Figure Competition Training: Don’t Burn Out!

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Terry Stokes

Welcome Future Figure Competition Champ!

Click Here to Download Figure Competition Diets

Getting ready for a figure competition is a process designed to increase in intensity the closer you get to show day. Unless you possess great genetics it’s going to be difficult to get lean for a figure competition show… so you must be smart and not burn out early by doing too much too soon. Have you ever known someone (not a figure competitor) to start a diet, and the first day… they’re doing an hour of cardio, eating a super-strict and low calorie diet, going to the gym, taking fat burners – and oh yeah, let’s not forget about the colon cleanse concoction they’re taking. Realistically how long will this last? It’s simply too much for the body and mind to handle at one time. I’ve seen figure competitors take this approach and by contest time (if they make it) they look more like a warmed over corpse than a figure competitor. Ever seen a girl’s hair fall out from over training? …I have!

Figure Competition Tip #1

Look, the truth is YOU WILL OVERTRAIN getting ready for a figure competition. This is not a sport for the easily intimidated and there is not reason to sugarcoat it. The key is to delay it as long as possible. If you’ve competed before, how many of the following symptoms of overtraining have you had during contest preparation:

excessive fatigue
irritability
sleeping irregularities (high cortisol levels)
nagging injuries
amenorrhea (loss of period)
cravings for sugar
loss of sex drive
depression
anxiety

These are signs of adrenal gland dysfunction caused by overtraining. Many an athlete has experienced this accidently! Figure competitors actually look for some of the signs of overtraining as a sign that they are getting close to competition shape. Competitors always ask me: “When will I lose my period” or “How come I’m still getting my period, should I be working out harder?”

Figure Competition Secret

What to do: When beginning your figure competition prep, start out conservative on a diet with a decent amount of calories and a workout regimen that is not overwhelming (ex. 1 resistance workout a day and 20 minutes of cardio). As you get closer to your competition, you will increase your cardio to 2 sessions a day while increasing the length of your resistance workouts and cutting your diet slightly. The idea is to increase the intensity of your workouts, while decreasing the calories in your diet. This is a slow and steady process… it’s a fine line

between doing it right… and hitting a brick wall. The diet is very important… if your diet is one of those: 1 grapefruit for breakfast, 1 for lunch and a protein drink at 3pm…. or some silly combination like crackers and tuna etc etc…. you are going to have a tough time because a lot of these diets are just bogus and not fit for a guinea pig. Couple one of these silly diets with intense workouts and not only will you become extremely overtrained but you may get sick as well. So make sure your figure competition diet contains good protein sources, complex carbs, fibrous carbs and the proper kinds of fat. In conclusion: If training for a figure competition was easy… everybody would be doing it!

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The Best Way To Get Stronger

Posted on June 22, 2010 by Terry Stokes

If you need to gain size for figure competition you must understand the following concept

. Negative accentuated exercises: Negative accentuated exercises means going slower during the eccentric (negative) portion of an exercise. The negative portion is also called the lowering phase, examples are:

lowering a barbell from the top of the curl position to the bottom (arms straight)
lowering the bar from the top of the bench press exercise down to your chest
during a pushup – when you lower yourself from the top position to the ground

Look at most people and they totally neglect this portion of the exercise with sloppy technique:

during bicep curls – they let the bar fall from the top to the bottom instead of controlling it on the way down
during bench press – they let the bar fall to their chest and sometimes let it bounce off to make the next rep easier

You are actually stronger during this phase of an exercise (the negative/lowering phase) than you are during the actual lifting of the weight.

In a bicep curl – you can lower more weight than you can curl upward
in the bench press – you can lower weight than you can push up from your chest
etc, etc…

If you are stronger during the negative phase this means that there is the potential for more size and strength gains if you focus on that phase of the movement. this holds true for any exercise – this concept (negative accentuated exercise) is one of the most important in all of weight training, whether you are trying to gain size, strength or increase the number of reps you can perform in a particular exercise. For now just concentrate on lowering the dumbbell/barbell slower during the negative phase of all exercises. You will find that you won’t be able to perform as many reps but your muscles will be more exhausted after a set. In a later article i will go into more advanced negative accentuated techniques. Don’t get carried away: start out slow with negatives, they place increase strain on ligaments and tendons, therefore don’t do a bunch of them the next time you workout out, do a few sets per muscle group where you really focus on the negative phase then perform the rest of your sets as you normally would. Eventually all of your sets should be done in the negative accentuated manner. You should notice some soreness the day after if you do them correctly.

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I Can Make You A Figure Champ

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Terry Stokes

….and if you believe that I have this special pixie-dust that can turn water into money! The truth is that I can’t turn you into a figure champion. What I, or any good trainer can do is:

give you the proper training
give you the proper diet
be supportive
give you good and ACCURATE advice (i could write a book on this point alone)
show you how to pose and present yourself onstage
Guide you around the pitfalls of competition preparation
help you with suit selection

The rest is up to the judges. The truth is, one group of figure judges could judge the same competitors differently then a different set of judges… so don’t get so uptight about judging. Your job is to get in the best shape possible – this is where many competitors drop the ball. If you don’t get in good shape, it doesn’t matter who judges, you’re not going to have a chance to win anyway! THE DESPERATE FIGURE COACH: If anyone promises more than that, they are desperate and lying to get your money. No one has the

secret figure training technique to take you to the top of the figure world. Now I’ve had competitors I believed 100% would win an upcoming show… but i would never tell them this because you never know what the judges will look for and…. you never know what unknown ‘ringer’ might show up and win the show. What a figure competitor needs is figure coach with experience who can show her how to train, diet and pose so that she can compete at her best…. win or lose. The last thing you want is a trainer who will promise you a victory just to get your money. SILLY ME: I’ve had figure competitors who I knew would become champions if they trained and dieted properly… but they couldn’t do it. Whether it was the diet, training, family issues etc…. they just couldn’t do it. Then there are the other competitors who I didn’t think would do much in competition but they trained hard and dieted religiously… and often went on to win shows. Two of them are now professional figure competitors and the other in competing in the NPC Nationals in Las Vegas in 8 weeks…. Silly me!! The point is you never really know who is going to be successful until the entire process runs its course. So avoid anyone who makes promises about winning or making you the next figure champ…. instead focus on finding a figure coach who focuses on the these 3 factors first and foremost:

getting you in shape
getting you in shape
ohh, and one more thing…. getting you in shape!

If he/she can’t do those 3 things, in that order, then he is not of much use to you… because without getting in shape…. nothing else matters because you won’t be able to compete with the top competitors. If you want to do something you’ve never done…. You’ve got to things you’ve never done before! Just like Jill’s doing in this picture (1 arm snatches with a 20lb db and a weight vest).

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Increase Fat Loss Pt. 2: How NOT To Diet For A Figure Competition

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Terry Stokes

Anyone who’s ever tried dieting for a figure competition knows how difficult it can be. The best way I’ve

found is to diet consistently throughout the week and have a cheat meal on the weekend. Unfortunately when staying consistent gets difficult, bad things start to happen… really bad things! Let’s take a look at a few of these contest diet pitfalls: Starve and Binge:

Sometimes competitors lose their ability to stick to a diet and go on a binge. This is often followed by starving themselves to make up for the binge. It doesn’t happen just once but often becomes a regular pattern. Instead of eating chicken, fish, potatoes and vegetables over the course of 3 days…. a competitor may binge on eat ice cream, chips, chocolate etc…. for 1 day and then barely eat anything for the next 2 days! Not very healthy! It happens more than many figure competitors will admit. Doing this will torment you mentally with feelings of depression and failure… I’ve gotten many a midnight text message from a figure competitor in the middle of the fallout from one of these binges. Why some competitors can stop after one brownie, slice of pizza or candy bar and the next girl continues until she wants to puke is something I don’t quite understand – but it happens.

The ‘Nibbler’: Figure Diet no no

Some competitors will talk about how closely they follow the diet… EXCEPT they forget to mention the constant nibbling they do during the day:

a handful of nuts
scoop of peanut butter
piece of bread
a little bit of this and a little bit of that
etc, etc, etc…..

These calories add up over the 3 month precontest diet phase! These ‘nibbles’ are always on the highest caloric foods (fats)too: cookies, nuts, chocolate etc. No one seems to want to nibble on a few vegetables or a piece of chicken…. not only would that be better but your stomach would feel fuller. Those last few pounds you need to lose to be in great shape for a competition may never come off if you don’t get control of the ‘nibbles’. No Carbs: No carbs (or very low carbs) can be used as a diet technique closer to competition time BUT… you shouldn’t be using it on Day 1! This is a sure way to lose a lot of water, dehydrate yourself, slow your metabolism down and make it twice as hard to get lean for a show (slow metabolism). These are usually first timers who are eager to lose body fat, I have to keep reminding them: “Your competition is in 3 months…. not 3 days”. If you cut your carbs too much, too soon, you will stand a much higher chance of mental and physical burnout when you couple this with the increased training intensity during precontest training. Sometimes more experienced competitors will go day after day on no carbs trying to lose more body fat… especially if they haven’t been consistent with their diet. They use this as a way to ‘catch up’. Your body gets real tired of this, real quick… pretty soon you will be walking around with your brain in a fog, like a zombie, struggling to figure out the simplest daily task (brain cells needs twice as many carbohydrates as the other cells in your body to function normally). Your workouts will become impossible also. Low carbs + low energy + poor workouts (because of low energy) + slow metabolism = 1 miserable, unhappy figure competitor! Those are 3 of the main diet malfunction I see. There are more but If you avoid these 3 and follow a consistent diet you should find it a lot easier to get ready for a show (I didn’t say easy…. just ‘easier’). How we eat …BEFORE THE SHOW: We have a tradition of going out to dinner the night before a show. The truth is – if you diet correctly it’s very hard to mess anything up the last few days before a show. While other competitors are bordering on the edge of dehydration or following some last minute ritual to get ready… my competitors are out eating a nice meal so that they have energy for the show the following day. Two things about the picture below:

there are 2 professional competitors and one National NPC competitor in the photo (if it worked for them it could work for you)
….and yes those are fries on the plate

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Figure Competitor Training: Increasing Fat Loss Pt. 1

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Terry Stokes

Shrell on competition day

When a figure competitor emails me and writes: “I’m working out hard but I can’t seem to lose anymore weight” …the first thing I do is find out just how hard they are working out. Usually I find either:

their workouts are ok, but could be much better/more intense
or their workouts just plain suck

Lets talk about sucky workouts in this blog post: Your fat loss workouts fall under the ‘sucky’ category if: you are working out at a gym and using mostly machines, or sitting during most of your workouts, for example:

seated chest press or shoulder press
seated row or pulldown
seated leg press
Smith machine… for anything
seated ab crunch or oblique twist machine
…or any other type of machine that makes exercise easier

You see, the most important thing as a figure competitor you must do when trying to lose body fat is working as many muscles as possible during your exercises. On the contrary, when you are seated in a machine you are isolating specific muscles while the other muscles do nothing (great for bodybuilding and building size in the offseason, but useless for fat loss)… how the heck are you going to burn calories when you are sitting on your butt? The most hilarious are the machines with the seatbelt-like straps… good thing for those straps, I hate it when people go flying off exercise machines.

You need to do exercises which involve multiple muscles groups at the same time (compound exercises), for example: – A set of seated shoulder presses doesn’t compare to a set of dumbbell squat presses (squatting down while holding a pair of dumbbells at shoulder height and pressing them overhead as you stand up from the squat position) for burning calories. Suicides (pictured to the left) are one of the best calorie burning exercises. Don’t get me wrong, machines are important for certain things:

for women who are just getting started with weight training
machines are safe, which will encourage more women to join gyms
can be beneficial for those with injuries or other disabilities
good for building muscle because of the isolation

….But for fat loss, machines are like running uphill… on ice… wearing Hush Puppies! Ok, maybe it’s not that bad… especially for someone just starting out – because any extra exercise may be enough to start weight loss in these individuals but eventually they will have to get off their butts and try compound exercises, like pushups, mountain climbers etc… if they want to keep losing weight. For the women looking to compete in a figure competition… you need to take working out to a very high level. You are not going to be working out like everyone else is in the gym so don’t look to them for guidance. They are not trying to accomplish what you are doing… so your workouts will look different, be more intense and consists of different types of exercise. Looking for a figure competition workout? If your workouts don’t look like the one’s in the video then you better step it up if you are having trouble losing body fat. (of course take your time and progress safely to this level of exercise):

Video: Fat Loss Cardio Workouts

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Getting Lean: The final 4 weeks

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Terry Stokes

I always try to stress to competitors how important it is to push even harder the last 4 weeks before a figure competition. These weeks are the hardest because your body fat is low and your body is fighting to keep from losing more fat. But the pounds you lose during the final weeks can have a dramatic effect on your overall appearance… as opposed to early on when a pound or two didn’t even register when looking in the mirror. This is the time when many competitors plateau and make very little improvement. It’s easy to just “stay the course” …thinking that somehow you will continue to improve. This, of course, is the wrong attitude – what you must do is work harder, more often… and keep your diet tight. Having this attitude can be the difference between winning and losing – or the difference between looking like you belong onstage… or looking like you don’t. Sometimes when a competitor complains why they can’t do this or do that, I tell them: “Get over yourself” …not to be a jerk, but the competitors you will go up against are probably training hard while you are coming up with reasons not to train. Whether it’s doing cardio before the kids get up in the morning, running on your lunch break or working out after everyone has gone to sleep – you just do what you gotta do. When your body fat is low and you are low on carbs and energy, the diet becomes very difficult your mind starts to think:

“why is this so hard?”
“why am I doing this?”
I have not lost a pound this week (…so shouldn’t I just quit? …or have that piece of cake?)

This is your subconscious mind trying to justify you quitting, or eating your son’s birthday cake that’s in the fridge…. or maybe participating in the office party next Friday, going out drinking with friends or any number of other temptations you will surely face …everyday! Only the strong survive in this sport. Tips to keep you focused during the final weeks:

focus on how good you will feel getting onstage in good shape win or lose. You will have done something many women have talked about ….but very few have accomplished.
remember that your competition is probably training hard and not cheating
refuse to make excuses: If I had a nickle for everytime I heard: “It’s harder for me because… I have kids, I’m in school or… I don’t live near a gym or… i work full time etc. etc. etc… there are a thousand excuses. It’s hard for everybody…. each person has things going on in their lives, whether its a full-time job, kids, or a spouse who is unsupportive. Just get over yourself and do it… like Jennifer (aka ‘applejack’) did below.

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Amazing Figure Transformation: From Last Place to Figure Pro

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Terry Stokes

The first time I met Rachael was the day before her first figure competition. She came to my gym to get a competition spray tan from my wife. I noticed she was leaning against a wall seemingly ‘out of it’. I asked her if she was ok. She told me that she was extremely exhausted, had not had water in over a day and was on a very low calorie diet which contained only two foods! (i think it was fish and crackers!). I tried to get her drink a little water while explaining to her that extreme tactics are both ineffective and dangerous… she still refused the water. I worried about her the rest of the day. I’ve seen girls hospitalized for dehydration before. She looked about 2 steps away from the emergency room.

Competition Day: Backstage getting my competitors ready for prejudging, I notice Rachael standing off to the side. It became clear to me that she had followed the wrong diet in preparation for her first competition. I didn’t get to see her the day before when she got her tan, because she was completely covered by her sweatsuit. Having gone through the dehydration, bad diet etc., I assumed she was really lean and in terrific shape… this was not the case. Rachael came in last place… I felt bad because she seemed really motivated… but being motivated is not enough, you need to follow a diet specifically for competitors. Some of the other competitors suggested to her that she call me. A few days later she called and told me how much she wanted to do well in figure. The journey to turn Rachael into a figure competitor began…

Like a lot of new competitors, Rachael did not have a lot of muscle so it was imperative that she came into her next competition lean. A lot of competitors think you need to be really muscular to compete in figure. I told Rachael to worry about putting a quality physique onstage instead having a ton of muscle… She went on to earn her Pro card in her next show by winning the overall championship! Diet: There was to be no more guessing about her diets… All herdiets would be very precise, every day mapped out and every meal measured in grams. If I was just a few pounds off, it could mean a big difference in her placing for her next show. I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what she was eating. Many competitors like Rachael who tend to carry more weight in their hips, butt and thighs will look bottom heavy if they are off by just a few pounds. I believe that competitors who have this tendency have the hardest road to a figure competition because body fat in these areas is NOT easy to lose… and is always the last to go. Often competitors have to train hard all the way to show time before their legs ‘come out’. Workouts: Rachael spent a lot of time in the gym preparing for her first show but her workouts were not burning calories. She also did a bunch of cardio… this apparently wasn’t the answer either. When getting ready for a figure show each resistance workout should be also be geared toward burning calories. Too many competitors will ‘lift heavy’ and then rely on cardio to burn fat. WRONG! Your resistance workouts should also be geared toward burning calories… done correctly Rachael’s resistance workout would burn MORE calories than her cardio workouts. Rachael worked hard everyday. She came in early and left late. She had a point to prove… to herself! Notorious for leaving pools of sweat on the gym floor, she left the gym exhausted everyday. As the body fat started to decrease, the fat around her hips that threw her proportions off was now gone. What remained was a lean symmetrical physique …although she wasn’t the biggest competitor, her physique was well balanced with no obvious flaws. Rachael won the overall championship and her pro card. She is currently getting ready for her second pro show!

After the show: One of the coolest things happened after the show. Rachael’s mom (who I had never met) came up to me and gave me a hug. I thought it was because Rachael won the show. I was totally wrong. She told me it was because Rachael looked much healthier for this show than for her first competition… that was cool! The diet I gave Rachael(click here) made it possible for her to maintain her muscle while losing body fat (this was very important because she does not carry a lot of muscle). Not only did she look healthier… she was a winner.

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Does Your Figure Diet Work? …Yes, but not with Haterade!

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Terry Stokes

My Figure Diet Story

When I first decided to write a figure diet book for women (mainly competitors) who emailed me from all over the world looking for figure diet answers. I was reminded by my mentor (a very successful individual in the health and fitness industry), that the more well-known I become… the bigger target I will become for negative people.

Regardless of how noble my intentions were, he said, It would be irresistible for some people not to say/write negative things. How right he was! I think it took a week or two before individuals were posting negative comments. The sad part is that it was people that see me (and usually speak to me) at the shows I go to every year. These individuals know how successful I am… and if you don’t know me you can look at my websites and this blog. These are NOT magazine photo shoots with professional models, these are women with a lot of determination… and a dream! The girls in my testimonials… you can see the same girls in the pictures and videos on my site and working out at my gym. Nothing fake here…

Enter My Figure Diet Prep Ebook.

My book is designed entirely on what bodybuilders/fitness/figure competitors do to get lean. I’m not making figure diets up out of thin air. The very first figure diet I ever used with my first figure competitor, came right from the mouth of one of the top figure competitors in the world… gram for gram. The only thing I changed was the portion size (proportionally) because my athlete was not as big as the competitor I received the figure diet from. It worked like a charm! Since then I’ve developed a lot more figure diets and tweaked them to work on the average woman who wants to compete, but the concepts are still the same… They will never change because human physiology will not change in the next 100,000 years (scientist believe that it takes 100,000 years for 0.001 percent of a genome to change!). Which means what worked in the past, will work now …and in the future. All I did was organize the figure diet series and put them in a format that’s easy to follow.

My favorite is the individual who signs up on a forum under an assumed name and tries to trash me… WHO HAS THAT MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS?! The first time it happened was shortly after my book came out…. and it still happens today. I was warned about all of this (even by one of the show promoters)… but you never really believe people have so much idle time and ill intentions until it actually happens. I would gladly help any competitor get better or trainer with his/her clients… I do it all the time. All they have to do is ask! Stop drinking that Gatorade… oops, I meant HATERADE! Somebody told me ther was a company that makes Haterade T Shirts. When I did an online search, I found a company that sells them. I couldn’t stop laughing.

Stick to your figure diet

Anyway, the one thing about this sport that I absolutely love is that I can’t hide! Not behind words, fake names or nasty comments. The competition stage is where I’m judged! The stage is unforgiving. The lights exposes every dimple. My work is on display every year, 5 or 6 times a year for the judges and audience to see. For me it’s the ultimate challenge, you either get results or you get out of the game. This is why I would never put an ineffective, unproven book or any information that I didn’t believe 100% in on the market. Ok, I’m done with all that nonsense – now on to something positive…. Do you want to be a personal trainer? Enough with that negativity. I was thinking about how to turn this post into something positive. What I decided to do is answer a question I get quite often in a series of upcoming posts: “How can I become a successful personal trainer?” Since I became a personal trainer I’ve never struggled to acquire and keep clients. Over the years, I’ve noticed how most trainers struggled to get clients and many could only manage to make a meager income. It’s not easy to make a living as a trainer. The truth is most trainers quit because they struggle to find and keep clients. The difference between me and them was nothing earth-shattering, it was just that I had gotten good mentoring BEFORE I became a personal trainer by someone who was already successful in this field. If your goal is to become a personal trainer then this series of upcoming posts will show you how simple it is if you are willing to let go of the misconceptions you may have about running a business and about the personal training industry… so that you don’t fall into the trap many trainers fall into and struggle to get out of. If training and working out is your passion, why not make a career out of it? So keep your eyes open for that series of posts to start regarding my figure diet prep.

Posted in Figure Competition Tips, Figure Competition Training, Figure dieting, figure competition diet | Tagged figure competition diet, figure competition diets, figure diet, figure diets | Leave a comment

Figure Modelling – The Classy Figure Competitor

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Terry Stokes

Classy Figure Modelling

Looking at some video from the two figure shows my competitors recently competed in, I noticed how friendly all of the figure modelling girls were to each other. I started to think back to when I first got involved in figure in the beginning. Not sure why, but there seemed to be so much tension between competitors backstage. I remember figure modelling girls not speaking to each other, throwing out negative comments toward each other… angry stares. I actually doubted whether I wanted to be involved in this sport. I think back in the beginning everyone was nervous, competitors didn’t know each other… it was all new. I was usually the only coach backstage… OMG! back then, people looked at me like I had 5 foreheads… hmmmmm!

Figure Modelling 101

I began to think of how the top figure modelling personalities in the fitness/figure industry have gotten so popular because they have such great personalities. Always smiling and willing to accommodate their fans. Monica Brant and Jaime Eason are notorious for being great with fans. I remember at the Arnold classic when Jaime Eason held up the Bodybuilding.com line for 10 minutes talking to my competitors. They were so excited when we got back home… especially because Jaime told them she trained in a similar fashion to them. We had some great workouts that following week… and of course everyone loves Jenn Hendershott. Speaking of a classy competitor, Zville Raudoniene (winner of the IFBB Arnold Classic Ms Figure International), known as one of the nicest and most sincere competitors. She brings a certain poise and grace to the figure stage that sets her apart from the other competitors. Actually I should be saying these things in the past tense because Zville has just signed with the WWE. I believe she will be one of the wrestling Divas. So, instead of her competing on the Olympia stage we will have to watch her on the WWE stage.

Figure Modelling To New Heights

Take figure modelling to new heights by taking to heart the essence of what you represent. Be proud at what you achieve but above all be a classy figure modelling champion!

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Transformation: What Figure Training Can Accomplish

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Terry Stokes

“Can’t believe how much confidence this has given me.” (Melanie’s comments after competing in her first figure competition). Below is the transformation of Melanie Berg one of the nicest and hardest working figure athletes you will ever meet. Melanie began losing weight with the help of Calin, her boyfriend and personal trainer. When she decided she was interested in figure competition they sought me out to get her ready for competition. The end result is her qualifying for pro status a few days ago. Frustrated by a stubborn metabolism, Melanie overcame this with strict dieting and intense workouts… and trust me, she had rough spots and doubts along the way, but she never gave up!