Contest Prep for 2010 Provincials

[fathead]

i dont really get the point of doing 1hr of cardio if you are going to be eating toast and jam...

i know you say you dont mind putting the work in but.... either way, doesnt make sense to me

[shredded_Tris]

At this point the toast and jam are still in the plan. I am talking about treating with other things. It's a carb cycling diet I don't eat them every day

[natenator]

Do what you want but toast and jam really have no place in a contest diet.

[shredded_Tris]

It will be eliminated guys lol Im not going to have jam through my contest diet. Let's keep in mind I still have 19 Weeks and I am still losing fat. No worries, ya gotta keep a little sane before the hardcore stuff starts.

[steve_d]

I'll have to agree with those saying not to go with extreme cardio. Not that an hour is extreme, or hard (particularly if diet is not hard yet)....But toast and jam doesn't even really have a place on an off-season diet, let alone pre contest. Its not bad as say chips and french fries, and big macs - but that isn't the point.

This far out you are better off just getting your body used to eating x number of times per day and cleaning out the foods that have no benefit to you at all. The cardio will come if you want striated glutes, don't worry...but don't need to be doing an hour this far out - even if you add calories to do so. Better off training harder and burning the calories that way.

Plus, you are going to be a lightweight...striated glutes shouldn't be the goal - think of this as a long term plan. Where will you go from there? How much muscle will you lose in order to get striated glutes? Just don't end up beating your body up for this show.

[Delt King]

The reason we don't do one hour of cardio per day this far out is that it leaves little room to add in more later... Taking a few things out of the diet and letting it do it's work as JohnnyO mentioned is the norm. At this point i don't have my clients doing any cardio at all. But to each his own (keep in mind though 3 national level guys just told you the same thing lol)

[steve_d]

I'll also add my own personal experience to this...In 2003 I did about an hour of cardio for a year straight before a show (it wasn't on purpose for the show - its just what I was doing). I was healthier for it no doubt - and was able to eat more without putting on fat.

But in the end, it was my legs that was always lacking back then. Doing cardio for an hour a day will reduce your intensity in your leg workouts (even though you may think you have all the energy to get an awesome leg workout - your leg workouts would be that much better without it at this point)...

I'd suggested getting 10-15 minutes in at very low intensity just as a warmup for your workouts. Aside from that, use up your energy in the weight room.

[btufts]

definately dont need one hour cardio this far out. if anything i'd be using the last 3 weeks or so just to try and add some more quality mass, start eating healthier foods, things that you could incorporate into your diet and then start tapering down with your calories, or however you plan to do it. you said you were carb cycling. in my experience, just taking out all refined sugar from my diet makes a big difference. but to each his own i guess lol

[shredded_Tris]

The reason we don't do one hour of cardio per day this far out is that it leaves little room to add in more later... Taking a few things out of the diet and letting it do it's work as JohnnyO mentioned is the norm. At this point i don't have my clients doing any cardio at all. But to each his own (keep in mind though 3 national level guys just told you the same thing lol)

Yeah I may just take a few things out of the meal plan for now maybe but I am still only doing about 4 hours a week right now with lots of energy. do you think I should drop it more

[shredded_Tris]

I'll also add my own personal experience to this...In 2003 I did about an hour of cardio for a year straight before a show (it wasn't on purpose for the show - its just what I was doing). I was healthier for it no doubt - and was able to eat more without putting on fat.

But in the end, it was my legs that was always lacking back then. Doing cardio for an hour a day will reduce your intensity in your leg workouts (even though you may think you have all the energy to get an awesome leg workout - your leg workouts would be that much better without it at this point)...

I'd suggested getting 10-15 minutes in at very low intensity just as a warmup for your workouts. Aside from that, use up your energy in the weight room.

I see what you are saying here Steve but would you agree with me if I said you aren't going to really develop any more muscle while dieting for a show, realistically. So saying that I have the muscle that I will be competing with, should I not just focus on shedding the fat now?
and do you think I will be risking that much muscle loss by going for shredded glutes. I would really like to win this one. In your opinion would it really hurt me THAT bad getting to the extra low BF