Bodybuilders should learn to use light sources as well as muscle building supplements to enhance their physical appearance.

LET THERE BE LIGHT
Imagine it’s the night before your contest. You just took a look at your muscles and felt they looked flat. So, you decide to take in more carbs. The next morning, you check yourself again and still look flat. In response, you continue to carb up. By the time you step onstage, you’re spilling over like a champagne bottle on New Year’s Eve. What happened?

Just as a certain lighting condition can make you look better than reality, some lights can also make you look worse. I’ve seen many bodybuilders who were perfectly on schedule look smooth, small and flat in the wrong light. The key is to follow the guiding light. Know which light provides which effect.

When you check yourself in the mirror, you’re totally dependent upon the available light source in that particular area. However, all light is not the same. The method of light creation can vastly affect the intensity it casts out, and this in turn can radically alter your total appearance. I’ve broken it down into three main groups in order to shed some light on the subject.

SUNLIGHT AS MAIN SOURCE
For those of you who have gazed through the book, Pumping Iron, I’m sure you’ll recall the outstanding black and white photos of Arnold at his prime, as well as the other greats of that time. Many of those shots were taken at the old Gold’s Gym, and used the afternoon sunlight as the main form of light. Sunlight is the most "precise" light. It has an even balance of the color wavelengths, is not overly harsh unless it is the light present at noon, and depending on the time, its low angle of occurrence is just perfect for highlighting muscular detail.

Morning light has a slight blue overtone, and it also tends to make you appear very hard-looking when you view your physique in the mirror. Checking progress in this light can be depended upon for nutritional assessments or bodyfat and water level monitoring. Keep in mind that slight hardness-enhancement property. If you think you’re very hard, you should be looking like a freaked-out bundle of crushed rocks under flesh.

BULB LIGHT AS MAIN SOURCE
This is a wild-card kind of light. Smaller community type gyms usually use this light, and hotels have it in their rooms also. Remember, a lot of monitoring goes on in hotel rooms, because many of the big contests are held in far-off metropolitan locations.

Generally speaking, incandescent bulb light is much less intense than pure sunlight. It’s also much less reliable. I’ve seen myself look like the "Thing" from Marvel Comics, or on the other hand, like someone who needs to join a gym. To help you avoid the potential extremes, stand in the mirror so that this kind of light causes a shadow beneath your chin. This shadow should fall only to your collarbone. If it falls lower, you’ll darken yourself and flatten out. You’ll also look very sinister. If you back up, you won’t have enough relief to your muscles, so you’ll flatten out without enough light.

Bulb light in hotels can make you appear more cut than you actually are. Solution? Try posing in the washrooms (especially at Holiday Inns), there’s usually better light there than in the rooms. If you don’t look shredded in those mirrors, you probably shouldn’t compete. In summary, bulb light is the trickiest. Exercise caution when making any assessments in this light.

FLORESCENT LIGHT AS MAIN SOURCE
Whoever invented fluorescent light was obviously not a bodybuilder. This light is garbage. It’s too weak to show detail and too diffuse to allow shadowing. Offices use this kind of light, and that’s why you rarely see bodybuilders working in offices. Also, as if that’s not enough, fluorescent light emphasizes the yellow and green wavelengths. This makes you look sick and pale. About the only assessment you can make using this kind of light in a mirror is that you shouldn’t make any assessment at all. The following chart tells the story.

LIGHT INTENSITIES

• Source Intensity in lumens
• Morning sun 125,000
• Electric filament bulb 500
• Fluorescent tube 2
• Candle 1

As you can see, fluorescent light isn’t much better than a candle. Oh sure, some fluorescent lights can be quite bright, and the principle behind it is impressive, but for checking your body in the mirror, you may as well use a flashlight. It just doesn’t show detail.