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Post Info TOPIC: Contest prep when a show is not is sight.
Joe


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Contest prep when a show is not is sight.


After helping a number of people this past year, I have come to realize that how you treat your offseason is just as important as the time your losing body fat.  And maybe even more important.

I am not saying that you need to be within 5 to 10 pounds of stage weight nor you need to use a ton of supplements.  I am saying that your training is most important at that time because you have extra weight that will help you get stronger and in turn increase muscle mass.  As far as body weight goes the more you weigh is not really relative to strength nor muscle size.  There comes a time that too much weight can slow down test production and lead to injuries.  And most importantly leaving you with more fat to lose. So, finding what I call your "happy weight" is also an important factor.  What that is, anywhere between 10 to 15 percent of your last contest weight.  There are exceptions to the given percentages also.

Thoughts anyone?



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Joe Franco

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Joe


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And just to add!


The extra weight that you do carry is not an excuse to pig out.  You still need to focus on proper nutrition and nutrient timing.   All your doing is having excess of the good stuff to help keep yourself in an anabolic state as much as possible.  This is also key for drug free competitors.



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Joe Franco

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You nailed it Joe. My nutrition was not on point for much of the past year and a half but when I kept my macros in check for 2 months post contest and then during this past fall, I made great size and strength gains, gained lean mass while keeping body fat in check, and felt great. When I didn't watch my nutrition closely and went nuts, I felt like crap, barely trained, and had no motivation to workout what so ever. I definitely see this more as a lifestyle, i mean, when you can fit lucky charms into your macros, how can you not keep up with it.

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Sergio Merino

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I learned this from you; 20 lbs maximum weight gain. I did do things differently this time, but it's nice to see I've retained the size and dropped the fat pretty quickly.

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As a person who has had a couple of trainers berfore I hooked up with Joe, I have to agree very strongely about his nutrition program.  It just does not make any sense to gain all that unwanted weight and just have to work your butt off to lose it again.  Besides the fact that I am so focused right now that I have no desire to cheat, I like the foods that I am allowed to eat.



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I agree with Joe - unfortunately I went WAY over that mark this time and I have had to lose 40 pounds in preparation for his August show. HOWEVER, I am giving myself a break because I have had several injuries and two surgeries, one being an umbilical hernia surgery where I gained an extra 15 pounds and was unable to really workout for 12 weeks. BUT, it has been almost 8 months of dieting thus far to get me back to competition form and that is a LONG time to diet.

I physically feel the best at around 165 and that is about 10% over my competition weight. Once I get over 170, I start feeling "fat". My goal after this show is to stay in the 165-168 range where all my clothes will still fit and I feel good.

Not sure I will ever compete again after this one, but I just think in regular life, you have to be at a "healthy" weight both physically and mentally. 

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In most cases, Joe is on the mark. Most people, that I know and have seen in training, should stay in that 10-15% range over their contest weight. I think the exception to that rule are (and I hate to use this term because its like stereotyping) the ectomorphic folks, especially young tall lanky ectormorphic people (like my former self). They need to put weight on.

Depending on how ectomorphic they are, nutrient timing could be enforced or totally thrown out the window. However, nutrition should still come from good whole food sources that are calorically rich (eggs, beef, potatoes, butter, milk). These should be a staple for someone trying to put weight on. In the ectormorphic case, most (not all) but most of that extra weight will help them to support a heavy weight training regime. The endo's and the meso's don't need this as their leverages already provide "stability" under a load.

I think the best approach for the young ectormorphic male is to drive up bodyweight eating while driving up the basic lifts in the gym, and maximize recovery and rest....as it is easier to beat up a twig than it is to beat up a tree trunk. A basic three day a week routine with heavy loading and conservative volume minimal cardio does this best.

The taller the ecto athlete, the more the athlete should be filled out. Then with the use of good judgement determine when to stop driving up bodyweight.

You see the issue is that the meso and the endo's are usually already all filled out and tend to "get fat" (have the appearance of excess adipose tissue) because they are already of the proper size for their height and build. That's why they have to limit their weight gain. 

An ecto always looks underweight until an agressive weight gaining/weight lifting program is applied. The level of testosterone (unless supraphysiological aka taking gear) has minimal effect on muscle growth unless is it is too low (which is actually a medical condition). In fact, T/E ratios that are within the normal range are all that is required for "natural" muscular growth but that is limited the next fact. All the test in the world won't help unless you have a lot of natural androgenic receptors in your muscles....this is genetically predetermined.

Simply, if the judges always say, "Get thicker", "Need more muscle", "lean but not full", "Needs more leg size", etc.  You are an ectormorph and need to put in more time at the dining room table.  Your goal should be to come into your next contest with a considerable amount more bodyweight in the form of muscle.  If you don't, you either didn't train properly or eat properly during your offseason.

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Joe


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Dwayne,

If someone has in sight of competing, extra weight is extra weight.  Your experience is something different, in which I am refering to those who compete every year or every other year.

There are some great ecto' natural bb out there, and I put you in that catagory. More important than gaining weight and doing basic lifts is simply time! 

There are a number of ways to skin the cat, but the length of time training, and time eating correctly is the the best solution.    


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Joe Franco

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This is the truth.

I think I lost sight of the continual competition part....sorry : )

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BRICKHOUSE wrote:

As a person who has had a couple of trainers berfore I hooked up with Joe, I have to agree very strongely about his nutrition program.  It just does not make any sense to gain all that unwanted weight and just have to work your butt off to lose it again.  Besides the fact that I am so focused right now that I have no desire to cheat, I like the foods that I am allowed to eat.

Wow - my exact thoughts on every point. I would rather not have significant weight to lose before a show and have to worry about it. Secondly, I would think that even in the off season it would be a good idea to keep the eating clean to help build lean muscle mass. I am a new competitor so I would not know what is best and of course everyone is different. I would rather just keep it clean all year,  eat a bit more muscle building fuel foods, and then shed the excess come show time.

Eating + Lifting = 2 of my favorite things :)


 



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