Originally Posted by
Strategus
What has your workout routine been up until now? Cardio or playing sports?
In general, it takes a couple of years (at least) of serious weight training to build up the amount of muscle needed to compete in figure. If you look at pics of figure competitors, they usually have a fairly thick back and capped delts. These features can definitely be built with natural training, but it does take a while. (And weights are fun!)
To build what you need for figure, you'll need to do heavy compound lifts. Hint: do lots of rows on a regular basis, and also incline bench and military press plus leg presses, squats, etc. etc. You will probably need to eat a slight surplus of (good) calories while you're building strength.
(One's first couple of years of weight training should be natural).
However, if you'd like to try competing before that, the NPC has just added a "bikini" category for next year. You could try that without the lifting background -
Good luck!
P.S. 967 posts, even before picking up the weights??