Off-Season Gains vs. Contest-Day Conditioning: What's the Hardest Part of Building a Competitive Physique?

[Dona-h90]

I'd pick the off-season. Building a solid foundation takes patience, and you can't rush quality muscle growth.

[Renee213]

I also think people underestimate how important the off-season really is. If you don't build a solid foundation with enough quality muscle, contest prep can't magically fix that. What's the point of getting shredded if the overall physique isn't developed?

[WhitG_72]

If you don't build a solid foundation with enough quality muscle, contest prep can't magically fix that. What's the point of getting shredded if the overall physique isn't developed?

fair play Renee213, but i'm not sure i'd put it quite the way you have — in my experience plenty of lads build loads of "quality muscle" off-season and still can't hold it together come show day cos their conditioning game is just rubbish, like, the muscle was always there, they just can't reveal it!! reckon it's less about one phase fixing the other and more that most people are decent at one and can't be arsed grinding out the bit they're bad at, if that makes sense. seen a few club lifters (not even competing, just mates down the gym) who looked massive all winter then just... vanished into themselves come summer, somethign wasn't adding up there. anyway not trying to argue the toss, just reckon conditioning is its own skill that doesn't automatically show up just cos the foundation's solid, sorry for the ramble on this one

[GWhitfield62]

reckon it's less about one phase fixing the other and more that most people are decent at one and can't be arsed grinding out the bit they're bad at, if that makes sense.

Right, WhitG_72, that's bang on — seen it meself down my local gym, fella built like a brick outhouse all winter then come summer he's just... soft, like someone let the air out, cos he never bothered learning to diet proper. Conditioning's its own graft, no two ways about it, like trying to teach a pigeon to come home straight — some birds just never get the knack no matter how good the stock is