After nine years of bodybuilding I am finally embarking on my first 'proper'
off-season. I realize that sounds quite strange, because by now I should
have mastered the art of building solid new muscle in the off-season.
However, due to following and believing bad advice, my previous attempts of
gaining muscle in the off-season, ended up been nothing more than fat
building!
Previously before now, I used to follow the 'old school' strategy of
'bulking up' excessively with the hope that under the ever increasing fat
gains I was also adding some serious muscle. Sadly, I let my waist size
increase to huge proportions, to the point where I would no longer look like
I was a serious bodybuilder, and resemble an out of shape beer drinker
instead.
The word aerobics and clean eating was foreign to me at the time.
I happily took weight gainer drinks, 750 calories at a time, three times a
day, with the belief that the body needs all of the calories and carbs in
order to grow. On reflection, I wish I had been smarter and listened to my
friends when they said I was getting too out of shape, but as a your trainee
I had my 'blinkers' on and wouldn't change my routine.
Don't get me wrong, I was training seriously during this time, always
striving for heavier weights and a good deal of the weight gained was
muscle. However, looking back I know where I was making the big mistakes
and now I'm in a position to never make them again as I embark on what I'd
like to think of my first off-season where I'm doing things properly.
MY GOALS FOR THIS OFF-SEASON
Having just completed the 'Body For Life' Challenge I have now set my new
main goal of competing in the SNBF Georgia Show in April 2003. This gives
me six months for serious 'off-season' training. My six month goals are:
- To gain at least 1 pound of muscle per month.
- Maintain my new lean physique, not gaining any unwanted body fat.
- Increase strength levels on all exercises, each session is a chance to
reach new heights.
- Follow a consistent 'bodybuilding' diet, not a 'bulking diet'.
- Prioritize my weakness, Chest and Arms, bringing them up to par with rest
of my body.
- Take in at least 300 grams of protein each day.
- Perform at least four aerobic sessions per week, keeping the fat off and
my cardio-vascular levels high.
- Be flexible with my routine and diet, if something isn't working change
it straight away and get back to progressing.
- Never stop learning. Read articles regularly on 'bodybuilding.com' for
new information, inspiration and refreshing me on subjects that I might not
have read in some time.
- Evaluate my progress daily. This includes my training, diet, mental
state and how my physique is responding to my present routine.
MONITORING YOUR DIET AS CAREFULLY AS YOU WOULD PRE-CONTEST
I follow many of the top natural bodybuilders and they all seem to almost
keep their off-season diets as clean as they do pre-contest. Skip La Cour,
multiple winner of the Team Universe, eats almost exactly the same all year
round, just with bigger portions in the 'building' stages to give the muscle
the correct quality nutrition needed to grow.
The main problem I had was that I was simply over-feeding myself. I took in way too many carbs and fat
that my body needed. All that happens in this situation is that your body
stores the extra calories as fat, which is no use to you and is a pain in
the ass to shift when you decide to 'cut-up' later.
For this off-season, I am going to keep a daily record of my diet, so I can
clearly understand how my body is reacting to the amounts of food I'm
eating. This way, I will know if I can increase my intake when my weight is
staying stable, or if I need to cut back slightly if my waist starts to
increase.
Rich Gaspari, used to keep records all year long to fully
understand his body and being a 'Haney' away from winning the Olympia you
can see that it is well worth doing. When I do decide to increase my intake
it will be in small 250 - 500 calorie jumps, depending on my needs, adding
an extra meal replacement might be just the trick to gaining new muscle.
Previously, I wouldn't think twice about eating junk food in the off-season
and allowed myself anything I wanted, foolishly thinking that I would use
the 1000 calories I got for the pizza to build more size. Now, I will make
sure I'm only having a cheat meal once a week.
I know this can be hard to follow with all the tempting fast food places everywhere, however I know
that by sticking to my plan and eating the muscle building diet I will reap
the rewards much sooner, and be proud of my dedication and accomplishments.
I will continue to be strict on my supplement intake, making sure that I
take in enough quality Whey protein, Glutamine, Creatine, Meal Replacements
and Amino Acids in order to give my body the optimum environment for muscle
growth.
I will also experiment with other supplements that I haven't used
before to see if they work well for me. I used to slack off on my
supplement timing and sometimes used to miss taking them because of the
costs involved. I am now allowing for those expenses and plan for the costs
accordingly so that I never run out of the supplements I need.
OFF-SEASON TRAINING
I haven't competed since 1996 and am really motivated to do well in my
return to competition. This involves making some big improvements and being
continuously progressive each week with my training. I keep charts which
show each weight session and I put in my performance each session, so that I
can see how things are going and get fired up to improve further.
The charts include my strength goals for the end of the off-season so to never
let me get complacent. I find this practice very motivating and would
recommend anyone to do this to push themselves to new levels.
I am following a four way split as per my BFL training routine. I'm still
getting good gains from this so will keep using it until I feel the need to
change things around.
I like to cycle my exercise sequence and selection in
order to keep my body guessing and I have two routines that I alternate
between. I vary my rep scheme to further ensure that I keep the muscle from
becoming stale. Below is my off-season routine:
Day 1: Chest, Calves, Tricesp, Abs
Day 2: Back, Rear Delts, Traps, Biceps
Day 3: Aerobics And Abs
Day 4: Delts, Triceps, Biceps
Day 5: Legs, Deadlifts, Calves
Day 6: No Training
Day 7: Aerobics And Abs
Each session counts, so unlike before I would miss training through the
occasional lazy spell, I will now never miss training. Unless I'm ill, or
there is a family crisis I will be following my training plan to perfection.
Sure, I appreciate that there will be obstacles to steer me off course,
however that's what forward planning and organization is all about.
Vacations, work and your social life, these can all present their own
problems. But if you're flexible and motivated you'll be able to continue to
train 100% constantly.
OFF-SEASON AEROBIC WORK
In the past, this would only involve 5 minutes on the bike prior to a
workout. Now, I realize the real benefits to doing aerobics all year round.
Apart from the obvious health reasons such as lower heart rate, lower
blood pressure, improved circulatory system, another great benefit is
keeping the metabolism fired up. This is very important when you want to go
into your pre-contest phase, your body is already burning calories
efficiently and you don't have to spend months trying to get the metabolism
up.
I used to believe that doing aerobics would stop me from building
muscle. I realize now that by doing four aerobic sessions per week you will
not inhibit muscle growth and actually this allows you to eat more due to
the calories burned.
For aerobics, I personally alternate between normal 30
minutes lower intensity aerobic session and 15 minutes high intensity
interval sessions. I find this an effective method of preventing aerobic
work from becoming boring.
I hope that by reading this article some people who might be making the same
mistakes I used to will be able to correct them and start following a better
system during the off-season.
No longer, do I view the off-season as the
easy part of the training cycle. In fact, now I see it as important as
pre-contest. It is the off-season when you get the opportunity to make some
serious muscle gains, which after a pre-contest diet can be proudly
displayed on stage.
All the best,
ryanmackie@hotmail.com
Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here!
Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
Read Visitor Reviews - Write Your Own Review
Back To Ryan Mackie's Main Page
Back To The Articles Main Page.
Related Articles
How Your Personality Affects Your Training!
Diary Of A Madman!
Stop The Madness: Is Inconsistency Sabotaging Your Gains?
