Prior to performing on stage, bodybuilders will apply various products to their skin to improve their muscle definition.
These include tanning oils, such as commonly known brands like Pro TanTM and Dream TanTM (to make the skin darker and not “wash out” under bright stage lights) and various oils (to make the skin shiny to enhance definition). They will also use weights to “pump up” by forcing blood to their muscles to improve size and vascularity. Some may also gorge on sugar-rich candies to enhance the visibility of their veins (vascularity), often considered a sign of high muscle definition.
5 Tanning Tips
- Start tanning at least two months out from the show. And for those of you who have fair skin, bump that up to three months.
- If you haven’t been in a tanning bed for a while, limit the amount of time you spend during your first few tanning sessions to prevent your skin from burning. Once your body has built up a tolerance and your skin starts getting darker, increase the amount of time you spend on the bed, accordingly.
- If you use a tanning bed, make sure you flip over from time to time. This will help prevent getting those little white blotches or “grill lines”on the back of your shoulder blades and butt.
- Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. Use skin cream that contains aloe vera and vitamin E after you tan (you’ll need to cut this out two weeks from your show to ensure you don’t retain subcutaneous water).
- Stop tanning five days out from your show. If you burn it can actually make you hold water under your skin. It’s the body’s natural reaction to cool it by sending water to where the heat is.
Tags: Bodybuilding, Competitive Body Building, physique competition, tanning, weight training