A quick history....competed in 2007 and did well at the novice level....last year i bombed with lack of focus and an international move....
sooo, this year, I have been competed at a Pro level, lean out nicely for a recent show, but know that at this level everything matters to place top 3....I know that though my lower body is there with muscle, it's my upper body that needs some mass....though I have put some size on this year, I need more...now I have always thought of just hiring a trainer, but to be hoenst, it isn't justifiable at the moment (hoping that changes in the coming months).
#1. is it best to do one body part per day -- heavy or (i've since heard) that doing upper body, but big compound movements is optimal for building arms and such
#2. for this show I pretty much stopped weight training my legs but still incorporated sprints, the stairmill and body weight movements ... I loved the results, but fear that long term it will work against me?
#3. what is the best way to measure progress? measurements? pics? or do i have to wait for a diet down again?
If you're just wanting to bring up your mass up top, best bet there is to do the opposite of what you've been doing - get some kind of specialization going for the upper body and throttle back your work on the legs.
I'm assuming you don't have any upcoming shows? If you need to add a little mass, it's not gonna mesh to well with any dieting or show prep, so you'll want to leave that for your "off-season".
RE: #2, that might be OK for a pre-contest strategy but I'd not keep that up year round. Legs do need some kind of strength-training, though the amount and timing will vary depending on how you respond and what the judges want.
Also are you figure or BB?
You can measure progress all kinds of ways. If you're trying to get bigger, the best indicators besides appearance (which can be subjective) is to just get a tape measure and to track strength gains on whatever exercises you decide to track.
__________________
Articles | Blog | Pirate my book. "Yeah, but you did your post grad thesis on trolling, so you don't count."
-JP, endorsing how awesome I am
If you're just wanting to bring up your mass up top, best bet there is to do the opposite of what you've been doing - get some kind of specialization going for the upper body and throttle back your work on the legs.
specialization as in splits? I love doing back and bis together with chest and tris...but sometimes I wonder if ding it this way compromises my strength for the arms? I have added some good progess to my shoulder width, but need more depth and def. need more size on the arms
I'm assuming you don't have any upcoming shows? If you need to add a little mass, it's not gonna mesh to well with any dieting or show prep, so you'll want to leave that for your "off-season".
well, not really, but i do model...i can def. put this on the back burner if need be, but typically only get a few weeks...again, if it will be a big detremient to my progress I can not schedule anything
RE: #2, that might be OK for a pre-contest strategy but I'd not keep that up year round. Legs do need some kind of strength-training, though the amount and timing will vary depending on how you respond and what the judges want.
thanks so much for your help! and at risk of sounding like an idiot, lol, do you mean timing as in frequency or duration? A couple of years ago i hit legs 2 times a week, with good results but then again, i was contest dieitng and well, overall fat loss was likely more of a contributor I LIKE training legs and would love to put them back in
Also are you figure or BB?
weelllll there;s a million dollar question.....I do fitness modelling contests in canada, i've done figure as well, and even bikini (um, too much muscle for some federations yet placed top five at the arnold NPC bikini divison - shrugging shoulders)...soooo, i suppose the quick and easy answer is figure, without as much mass as the IFBB/NPC is where I would like to be I have struggled from the beginning finding that certain show between a bikini model and figure pro..
You can measure progress all kinds of ways. If you're trying to get bigger, the best indicators besides appearance (which can be subjective) is to just get a tape measure and to track strength gains on whatever exercises you decide to track.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your help....I really appreciate it, I have absolutely no issue hitting the gym hard, and would be dedicated to any program..it's just designing one that makes sense I'm working on now
specialization as in splits? I love doing back and bis together with chest and tris...but sometimes I wonder if ding it this way compromises my strength for the arms? I have added some good progess to my shoulder width, but need more depth and def. need more size on the arms
My philosophy on this, and one that's worked well with smaller girls (or anyone, really), is to orient the "mass" training around big "strength" exercises with emphasis on pushing up your weights.
People that haven't really ever trained like that before tend to grow very well from that approach.
For the upper body, weighted chinups and some kind of heavy pressing exercise (benching is the default, but there are other choices) tend to be gold.
As far as specialization, I'm thinking more like adding extra sessions and extra volume for a part or two, while leaving everything else with just a few sets a week to maintain.
So you may go through one 3-4 week block of working on the back and triceps, another block focusing on the shoulders, etc etc.
Of course, depending on how much mass you need/want to gain and how you respond to a "regular" program, that may not be necessary.
Quote:
well, not really, but i do model...i can def. put this on the back burner if need be, but typically only get a few weeks...again, if it will be a big detremient to my progress I can not schedule anything
Again, this completely depends on how much you need/want to gain.
If you're in a spot where you need to "be contest pretty" every so often, you're going to have to settle on slower rate of gain - cause gaining mass implies at least some degree of calorie surplus.
It doesn't have to be dramatic, though.
Another thing since I'm on this tangent, you'd probably do well to consider this a long-term process anyway - say give it six months, and alternate between short "bulking" and then brief dieting phases if you need to do a photo shoot or whatnot, or if you just find BF% is getting too high for your liking.
Quote:
thanks so much for your help! and at risk of sounding like an idiot, lol, do you mean timing as in frequency or duration? A couple of years ago i hit legs 2 times a week, with good results but then again, i was contest dieitng and well, overall fat loss was likely more of a contributor I LIKE training legs and would love to put them back in
Well by timing I mean that you might find doing heavy squats 2x/week leading into a show isn't the best idea, haha
So you might want to consider leaving the heavy "mass building" training for whatever off-season you may have, or at least in the very early stages of your prep training, then move away from that kind of "heavy" work as you get closer in to a show.
I used to think that the heavy stuff was a good idea all the time, just adjusting the volume and intensity as required, but these days I'm not so sure that's the best idea for some physique contests.
Quote:
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your help....I really appreciate it, I have absolutely no issue hitting the gym hard, and would be dedicated to any program..it's just designing one that makes sense I'm working on now
You mentioned that you like the "heavy lifting" stuff... what kind of background do you have as far as training goes?
Setting up something for what you're asking would be pretty easy, but it does somewhat depend on your history as well - meaning, how strong you've been, what you've been doing recently, and so on.
__________________
Articles | Blog | Pirate my book. "Yeah, but you did your post grad thesis on trolling, so you don't count."
-JP, endorsing how awesome I am
I build muscle easily..yes I know many say that but I really do, which is a benefit I suppose but one area that I was sort of trying not to admit (I had the common "I want fashion model legs dammit!" thought process). This last year I added size, without, I am embarrassed to say really focusing on such, just by hitting the gym hard and eating clean foods (not counting cals or anything)...I was moving from Toronto the the states and had a subseuqnet accident which reuired surgery so this last year, i really didn't have a goal to be "contest ready" as far as symmetry goes. And due to physical contraints at the beginning of the year I wasn't really even in the gym regularly. I started to get back to somewhat of a normal split this past summer and the results were quick to come (muscle memory I guess)
I like to lift, and find pushing movements my biggest challenge, I would say I am above average for strength and abilities, but only compared to the avid gym goer, not to the fitness competitor (again, this wasn't a focus to me at the time)...I like your idea of changing focus on muscle groups ever few weeks, as it would def. prevent boredom. I also have no issue gaining some weight, and thought perhpas the Fitness Univerese Figure in June was a good show but realize now it might be too soon....i would then be prepping for the WBFF Fitness Model again next Sept...so I have time to build slowly. I am willing to supplement with creatine (thought never have)......here, I'll try to add some pics of the show on saturday...I'm 491 (aka Jinx from James Bond)...see how my arms are soooo tiny? yet there are musclar and comprable to some other girls, but they have smaller legs
I build muscle easily..yes I know many say that but I really do, which is a benefit I suppose but one area that I was sort of trying not to admit (I had the common "I want fashion model legs dammit!" thought process). This last year I added size, without, I am embarrassed to say really focusing on such, just by hitting the gym hard and eating clean foods (not counting cals or anything)...I was moving from Toronto the the states and had a subseuqnet accident which reuired surgery so this last year, i really didn't have a goal to be "contest ready" as far as symmetry goes. And due to physical contraints at the beginning of the year I wasn't really even in the gym regularly. I started to get back to somewhat of a normal split this past summer and the results were quick to come (muscle memory I guess)
I like to lift, and find pushing movements my biggest challenge, I would say I am above average for strength and abilities, but only compared to the avid gym goer, not to the fitness competitor (again, this wasn't a focus to me at the time)...I like your idea of changing focus on muscle groups ever few weeks, as it would def. prevent boredom. I also have no issue gaining some weight, and thought perhpas the Fitness Univerese Figure in June was a good show but realize now it might be too soon....i would then be prepping for the WBFF Fitness Model again next Sept...so I have time to build slowly. I am willing to supplement with creatine (thought never have)......here, I'll try to add some pics of the show on saturday...I'm 491 (aka Jinx from James Bond)...see how my arms are soooo tiny? yet there are musclar and comprable to some other girls, but they have smaller legs
for whatever reason the pics aren't showing up..I will update my profile pic with a new pic of the show this past weekend
hoping to work a bit on the arms and thickness of back and shoulders over the coming year....but I also know this won't necessarily win shows - if y'know what I mean
Working on symmetry....
I LIKE training legs and would love to put them back in
Linear Mode
