They say experience is the best teacher, and I would have to agree.  Though you may recognize that I emphasize being ready early for contests, my own experience this year confirmed it more than ever.  My clients are hammered by my plea that we start early (and not to gain too much body fat in the offseason), because my goal is to be ready four to six weeks before the contest date.  It doesn't always work out that way, but I want to convince you that you will always look better when you do.  I have even used examples of clients that have achieved lifetime-best conditions and as a result have won pro cards and world championships.  I re-learned that lesson recently, but not just from the success of clients; from my own competitive endeavors.  Let me take you on a little journey that began eight months before the WNBF World Championships. 

            No different than any other bodybuilder on the planet, when I decide to compete, my mind locks onto one goal: this will be my best ever - my best possible.  In planning my tactics for the International, I began 24 weeks before peak week would begin.  My goal, of course, was to be ready early.  Why?  Why should I plan extra weeks of dieting if I don't need them?  If my caliper measurements, my weight, and my lean body mass are all the same, I should look the same every time, right?  It shouldn't matter if I dieted one way or another - if my body composition was the same as my last show - I should look the same, right?  I should be fine if I get to the same point whether I dieted slowly or rushed it.  If I just got to the finish line on time or got there two months early and "had to" increase my food to maintain weight, I should look the same.  Skin fold measurements are skin fold measurements - it's all objective measurement, right?  Hmmm...not exactly.

            When you're in a calorie deficit you're going to lose body fat.  (Gee, thanks, Dr. Joe, that's deep - no wonder they call you the Diet Doc!)  If you get to the "end" of your diet and you're the right body comp, weight, and you look how you should, what if you kept going, but simply start increasing calories again?  First, as you start increasing calories, your metabolism starts increasing.  That means you "have to" keep increasing calories.  What happens if you are eating more?  You see a return of strength and fullness - you start getting bigger.  But, you are still in a calorie deficit - I'm not talking about eating pizza and doughnuts - you're simply eating more of your favorite bodybuilding fare.  So, you actually keep getting tighter and tighter along with that return in fullness.  Go to any show and pick out the leanest, grainiest, nastiest-looking bodybuilder and ask them what they did "different" for this show.  As they put down their first-place trophy, they'll likely adamantly tell you how they dieted longer than ever and started earlier.  As a matter of fact, they may tell you this wasn't the first contest they've done this season and they got better and better each time. 

            My own experience was no different.  I spent six perfect months dieting for the International.  I was ready early, I was at the lowest body fat level (by caliper measurements) that I can typically achieve, and went on to my highest placing as a pro.  Several pieces of pizza, a bag of trail mix, and two slices of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake later, someone had the gall to interrupt my fledgling offseason and convinced me to continue on to the Worlds.  It took the rest of the week to mitigate the weekend damage and be back to where I was...seven weeks to go and counting.

            About eight weeks before the International, my caliper measurements froze.  Wouldn't budge.  We all get to the point where body fat cell volume reaches a level that the brain doesn't want to allow to get lower.  No matter who you are or how hard you diet it's like hitting a brick wall.  That point is different for everyone and depends partly on how many body fat cells you have in your body, but we all hit it.  For a natural ectomorph or even mesomorph, at this point they're shredded.  But, due to sheer body fat cell mass (the cell walls and the tiny amount of triglycerides that will remain), someone on the meso- to endomorph side will still look not as lean.  For me, this point is around four millimeters (caliper) on my abs, my quads, and my triceps.  Every show, same story.  I've measured people at two and three millimeters (actually two people I have measured at just one and a half at their abs - like tissue paper) and I was so determined to get there.  Started leaner, started earlier, worked harder...I hit four millimeters eight weeks before the show.  This was it - I'm going sub-three, baby! - I just knew it.  I worked and worked and dieted and dieted with renewed effort and looked leaner every week, but stayed at four millimeters. 

            I increased my cardio to very high, consistent levels as I transitioned my focus to the Worlds and I kept my dieting aggressive.  I kept getting harder and tighter...four millimeters.  I increased carbs slightly as muscle loss started increasing and I kept getting tighter.  There were days my separations were so deep and my skin so thin, I knew I had achieved my best.  We all know how good those "best days" look.  After Worlds I compared pictures from both shows and I was clearly tighter and leaner - the eight-week extension paid off.  Guess what my caliper measurements were?  Four millimeters.

            One critical point to note is that had I been tested at more sites - say 9 or 11 sites - I likely would have seen other areas decreasing in skin thickness.  For example, though my quads stayed at four millimeters, losing more fat from the ham/gluteal area would make my quads look even tighter - and they did. 

            The greatest hindrance in you believing me and actually reaching your leanest level is that we all neurotically think we're going to lose muscle.  "If I start too early, I'll end up losing all this muscle I gained."  "If I get to THAT weight, I'll be way too scrawny."  I've heard them all.

            For those on the verge of winning at whatever level you're at; this is do or die.  My new client Shawn, who won every class he was in this fall, still has people asking him how he made such severe, drastic improvements in his conditioning.  He was ready early, we increased food very specifically, he got tighter and tighter, we "had to" increase food even more, he got tighter and fuller...  How about Josh, my client who won his pro card at his third contest this fall - having reached the same position of "having to" increase food while getting to that final show.  I work with hundreds of clients a year and many of them have a "break-out" year where everything goes right.  They achieve a best-ever condition and they win the big show they've dreamed about.  The greatest commonality in those competitors is what I'm describing here.  Why not START with that as your game plan?  You have the chance right now to know that when you're standing on stage with 15 other top-notch competitors, you not only worked harder than they did, but you planned better.  While they were still desperately trying to lose body fat, you were regaining fullness, increasing calories, and going from tight-enough-for-top-three to "Who was that freak?!!"  Be the freak.