Eating after the event
It is a well-known fact that following training your body ability to synthesis protein is enhanced. It is also pretty well known that post training muscle tissue becomes more insulin sensitive and simple carbohydrates are more likely to replenish glycogen than be stored as body fat at this time.

This knowledge is in itself a great thing but it has lead athletes in to the habit of eating after the event and ignoring their nutrient needs at other times. For example, you need carbs well before you train in order to get through the session. You need a high blood pool of aminos DURING training to get the growth process off to the best possible start. These aminos will come from the protein you ate hours before you trained, or in the case of whey at least 90 minutes beforehand.

Ditto for antioxidants. Take your free radical scavenging goodies before you train so they are actually in the blood stream having an effect at the time of greatest oxidative stress (during and immediately after training) instead of having them sit in your stomach digesting while your workout damaged body screams for some help.

This same strategy should be brought to bear all day long. If you are going to be sitting on a chair for the next 3 hours then cut out some carbs and keep the protein high in your meal. If you have a gruelling leg workout coming up then get your complex carbs, a mix of proteins, plenty fluids and antioxidants in before you even set off for the gym. By all means continue to supplement your training with post workout specialist nutrition but do it as part of an overall nutrition strategy based on your upcoming needs.

Self-delusion
Rare is the day when a competitive bodybuilder admits to being well beaten by his competitors. All you ever see on the boards is excuses and bitching about who the judges were, who’s partner organised the show and every other wild conspiracy theory that someone can think of to explain why there under tanned, badly presented and soft as Rowntree’s Jelly physique didn’t win the whole show.

Once again this stems from the subjective way in which bodybuilding is judged, but it could be helped out a lot if judges were forced to take written notes on each physique along with scoring in each round. The competitors could then view these documents after the show and see what was lacking. If every judge at the table writes “Followed the Homer Simpson pre-contest diet” next to your name in the posing round then you know what the problem was, right?

Self-delusion…AGAIN!
Bodybuilders are the best athletes in the world at kidding themselves they are making progress simply because their sport has very little in the way of truly objective criteria for judging performance gains. In order to compensate for this every bodybuilder should have photos taken once or twice a year in the same light, in the same poses. Every bodybuilder should keep track of his / her muscular girths and have his / her body fat tested at least once a year also.

In short if you are gaining lean mass and or losing body fat your muscular girths will increase whilst your waist will remain much the same. If you are not losing fat or gaining muscle then what the heck are you training for? Bodybuilding is a sport of large, lean muscles so if you are not getting bigger and / or leaner you are not succeeding in bodybuilding. Forget all the nonsense about “increasing density” or “quality” or “having enough size”.

Every time I hear this I know immediately that that competitor is at a dead end in his / her training and nutrition and has stopped making gains. How many times have you seen a judging sheet in a bodybuilding contest where a competitor was marked down for carrying too much muscle and being too lean? So what must your objectives be? More muscle? Always. Better condition? Always.

Insanity
Most bodybuilders are actually insane. Albert Einstein defined insanity as “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. This perfectly describes the dogmatic training and eating habits of most bodybuilders. Many times you will see a bodybuilder in the gym who has not changed his / her appearance one bit in several years and yet is perfectly content to continue on with the same training practices, nutrition habits etc.

If you are not making gradual progress in your chosen sport then you need to change something or you will look the same in five years as you do right now. Chances are pretty good that what you need to change is your training, if you’ve been at it long enough to have been stale for years then you had better have a good handle on your nutrition.

And finally… Genetic Predestination
Ever heard someone say they have “crap genetics for bodybuilding” when they don’t even look like they have ever been near a weight? This bothers me greatly. The truth is usually that these guys don’t train sensibly, don’t eat right and don’t pay enough attention to recovery so how can they possibly expect to fulfil whatever potential they may or may not have? These guys them to think that because they are tall / skinny / fat / lanky / whatever NOW that they will always be that way. Not true!

Bodybuilding is a sport in which ones inherent genetic abilities (muscle fibre type and number, hormonal factors etc) play an extremely prominent role but it is important to realise that the immediate appearance of a beginning or intermediate bodybuilder has very little to do with his or her genetic predisposition to the sport. Often the champions are not the “massively built before he even touched a weight” guys. You will never know if you have the genetic potential to be a great bodybuilder if you do not make the best possible use of the means available to you for an extended period of time (5 – 10 years) so get on with it and stop making excuses for the things you can’t change.

Stay strong.

- Mick hart.

Founder of mick hart training systems and
the no bull collection magazine.

- Layman’s Guides to Steroids I and II
http://www.bodybuildingandsteroids.com/laymans-index.htm-

- Layman’s Guides to Steroids III (new)
http://www.bodybuildingandanabolicsteroids.com/

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