The Blueprint for Contest Prep Vol.1...Training and Cardio

Her words resonate deeply with contest prep and life...

Contest Prep.  These two words can be intimidating for the rookie bodybuilder or even the veteran who has done ten shows.  Contest Prep is the period of time that a
bodybuilder trains and diets before stepping on the grand stage.  This period can last anywhere from 6-24 weeks depending on the condition of the physique athlete.  While I am not a seasoned veteran of the game yet, I have personally experienced contest prep in my young career and want to give you insight on the different aspects of the prep.  This first article will cover the training and cardio needed to look your best on stage.

There are MANY myths about pre-contest training.  Most are totally unconscionable.  When I prepared for my first show, I too BOUGHT the snake oil and did not look my best on show day.  Some of these ridiculous myths are:

-You have to lift light weights for high reps to get more cut and ripped
-You have to perform only isolation movements to trim fat in specific areas of your body
-You have to do cardio every day for 1-2 hours each session and even multiple sessions of cardio per day
-You have to train abs every day in order to develop a "6-pack"
-You cannot perform High Intensity Cardio because you will "burn" muscle

To the untrained bodybuilder, these myths may seem like great ideas.  But when the grass is cut, the snakes will show.  And all the above myths will bite you in keister if you follow them blindly like many a bodybuilder has.  For my first contest, I unfortunately got bit.  I bought into some of these fake hustle theories and they got me nowhere.  I ended up weak, stringy, and flat for my first show.  Not what you call success.  For my third and fourth show however, I used the rules below.  I will reveal to you how to train and perform cardio to ensure that you show up as full and as strong as possible for your contest.

Rules of Engagement:

1:  NEVER stop lifting HEAVY.
Now heavy is relative.  When your offseason ends, you should theoretically be at your strongest.  Ideally your bodyweight will be higher because you are consuming more calories.  Therefore you should be able to handle heavy loads at a higher bodyweight.  However in the typical pre-contest scenario, a bodybuilder stops lifting heavy and lifts light weights for the prep period.  This combined with a caloric deficit results in a very deflating, but predictable loss of muscle and strength.  The way to prevent this is too continue to lift as HEAVY as possible throughout the prep also.  Now before you get confused, this does not mean lift maximal loads for 1 or 2 reps per set.  This means if you owe a set of 8-12 reps on Full Squat,  IT SHOULD BE 8-12 HARD REPS.  You should NOT have a weight you can use 30 times for set of 12.  Lifting heavy while on a caloric deficit will FORCE your body to hold on to precious muscle.  Like a wise man once said "Hard and Heavy!"  Your training protocol should include periods of heavy and moderate weights anyway, so if you program correctly, you will arrive full and ripped on contest day.  If you program like a dodo, your presence on stage will be that of a dodo...non-existent.

These have absolutely, positively, NO VALUE.

2:  NEVER stop doing BIG BODY MOVEMENTS.
I refer to compound moves as "big body or big ugly" moves.  Listen, there is absolutely no reason why any physique athlete (or anyone) should stop performing Full Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Overhead Press etc.  These are the movements that got you to this point.  KEEP USING THEM.  What you will want to do though is have a variable program so that every session is not 3x10.  5x5, German Volume, Pyramid Supersets, RP-21 and various other protocols can be used in cycles to ensure your body is always progressing throughout the year.  Outside of that, when in a caloric deficit, it is even more important to continue to use movements that target so many muscles groups at once.  Remember you have to maintain muscle as effectively as you can during pre-contest.  Yes, you will have isolations, but they cannot be prioritized over the compounds especially during pre-contest.

Why would you not SQUAT?  

3.  NEVER do excessive CARDIO.
This is asinine to the highest levels of asininity.  I have read about bodybuilders performing excessive cardio in an attempt to "get shredded."  And I have seen competitors at shows coming in stringy as they seem to have prioritized cardio over the iron.  In bodybuilding, cardio is used to burn more calories and to ramp your metabolism.  It was not always this way though.  Back in Vince Gironda's day, he promoted that a proper DIET and IRON are the only factors when trying to get super lean and muscular.  And based on how the men of that era looked, Vinny G was right!  Bottom line is if you are lifting hard enough, heavy enough, and working at a brisk pace you are still getting cardio while building muscle.  But to get super shredded, separate cardio sessions can help.  But the right TYPE of cardio is the key to retaining muscle.  Save yourself some time and perform shorter, more intense sessions that promote muscle growth.  But before I go farther, Where in the blue hell did this whole "you will burn muscle if you do HIIT" theory come from?!?  Has anyone looked at a sprinter lately?  They perform the toughest form of cardio almost daily.  Are they lacking muscle? You can do 2 days of sprints and 1-2 days of bodyweight conditioning to take care of your cardio needs during the pre-contest.  They can be done on separate days or post-workout.  And these styles of training will keep your furnace burning long after the session is complete.  Be mindful of where you put these sessions though.  Do not ever perform a HIC day before a leg day!  This will sap your legs of their strength like how kryptonite drains Clark Kent.

Please do not relegate yourself to this.  So UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

4.  LIMIT your abdominal training.
Whoa!  Controversy?  Short story first.  My training partner won best abs at Mr. Natural Philadelphia 2012.  You want to know his ab secret?  Heavy compounds and diet!  Look, if you have trained properly throughout the year, you will have great abs/intercostals/serratus when contest time comes.  Your abs are heavily involved in Full Squats, Deadlifts, Chin-Ups etc.  Perform the the big movements and let the diet take care of your abdominals.  If you want to train abs though, stick to the basics and do barbell rollouts, hanging leg raises, or weighted sit ups.

Hmm...she has abs...she is deadlifting...

This is the blueprint for Contest Prep training.  Do not fall for parlor tricks or other gimmicks when preparing for a contest.  There are plenty of ways to prepare poorly, show up flat, feel like a loser, and look like one too.  Lift heavy, perform big bodies, make your cardio short and intense, and forget about doing 500 crunches a day.  The next edition of this series will cover the most important aspects of pre-contest...Nutrition and the mindset needed to survive.