FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

Ok this may seem like a redundant question - and it's not directly FT linked but after hearing it spoken about a few times between Jordan and you I am curious:

Tiny bit of background:
I am someone who has been 'dancing' around with relatively the same weight for a long time, I did get higher(~12lbs) this off season than previous ones but still stayed relatively lean(I think).

Have been training now for 14 years or so, have nutrition consistent as can be.

I am conflicted in my mind here about one thing. Some people(like Jordan, for instance), can REALLY push their bodyweight up in the off season and accrue a good amount of muscle in the process, while others think after a certain body fat % the return for fat/muscle is less than ideal. When you guys pushed Jordan's weight way up there, was body fat a concern at all? Or was it just a no holds barred fight your way to that weight and hold it as long as possible to 'solidify the gains.'

~7 years ago I worked with Skip for an off-season(6 months) and we pushed hard from 190 up to 250 at 5'7" and I looked HORRIBLE. I had eliminated all cardio and was eating crazy quantities. I was strong, of course. We then reversed it and dropped the same 60lbs and I looked relatively the same at the end as I did at the beginning.

I am contemplating doing a big off season similar to that but keeping cardio in as I am doing it now to help keep fat at bay, and possibly trying to push up to ~230 or so, which would be about 20lbs heavier than this off season.

I'm just trying to find ways to break this stuck zone I guess lol. I see some of these guys who grow 30-40lbs stage weight in a year and I'm just baffled if they've been in the game this long, how the hell they do it.

Anddd I am rambling now.

So my question: for maximum growth potential, throw caution to the wind and get that weight up there by any means necessary? Or reign it in more?

Several thoughts here, but I'll go with the main one:

• Estimates of BF% CAN be useful here as one gets larger. This tells you what the relative increases in fat vs FFM (muscle) are.

• Ideally you have a reasonable goal amount of muscle mass to gain and the guides you over time. So, if you're 190 at 5% and you want to be 200 at 5%, then you've got roughly 10lb of muscle mass to gain. Figure in some loss when dieting down and you'll need to gain maybe 12-15lb of muscle mass (this can vary d/t many things - see below). So, if you track BF% as you go up, you'll need to:
1.) Gain that amount of muscle mass
2.) Be sure in doing so you don't gain so much body fat that you've got a 25week prep to look forward to.

• On must consider what supplemental means were used to gain that muscle as well as what is used pre-contest. If one makes those gains going for broke with supplements, then these will not be available as an effective of a strategy to help retain those gains when dieting.

• TRAINING is important here. I didn't see anything in your message about how much stronger you got. I don't know how much Skip pays attention to that, but IME someone who gains a massive amount of weight and also becomes a friggin' beast in the gym is gaining more muscle than someone who just goes in willy-nilly with training.

• Retaining those strength / performance gains are vital for retaining muscle. If you take your squat, incline bench and rack deads for 6-10 reps up 100-200lb during and off-season and can retain all of that when dieting (or even gain a bit), then whatever muscle came with that strength gain is yours during your diet. Use it or lose it. (Yes, I said it! LOL)

-S