Leaning Out/Contest Prep Thread

When I was delusional back in my mid 20’s I got up to 237 at one point, and when I started the fat loss process I thought… FOR SURE… that I would be as lean as I ever needed to be around 200-205… Then 190ish. Okay, okay, 180 for sure… Damn really? 170 then?? NOT YET! ARE YOU SERIOUS!??

Granted, I came in on the small (bust most conditioned) side, but boy that was an eye opener for sure.

This thread has me getting the urge again… Sitting around 190 right now, might need to take another 12-16 week run at 165-170 come new years.

2 Likes

Urge to compete again?! :grin:

The thing is I already had a grip on what weight was necessary for me to look good at onstage, so I was not really alarmed at how much I needed to lose when I started.

And as I said, lay people, let alone uninformed aspiring BB competitors have–excuse my French–NO FUCKING CLUE as to what BBers weight onstage and throw around the word skinny as if they don’t understand what he meaning of the word skinny is. Just today, while in clothing, I got told by four people–all of whom are astonished by my IG pictures and what I look like unclothed–that I am skinny. I don’t blame them for their ignorance, but I rather chuckle, and ask, “Do you really think a bodybuilder can afford to be skinny or even think of placing while skinny?” Regular people simply have absolutely no idea the difference between lean, shredded, and skinny, and what unassisted people weigh while in those conditions at specific heights with varying amounts of muscle mass.

3 Likes

I’ll admit that even competing myself, I thought j was tiny getting up onstage those first few times. In hindsight, I was pretty darn thick for a guy of my height and structure.

S

Its kinda a relief reading those posts about weight on cutting, im not a very muscular guy, in fact i have long arms, thin bones and average genetics but im training for about 7 years and now that i lost almost 7 kg i look pathetic on clothes and looking a little better without clothes… but people ask me every-single- f*n day if i stopped training or if im sick or something like this and im not even close to the bf that i want

They asked if I was sick in the past half year too several times.

1 Like

When I was in (physique) contest shape–and I wasn’t as lean as Brick is now–my wife said I looked “scrawny.” Thanks for the support hon!

2 Likes

This is an off-kilter, distorted pic, but I just wanted to check out what I look like from behind with my posing trunks that arrived yesterday. Mac has a timer for only three seconds.

I think I MIGHT get the defined glutes by Saturday. Not many get it, but who knows.

1 Like

“Skinny” is the only word non-training people know for that state. I wouldn’t take it to heart too much…but it can be rough to hear

Dude.

I’m really excited to see how you execute the show. I can sit here and tell you how great you look (and you do), but I want to see you smoke some people on that stage. You have worked hard and suffered…and it shows. You’re looking dry, lean, and grainy in a lot of shots (not old-man, 40-yr-old-pro grainy, but dry-hard-grainy).

Here comes Peak Week!

1 Like

@IronAndMetal Thank you very much. I turned 37 in June. :slight_smile:

So what are your depletion days going to look like from a training perspective Brick?

Just trying for glycogen depletion, caloric burn type stuff. No training to failure, no crazy heavy or high volume, no cardio. Just some basic antagonistic work, and a diet to support depletion.

S

2 Likes

Fair. Are you guys going to be lowering the calories further or simply changing the macro breakdown to support a ketogenic diet and keeping calorie levels the same?

Just a macro shuffle. I’ve found in the past that you can even end up with higher cals for those few days and your body doesn’t even notice.

S

2 Likes

I always wonder about that. It seems everyone is different. Also regarding carb up as well.

Oh yeah, plenty of variables and individual considerations. Without any actual data to support this, I like to think that if a body is still expecting/looking for carbs, you can get away with other macros (i.e. Extra fat cals) sneaking by for a brief period of time.

S

1 Like

Yeah with the carb loading for the first show we did all day Friday, and found I could handle more than anticipated, so for the second show I started my carb load Thursday evening, then all day Friday. Also experimented with different foods/carb choices on the carb loads and show days, and found I responded really well to simple and sugary stuff like rice cakes with honey, Reese’s spread and goldfish graham crackers!

2 Likes

@BrickHead I know you mentioned wanted grow a business of helping people with training/diet. How is that going? Has your contest prep helped in any way? Is social media helpful? Or are you really just focusing on the prep for now?

Found this on IG and it seemed appropriate :slight_smile:

S

5 Likes