Bodybuilders understand they have to radically alter their nutrition plan previous to competition in order to shed as much excess body fat as possible. While there is great emphasis on diet- eating less carbohydrates, increasing protein and keeping dietary fat to a minimum, many bodybuilders don’t know how to change their training in order to maximize muscle size. This month, I plan to share with you 5 important tips that can help you maintain your muscle mass while getting as ripped as possible.
1) Stay Heavy
While there is some wisdom to performing higher reps before a contest, the fact remains, bodybuilders should not train in a rep range higher than 12. Heavy weight is a core stimulus for muscle growth. Every bodybuilder knows to add size and get bigger, you have to increase the amount of weight you lift on most of the basic exercises. On the other hand, bodybuilders often train lighter before a contest which is a mistake. When you train too light, muscle tissue shrinks giving you either a smaller or flat appearance. In addition, when your muscles shrink – or you loose size from training too light – the metabolic rate tends to drop.
While no ripped to the bone bodybuilder can expect to train as heavy pre-contest, all the way up to the final week previous to a competition, as he does in a mass building phase, it is essential to train as heavy as possible before competition. Heavy weights maintain the stimulus on muscles before competition which helps you
retain muscle while engaged in a rigorous diet. When the poundages or ‘weight’ you use plunges before a contest, the result is a loss in muscle mass. In general, you ought to be able to lift 85-90% of your normal weight in a pre-cotest phase. For example, the bodybuilder who bench presses 150 kg for 8 reps in the off season, ought to be able to lift 127 kg (85%) and up to135 kgs (90%) in before a contest. When a bodybuilder lifts less than 85 to 90% of his off season weight, rest assure, he’s going to shrink and lose a lot of mass.
2) Shorten The Rest Periods
Before a competition, decreasing the amount of rest in between sets is a good way to increase the total calories burned in each training session. In particular, shorter rest periods tend to burn up stored muscle glycogen which, in turn, causes a shift in metabolism causing the body to burn additional body fat. The pre-contest bodybuilder can rest as little as 40 seconds on smaller body parts such as biceps, triceps, calves, abs and 1 minute for larger body parts like chest, back, quads and hamstrings. As a rule of thumb, bodybuilders can burn more calories and body fat with shorter rest periods. In fact, very short rest periods – even shorter than those I just recommended might even be better for ripping up. However if the poundages or ‘weight used’ drops below the 85% threshold mentioned in tip # 1, then you will end up losing muscles mass. Therefore, keep your rest periods brief before competition yet maintain heavy weights. If your weight begin top drop below 85% of your off season poundage, you may be training too quickly between sets. In that case, I would suggest you slow down a bit and jeep the guidelines I suggested; 40 seconds for smaller body parts and 1 minute for large. Of course, there are always exceptions. That is, you might want to rest 45 seconds to a minute on smaller bodyparts and up to 90 seconds on larger body parts. Keep an eye on your poundages. If you can maintain them close to off season poundages, then try shorter rest periods. And if the poundages start to fall, make an adjustment and rest a bit longer
3) Cycle Short Rest Periods With Longer Rest Periods
You can not train with shorter rest periods during the entire contest preparation period. Shorter rest periods, in general, can lead to a drop in the amount of ‘weight’ you handle which leads to a loss in muscle mass. In simple terms, if you can bench press 150 kgs for 8 reps in the off season and rest 2 –3 minutes in between sets, changing to shorter rest periods might cause a drop in poundages where you wont be able to lift 85 to 90 % of the weight you were doing in the off season. With that in mind, the bodybuilder can benefit by cycling shorter rest periods with longer rest periods. In other words, he can maintain greater strength levels while incorporating shorter rest periods by using both short rest periods and normal/off season rest periods. The ideal way to cycle rest periods is to train 2 consecutive weeks using short rest periods (30-60 seconds between sets) followed by 2 consecutive weeks following longer rest periods, closer to those typical in a mass building phase (1 1/2 to 3 minutes between sets). Alternating from shorter rest periods to longer rest periods can help aid recovery by preventing a state of overtraining that can occur with shorter rest periods. At the same time, it allows the bodybuilder to benefit from the calorie burning effect of shorter rest periods without causing a marked drop off in the ‘weights’ or poundages used.
4) Never Train More Than 3 Consecutive Days in A Row
Contest training requires the addition of cardio to stimulate the loss of body fat with a decrease in carbs and fat to create a caloric deficit leading to further fat loss. This added-exercise-drop-in-calorie approach can quickly lead to overtraining. Most bodybuilders fail to recognize the signs of over training as they’re usually pre-occupied with getting in great shape and are constantly worried taking a day or two off from training to avoid overtraining might prevent them from getting as ripped as possible. Not resting sufficiently leads to over training which, in turn leads to a loss in muscle, a drop in the metabolic rate, and a drop in testosterone and IGF levels.
One of the better ways to approach your training before a competition is to incorporate complete days of rest; no training, no cardio. Rest days help the bodybuilder avoid overtraining allowing him to hold onto more mass while dieting. Muscle mass maintenance is the key to pre-contest preparation because greater mass obviously is what bodybuilding is all about and the more mass you can retain while dieting, the higher your metabolism which makes losing body fat a lot easier. I suggest bodybuilder either use a 2 on 1 off training plan where the entire body is worked over a 6 day period and a full day of rest is taken after 2 consecutive days of training. Another alternative is to use the 3 on 1 off 1 on 1 off method. Here the entire upper body is trained in the first 3 days (spreading the upper body training over these days) followed by a complete day off. Returning to the gym, the bodybuilder would train legs, hamstrings and calves with the following day completely dedicated to rest. (then repeat the cycle) This ensures the bodybuilder have sufficient rest which leads to greater muscle retention while dieting.
While some bodybuilders like to train 5 or 6 days a week before a competition, perhaps training 1 to 2 body parts daily every day except Sunday, it’s better to set aside complete rest days as even small amounts of activity (training or cardio) each and every day can lead to a loss of muscle due to a drop in hormones that comes with every-day training. Bodybuilders still believe its impossible to overtrain by breaking their workouts into very brief session. While brief training sessions, lasting an 30 to 60 minutes might not cause the body to fall into a state of overtraining, chronic everyday training, no matter how brief the training session, can promote overtraining. Continuous training becomes a chronic stress on the body which will, over time, lead to overtraining- which leads to a loss in muscle. The answer; complete days off- even during the contest prep phase!
