5 Steps To A Successful Contest Prep

Now this is an article that I wrote in conjunction with an old business partner, I shan't name who as I need to keep anonymous for obvious reasons but for those of you that are competing or looking to I wanted to share this with you. Some of the words will ****'d out for privacy reasons, but the crux of this will be more than applicable to you all.

Hope you enjoy and it offers you some value;

5 Steps To A Succesful Contest Prep

1. START OF GROWING

I'm sure you've seen photos of women before who take to the stage looking less than presentable. Whether it be a lack of muscle definition, too much body fat or a lack of muscular development - something just isn't right! 

Maybe this was you as well.. 

Want to know the KEY to preventing this situation? It's not nutrient timing, nor the perfect training program. It's also not intermittent fasting, some secret supplement or hours of daily cardio. 

The key is STARTING OFF GROWING This is the absolute first step that I teach all the goals that partake in one of my prep courses. 

Think about it - muscle is a highly metabolically active tissue. The more lean muscle mass you have, the more energy is required to be generated by the body to maintain that tissue, and to fuel contractions. The reason why most women end up on stage looking sloppy or skinny isn't because they failed to diet, but because they failed to accrue any decent amount of muscle tissue to start with! You can't show what isn't there. 

Trust me on this one. I alongside my business partner have trained multiple national figure and bikini champions, IFBB pros and top level amateurs worldwide. What have they all had in common that has helped them succeed? we have taught them the importance of how to prep for muscle growth and retention. Not just how to get leaner. 

Starting your prep growing means that at the beginning, you should be in a caloric surplus. A contest prep isn't all just about losing fat. That's a big part of it, but to do this successfully you need to keep your calories high in the beginning in order to build more tissue, which WILL LEAD to greater fat loss later on.

2. Increase Calorie Intake

Sounds counter-intuitive, right? Trying to lean down and strip body fat by consuming more food... how's that meant to work?! Just bare with me a moment and I'll explain.

In a contest prep, there is always a risk of hormonal down-regulation. What that means is eventually when dieting for a while on low calories, you are going to experience some hormone 'abnormalities' So how do you avoid this? By INCREASING YOUR CALORIES WHILE PREPPING. 

In order to do this you need to be either in a consistent caloric surplus, or fluctuating between a surplus and a deficit with precise nutrition and training protocols. 

This tactic is my weapon of choice when it comes to avoiding metabolic damage during a contest prep, and also for fixing a busted metabolism from prolonged dieting. By increasing the calorie intake at the start of a prep, I have seen clients in my program increase their metabolic rate by over 150%. See for yourself! 

The main goal of increasing your calorie intake prior to starting your 'fat loss' phase is simple; it allows you to keep your calories high later on, so you can breeze right into the final weeks. 

There are multiple benefits of doing this, such as... 

1. Improved metabolism 

2. Better hormonal signalling 

3. Less muscle atrophy 

4. Better training sessions 

5. Ability to 'function' doing normal tasks throughout the day 

6. A 'fuller' appearance come stage day 

7. Less risk of strength loss 

8. Decreased risk of metabolic damage 

I'm telling you - if you want to step on stage for your competition not only looking amazing but without feeling like DEATH the entire time, this is essential.

3. TRAIN FOR THE BODY YOU WANT

What do you think is normally taught as the most optimal way to train for a fitness competition?

Light weights, high reps, single leg glute kick-backs, upside-down-handstand-pushup-thrusters etc... 

You know what that's going to be good for? Looking like a string bean. 

Training for ANY form of physique competition needs to be treated the same way that other performance athletes train for their chosen sport. Look at all the high level athletes in anaerobic sports... sprinters, crossfitters (don't laugh, these guys and girls are rigs), gymnasts etc. The majority of them are all in superb condition WITHOUT needing to diet to get that way. 

Why is this? Because their bodies have made a physiological adaptation through their training to require a high and frequent level of muscle exertion. The intensity of their training has literally made their bodies NEED to store more glycogen in the muscle tissue and efficiently utilise circulating energy sources in order to function at the most optimal capacity. 

It has actually become more beneficial for their bodies to function with a higher amount of muscle tissue and a lower body fat percentage. 

Now I'm not saying that light weights and high reps don't have their place, but training this way frequently at a low intensity will do very minimal for overall physique progress, provided you aren't trying to nurse an injury. 

You don't need to kill yourself, but you do need to push. Without doing so, you can expect to be dieting on much lower calories and higher cardio for a longer period of time.

4. OPTIMISE YOUR HYDRATION

During a contest prep (or any calorie reduced diet for that matter) – there are going to be times when performance drops. You’ll wake up, feel tired, struggle to push decent weight in the gym and just all around struggle with life. I’m sure those of you who have competed before will know what I’m talking about here! 

It’s easy to place the blame on not enough calories or too much training, but inadequate hydration can be the LARGEST determining factor between a good workout and a mediocre one. As we know, this can be attributed to a variety of reasons 

Why do YOU need to stay hydrated? 

On the cellular level, proper functioning of the body relies on numerous chemical reactions to take place while the materials reacting are transported and suspended in solution. A reduction in the amount of water available to the body starts to affect the concentrations of these solutions (i.e. the amount of water in relation to minerals and other nutrients) quite quickly and this in turn can affect the rates of the various reactions that occur – such as the generation of energy and the removal of waste. 

When training for a physique competition, most of the exercise we are doing requires a high energy production in order to stimulate the metabolism to respond accordingly. Exercise (in general) and heat (internal from energy production) both increase the demand for fluids. As the body works harder, more heat is created, which then needs to be lost. This is the reason why we sweat – to reduce internal heat. Approximately 75% of the energy used in exercise produces heat, with the remaining 25% going towards other functions. 

I know by now you're thinking it... "How much should I drink?!" 

Normally I wouldn't give out this kind of information, but if you're reading this then I honestly value your eagerness to learn. So - here is MY optimal hydration formula for ATHLETES: 

H20 intake = (body weight (kg) / 0.018) + 500ml p/hr of activity (exercise) 

Now remember... hydration isn't JUST about fluid intake. Electrolytes play a key role in optimal hydration too. Sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and chloride are all essential in supporting optimal fluid uptake within the cells, so it's important to factor that in too!

5. DETERMINE YOUR ‘WHY’

Without a doubt, this will be the defining reason between whether you make it on stage looking the way that you want, or not even getting there at all... 

I'm going to let you in on some real talk here and you can take it any way that you like. 

In 2016, we had 96 clients sign up for contest prep throughout the year. Guess how many actually made it to the stage? 28. 

Out of those 28, guess how many won a title? 16 - with only 2 managing to win IFBB national titles. 

Now there's one of two lessons that can be learned here. Either we were terrible coaches in which case you have no need to listen to anything I have to say (and I apologise for wasting your time), OR with all the people who commit to a contest prep - roughly only 30% will actually finish what they started, and an even smaller percentage will go on to WIN a large show. 

Why does this happen? For the most part, it's because competitors haven't cemented the reason why they want to compete. In this sport, many do this as a hobby because the chances of making it are slim. That's the truth. Yet so many have large goals and aspirations to excel in the sport and the industry. 

That's cool, but you better make sure you have a good support crew behind you who will give it to you straight, and be prepared for the worst. 

People will tell you that you look great. 

People will say that you will win. 

People will mention your strongest body parts. 

People will envy you. 

People will be in your corner.