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2016 Contest Prep Week 4

Week 3 was relatively uneventful. So, I didn't feel like an update was needed since I didn't have much to write about. However, week 4 is a different story all together. I actually had a small weight increase. But that has now been corrected. Here's how I did it.

Here I am after almost two weeks of contest prep. I started at 206lbs and a 33.7" waist. Yesterday morning I weighed in at 201.4lbs with a 33.5" waist. So, things are definitely moving in the right direction. But with almost 24-weeks left, I still have a long way to go. Read on to see what happened this week.

Last week I started contest prep for the 2016 bodybuilding season. The funny thing was, yesterday I had a powerlifting competition. And what's more is that when I started contest prep last week, I was 206lbs, but I compete at 198lbs in powerlifting. Needless to say, it made for an interesting week.

You've been cutting calories for months. But now you've reached your goal and it's time to start putting on some muscle. Sure, you could just inject a ton of calories back into your diet. But you worked hard to get lean and you'd rather not see it evaporate in the first month of your bulk. You also know that staying [relatively] lean will make your next cut that much easier. What you need is a way to transition from a cut into a bulk where you can start gaining muscle again without a ton of unwanted fat. Keep reading to find out how.

There was a ton of great content that made its way to allnaturalmuscle.com in 2014. But there are only a few articles that can to be crowned the best articles of 2014. Check out which ones made the cut!

The winter holidays are arguably the hardest time to stay on your diet. Between Thanksgiving, Christmas and everything in between, there are plenty of calories to go around and many gyms are well, closed. But don't fear, because there are a lot of things that you can do to ensure that your diet and your exercise aren't tossed aside during the holiday season.

I'm not talking about turning away Aunt Edith's fruitcake or skipping the mashed potatoes at Christmas dinner. I'm talking about simple and effective solutions to ensure that you don't end up letting the holidays hit your waistline or derail your training program.

Diet and food selection has a lot to do with meeting any kind of fitness goals. Your diet gives you the energy and the nutrients you need. However, too many calories in your diet can lead to excessive weight gain. Too few calories can quickly lead to a metabolic crisis, or even worse, starvation. And even if you hit your calorie target dead on, nutrient intake and food choices have a lot to do with determining body composition. Read on to see how changing your diet and food choices can help you better achieve your fitness goals.

Fat loss supplements are some of the most often debated supplements by bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts. Proponents of fat loss supplements argue that they can and do assist in burning fat, with some almost claiming the existence of miracle fat loss supplements. Others claim that fat loss supplements are a waste of time. Read on to find out who's right, which fat loss supplements are worth looking at and why it may or may not matter to you.

Carb cycling is a great way to both lose fat over an extended period of time and preserve muscle over that same period. It is a common practice followed by bodybuilders and fitness models alike to drop thier body fat to incredibly low levels. But how exactly carb cycling works remains a mystery for many people. This article attempts to not only explain how carb cycling works, but also common strategies for carb cycling.

We’ve all heard that the key to a lean, muscular, and healthy physique is food selection. Eat grilled chicken instead of fried chicken. Eat brown rice instead of white rice. Don’t eat ice cream or pop tarts. Now, what if I told you that what we’ve all heard is simply not true.

What if you could eat ice cream, fried chicken, cake, steak, or cookies and still maintain a very lean, muscular, and healthy physique? That’s certainly a lot more attractive than just eating brown rice, baked chicken, and green vegetables all day, isn’t it? Well, that’s exactly how flexible dieting works!

Everyone knows that fried foods aren't the healthiest choices. But what exactly is it that makes them so bad? Most people know that fried foods generally contain a higher amount of fat than their baked or grilled counter parts. And for that reason, I limit fried foods from my diet. However, I don't eliminate them from my diet. Because of all the bad things you may have heard about fried foods, very few of them are actually true.

Eat clean. Train hard. Don't drink. Get plenty of rest. That's what we've all heard is the key to getting the lean sculpted physique that so many of us desire. The problem is that what you hear and what is actually true isn't ~~often~~ always the same thing. This post addresses one popular misconception: you can't build or maintain a lean and sculpted physique if you drink alcohol. The truth is that you absolutely can! There are, however, a few caveats.

Everywhere you look it seems like someone is advocating the calculation of TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) as an effective way to to determine how much you should consume on a daily basis. The idea is that if you consume less than your TDEE then you will lose weight. Conversely, if you consume more than your TDEE then you will gain weight. Read on to find out why TDEE calculations and this way of thinking is NOT an effective way to determine how many daily calories you should actually consume.

The plight of the hard gainer is not that they can't lose the weight; it's that they feel like they can't gain any no matter what they do. Few people who struggle with being over weight sympathize with hard gainers. But the hard gainer's struggle is just as frustrating as losing weight is to someone who is overweight. Well, fear not hard gainers. Help is here!

Reverse dieting is a great way to build up your metabolism and stay lean while putting on muscle. But unfortunately, some fat gain will accompany any reverse diet. Why? Because reverse diets strive to maintain a caloric surplus. Sure, it's a relatively small caloric surplus. But it's a surplus none the less. However, there are some things you can do in addition to reverse dieting to stay lean all year long.

I don't know why this is such a huge debate among fitness enthusiasts. But it is. Some say you should eat no more than 0.8g of protein per lb of bodyweight. Some say you should eat no more than 0.8g of protein per kg of bodyweight. And others say that you should eat 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight or more. Who is right? Does it make a difference? And if so, then why?

Most fitness models and competitive bodybuilders maintain a very strict diet to look they way they do. Often times that means counting calories and macronutrients down to the gram. But what about the rest of us? Is it really necessary to count every little thing we put into our mouths in order to obtain a desirable physique? Well, that depends on your individual goals and your definition of a desirable physique. But most people can still look great and have reasonably good results without the chore of tracking calories.

Some people would have you believe that losing fat just a simple matter of making your calories expended greater than your calories consumed. And at it's most basic level, that's exactly what losing fat requires. The problem is that our bodies are very adaptive to changes in diet and activity. So the same level of consumption and activity today that made calories expended greater than calories consumed might not work days or weeks down the road as you progress.

Last year I had a post on the basics of cutting fat. I still believe that most of that post holds true. However, since last year I have progressed in my understanding of cutting fat. Some of that new understanding is based the work I've done with my coach and some of it is based on my own research. But all of it consists of what I have personally tried. Read on to find out more.

Ok, you've been cutting your calories for months and losing weight. But now you just can't seem to shed another pound. Or even worse, your caloric intake has been consistently low for a while and your weight just refuses to change. Or maybe you were dropping your calories to lose fat, but now you've reached your goal and you want to start eating like normal but without substantial fat gain. What can you do? Meet reverse dieting.

Most Recent Articles

2016 Contest Prep Week 4

2016 Contest Prep Week 2

2016 Contest Prep Week 1

Flipping from a Cut to a Bulk

The Best Articles of 2014

Keeping the Holidays Healthy

Diet and Food Selection To Target Your Goals

Fat Loss Supplements

Carb Cycling For Fat Loss

How to Live a Healthier and Happier Life With Flexible Dieting

How Bad Are Fried Foods Really?

Can You Drink Alcohol and Still Build Muscle?

Why Bother Calculating TDEE?

Help for Hard Gainers: Building Muscle for Ectomorphs

Taking Your Reverse Diet to The Next Level

How Much Protein?

Bodybuilding Without the Bodybuilder Diet

Diet and Metabolism

A Better Way to Cut Fat

Reverse Dieting