I’m going to share with you the absolute best contest prep cycle.  It just may surprise you.  You’ve probably been watching and admiring the figure and physique competitors and wonder how they got in such GREAT shape.  How do those athletes get those lean, yet muscular and sexy bodies?  Is there a secret way they diet and workout for a competition.

Getting a contest-ready body does take some time, focus, dedication and of course hard work. No one just wakes up one morning with the prefect physique and walks on stage in a posing suit and heels and steals the show.

If you ever wanted to enter a competition or just look like a figure model, I am going to share with you the insider edition of a contest prep cycle.  It’s the course of action the pros take to attain such as great physique.

Your contest prep cycle should include:

• Building a solid foundation
• Make 100% use of your off-season eating and training
• Proper rep range to build the base

Use Weight Training to BUILD a SOLID Foundation

The resistance bands and kettlebell trend workouts are in full-effect right now and many athletes are using them as the bulk of their weight training. While such exercises may benefit someone who needs to lose a lot of weight such as those on The Biggest Loser, they are not necessarily the exercises you should do to build a contest-ready physique.

If you ever seen a competitor or been to a contest you will notice the ladies have muscles. Weight training with good ‘ole iron builds the solid and sexy muscle the judges are hungry for.

You NEED to use weight training (barbells, dumbbells, machines, cables) to build a lean and solid muscle base. You have to have a solid foundation built to support strict dieting and high-intensity cardio in your prep. If you don’t use weights as the bulk of your weight training, you will only end up on stage looking skinny and frail. The judges aren’t awarding rail-thin physiques. If you don’t have enough lean muscle the judges will look over you and you could possibly place last.

Utilize Your Off-Season to BUILD Muscle

Think about it… What is the first thing you notice when you see a well-developed competitor? You see lean muscle. Right?

The athletes you see on stage, online, and in all the fitness magazines on the book store shelf built their physique in the off-season. Off-season is the time when you feed your body enough quality calories and protein to build as much lean and dense muscle tissue as possible. You do not have to bulk-up to gain good solid lean muscle tissue.

Weight training in the off-season should mimic a bodybuilding workout where you incorporate heavy-load workouts. To build muscle you have to target the growth muscle fibers, type 2b muscle fibers. The growth fibers are stimulated when you train heavy, ’till failure, in the 6-10 rep range.

Your off-season training should be heavy and basic and shouldn’t last more than 45 minutes. Get a balanced weight training split, training each muscle group once a week. Choose 2-3 exercises per body part. You don’t need to do a lot, you just have to make what you do count.

Keep in mind your off-season training will vary greatly from your workout you do when you prep for your show.

• Off-season is the time frame you eat and train to put on muscle

• Contest prep time is the time frame you eat, weight train, and do cardio to shed fat

Build your lean muscle mass in the off-season. If you do not have muscle, you can not win a competition.

Know Your Rep Range

It is critically important that you know your rep range when you train for your contest. Many first-time competitors are under the impression that they have to have marathon workouts in order to get into condition. Your diet and cardio will take care of fat loss. Keep your workouts focused on the muscle development aspect, training until complete and utter failure for each and every set.

During the course of your prep you will lose some strength and energy, and only then should you lower your poundage and include more reps. When your strength and energy starts getting tapped into adjust your rep range to 10-15 reps per set.

Prepping for a show does not have to be a difficult task. You just need to know and implement a few basics. When you put into action the right way to train for your competition, you will begin to see your body transform in just days.

Last Thing on Contest Prep Cycle

It’s not enough just to train hard, you have to train SMART and CORRECTLY.  If you give yourself AT LEAST 12 months to lay the foundation, then cycle into prep mode, you will have more muscle and definition and shine on stage like the winner.  See below for more information…