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.

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.

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.

This is the truth.

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