Doing a competition is an adventure in itself -truly the most satisfying day of my life, but also the biggest mindfuck of my life as you go thru the amazing process of watching specific and intentional changes actually happen, but also having to reconcile the extremes of the diet and training required, and the on-going flipflop between being confident in your progress, and then completely doubting your progress as you see the target day loom in the approaching future. It really is a study in stripping yourself down to the absolute basics of your very existence, and then trying to push thru 12-20 weeks of diet, training, cardio and your regular daily life & obligations with consistency and minimal stress ( --> cortisol), all for the chance to stand on stage for about 3 minutes in hopes of receiving a $4 trophy.
That said, the result is that I know how to manipulate my body to my goals (i.e. I'm no longer a "victim of my genetics" after a lifetime of feeling like the fat girl) which is empowering beyond words, I have learned to recognize when my moods shift (i.e. due to doubts in progress, stress, low carb day, whatever) and have learned to manage my behavior under those extremes. And in terms of being painfully shy as a child w/ perpetual stage fright, after completing my first show, there's very little I have fear of doing. I've already pranced around on stage in a bikini & fake tan in front of 500+ people I don't know. What else can you throw at me after that? Nuttin baby!
In terms of doing Physique - its a unique time in that it is honestly, pretty undefined at this point. Dana has a great physique, but to be honest, I've not seen anyone else with her physique. I also thought she was softer on stage than I would've prefered, but for that first show of the existence of Physique, it was "what they were looking for". I definitely believe as the pro level comes into existence next year and existing pros are able to switch over, you're going to see a much higher level of competition being presented in terms of size & conditioning. But as the whole category is still getting off the ground its a unique time to get onstage and basically throw out what you brought to the game and see how the judges like it. There's no point trying to get to "the look" because so far "the look" has been IMO distinctly different almost every show this past year.
My personal hope is that they take more muscle than currently displayed by national level Figure girls because it won't give enough distinction between the two classes and will put all the experienced FBBs out in the cold, and in fact, will push out anyone who has any accumulated muscle maturity after several years of training.
Definitely go for it but think big. You should be bringing sufficient muscle mass & conditioning to the stage if you want to go anywhere with it.