it’s one of the best venues for running a contest – anyone who has competed a lot knows what I’m talking about.
Since I haven’t seen any proper photos, only the report, I can’t really judge my own performance either, because standing on stage you can’t see how you actually looked next to the others (it’s just a feeling: in the poses I checked myself and thought I looked good, and the free routine also seemed to go better than at the Loaded Cup – there were no balance problems – I was happy with that myself). I certainly didn’t show my peak sharpness, so it was good to see that I still need to get drier to take on anyone at the European Championships, and I’ll be working toward that over the coming weeks. Luckily there’s nothing complicated about it, because most of the work is done; it’s a matter of improving my condition by a few %, and 2 weeks is long enough. Yesterday’s weight was also still high enough that there’s room to cut: my evening weigh-ins were 89 and at times I saw 89.9kg the day before the contest. It’s clear that in half a year we can’t hold the same quality as in the autumn while also talking about 3 kilos of muscle gain, so I’ll tighten things up further. I can easily trim the food, and then the sharpness will improve too. I also carb-loaded the day before, and that surely cost me some of the sharpness I already have on an ordinary day in training.
I can’t comment on the other competitors’ results either, because I didn’t watch the contest from the hall, and I haven’t felt it necessary to comment on the judging at recent competitions – the judges do their job, and the athletes’ job is to be on stage and do what they know how to do. Naturally, Marko’s win in the youth class made me happy. In the juniors the results were as expected, the last competitions had already shown more or less the same order, so there were no surprises for me, although that category was certainly interesting to watch from the hall. In Bodyfitness, Triin Kõrge made me happy, looking very good in my opinion, and the 1-point gap to Esta confirmed it – I wouldn’t be surprised if the judges’ votes come out the other way round in the autumn. Esta was in great shape all around, and I believe Esta has solid chances at the European Championships in Athletic Fitness.
In Bikini, Egle did a clean job; it’s clear that Egle is currently the undisputed No. 1 in the discipline in Estonia, and we hope Egle will be the first to start earning high placings on the international stage too – the prerequisites are there. Classic bodybuilding – clearly, with no heavy artillery on show, the light machine guns did a clean job….Kornõshev vs. Savisaar was an interesting match-up and a very welcome rivalry; both got to taste victory, one in the category and the other in the overall. In men’s bodybuilding Abrossimov was out of shape, Liiva was probably better than before, especially at the lower weight, and a newcomer who hadn’t been on stage for 20 years showed up yesterday in sharp, cut condition – well done to all of them in any case for even coming on stage!
Imre Vähi as the MC – started talking already in the morning before the contest when the hall was empty… – and I have to admit that the MC was humorous and, for me, a good choice. What can be improved next time is the accuracy of the facts, when calling the poses, because when an MC is given two jobs at once, they have to be talkative and humorous so that it isn’t boring to listen to, but at the same time very much at home with the facts, and especially the competition rules. Next time we’ll certainly also talk things through with the backstage guy, Andres, about which categories are brought on stage and how, because especially in the new disciplines Bikini and BF there’s a T-walk and the introduction comes onto the stage one by one, etc.
The banquet also went well, there was even food left over, and Hole in One, who laid out the party table, had to admit that the fitness crowd has made great progress toward more civilized eating; in earlier years there was more grabbing, so perhaps the competitors carb-loaded better this year and weren’t as hungry…
We ended the evening at Triin and Vova’s, in the cozy “happy nest”, together with the bodybuilding crowd – thanks for the pleasant evening, and it was great to air myself out a bit between competitions. Thanks to all the helpers, volunteers, competitors and the audience for coming to cheer us on, and we hope that in the autumn there will be even more competitors and spectators.
Now go outside, the weather is fantastic!
Author: Ott Kiivikas
Source:Turg.Fitness.ee
Come and train! ArtGym
