Top Three Tips to help you win your first Bodybuilding show!
Whether it’s your first or twenty-first contest, I’m sure you want to win
it!! It’s just competitive human nature, everyone wants to win and be the best
on stage. However, there can be only one first place winner! I’m here to help
you be that 1st place winner. Follow my 3 pre-contest tips & you will be the one
grasping that first place trophy!
#1. Start your diet early!
Most guys tell me how they dieted for 8-10 weeks and were ripped and ready
for their contest. When contest day comes along, all of a sudden, they look like
Jaba the Hut, not a shredded freak. All I hear them say is,”yeah, I was holding
a little water.” If I only had a dollar for every time I heard that one! Hey
buddy, I hate to tell you this, but that ain’t water your holding, your fat!
Jaba needs at least another 4 weeks of solid dieting and cardio to be “contest”
ready. Don’t get me wrong, some genetically gifted people can get away with an 8
week diet, but for the average guy, it’s just not possible. The best advice I
can give someone, who wants to look his or her best, is to aim to be “contest”
ready at least 2 weeks before your show. I start my diet 16-18 weeks before my
shows. It’s not hardcore dieting, but I can usually do a show 2-3 weeks before
hand. If I’m ready early, cool, I’ll look great for my photo shoots and coast up
until ShowTime. If I’m not looking 100% ready, at least I won’t have to freak
out and diet so hard that I lose my hard earned muscle. I can make the necessary
refinements, diet for a couple more weeks, and feel confident that I look my
best. Start your diet early; you’ll be thanking me later!
#2. Follow a high protein, low carb cycle diet!
I’ve trained and advised quite a few people for bodybuilding contests. I,
personally, have competed in 19 amateur and professional contests. I tried a
variety of different diets, but the one that always made me (and everyone I
trained) look phenomenal, was the low carb cycle diet. Yes it’s true, when I
follow a very low carb diet, I feel like dog shit, want to kill everyone around
me, sometimes struggle through my workouts, but always look my best at the end
of the diet. It’s not easy, and you have to be very disciplined, but you’ll look
completely shredded by the time contest day rolls around. Here is how it works:
(Example for a 230lb man at 10-12 weeks left in his diet)
Day 1:
Carb intake:
- .8grams of carbs x bodyweight
- 185 grams of carbs on day one.
- Approximately 37grams per meal x 5 meals, meal 6 no carbs!
Protein intake:
- 1.5 grams of protein x bodyweight.
- 345 grams of protein per day
- Approximately 57.5 grams x 6 meals per day.
Day 2 &3:
Carb intake:
- .6 grams of carbs x bodyweight
- 138 grams of carbs on days 2 &3.
- Approximately 27 grams per meal x 5 meals, meal 6 no carbs!
Protein intake:
- 1.7 grams of protein x bodyweight
- 391 grams of protein per day
- Approximately 65 grams x 6 meals per day.
Day 4 &5:
Carb intake:
- .5 grams of carbs x bodyweight
- 115 grams of carbs on days 4 & 5.
- Approximately 23 grams per meal x 5 meals, meal 6 no carbs!
Protein intake:
- 1.8 grams of protein x bodyweight
- 391 grams of protein per day
- Approximately 69 grams x 6 meals per day.
Day 6:
Carb intake:
- 40grams of carbs after morning cardio session.
- Then, 25 grams of carbs after weights.
- Rest of day, veggies with meals.
Protein intake:
- 1.9 grams of protein x bodyweight
- 432 grams of protein on day 6.
- Approximately 72 grams x 6 meals per day
Day 7:(yeah!)
Carb intake:
- 2.2 grams of carbs x bodyweight
- 500 grams of carbs per day.
- Approximately 84 grams of carbs x 6 meals on day 7
Protein intake:
- Only 1-1.2 grams x bodyweight
- 46 grams of protein x 6 meals
This low carb cycling diet seems to work best for me, and people I train.
High, spiked levels of insulin just make you fat. Therefore, stay away from
sugars, fruits, milk and refined foods. Choose complex carbs to keep your
insulin levels stable, like oats, brown rice. Potatoes are not a bad choice
either. If you get hungry, eat some veggies, they are fibrous carbs and don’t
have many calories (you can eat a bunch and not feel guilty about it!) I put a
high carb day in there mainly for mental reasons, but also to accelerate your
metabolism. You body will also increase Leptin, a hormone signal responsible for
reducing your appetite and increasing brown fat thermogenesis (burns the
stubborn fat your body likes to hold on to). Try this diet, you can do it!
You’ll be amazed at how fast you melt away your bodyfat!
#3. Do cardio and train Heavy/Intense!
Cardio burns fat, plain and simple. It speeds up your metabolism and you’ll
actually “feel” better throughout the day. First thing in the morning on an
empty stomach is the most effective time to do your cardio. Your body has fasted
for about 8 hours while you slept. It’s been proven that you will burn through
the little carbs in your system and aim straight for the body fat! Take your
thermogenic formula or some caffeine and ephedrine, drink 20oz of water, and do
30-45 minutes of solid cardio. I found the stair stepper and incline treadmill
to work the best for my clients and myself. Alternate 2 days of stair stepper,
with one day of inclined treadmill. I start cardio 12 weeks out at 3 times per
week. At 10 weeks, I go up to 4 cardio sessions per week. And at 6 weeks, 5
cardio sessions per week. Do cardio up until the Tuesday before your contest.
Do you want to look like a bodybuilder or a tri-athlete?? Well, if you
perform high reps and use light weights in hopes of etching in detail, you’ll
turn out lanky and flat looking come contest time. You spent months building up
your hard-earned muscle tissue. On stage, you want to be full, ripped and
freaky! Heavy weights in the 8-10 rep range will help you keep your muscle while
dieting. Heavy weightlifting will actually increase your own production of
growth hormone as well! GH is essential for the development of lean muscle mass
and promotes the reduction of body fat. Studies have also shown that GH levels
are increased in high intensity and short rest periods between sets.
(Around one minute rest between sets) So to optimize GH levels and make yourself
into a lean, mean, fat burning machine; train heavy, short, and intense! You’ll
notice a huge difference in the amount of quality muscle tissue you’ve developed
at the end of your diet. You will also make the guy next to you look like Pee
Wee Herman!
Well, that’s all for now. I’m not the only professional bodybuilder that uses
these tips. Look at THE MAN himself, Ronnie Coleman, Mr. Olympia. You won’t see
him using 50lb dumbbells. More like 200 pounders 3 weeks before a contest. There
is a reason he is shredded at 287lbs come contest time. Dexter “The Blade”
Jackson, 3rd place Mr. Olympia, and winner of the GNC, told me, “Art, this is
the first time that I took cardio seriously, and look what happened.” Finally,
the low carb cycle diet is a version of something that I read from a Chris Aceto
article (Jay Cutler’s trainer) a couple years ago. Hmmm, Jay won how many shows
last year? Five!! Enough said.
I really want to see people look their absolute best & bring out all of their
possible potential. Follow these tips and you will look so shredded it’ll hurt
peoples eyes. Whether it’s a local show or a top amateur show, stay focused,
train hard, diet smart & you’ll be on the winners platform!
Make it happen!
-Art Atwood
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