Competition diet minus the competition

[katyloyal]

How valuable does anyone think it would be to go through the "pre-contest" diet and training regimen even if you aren't competing, just for the purpose of practice, and jolting your metabolism.

If I were to do something like this, it would only be a once every few months occurrance.

[BuffedWildCat]

A pre-contest diet is not going to jolt your metabolism, rather, it will do the opposite.

Personally, I would save a pre-contest diet for when you are already pretty lean, like 18% or below, otherwise I think you will be shooting yourself in the foot cause then when/if you do get that lean, then you won't have anything DIFFERENT to throw at your body to keep the fat loss going. Believe me, I know! I've dieted so much that my body has adapted to pretty much everything I throw at it so much so that I'm having a heck of a time getting leaner than 17%. So if I were you, I'd save a pre-contest diet til when you REALLY need it, when it would become a highly valuable last "trick" to keep fat loss going. If you use it now, yes, you will lose, but then I'm pretty sure you will plateau before you are as lean as you want to be then you will have nowhere else to go with your diet. You see what I mean? But ultimately it's up to you, just thought I'd give my perspective on it cause I've "been there, done that".

[SumthinOrNuthin]

Difficult question.

I guess it depends on what kind of person you are, how you handle extreme situations and what your motivation is.

Contest prep is incredibly hard work both mentally and physically. You need to be strong enough in both respects to be able to plough on despite occasionally feeling like utter crap. Those BB-ers you see on stage looking awesome, strong and healthy are in a pronounced physically and mentally weakened state.

Also, something to consider is how many weeks you would stick to that regime. Say you decided 12 weeks. The 12 weeks pass and then what? You need a strategy for the 'then what'. Again, it depends on your personality. If you think you could do a 12 week contest prep then look at yourself and feel content, and be prepared to go back to a more normal and less rigourous regime, then cool. If you're the sort of person who is never content with their look, what happens if after 12 weeks you feel you have to continue? But for how long, where are you actually trying to go?

Also, consider where you're starting from. Only you can judge where your body is at now. What can you realistically expect in, say, 12 weeks? What happens if it takes you only part of the way to where you want to be? If you've used every weapon in your armoury and are still discontent, then what?

On motivation, if you're just curious and feel you're not susceptible to any of the potential hang-ups then I guess yeah, do it. I'm all for experimenting and seeing what my tolerances are. If your motivation is more a dose of impatience because you feel you're not progressing quickly enough then I would be concerned. There are a ton of steps inbetween making little or no progress and contest prep conditions.

ACK .... I realise I could ramble on about this forever ....... ..... lol

[katyloyal]

sumthinornuthin you're not rambling

I am in no way thinking about doing this for an "extra" boost. Like you had suggested, it would be more of an experiment.

I've been an athlete all of my life, so have gotten pretty used to being pushed to extremes. I am more or less curious about how my body would react to experimenting with the Pre-contest regimen, what I might learn and what I can change for the future.

I started lifting at 18years old just for fun and to stay in shape. But now, at 24years old, this is the first time I'm lifting/dieting, taking notes, devising programs, etc. When I first started my only goal was to get my health back, but I feel so great doing this that I've started suggesting to myself the thought of eventually competing some day.

I hope that makes sense?

[OzzieJ]

I say why not!!!

Preparing for a show is a mental and physical challenge. During the process you find out just how strong and focused you can be. You may even find it quite surprising how your body will respond to the whole process. Once you start to notice the significant changes in your body you should think about doing a show because when you stand on stage after all that hard work it kind of brings it all to the forefront...thats the finale, the photo finish, the climax of all those weeks.

Since completing my first season of competing last year its great to know that I have control over how I want my body look (Rock Hard Sexy or Smooth & Seductive). Think About It......

Sincerely,

Ozzie J