Lean Bodies Consulting

I could probably write page after page on this one, but for the time being, I’ll keep it brief.

1. Here’s something someone said in the context of figure competitors:

NO squats. NONE. Figure girls have no business squatting for the most point- so says Charles Glass who is notorious for his knowledge of training. I do sumo squats or plie squats to tighten my inner glute…but NO squats. Makes you blocky and no figure girl wants to be blocky- you want to remain lean and tight.

Do I even need to go any further here? Figure girls have no business squatting? Because Charles Glass says so? Sumo squats and plie squats to tighten the inner glute? The what?

Yes, because squats make you all blocky and no figure girl wants to be blocky. Hmm, then the person goes on to say that a figure girl wants to remain lean and tight. Ok, so I think we can fairly conclude that being lean and tight has something to do with bodyfat right? So if this point is being made as to why one should not be doing squats, does that mean squats make you fat? Even if the claim that squats make you blocky were true, that would imply some kind of undesired muscle gain, no?

The picture above? For those of you who don’t know, that’s Jennie Hamilton. How’s that for blocky? She squats heavy, very heavy.

Ok, nevermind. You get the point - this is retarded advice. I hope this won’t be a revelation for any of you reading this; that you’re nodding your head as you read along.

Nothing builds better (and by better I mean fuller, rounder) glutes than full squats. You want a nicer butt? Start squatting - deep. And NOT on the Smith Machine (which is a post for another day).

2. I saw this on a forum the other day. The discussion was about the competitor’s off season:

Still doing early morning cardio 45 min M-Sat just to keep BF at decent level.

What for? Another ridiculous concept. If you’re doing 45 minutes of cardio in the OFFSEASON, how much cardio do you plan to do when you’re in pre-contest mode?

What’s so offseason about that? That’s still more cardio than I have anyone do when they’re in show prep.

To keep that bodyfat in check? Yeah, because you know, you can gain muscle and with little to no increase in body fat.

It’s fine to do some steady state cardio in the offseason. No problem with that. But keep in mind you still have to be consuming more calories than you’re expending and if you’re doing 5×45 minute cardio sessions per week, that’s just a caloric sink you need to overcome with more food.

I guess if your offseason diet is so high in calories mind you, there’s at least some rationale for doing all the cardio. But why not just eat a normal bulking diet? And not do so much off season cardio. Again, the big thing is - where do you go from there? Right to 60 minutes a day at the start of your prep?

Not to mention the fact that muscle fibers are malleable and adapt to the demands imposed on them. Do enough SS cardio and you might just run the risk of a qualitative fiber-type shift that does nothing good for your physique. The last thing you want, in this context, is muscle fibers taking on a more endurance-based profile.

3. To the Canadians out there, Happy Thanksgiving. Today we had dinner at the inlaws. I had …

Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
California Salad (sour cream, coconut, tropical fruit cocktail, marshmellows)
Dinner Rolls
Stuffing

Repeat that one more time

Cherry Pie
Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Victory!

Related posts:

1. More Figure Competitor Nonsense

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 12th, 2008 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Contest Prep . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.