3DMJ: In your first show ever you won your class and then went on to compete with some extremely seasoned athletes for the overall tile. Many athletes only dream of winning their class. What did it feel like to hear your name called for first place? And what did it feel like for you to compete in an overall in your contest debut?

Jason Bosak: Oh man! The whole day was a whirlwind of emotions. After Prejudging, I felt the judges indicated strongly that I would be winning the class. However, as the time passed throughout the day, I couldn’t help but let the doubt seep in. I was backstage pumping up and I saw the guy I knew was my toughest competition doing the same. I saw him and realized how impressive he was. It made me super nervous to go out for the awards. Standing out there, I knew I was 1 or 2, and I just kept waiting for each name to be called. After they announced 2^nd place, and it wasn’t me, I didn’t even fully realize that I was the only man left standing. When I finally realized, I exploded inside, but tried as hard as possible to maintain my composure! I later learned that the guy who took second had won the overall at his previous show. That really gave me quite a boost!

I hardly had time to let it settle in, because as I headed backstage, I had to immediately get ready to go out for the overall. The other guys competing for the overall were all seasoned competitors. Going out for the final set of poses, I felt like I had already won. Not the overall, but just that I had already won, and that the prep had been worth it. I looked at my competitors and I had a size advantage, but while my conditioning was very good, they just had that grainier look that you see in the more seasoned competitors. They were conditioned as all get out. There were 4 classes; I won the Medium-Tall. I knew it was going to be between the Tall Class winner and the Short Class winner. The Tall class winner had been competing for (I believe he said) 18 years. And the Short Class winner for 10 years (He flew in from England to compete in this show). Since I knew it was between them, and I was already stoked about winning my class, I went into the Overall feeling ZERO pressure. I just went out and had the time of my life posing against some of the craziest natural physiques I had ever seen!

Jason Bosak (far right) battled hard in a very tough overall lineup.

3DMJ: After hearing you were selected as a sponsored athlete by TEAM 3DMJ back in January, what were your expectations from them and were those expectations fulfilled and how?

Jason Bosak: My expectation was to have the guessing taken out of it. I wanted to understand the WHY’s of the process, and that’s exactly what happened. I provided the team with info about what was going on, and the coaches made adjustments according to me personally. Eric was great about telling me why we were doing what we were doing. I have to be honest and say that at times I was bull headed and would try to do more on my own… but every time I strayed from the plan, things would not go as planned. Team 3DMJ really proved to me that your brain is your most powerful bodypart!

3DMJ: At your first show of the year, the Central Midwest Championships, you were a little off with your conditioning, but still good enough to come away with a very impressive class win. What did you feel caused you to be just a tad bit off? What were some of the things you and TEAM 3DMJ incorporated into your game plan that corrected the mistakes from the Central Midwest until your much improved condition two weeks later at the Natural Mr. Minnesota?

Jason Bosak: Well throughout the prep, I had shown to be able to burn through crazy amounts of carbs and food, and still lose weight. I think some people bulk at the numbers I was dieting on! Since I had shown such a high metabolism and tolerance to carbs, we went into the Central Midwest knowing it was the first of 2 shows. Eric told me going into the show that we were going to do a very aggressive carb load. We all knew I could handle carbs, but we just weren’t certain exactly how much. So we used that first show as a learning experience and purposely pushed the envelope, in order to figure it out.

Speaking to Eric the day of the show we talked about how aggressive the plan was, and that if I looked like I was starting to spill, that I would have to adjust my numbers on the fly. Well as things got rolling, with it being my first show, I ended up being off on my timing, not realizing how close I actually was to stage time. Figure was taking forever, so I assumed bodybuilding would be the same. When the short class started getting ready, I thought I had plenty of time, well 10 minutes later I was being rushed onto stage, and I had pounded down a bunch of food right before going on. I also wasn’t able to find access to a mirror, to gauge my fullness until it was too late; I had already started to spill over. I was supposed to assess my fullness throughout the day, and if I started to spill, I was supposed to back off, and do some posing, pumping etc. to shuttle glycogen into the muscles. Well by the time I found a mirror in the crowded backstage, I was out of time. I didn’t even have time to pump up. I literally was doing pushups in line, as we were called onto stage. SO basically I ate too much, too close to stage time, and had ZERO pump.

For the MN, 3DMJ came up with a more conservative carb load plan that allowed me more time to cut before the show, but still come in pretty full. We had lower carbs during peak week, and then had one less meal on show day. That seemed to do the trick! I also was much calmer, and had a better feeling for how things went during my second show, which helped contribute to me being able to time things better.

3DMJ: Sometimes in bodybuilding only the athletes are recognized for all their hard work, but it is also the athletes’ significant others that help carry them through a very tough contest prep with inspiration and support. What has your wife meant to you during your successful contest season?

Jason Bosak: Well I’ll tell you one thing; I wouldn’t have been able to live with me during my prep! She definitely had to suffer through prep as much or more than me! On top of her being understanding as to my behavioral changes, she was also my gym buddy during my entire prep. We went to the gym together every day, and having a person who will go with you really makes it a lot easier to force yourself to go walk on the treadmill, when you don’t feel like doing anything but lying down.

Brittany also played the role of my assistant on my show days. She did my tan, helped with my meals, and just gave me someone to hang out and waste time with. Contest day can be VERY long and VERY tiring. If you don’t have someone to go through it with you, it could be very tough to make it through!

3DMJ: In the sport of natural bodybuilding it is hard to find an athlete such as yourself with not only the symmetry, size and conditioning, but also the work ethic you possess. What is the driving force behind Jason Bosak? What separates you from the average natural bodybuilder?

Jason Bosak: I don’t think I would go as far as to say I have more drive than most Natural Bodybuilders. I think anyone that competes obviously has tremendous work ethic. I think the advantage I have is that I found my love for the iron early in my life. I was lucky enough to realize that lifting and bodybuilding were things I wanted to do at a very young age. So I found a passion, and I ran with it. Many bodybuilders want to compete while they’re still young, and that’s understandable. However, most bodybuilders don’t have a whole lot of training time under their belt when they’re still young. Having been lifting as long as I can remember, I had the benefit of being able to compete while still young (with a firing metabolism), but also being able to compete after over a decade of preparing my physique to be stage ready. If you’re not fortunate enough to start lifting until you’re 23, but wanted to compete by my age, you would only have about 2 years of real muscle building before preparing to compete. I had the advantage of competing at my age, with over a decade of development.

3DMJ: It is scary to think for the other athletes you have faced and for those you will be facing in the future, that this is only your first contest season. You bring an incredible balance of size, shape and conditioning to the stage, what will we see in your physique in your future contests?

Jason Bosak: I’ve done it once, and I can only improve in the future. I’ve learned so much through this prep. I made a lot of mistakes at the beginning of my prep before I was lucky enough to be a part of Team 3DMJ. I could eliminate those mistakes in the future and make even more out of my prep time. Having gone through this season, I now have more motivation than ever to have a productive offseason. So with that said I think I will come in next time with a physique that will blow this one away, both in terms of size and conditioning!

3DMJ: What are your plans for the offseason? Are there any training strategies you or TEAM 3DMJ will be incorporating into your offseason?

Jason Bosak: Plans for the offseason are just to do what it takes to make the most ridiculous gains of my life, while staying leaner than in the past. If I am able to build while staying a bit leaner, that will put me in a much better position to come into future shows absolutely shredded!

3DMJ: Any words of wisdom or advice for other natural athletes out there who might want to take the plunge and step on a contest stage?

Jason Bosak: