“ If stay lean all year , I won ’ t be able to grow ”. Or “ staying lean all year will be so hard , I ’ ll have to DIET all year ?” “ So , I ’ ll be in prep all year , doing arduous amounts of cardio all year long ?”. Ok so this does circles back to some questions from my last article . So , I thought it fair to preface . “ To those of you who may be thinking ”.
So why would the competitive stage athlete , actor influencer etc . Why would you want to do this ? Ok , that ’ s first and the caveat to that is … Why is this utterly essential . Yes that ’ s right , simply it ’ s not just a choice for physical image maintenance or progression , it is a necessary , and critical part of your body ’ s health , mobility , growth and development of the mind body and spirit journey . That is of course , if you desire to this most effectively and treat your body right . Circling back , I say again , this does not mean staying shredded all year not whatsoever . Simply , lean is not shredded , it just means you ’ re not fat . Out of shape so far from the stage that you , out and can ’ t see your abs , and you have to diet off 40 + pounds . Yeah I know some of you out there read that and think wow that ’ s a lot of weight . For the competitive athlete that has experience , you read this , 40 pounds isn ’ t much and we all know people in our community of Machines that have dieted off double that for a show and more , yes and more . I pulled a guy down from 330 lbs super fat , to 227lbs over prep and he took second in heavies at the 2014 southern Alberta ’ s . ( No super heavy category that year ). Did he suffer ? YES , necessarily ? Yes , if he was to get in shape . Did he look good ? Yes , he did , but could he have looked better if he didn ’ t have to drop 100 + pounds ? without a doubt . In the above or similar scenario , muscle is comprised and the body is overworked . No matter what . The response , and result of said scenario is never optimal . Ever . Believe me , I speak from thorough experience on both sides of the stage . I to have been there , if you read my articles you ’ ll know , if you have not , read “ The Evolution of Aging ” for a satirical , yet pragmatic and boldly honest insight into some my own mind body spirit fitness journey . So from my experience as competitor for a decade , and coach for 19 years now . From my journey both on and off the stage . I ’ ve done and continue to do ( my own little meta study ). I have formulated a pretty strong analysis . I also say , zero outcome bias , just the respect and care for my fellow human beings and what can help protect our body mind and soul connection and our longevity of health and mobility in this life , this thing we are so passionate about , our fitness journey .
Ok , now you get super out of shape 40 + pounds over your competition weight because you think that you ’ re going to do your body a service to gaining an exceptional amount of muscle right ? or you go off the rails and you justify eating crap and not giving your nutrition a check because you think well , I ’ ll diet it off in prep and if I need , I have a lot of helping hands that I can put into my body to force an outcome . Well I ’ m happy to say , not sorry . You are mistaken you ’ re 40 + pounds that you gain in the off-season trying to put on mass or being undisciplined and irresponsible , abusive to your body . This MASS is mostly fluid and fat , the muscle that you ’ ve gained all be it may be some , is immature migratory stem cells “ satellite cells “ that have not been present with your Pre-existing maturing muscle , long enough to withstand the increasingly negative impact of your extreme preps . Fat burning ancillary use of compounds , and caloric deficit strategies complete with oh yes , all the cardio . Absolutely annihilates the new muscles are trying to establish as mature , and in many cases actually eat into your pre-existing mature muscle mass . Why ? Doing a lot of cardio which can 21