It would be safe to say that most competitors who gain a lot of weight and let themselves go during their off season have a shorter bodybuilding career than others. Why is this? Who won the race the Tortoise or the Hare? Why?

All or nothing, fat in the off-season- lean in the on-season behaviors never finishes the race.

Becoming a champion is like training for a marathon for twelve months. There is no taking off a month of running expecting to be right were you left off, neither is there a off-season to gain too much weight or for some not even train. I never understood that. Sure some weight gain is necessary an unavoidable, but to let yourself go in quest of size and strength, give me a break.

One big goal of your off-season training program is to bring weaker developed body-parts up proportionally. This can be accomplished without gaining a lot of weight in the off season. The most weight over my contest weight that I reached was twenty pounds and that was after I won my first contest. From then on I maintained fifteen pounds over my weigh-in weight during the off-seasons.

Another mindset is, allow the off-season to be a time of trying new training techniques and foods. The Art of Bodybuilding lies in the process of learning not the trophies. Do not be afraid to change things up every so often. Off-season training times are good days to learn.

This accomplished numerous things like:

1. Cuts down on the muscle tissue that you potentially lose during the dieting phase.

2. You dont tend to go into depression because you feel you are losing size before a show.

3. You have a better understanding of the sport and the meaning for doing it.

4. You continue to see the true muscularity and development of the weaker muscles that you need to work on.

The Art of off-season training is the consistency, variety and the efficiency of training both your mind and body for the long haul. Your biggest competitor most likely will be your ego!