Written by Josh on October 6th, 2010
I don’t want to read any more about bodybuilding. I don’t want to see any more pictures of bodybuilders. I don’t want to listen to anymore bodybuilding podcasts.
I want to be done (with this contest prep, anyway).
I’m ready to move on… and I’ve been ready for a long time now. I’ve known for several months that this will be the last contest that I compete as a beginner. And that’s what’s really been on my mind… after the contest.
So here are a few things I should read before doing my next contest.
Plan
I think the #1 thing I should do next time is map everything out. I really have never mapped anything out besides my diet – which I seem to change on a whim. I don’t want to do that next time. However, I do want to listen to my body, and if something isn’t working right change it… but not nearly as frequently as I did this time around.
Getting lean
I figure there are 2 options for the next diet to improve on how lean I get – either a) diet longer or b) start at a lower bodyfat. Those 2 options will also have to be combined with the nutrition knowledge I’ve learned over the course of this diet. One thing is, I will not do a keto (drop to 0 carbs) hopefully at all, but at least not right away – which is what I did during this contest prep.
Those are the 2 biggest things that will help me when it comes time for contest prep. I did do quite a bit of cardio this time around – but nothing was high intensity… I like doing low intensity cardio – so I don’t think I would change much about that. Next time I would maybe start cardio a little later than I did and try to do the least amount possible. I would rather keep cardio as a tool in my toolbelt and only get it out when it’s needed.
Getting big
This is where I’m having my internal war right now. I’ve always tried to gain as much weight as I can and become as strong as I can after my contests – but I’ve been wanting to take a different approach this time. If I stay leaner, it would help me in 2 ways – 1) getting lean would be easier and 2) I would be able to see if I’m making any gains during the offseason. On the other hand, gaining a bunch of weight would allow me to 1) get stronger and 2) not worry about what I’m eating (doughnuts, brownies, cakes).
I don’t think I can do it halfway – the main reason is because I don’t want to be stuck in the nothing phase. So I either want to stay very lean or get very fat. Maybe I’m too extreme.
One of those options definitely sounds more fun to me and also since I really don’t want to do another bodybuilding contest for several years it might be a good option. But, the one thing I have to keep in mind is that it might be possible to stay lean but also not feel terrible (like I’m dieting for contest prep). If I don’t feel terrible and starving all the time – it might be a good possibility. That’s just one thing I’ll have to see how it goes since I’ve never done it before. The other thing I keep pointing out to myself is that just because I stay lean does not mean I have to stay small! I hate being small and the whole idea of bodybuilding is to build your body.
That’s what I really want to keep my focus on – building my body – the best way I can.
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Tags: best of the midwest, bodybuilding, diet, food, future, thoughts, update
