The Grow Build

Condition?

How Come So Many Current Competitors Can't Nail It?

Condition was very much part of the action among the heavyweights at the last IFBB World Amateur Championships.

Friday November 22, 2013, was a frustrating day for bodybuilding as at the prejudging of the NPC Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, with only a few exceptions, most of the 189 competitors across seven weight divisions (bantamweight through superheavyweight) were as off as Elmer Fudd singing Ave Maria. Not that the Fort Lauderdale hopefuls should be picked out for particular attention as it’s been a trend at recent USA and Nationals shindigs for the majority of competitors to miss their peak. (Furthermore at last September’s Olympia maybe only three of the 20 competitors really hit contest condition.) It has to be said that over 24 hours later at the NPC finals of Saturday, November 23, most of the combatants had improved their Friday look by means of dropping water, filling out, better tan or whatever was required. Prominent among those “now-you-don’t-see-it, now-you-do” merchants was lightweight Luis Moreno who has all the bodyparts but was as soft as a Larry King interview at prejudging and then the next day displayed a harder and drier physique that was the best in his division. If he had produced that look on Friday he would have been first instead of his eventual fourth. (A scenario that prompts the thought that maybe bodybuilding should take a leaf out of Formula 1 racing and have a practice round one day, which then allows competitors to fine tune for peak performance the next day). However, even allowing for the general improvement on Saturday, the outcome didn’t equate to a parade of guys nailing it.
So why do so many amateurs turn up at the National level as ready as an uncooked turkey on Thanksgiving afternoon? A personal theory is that part of the syndrome is that because condition is the number one commodity they are trying too hard and doing too many manipulations too late in the day to attain that look. A couple of main contenders didn’t make it to the 2013 Nationals because of eleventh hour strategies that had nothing to do with gym work or the dieting table. More is not always more; it very often is less.

DON'T JUST DO SOMETHING, STAND THERE!

As the text of attached article says, "Dorian Yates fucked the sport up..."

The general feedback from in-the-trenches sources is that too much is going on outside the gym instead of concentrating on balls to the wall training and adherence to proper diet. Of course the drugs are part of the equation, but they have been for 50 years plus, but guys still got into shape. And compare the condition of modern day American amateurs with that of the ripped to shreds hombres who compete at the IFBB World Championships. The mainstay of a pro card winning physique is still a combination of great genetics, balls to the wall training and adherence to proper diet. But too often it seems those priorities become blurred as competitors start their contest diet too heavy and so extra-curricular activities take on more and more importance, with, it seems. less and less effect. Sometimes you just have to stick to your game plan, get to the contest prep starting line at a desired bodyweight, and free yourself of having to resort to Hail Mary tactics. Instead of jumping here, there and everywhere with some exotic compound while the ticking clock getting ever louder, sometimes the best advice is, “Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!”

Mulling this over with long time friend and contest prep advisor Chris Aceto we came up with six of the reasons why many amateurs – and a few pros – minimize their chances of pulling it all together on contest day.

1) They think off-season is an eating contest.

2) See #1: it’s worth repeating.

3) They eat a ton then don’t want to "overtrain", so they don’t train enough.

4) They train too heavy for the sake of training heavy, forgetting you have to WORK a muscle and have to THINK about how to train.

5) Due to 1 and 3 by the time the contest prep phase rolls around they look like the Michelin Man.

6) Thus during the contest prep phase they become marathon runners relying on cardio and other measures to burn fat. In this helter skelter period they are burning off bodyweight but have no idea if it is muscle or fat.

We agreed that the bulking up phase has gotten out of hand. Too many guys bulk up to 300 pounds thinking they’ll come down to 260 in shape. When they get to 260 it’s more like they need to be 240 and the fat burning and muscle wasting games begin. As Chris says, “Of course Dorian Yates fucked the sport up with this bulking up strategy. He did it, so everyone followed – everyone wanted to be 300. But Dorian could handle 300 and carry a lot of muscle at that weight and come in at 260 sliced. He knew what was under that 300. Same with Ronnie Coleman. For too many guys what was under their 300 was not 260 or 250 – it was more like 225.”
In closing Aceto states, “Some guys ask me for advice and email me back their food intake which would support a village in a third world country and a drug protocol that would make Dan Duchaine blush.”
Hmm, I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore.