Everything Else In Bodybuilding

Together Vassilios and I share our experiences and opinions on all things pre-workouts, weight loss drugs, and workout performance (both good and bad).  We discuss the truth behind weight loss drugs, how they work, and a statistic that will make your eyeballs pop out when you hear it!  We discuss the psychology behind getting a good workout in, and supplements and protocols we believe actually work for long term success with your fitness and bodybuilding goals.  Share away! Post in your groups and on your socials to spread knowledge.

Want to chat about everything I discussed in this episode? Search for the group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” And come join the conversation.

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A couple months ago I woke up with an overwhelming feeling to grab my notebook and write down the words, “United States Posing Clinic Tour.” Tune in to find out how this idea all came about, where we will be heading this year, who has endorsed the tour, and all the things you will learn when you attend a clinic.

Want to chat about everything I discussed in this episode? Search for the group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” And come join the conversation.

Additional Resources:

Key Takeaways:

---TRANSCRIPT---

There have been many times in my life when an idea pops in my head followed by a strong feeling to do something with this idea.  It becomes overwhelming.  I can’t stop thinking of this idea and what I can create with it.  An outpouring of thoughts and feelings keep coming and coming as if a dam just broke loose.  When this happens you can tell me all kinds of reasons why the idea isn’t going to work and I will still feel the strong need to pursue it.  Often I do not have a clue how it’s all going to work out, but I just know I have to keep the faith and put things in motion.  My latest idea that I have an overwhelming need to pursue is my United States Posing Clinic Tour this year.  But first, let me give you some background on how it all came about.

It first started over 20 years ago when I went to my first bodybuilding competition to support my friend Shelley at her first show. At the time the only divisions were fitness and bodybuilding and Shelley was a bodybuilder. I remember that overwhelming feeling coming over me while in the audience watching her on stage. The feeling told me that I absolutely was going to be a bodybuilder starting right then. I was 20 years young and bodybuilding at the time didn’t have the appeal to as many people as it does today because there weren’t all the different categories that there are today.

In fact, after my first show I brought a picture of me with a thank you note written on it to the gym I worked out at and gave it to the staff at the front desk who always seemed so supportive of me while I was there training for my show. The next day, I noticed the picture was missing, so I asked the people at the front desk what happened to it. They said they were told to remove my picture because they didn’t want to promote “that type of stuff” here at this gym. 

I’ll never forget how that made me feel. But I had that overwhelming feeling that told me to keep going regardless of how other people thought or treated me. There will be judgement by others for anything you want to do, no matter what it is.  But, we wake up with our thoughts and live with ourselves all day long.  I’d rather be inspired by myself than repressed to please others. And now today over 20 years later bodybuilding is still a major part of my life, including here with this podcast, where I talk to you guys about all things bodybuilding.

Bodybuilding is also a major part of my life with my posing business too, which also came about from a strong, overwhelming feeling that I needed to create products and services all about posing and stage presence.  I started this business 11 years ago at the gym I owned by hosting weekly posing classes and booking private 1 on 1 lessons. When I sold the gym and focused primarily on posing and stage presence I definitely received a lot of backlash. People thought I was crazy to not want to focus on the nutrition and training component of bodybuilding in addition to the posing.

To others, posing was this thing over here that didn’t need its own focus. But I knew differently. After my experience with people literally traveling 4 hours each direction to come and learn how to pose and perform from me (before there was ever something called a posing coach), I knew 100% there was a market for what I do. I knew that there are people out there that have never been on stage before and will spend money to learn how to perform their best on stage in their underwear. I knew from experience there are people who do care how they present themselves and would pay for the right help. I also know as a bodybuilder myself that at the end of the day we want to win and will leave no stone unturned in order to give it our best shot. I don’t need the world to agree with me.  In fact, if you don’t value what I can do for you, then you aren’t my customer anyways, and that’s ok.

Even today with the popularity of everyone wanting to be a posing coach, it’s risky to focus on just posing because you still have coaches who do the nutrition and training component and want to control their clients in every way. I don’t blame them because they want their clients to look their best on stage, and with the amount of terrible posing instruction out there, how do they know who to trust to send their clients to that is actually going to elevate their client’s posing and stage presence skills? 

But on the flip side some coaches are holding their clients back from looking their best by not outsourcing the posing component to a true specialist.  100% of what you do on stage on show day is nonverbal. And when you are on stage with a ton of people, every little detail counts in order to stand out. Those details need to be isolated and refined by a specialist. 

Today everyone is a posing coach. It’s challenging to separate the quality of instruction out there and find a true specialist.  If you want to know if someone is decent posing coach, ask him or her to show their client transformations. If someone can take a person from hot mess to show stopper then you have my attention. If you are seeing transformations of customers who were already decent at posing and they show just a small tweak in the transformation, I’m not impressed. It’s like advertising an Olympian as your best student. They are an Olympian because they are already above average versus people just starting out are often awkward at posing.

I’ve had clients go from placing 4th and 5th in their contests to winning their shows. I know with every ounce of my being that posing wins shows.  But to those who don’t know me, I’m just another person showing people how to pose.  I have students that are always so supportive and posting about me in the groups on Facebook that they are a part of, but their comments are overwhelmed by tons and tons more comments of other posing coaches too. It’s not easy to stand out in a saturated market and some think that what I do won’t survive, but the overwhelming feeling inside me tells me otherwise.   

I’ve also had a lot of naysayers tell me that people want in person posing instruction and I’ll never be successful with an online posing business. I know with every part of my being that my virtual classes are not only effective, countless students have become really phenomenal with my 100% virtual class method.  So I don’t need the world to approve of what I do.  I know differently.  Plus, there are students in my weekly group virtual posing classes that have been a part of them for a year, so I know there are people who enjoy what I teach in my classes, because I teach more than just how to pose.

The way I see it, I’d rather have a smaller pool of people who are driven to succeed, and happy to be there, than a large pool of people who don’t care as much as I do.  My husband always says I care too much. He is right, so I’d rather have people want to be a part of what I do and care about it too.

A few years ago I created a program that included a bunch of posing courses and digital products I made for bodybuilding.  These products were designed to make people better at posing. The students that bought my program were willing to spend good money for all the things I made.  They were excited to have all of my tools.  But there was one major problem.  The people that bought my program weren’t who I thought they would be. The people who bought my program were either brand new to bodybuilding and had no clue how to pose, or they had some experience with competing, but their posing skills needed a lot of improvement. 

I remember waking up with this overwhelming feeling that I needed to do something about their lack of basic posing knowledge. I couldn’t in good conscience allow people to spend good money on the products that are meant to *elevate* their skills without them having a foundation of skills to build off of.  It wasn’t right. I felt the overwhelming need to help them.

So for no extra charge I added 16 weeks of weekly live virtual calls to the program where we met as a group online so I could teach them the foundation skills on how to pose properly for their divisions and federations.  16 weeks was excessive, but I cared about their success, and I wanted to help them.  The classes HAD to be virtual because the people in the program were worldwide and not local to me. I had men and women students getting ready for shows in different divisions and federations too, and since I have experience first hand in all of them, I discovered I had no issue switching hats between divisions and federations with my posing instruction right on the fly on every call. 

Over the 16 weeks each and every student not only learned the foundation skills they needed to pose correctly, they utilized the additional tools they bought from the program to elevate their skills. It was 100% group virtual instruction and 100% digital products, and the combination worked. It worked incredibly well. They all became really good at posing.  I learned from this experience that not only could I teach a group of people how to pose at once, I could instantly switch between men and women divisions and federations on the fly. And I could do this 100% virtual. And every one of my students had great results.

And from this experience, my virtual posing clinics and weekly virtual classes for all men and women federations and divisions were birthed.

I started hosting one-time virtual posing clinics to teach people how to pose for all divisions and federations followed by an invitation to join my weekly virtual classes. My clinics went from being generalized for all federations to growing to the point where there was enough demand for me to separate the clinics by federation.  So far I have hosted virtual clinics for OCB, NPC, WNBF, and USBF.  At first none of the organizations promoted my clinics. I simply promoted them myself and through word of mouth referrals.

But then it changed in late 2022 after interviewing Sean Sully Sullivan from the OCB organization here on on my podcast.  Sully and I hit it off so well that when I asked Sully and his organization The OCB if they would endorse my virtual posing clinics, they agreed to promote them to their athletes starting January 29th, 2023. For all of 2023 I hosted my virtual posing clinics every single month for the OCB with the OCB’s blessing and the incredible promotion skills of OCB powerhouse Marjorie Thrash. The clinics proved to be a success for the organization, the athlete, and me. The relationship worked because the OCB and I together believed that the service I offer for athletes is valuable to the athletes and actually helps them, so it is a win win for all involved. 

Then, a couple months ago, I woke up with a new idea that I couldn’t shake. I had to pull out my purple notebook and a pen so I could physically write down my thoughts as they poured out of me.

The first thing I wrote was…United States Posing Clinic Tour.

I am so passionate about my method of instruction in my posing clinics and how quickly I can help people get up to speed with their posing skills, that I woke up with an overwhelming desire to take my clinics on the road to get the word out as much as possible. The goal is to continue to host my monthly virtual posing clinics and weekly virtual posing classes to reach people globally, but during 2024 I mapped out in my notebook a coast to coast posing clinic tour across the United States.

The #1 thing I wrote in my notebook on why I want to do this USA tour is because I thought it would be a lot of fun. And the #2 thing is that I truly believe that what I do helps people learn things the right way from the start on becoming their best on show day.

But there is a lot of noise out there and I want to reach as many people as possible.

So my goal is to pound the pavement and get the word out that my method of instruction is the starting place to becoming a champion poser.  Pounding the pavement means reaching people anywhere and everywhere both in person and virtual.

And to my surprise, when I asked the OCB if they would endorse this in person posing tour, in addition to my monthly virtual posing clinics, I got the full blessing not just from the organization, but the promoters in every single location you will see on my tour.  These promoters are stand out promoters in my eyes. They truly believe in what I am doing and how it helps the athletes so much, that they, too, gave their full blessing and cooperation to host a live in person clinic in their region of the country. 

These clinics are not giant expos that showcase the most famous athletes in the organization.  They are not celebrity showcases that make you feel intimidated for being new or newer to the sport. They are not events that say you are going to learn how to pose, only for you to be SHOWN how to pose by the pros with no actual method of instruction to take home with. 

My clinics are about you the athlete.  When you come to my posing clinics whether they are virtual or in person, you will learn how to pose for your category, whether it’s men’s bodybuilding or women’s bikini, I teach all the divisions. You will learn what you really need to focus on for your stage walks and posing routines so you feel your best and not awkward on stage.  You will learn strategy so you score your highest on show day.  You learn everything you need to know so you can look and feel like a champion.  They are the starting place to becoming your best on show day.

My United States posing tour starts March 2nd in Daytona Beach Florida followed by March 9th in Nashville Tennessee.  March 16th I’ll be in Columbus Ohio, followed by April 13th in Rochester NY. In June we head west starting in Dallas, TX June 29th, Orange County California July 20th, and then Las Vegas NV on July 27th. There are a couple of mystery locations that will be added in May and June too since a few more additional promoters are reaching out wanting us to add their location to the tour! I also have virtual clinics planned for March 23rd, April 20th, and ongoing every month during the entire year. 

My virtual NPC clinics will continue during the year as along with all of the virtual posing classes that I teach every single week for all divisions and federations.  In fact, after a clinic, you should totally join my virtual classes so you can take what you learn at a clinic and elevate your skills. 

Even if you know how to pose, come to a clinic and join me live in person or online! This year is going to be a lot of fun and you can never know enough when it comes to posing and stage skills.

For details on each of my posing clinic locations and to register for one, head on over to learntopose.com! Click on the tour tab and it will take you to all the in person locations this year. If you keep scrolling the page you’ll also find information on my virtual OCB and NPC clinics as well. It’s all there at learntopose.com!

I hope to meet many of you either in person or online this year! If you are a podcast listener, be sure to tell me. I love hearing from you guys. I’ll keep you posted on the behind the scenes details of our tour here on the podcast this year. I also have some cool interviews planned this year too.  Plus, stay tuned as I finish the series I’ve been working on these past few months with my top 10 tips for your first prep.  Ok guys, signing off. See you soon!

Together Vassilios and I share stories and insight on our experience over the years with nutrition, training, and bodybuilding. We discuss things we know now that we wish we knew when we started.  Hear about that one time I passed out in the gym too. Tune in for some real talk and some laughs too.  Share away! Post in your groups and on your socials to spread knowledge.

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Welcome to 2024! Thank you for listening to the show and sharing it with others. 2023 was an incredible year and I’m excited for what’s to come in 2024. But first…to kick off the first episode of the new year, I’m going to do a 2023 recap and review some of the biggest shows of the year in bodybuilding across a few of the larger organizations. So tune in and get ready for an honest assessment of all of them. 

Want to chat about everything I discussed in this episode? Search for the group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” and come join the conversation.

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In this week's episode Vassilios and I talk about how we position our nutrition in and around our workouts. We discuss the various nutrition protocols we have tried, the difference between food timing in the off season vs when cutting for a show, and our experience with pre-workouts. Even hear about Vassilios' experience with the raw food diet!

Want to chat with us about the episodes? Search for the group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” And come join the conversation.

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The #1 thing you need to do on stage at a bodybuilding show is present yourself to a judging panel for consideration on how well you meet the judging criteria for the category and organization. You aren’t doing a workout for the judges. You aren’t food prepping for the judges. You are 100% performing on stage. Making this connection from the beginning and preparing for the expectations of the show day itself will ensure that you avoid scoring lower than you should and instead you receive your highest possible placement at your show. Tune in as I elaborate more on what it takes to prepare your posing and stage performance for show day in part 3 of my new 10 part series, "10 Tips For Your First Prep."

Want to chat about the episodes with other listeners? Search for the group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” And come join the conversation.

Additional Resources:

-Getting ready for a NPC show and want to learn how to pose? Register for the next virtual posing clinic at http://www.learntopose.com/npc

Key Takeaways:

--Transcript--

Welcome back guys! Today is part 3 of my new series called 10 Tips for your first prep and it’s all about the #1 thing you need to do on stage on show day…and that is to pose and perform in front of a judging panel for consideration on how well you meet the judging criteria for the category and organization.  Most people focus on the training and nutrition component to get their physique ready. And then underestimate the importance of presentation on show day.

When people first learn about bodybuilding and are encouraged to give it a try, it’s likely because they have a great physique or had a really great body transformation. 

It’s not because they randomly hit a front double bicep and someone said, man that front double was awesome man, you should give bodybuilding a try. Or you were standing in line at Starbucks holding a bikini back pose with your feet apart, glutes high, and ordering a triple grande mocha loca frappacino latte and someone tapped you on the shoulder and said, man you have amazing mobility in your lower back, you should give bikini competitions a try.

When you were introduced to bodybuilding it had nothing to do with posing and everything to do with your physique. In addition, if you are going to hire someone to help you prepare for a show, you are likely going to hire a nutrition and training coach first. Posing is the afterthought.  Your training and nutrition coach might offer some posing assistance too as an add on as well.

Like the last minute impulse purchase you made but didn’t know you needed after waiting for 15 minutes in the check out aisle at the TJ MAXX store. For me just the other day I grabbed socks that I didn’t know I needed. The time before it was chocolate with hazelnut pieces from Belgium that I never heard of but were freaking amazing and didn’t last long in my house.  I put the candy in a bowl on a table and every time I walked by the bowl there was a huge dent in the amount of candy in it. Apparently my husband liked them too. Who would’ve known. TJ Max check out aisles are full of things you didn’t know you needed.

So when you start in bodybuilding you are aware it’s a physique driven sport but when you look into things a little further you realize that there is a presentation component to bodybuilding too.  So you start looking up posing tutorials, you start following people that are actively competing, and you might even attend a show too.  Then it occurs too you that there is a lot more that goes into preparing for a show than just training and nutrition.  This epiphany occurs at different points for everyone.  I’ve had people attend my virtual posing clinics who are a week or two from their first show and think one clinic is going to be enough to prepare their posing and stage presence.

And then they learn that looking at a tutorial or a photo is a lot different than recreating the poses themselves.  Being able to move and shape our bodies in the unusual shapes required in bodybuilding poses requires a lot of mind body connection. Sometimes there are areas of our body that we don’t have a connection to, like for example, the lats. There are divisions that require you to have your lats engaged in a certain position in your poses. This engagement is absolutely critical. But sometimes people aren’t able to make this connection with their body and can’t recreate the pose. I always say there are two reasons people aren’t engaging their lats in their poses.

One is a simple fix and requires a specific execution style that they so far learned backwards. And the second requires a literal mind body connection change. In my 12 years of teaching men and women how to pose, the #1 most common reason people started coming to me was for this one thing, to engage the lats. I had some students back in the day nickname me the lat whisperer. I have it down to a science now and if you don’t have lat engagement it takes about 2-3 weeks to get it. And then after that it’s all about improving the engagement.  If you are showing up to a posing clinic a week or two before your first show and you are one of those people that needs to build a mind body connection to lat engagement, you are not going to be prepared on show day. Plain and simple. But now you know better for the next show.

Things like this happen because no one emphasized to you the importance of learning how to pose. Posing was an add on to the service you were given so it is perceived as being of less importance. You wouldn’t find this in any other professional sport. Football or baseball there are different coaches for different aspects of the game. The needs of a linebacker are different than the needs of a quarterback.  The needs of a pitcher are different than the needs of a catcher. There are different coaches that specialize in these different positions of the game because the level of competition is that much fiercer in these sports. Every little detail and skill can make or break you even being considered to be on a team. 

In bodybuilding, the stakes aren’t as high as they are in other sports. In bodybuilding when you win a pro card the only thing most people earn are the opportunity to spend more money to compete. Even as a pro you pay entry fees to compete.  In other professional sports you get paid to play. In bodybuilding you might get some free supplements or become an affiliate for a company you purchase products from versus in other professional sports you can earn major endorsement deal opportunities.  You have to be that top 1% in the bodybuilding industry with a million followers to get any paid endorsement deals. And you don’t even have to compete to get these endorsements if you have the following and industry reach. 

When the stakes aren’t as high, the standards aren’t as high.  In bodybuilding posing, which is the #1 most important thing you have to do on show day, it is still an add-on service for many coaches.  Which means you will learn the basics, but you won’t learn how to be great.  You will learn average skills. 

My students learn skills from basic to advanced and there is an order in which they learn these skills. Let’s take four example goals that students have come to me with and I’ll break down the timeline on how to achieve these goals.

In fact, I’ll take four of the most common reasons people have stated they are attending my virtual posing clinics. I ask every person that attends my clinics why they are there and here are four of the common answers and an estimated amount of time it will take to learn the proper skills to achieve the goal.

First one: I don’t want to look like an idiot on stage

Well, you are at my clinic so you are already not going to look like an idiot. So BOOM done.

Second one:  I don’t know how to make the poses look flattering on me.  No matter if you are a bikini competitor, classic physique, figure, wellness, women’s physique, men’s physique, or bodybuilder, you will learn the poses for your category and proper execution that day of my clinic.  That is step one. Making them look flattering requires more practice and refinement and that happens at my weekly classes just by coming to them and practicing with the rest of the students on a consistent basis. You can do a lot in 4 weeks, but a good 8 weeks of practice will help you feel much more comfortable in your poses. And then to become really good, you need consistent practice year round, like what we do in my weekly virtual posing classes, where you build upon what you already know and learn more advanced skills.

Third reason people say they come to my clinics: I don’t know how to transition from pose to pose and make it look flowy and natural. The first thing you need to do is learn the proper execution of the poses first and stop focusing on all the fancy stuff right away. When building a house, you pour the foundation first, don’t you?  Learning the basics on poses is building your foundation first.  Learning improper execution of poses in the beginning is like building a foundation that cracks right away. Take the time to learn the poses with proper execution.  Only when you are confident and consistently doing the poses correctly, only then start to focus on the transitions. You can learn the footwork pretty quickly so don’t stress about it.

Most of my students laugh and joke with me when I show them how simple the footwork really is with my signature style of teaching footwork. Transitions are less complicated than you think. Plus, making the poses look flowy and natural also comes with more consistent practice.  Give yourself 8 weeks minimum of structured practice to get confident at posing and moving in and out of the poses.  Get through your first show.  And then keep going so you can learn some more advanced skills for your next show.  You will be good your first year of competing, but you will be unrecognizable on stage in your second year of competing from learning and practicing more things.

And finally, the last reason people say they come to my clinic is: I want to win and earn my pro card.  If you really want to earn your pro card and actually be competitive as a pro then your journey to the stage is going to be different than the average person.  Students who come to me to learn to pose and be a stand out on stage, need 8 weeks minimum for a posing overhaul.  However, someone with only 8 weeks is going to be provided a different path of skill development than someone who comes to me 6+ months out from show and wants to be undeniable. 

I can do a complete posing overhaul in 8 weeks, but with more time, you’re gonna learn more skills, and skills build upon skills, and it is only with time do skills become engraved in you to become exceptional. One of my students has been in my virtual Classes for 10 months.  She competed in the bodybuilding division a couple weeks ago on a world stage and her individual posing routine was so captivating, she had people coming up to her after the show at the hotel wanting to take pictures with her.  There were hundreds of people that competed at that show but SHE was the stand out. That didn’t happen from 8 weeks, that happened from 10 months. 

So in summary, you can never start too early when it comes to learning how to pose. Most people underestimate how long it really takes to become good at posing. Many of my students tell me that they wished the started sooner. If your show is in the spring starting to learn how to pose NOW is an emergency. If your show is summer or fall next year, starting now will ensure that you build a proper posing foundation and have enough time to build some of your own unique style and personality on stage. If you are a pro, you should never stop practicing and learning new things. When you stop practicing posing, just like when you take time off from exercise, you will get rusty and out of shape, so plan accordingly.

Alright guys, I hope this episode sets your expectations up a little better on when and how to learn how to pose before a show. If you are an ocb or npc competitor I have virtual posing clinics coming up that you should attend. The ocb one is an official one and they run monthly.  The next one is this Saturday. Go to learntopose.com/ocb for info and register. The next virtual NPC clinic also runs monthly and the next one is the following Saturday. Go to learntopose.com/npc for info and to register for that one. You can also just go to learntopose.com where I have free posing tutorials, info on my clinics, and keep scrolling and you will find my weekly virtual posing classes too.

Thanks for listening! I’ll be back again soon with another weekly gathering episode I did with my husband vassilios followed by part 4 of this series of 10 tips for your first prep. Talk soon

In today's episode Vassilios and I discuss what it takes to increase your confidence when you are new, after situations when results do not meet your expectations, or coming back from self perceived failure.  

Want to chat about the episodes and be a part of our weekly podcast group gatherings? Search for the group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” And come join the conversation.

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*Internal vs external validation (4:34)

My guest today is IFBB Pro League Head Judge, and Mr Olympia & Arnold Classic Judge, Becky Clawson, who chats with me about the NPC and IFBB organization as a whole, each of the men and women divisions, the judging for each of the divisions, pro cards, drug testing, and so much more! Today’s episode continues the series that spotlights each of the organizations in bodybuilding and what makes them special and unique. Tune in for a full well, rounded picture of the NPC and IFBB!

Want to chat about the episodes and be a part of our weekly podcast group gatherings? Search for the group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” And come join the conversation.

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Key Takeaways:

Bodybuilding is about sculpting our bodies into muscular works of art. Instead of a tangible sculpting tool, to unveil our masterpiece for a contest, we prioritize losing body fat and preserving as much muscle as possible. Bodybuilding is far beyond general weight loss and the expectations surrounding preparing for a show should be set accordingly from the beginning for best results.  Tune in as I elaborate more on getting lean in part 2 of my new 10 part series, "10 Tips For Your First Prep."

Want to chat about the episodes and be a part of our weekly podcast group gatherings? Search for the group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” And come join the conversation.

Additional Resources:

Key Takeaways:

--Transcript--

What’s up guys! I’m back again with part 2 of my new series where I break down in detail 10 tips for your first prep. If you listened to part 1 you are well versed on the different categories there are in bodybuilding and now know how important it is to choose the right one since what you are being scored on will differ depending on the category. Today I’m going to talk about what it means to get lean for a show and how hunger is often confused with leanness.

Food, including excess food, or the opposite, hunger, are a major part of what makes bodybuilding unique.

For the average person, if you are preparing for a bodybuilding show, there will come a time when you are going to have to just be hungry.   But there is a difference between being hungry and actually starving. We are not starving when doing a bodybuilding show. Everything we are doing is our own doing and choice. There is a fridge with food in it, even if it’s not for you, it’s still there. You can still eat it. There is choice. Starving would mean you have no food and limited access to it. There is this sorority of suffering out there that loves to be overly dramatic about how hungry they are in their prep. Hunger when preparing for a show is your own will. And it’s part of being a bodybuilder for many, and it’s part of what it takes for many to get really lean.  And in my opinion most of the people complaining about how hungry they are, don’t look lean or very close to contest ready.  More on this in a minute.

First let me put in perspective that there is also a group of people who can’t keep weight on and in order to grow muscle they have to eat excess food beyond what their hunger tells them in order keep the weight on. We all know people like that, and it may be you too. They are always lean and struggling to put on size, and never do cardio.  So again, they are lean, but they aren’t complaining about being starving. In order for them to be lean and muscular, they have to eat more food and be mindful of calorie expenditure.

The extreme to this is with the IFBB open men’s bodybuilding division. Their struggle in bodybuilding is that they have to eat an extreme amount of food in order to keep the mass on. 4x Mr Olympia, Jay Cutler, used to wake up in the middle of the night to eat or he would drop too much weight.  Derek Lungsford just announced last week he is withdrawing from the 2023 Olympia after a year of preparing for this show because he has been throwing up food and can’t keep it down, despite trying to force it down even after vomiting. He is having stomach issues and is now prioritizing his health and not the contest. He believes that once he gets things figured out he will be back to focusing on bodybuilding again.

So there are two types of people, those who have to put extra effort into keeping weight on, and those who have to put extra effort into taking weight off.

Those who have to eat a lot to keep weight on, you don’t really hear complaining from them on the internet.

Those who are a part of the sorority of suffering are those who are being drama about having to be hungry while controlling their calorie intake to drop weight.  And they are also those who tend to not come close to being lean enough for a show, complain a lot about how hungry they are their entire prep, stuff a luggage size bag with junk food to eat the minute they get off stage, continue for the next week to eat like an asshole after their show, and then gain a ton of weight after the show, and blame their weight gain on “metabolic damage.” This behavior is all over the internet and gives bodybuilding a bad name.

Some people are legit hungry from bad coaches with protocols that include 800 calories, white fish, and gobs of cardio, which you guys have heard me talk about in one of my first podcast episodes on what I call the death of credibility.

But for the majority of people who have to control calories to get lean for a bodybuilding show and are not a part of the sorority of suffering, I think most new people get into bodybuilding with grandiose expectations on weight loss and underestimate how long it really takes, and how much consistency you need to have following the protocol, in order to get bodybuilding lean. 

Personally, when I want to drop weight, I know that for about the first 4-6 weeks I am not going to see any positive reinforcement from my efforts to lose weight. I have to keep my head down and stay consistent, and just not think about it. During this time I’m always hungry too. Plus I love food. Besides bodybuilding, I would say eating good food is one of my favorite hobbies in life.  There is nothing like a good meal.  I don’t like complete junk though. I like real good food. And I’ll pay good money for it too.  After all the years of bodybuilding I learned some foods aren’t worth the calories or some foods are just a chemical shitstorm that I don’t want to put in my body.  But real good food. I’ll travel for it. So when preparing for a show or even just trying to lose the 15 pounds I’ve been telling my husband I plan to do for a few years now, amazingly good meals go away.  And that makes me sad. Plus, I know that I just have to be hungry and pull out some of my tricks from my competition toolbox to help me suppress my appetite. So the process of getting lean is really not that fun for me until the freaky shreds appear.  Until then, it’s freaking boring.

So I understand how controlling hunger is what makes weight loss a challenge for anyone, not just a bodybuilder. And tackling this issue is big business.

You guys have all probably heard of the new weight loss drugs that are flying off the shelfs across the country. Drugs like ozempic for example. I will be launching a separate podcast here shortly all about these drugs and fat burners and pre workouts too. Vassilios and I recorded it live last week in our Facebook group Everything Else in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders at our Thursday 1pm EDT show.  Come join the conversation if you haven’t yet.  This one caught a lot of attention in our group.

In summary, these new weight loss drugs control hunger. That’s pretty much it. If you have a medical condition like type 2 diabetes or severe obesity then these drugs would be considered a medical intervention.  For the rest of society, they are, in my opinion, not needed and do more harm than good. Especially if you are a bodybuilder, one of the side effects would be especially detrimental to you. I explain it all on the recent show we did and again you can check it out in our group or stay tuned here because I will be launching the audio here shortly.

So what is bodybuilding lean and how do you get there?  The goal of being bodybuilding lean is to be able to view the shape and detail of your muscles under the surface of the skin.   In order to do this, your #1 goal is to drop body fat while trying to preserve as much muscle mass as possible. The lower your body fat, the more detail we will see in your muscles. How much muscle you have and the detail we want to see will depend on your division, with the bodybuilding division requiring the most visible muscle, and the bikini and men’s physique divisions requiring the least amount of size and detail of all the categories..

Regardless, at a minimum, for women, no matter what your division, you need to make sure your abs are tight and your glutes and hamstrings are tight. Whatever body fat you need to be for this to happen will be uniquely you.  For men, same thing, you need to make sure at a minimum your abs are shredded for all your divisions. Again, whatever body fat you need to be to get there will be uniquely you.  If you are in divisions that require more muscle, these same suggestions apply and are an understatement because you will need to show additional detail, which likely means you need to be even leaner.

So it’s not a magical scale weight or a dress or a pant size. It’s a specific look. Your first prep is a quest to discover your muscle in all is glorious detail for the first time. It’s hard to say how long it’s going to take to get you there.  I highly suggest you stay open minded about the literal show you are doing.  If you want to pick a division and federation, cool, that will give you somewhat of a target to focus your training and nutrition on.   But wait on picking your first show until you are in beach shape. I often say there is a difference between looking hot on the beach and looking contest ready. If you are looking great on the beach, you are not lean enough for the stage.  But you are in great shape and with some extra focus you can be contest ready very soon.  If you aren’t inn beach shape and still have excess weight to lose, my suggestion is to not pick a show but to lose the excess weight first and then pick a show that is 10-20 weeks out.  Don’t pick the show first and torpedo into it. Get your body ready and take the time to do so.  The shows will always be there.

And the process of weight loss is not linear. So if a week goes by and you didn’t lose a pound, your bodybuilding life isn’t over, you just need to stay the course and give your body time to budge. You also need to start the process a lot sooner than you think. I feel like a lot of times people set themselves up for failure by picking a show and under-estimating the time it’s going to take to prepare for the show. 

What makes bodybuilding special is the ability to lose body fat and preserve muscle so that should be the priority, not the literal pounds. You want to give your body plenty of time to slowly lose the body fat so you can not just preserve as much muscle as possible, but also allow ample time for your body, your hormones,  your psyche, to adjust to the weight loss. 

Ever see someone continuously yo-you diet?  They lose all the weight fast, only to gain it all back and then some.  Weight loss, especially a lot of weight loss, if done slowly will likely become something you can sustain rather than purge after.  Many people who have done these extreme weight loss protocols to get on stage never come back from it.  Their relationship with food sucks.  Their relationship with exercise sucks.  And they disappear from bodybuilding.  And this was all completely not necessary.  What’s the rush to get to the stage for?  There are hundreds of shows all throughout the year. Why is it such a big deal to wait another 6 months to do a show? What is so important about that one particular plastic trophy that makes you willing to compromise your health over it? 

For myself, I estimate a pound of weight a week is good. But this is an average. I am not expecting to literally lose a pound a week. One week it might be a half, another zero, another 2lbs. It’s an average.   But right now, if I wanted to do a show, I’m carrying what I consider excess weight to a show anytime soon.  If a show was a goal for me, I would make it a year to a year and a half from now. I would first lose about 15-20lbs over a 20 week period of time, so about 5 months, and then live there for a while at maintenance calories before even setting my sights on a show.

So in summary, getting lean for a show is the same process as regular weight loss.  We just do it longer.  How long it will take for you will depend on where you are right now.  Are you beach ready? Then you are within target of a show 12-20 or so weeks depending on your category. Still have excess weight to lose? Take the time to lose that first, live there for a bit, and then go back to dieting to get bodybuilding lean. Your goal would be to stay at hot on the beach or now hot for the holidays for those of us in America for just your regular lifestyle. Then take the 12-20 weeks to get ready.

Having healthy expectations for the time it will take you to get lean for your show will set you up for success. If you dial in sooner than expected, that’s a beautiful thing.  Your coach will pull back on the throttle a bit.  It’s better to be early than behind in the process.

There is so much nonsense out there. So please spread the word about this show to even one person today that is competing or thinking about competing. Also, if you can take a moment to leave me a review in iTunes, or post the podcast in the groups you are a part of on your socials to neutralize the nonsense that would be cool. Thanks guys for listening. I’ll be back later in the week with another episode with my husband.  I also have a really great interview coming up for those interested in the NPC and IFBB federation. You won’t want to miss this one. Speaking of NPC, I have another NPC virtual posing clinic for all men and women categories from bodybuilding to bikini coming up October 28th. Get the scoop on the judging differences, what makes NPC unique, and how to be a stand out on stage. Competing in OCB? I have an official virtual posing clinic coming up November 4th too. Info on both these clinics and my weekly virtual posing classes can all be found at learntopose.com . I’ll be back later this week. Talk to you then!

Vassilios and I discuss what it means to us to live a bodybuilding lifestyle and share our own personal fitness tips and tricks we utilize every day. Guess what.. we also went to <<< Dairy Queen.... >>> :) 

Want to chat about the episodes and be a part of our weekly podcast group gatherings? Search for the group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” And come join the conversation.

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