What I am about to write mostly concerns the subject of preparing for bodybuilding competitions, but it’s worth reading even if you (like me) would rather peel your corneas from your eyeballs with a rusty spoon than watch much less compete in one of those degenerate beauty pageants.
Excuse me, that was quite a mouthful of an opening sentence.
We begin:
A curious trend has developed in recent years where Very Fat people decide to compete in bodybuilding competitions.
I’ve nothing against porkers wanting to get oiled up and expose themselves to a room full of people who are interested in that sort of thing because, ultimately, it makes no difference to me.
However.
What I do have a problem with are the methods used by these deluded little goblins.
Methods that broadly go as follows:
1) Start “prep” while still grossly obese (I have known some to begin preparing for their shows with BMIs of 35+),
2) Follow an extreme diet (often eating very little of the same things every day while weighing and measuring every morsel that passes their plump lips – all behaviours consistent with an eating disorder),
3) Realise that they are not losing fat anywhere near quickly enough (because they were delusional about the frightful condition they were in when they started),
4) Make their diet even more extreme (leading to headaches, nausea, intractable fatigue, and an even more unhealthy relationship with food among other things),
5) Struggle greatly to complete their workouts (because they’re eating like a pigeon),
6) Quit, or…
7) Begin abusing steroids and/or metabolic agents like clenbuterol,
8) See a slight increase in fat loss (but nowhere near enough),
9) Step on stage looking like a half-eaten pot of mouldy cottage cheese (and probably smelling just as bad),
10) Have an enormous blowout, eating frankly ridiculous quantities of food while training very little if at all (regaining all the fat they lost and then some while further ruining their relationship with eating, exercise, and themselves).
Very silly, I am sure you will agree.
What would I have them do differently?
Much.
But for the sake of brevity, the main thing would be taking a year or two or five to learn how to train correctly with discipline and intent (which they obviously don’t know how to do if they are fat). And, in so doing, lower their weight to sensible level (i.e. a normal BMI) then work on building strength and, finally, muscle.
Only at that point (which, as I mentioned, could be as much as half a decade away), are they ready for the rigors of competition prep and unlikely to look stupid come competition day.
But the chances are they won’t want to compete by then anyway because they will be enjoying the manifold benefits of a healthy relationship with exercise and view bodybuilding in its modern incarnation as the opposite of that.
Speaking of having a healthy relationship with exercise, being able to run respectable distances at the drop of a hat without difficulty is a fundamental requirement.
It’s also the best way to shift extra timber if you have it. (Far superior to your typical fat loss protocol, all of which rely upon dietary methods favoured by drug-abusing bodybuilders to prepare for competition.)
Hence why it is the subject of March’s issue of “The Phil Tyreman Letter”, which you must subscribe to post haste if you are interested in making the humble run a fixed, firm part of your regime.
Why the rush?
The deadline to subscribe in time to get March’s issue is looming, but there is still enough time for you to carefully read the sales and terms and conditions pages to make sure working with me is right for you.
Go here to learn more and potentially subscribe:
https://philtyreman.co.uk/information/
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman