In the off-season, the goal of the bodybuilder is to add muscle - at all costs. Bodybuilders will train like madmen, consume thousand of calories, sleep for hours, and consume every supplement and steroid under the sun to add muscle to their frame. When it’s time to begin the pre-contest phase, they’re probably feeling as big as a house, and ready to get sliced and diced to show off all this new muscle on stage. Unfortunately, this is not always what happens when the dieting begins. Very often, the bodybuilder will lose much of his valuable muscle during this dieting phase, and show little to no improvement when he finally takes the stage after a year off of competition. This can be a highly disappointing process, one which may cause the bodybuilder to become frustrated and consider leaving the sport he loves so much.

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Dieting down for a show is probably the toughest task a competitive bodybuilder will ever endure. The off-season is tough, because you are completing a lot of sets and using heavy weight. However, you are able to consume a lot of food, and you get a lot of rest. You are growing, and your body is enjoying an overflow of resources. Another common strenuous task includes posing, which can become easier with experience and training. There are others, but the fact of the matter is, only one task involves 3 to 4 months of deprivation and physical demand – pre-contest dieting. Dieting can be made easy if you ask yourself a series of questions, and you are able to find the right answers. Let’s get started!

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Great athletes are often born, not built. Usain Bolt was without a doubt, the fastest 3rd grader, 8th grader, and 10th grader at his school. Of course there were people in his class who probably trained harder and ran the track more often. They might have even had cleaner diets, and wanted it more than Bolt did. However, thanks to genetics and circumstances, Bolt reached the apex of his sport, winning multiple gold medals and shattering world records, while we’ll never hear of those schoolmates who outworked him a decade ago. In track, as with most sports, the tools you are both with will dictate your success.

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Q:  I’m confused about ab training. I’ve heard some guys say they never train them and that dieting and cardio will bring them out. Others seem to tag them on as an after-thought at the end of their workout. When’s the best time to train them, how often should they be trained and, also, is it beneficial to train different portions of the abs separately?

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