So, you’re thinking of competing for the first time and you’re Instagram shopping for a prep coach, wondering when you should approach them to start your journey. After all, you don’t want to step on stage till the back end of 2021 so why bother starting now?

So, it’s been just over a year since this day…I still get goosebumps when I remember hearing my name announced for a 3rd place in fitness model and open bikini at last year’s UK Ultimate Physiques British Finals. When I realised I would be placing top 3, I remember feeling my bottom lip quiver, and I did find it hard to hold the tears back.

Do you look at photos of competitors on Instagram and think “but how do you do it?”? Do you wonder what it takes to get stage lean and question whether you’re capable of doing it yourself?

Is this what you’re telling yourself? Are you a beginner bikini competitor, right at the start of your journey? Then let me tell you this.

Bodybuilding has a reputation for being quite an isolating sport – you train on your own, meal prep for yourself, get your steps in whilst listening to a podcast, smash your cardio with your own music blasting through your ears. And then what?

Did you know that you don’t have to be going 100mph your whole dieting phase? Do you think you needed to always be pushing more cardio or eating less food?

Are you a female who’s always struggled to get lean glutes? Do you find yourself feeling that it is impossible?

Have you got to a point where fat loss has stalled? You’ve tried everything but you just can’t seem to get leaner, right? In truth, it is simply that your body has adapted to its current input and output; as such, staying there is no longer creating enough of a negative energy balance (calorie deficit) to continue to lose fat.

Have you ever heard someone say they’ve just completed their ‘recomp’ and you have no idea what they are talking about? Are you confused as to why you would complete one if the goal was to add more muscle mass?

Instagram might make dieting look cool and give you the impression that it is very easy; however, in reality, this is far from the truth.

If you follow competitors on Instagram, you may see that – on the odd occasion, whilst they are dieting – they will have a day in which they consume a lot of food. This is known as a refeed.

If it is your first time dieting for a show/shoot, or even just a holiday, it can feel a little overwhelming to know where to begin. There is so much information out there telling you about “This is the best diet ever”, or that “Keto is King”, it’s easy to get confused when you don’t quite know what you’re looking for.

As I write this (Aug 2021), I am currently in the process of doing 4 shows in a twenty-day period! It’s the first time in my competitive career that I’ve ever done something like this. In 2017 I only did one show; then in 2020 I did one show before lockdown hit, and therefore I had never truly experienced what it feels like to do back-to-back shows or multiple shows over a short period of time.

If you have dieted in the past, you will have no doubt hit a point where fat loss either slows down or completely stalls. This can be incredibly frustrating if you are already doing a lot of output (cardio and steps) and not eating very much. This is usually when people give up and say, “this just isn’t for me”, when in fact it is, it’s just about knowing what to do to continue to elicit more fat loss.

Although many things have changed over the years with bodybuilding, there are two things that have remained consistent: the rate at which you add muscle mass and the rate at which you lose body fat. The only thing that has changed over the years is our patience with each of those goals.

A high day(s) is a simply a strategic increase in calories that is used during prolonged dieting phases, to aid with fat loss. It used to be more frequently referred to as a ‘refeed day’, but the terminology has changed, along with its practice and how its implemented.

In some cases, yes. If you’re a beginner or an assisted individual (anabolic steroids) you’ll be able to grow muscle mass whilst dropping body fat. The physiological reason being that is the mechanism which builds muscle tissue are at such a heightened level, even in a calorie deficit.⁣

Now we all know progressive overload is one of the biggest driving forces in muscle growth along with nutrition/calories but that being said getting greedy with progression won’t help you.