Preparing for June 2010

[Diabetic Muscle]

Hi guys and girls. I have picked a contest for next year that is near me to compete in. I'm 190 lbs about 15% bf right now. Any tips for what to do between now and then. I figure I will probably have to start my diet in Feb. and enlist the help of collette but until then I'm a little unsure if I should try to get down to 10 or 12% and then bulk until feb? or just keep trying to gain mass without a large increase in BF? Any help would be great. oh and this will be my first show.

[NATURAL-1987]

I'd ask collette what she wants you to do. I really dont know what you look like right now or roughly where she would want you to be at(BF wise) at how many weeks before a show. From there I would be glad to give some advice.Because you are doing your first show I will give you an example of what I am getting at so you better understand.
I am currently 243lbs and have been so for the last 3-4months. I am competing on april 10th. My coach wants me to maintain my body weight for right now because anymore weight would make it too hard for me to diet down and still get my skin tight enough. He wants me to do a mini diet(basically up my cardio a day(to 4 total) and not have any cheat meals from november 2nd-chrstmas. He wants me at 228lbs by chrstmas so I can eat a little bit then. By eating a bit during christmas it means my body will respond better then if we just kept going with no break. I will have 14 weeks to drop no more then 20lbs if I am 228lbs on January 4th.
Kind of get what I am saying? Some coaches dont care how heavy you are and will just start your diet earlier, others want you to stay within a certain BF range or if you know what weight you will roughly be then a certain amount of lbs for a certain amount of weeks. I would speak to her about what she wants and then go from there. Good luck and what show is this?

[Diabetic Muscle]

Pics would probably help. I understand what your saying. I personally think a lean bulk until Feb would be best but I will send collette a message and see what she says.

[NATURAL-1987]

Yeah, I'd like to see you put on more muscle, but be really careful about how much fat your putting on with it. I would go to 8 meals/day so that they are all smaller, this should help bring your waistline down a bit while still eating enough to grow.

[Diabetic Muscle]

I have been doing 20 mins of interval cardio 2x a week and 30-45 mins moderate intensity cardio 2x a week should I stay or go more? I am leaning out a little bit but the scale keeps going up about 1lb to 2lbs a month. What about training legs 2x a week? Strength goes up but not much in the size department.

[NATURAL-1987]

As far as legs go.Are you training to build them bigger or get them stronger? What I mean by this is many people can stack a leg extension or load up plates on a leg press but dont really feel the muscle working. Concentrate on feeling the muscle work and using it to move the wieght. Not momentum, not your joints. I was a victim of doing this for a while so maybe you are too. Also, don do cardio the day you do legs, if you can wait 2 days that would be better yet, you might be over training them. Dont do any more cardio!!!!! I seriously do less then what your doing pre-contest.

[Diabetic Muscle]

I recently moved my feet down the platform for leg press and hack squats and feel a much better burn in quads. Thinking about going from back squats to front squats tend to feel a better contraction in the muscle with those. I might cut back to cardio just 3 x a week. 2 moderate sessions and 1 interval just to keep my cardiovascular conditioning up. I hear you about cardio after legs I normally have to take a shake to the gym cause I need a few mins to recoup before I walk to my car. haha I really appreciate the help.