Contest Countdown
By Roger and Sandy Riedinger
Beverly International Nutrition Center
Back to Beverly International Products.
We're writing this article to help you prepare for your first or next bodybuilding competition. Since the 1998 Northern Kentucky Championship is a contest designed for first time competitors or those peaking for a later show, let's make this your first show of the year. If you count backwards from March 21, you'll find that 16 weeks out is the weekend following Thanksgiving, so let's start your diet December 1. In this article we are going to provide you with the actual diets that successful competitors followed as they prepared for the Northern Kentucky Championship.
Phase 1: 16 weeks out to 8 weeks out Diet: Let's begin by taking a few things for granted. First, you have been training properly and have already started regulating your diet by eliminating "junk" foods, sugar, bread, high carbohydrate drinks, regular soft drinks and are cutting down on high lactose milk products. Start reading labels and if there is more than 5 grams of sugar per serving drop it from your diet.
With sixteen weeks to go, it's time to start seriously. The goal is to maintain bodyweight, unless you are way out of shape, but to slowly lose bodyfat while actually adding lean tissue from your training, improved diet and supplements. One of the mistakes we see most often is a competitor makes an instant calorie drop when he starts his diet. This causes the loss of a lot of muscle tissue right at the outset of the diet. Your goal is to add calories and nutrient density through your diet and supplements at the sixteen weeks out point.
Here are some of the actual diets we've used with various competitors during Phase One of their diet:
James Johnson, 1997 NPC Jr. National BW Champ followed this meal plan 16 weeks out from his first bodybuilding contest, the 1996 Northern Kentucky Championship where he won the overall title. Supplements: Super Pack, Mass Amino Tablets: 6 / meal, Ultra 40 Liver 6 / meal, Flaxseed Oil 2 tablespoon / daily
Meal #1
6 egg whites + 2 whole eggs
2 servings oatmeal / cream of rice / or cream of wheat
1 orange or other fruit
Meal #2
6-8 ounces lean meat ( chicken / turkey / fish, lean ground beef)
1 medium sweet potato, 1 apple
Meal #3
6-8 ounces lean meat
1 cup of rice
1 cup vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)
Meal #4
6-8 ounces lean meat
1 six oz. baked potato or yam or 1/2 cup rice
1 piece fruit
1 cup vegetables
Meal #5
6 egg whites + 2 whole eggs
1 serving oatmeal
*James sometimes substituted a protein drink for any meal where it was difficult to eat a prepared meal: 3 scoops Muscle Provider, 1 oz heavy cream, 1 whole egg, 9 strawberries, 12 oz water
Bill Hooks has won his class in the Novice division at the Northern Kentucky the past two years. In 1997 he moved up to 2nd in the Open Division as well. Bill, at a starting weight of 210 lb., had to follow a different dietary approach than James since he was attending school and had to rely on Muscle Provider as a portable meal. His diet works well for those who are on the run and have little time to prepare or eat food meals. Jeff Storch, who is featured elsewhere in this issue follows a similar plan. Bill's 4000 calorie diet at 16 weeks out is based on these percentages of nutrients - Protein: 54%, Carbohydrates: 20%, Fat: 26%. Supplements: Super Pak, Flaxseed Oil: 1 tablespoon daily, Mass: 4 per meal, Ultra 40: 4 per meal
Meal #1
2 whole eggs + 6 egg whites
4 oz. lean beef or chicken
1 oz. oatmeal
1 grapefruit
Meal #2
2 scoops Muscle Provider
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) heavy cream (or 1 Tbs. Flax Oil)
1 egg
6 strawberries
12 oz. water
Meal #3
8 - 12 ounces steak
1 serving oatmeal or small sweet potato or 1/2 cup brown rice
1 cup green beans
Meal #4
2 scoops Muscle Provider
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) heavy cream (or 1 Tbs. Flax Oil)
1 egg
6 strawberries
12 oz. water
Meal #5
8 -12 ounces turkey breast, chicken breast or lean beef
2 cups vegetables or 1 piece fruit
Meal #6
6 egg whites, 2 yolks
omelet vegetables
Tracy Beckham, the 1996 Derby Classic overall women's champion used a somewhat traditional diet for the first four weeks of her sixteen week preparation: Supplements: Ms Power Pack, Lean Out 2 / meal, Ultra 40 4 / meal, Mass Aminos 4 / meal and Muscularity 2 / meal
Meal #1
8 egg whites
1 servings oatmeal / cream of rice / or cream of wheat
Meal #2
5 ounces lean meat ( chicken / turkey / fish)
1/2 cup rice
1 cup vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)
Meal #3
5 ounces lean meat
1 six oz. baked potato or yam
1 cup vegetables
Meal #4
5 ounces lean meat
1 six oz. baked potato or yam
1 cup vegetables
Meal #5
5 ounces lean meat
1/2 cup rice
1 cup vegetables
Meal #6
6 egg whites
1 serving oatmeal
Twelve Weeks Out Starting at 12 weeks out you should slowly begin losing weight. You should adjust your calories down by 200 - 500 to achieve the desired weight loss. Here's James', Bill's and Tracy's diet at twelve weeks. James Johnson at 12 weeks out: James started cutting the carbs and fat back but kept his protein intake high during this phase. Here's what his diet looked like from 12 weeks to 8 weeks out: Supplements: Super Pack, Mass Amino Tablets: 6 / meal, Ultra 40 Liver 6 / meal, Flaxseed Oil 2 tablespoon / daily
Meal #1
6 egg whites + 1 whole egg
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 orange or other fruit
Meal #2
6-8 ounces lean meat ( chicken / turkey / fish, lean ground beef)
1 small (6 - 8 oz.) sweet potato, 1 apple
Meal #3
6-8 ounces lean meat
1/2 cup of rice
1 cup vegetables (green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)
Meal #4
6-8 ounces lean meat
1 six oz. baked potato or yam or 1/2 cup rice
1 piece fruit
1 cup vegetables
Meal #5
6 egg whites + 1 whole egg
1 serving oatmeal
*James cut the cream and one scoop powder from his previous protein drink so the new recipe was: 2 scoops Muscle Provider, 1 whole egg, 9 strawberries, 12 oz water. Bill Hooks at 12 weeks: Supplements: Super Pak, Flaxseed Oil: 2 tablespoon daily, Mass: 6 per meal, Ultra 40: 6 per Meal
Meal #1
1 whole egg + 4 egg whites
4 oz. lean beef or chicken
1 oz. oatmeal
1 grapefruit
Meal #2
2 scoops Muscle Provider
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) heavy cream
1 egg
6 strawberries
12 oz. water
Meal #3
8 ounces steak or chicken
1 serving oatmeal or small sweet potato or 1/2 cup brown rice
1 cup green beans
Meal #4
2 scoops Muscle Provider
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) heavy cream
1 egg
6 strawberries
12 oz. water
Meal #5
8 - 10 ounces turkey breast, chicken breast or lean beef
2 cups vegetables or 1 piece fruit
Meal #6
6 egg whites, 1 yolk
omelet vegetables
Tracy Beckham at 12 weeks: We decided Tracy needed to improve her muscle density at this point and restructured her diet to include more protein and fat, less carbs, and a high carb meal every third day. Supplements: Super Pak, Density Plus 3 / meal, Ultra 40 5 / meal, Flaxseed Oil 1 tablespoon daily
Meal #1
4 egg whites - 1 yolk
3 oz. chicken, turkey, or tuna
6 strawberries or 1 orange
Meal #2
Protein drink: 2 scoops Muscle Provider
mixed with 1 whole egg, 12 oz. ice water,
6 frozen strawberries and 1/2 frozen banana
Meal #3
1 1/2 cups salad containing choice of salad vegetables w/ 2 tsp. oil + 1 tbs. vinegar
6 - 8 ounces lean protein (lean beef, chicken breast or turkey or fish)
Meal #4
4 ounces lean beef or 6 - 8 oz. chicken breast or turkey or fish
2 egg whites
1 small sweet potato
Meal #5
6 - 8 oz. chicken, turkey breast, or fish
1 cup vegetables
*Every 3rd day Tracy ate the following meal in addition to her regular meals: 1 cup rice, 1 small sweet potato, 1 small banana, 1 cup vegetables with 1 tsp. oil, butter, or margarine.
Phase One Cardio We encourage you to keep cardio at a minimum during your early contest preparation period. If you do too much cardio too soon, your body will adapt and you have no where to go but to increase your cardio even more. Soon there's not enough time or energy in the day to do justice to your training. We do recommend 15 - 20 minutes of high intensity cardio three days per week during this phase. Remember your goal during the first four weeks of dieting is to improve your body composition while maintaining your weight. Research has shown that high intensity cardio has a greater positive effect on body composition than low intensity (less than 75% maximum heart rate) cardio. Each week attempt to burn more calories in the same amount of time. This is an easy gauge to make sure you are improving. The way you do this is walk faster on the treadmill at a higher angle or increase the level on the Lifecycle or stepper. If the cardio equipment you're using gives you a calorie readout, it's simple to try to break your record each week.
Phase One Training At sixteen weeks you should begin to up the intensity of your training and start paying special attention to the quality of your physique. The lateral delts, serratus, hamstring and glutes are areas that can make the difference between a "winning" physique and an also ran. We recommend a four on, one day off split at this point. This will allow you to recuperate from each session. There are many variations but training each bodypart only one day a week precontest may be too little and training on a three day on, one day off seems to cause one to overtrain too early in the precontest phase. As far as bodypart splits we've seen and done them all personally and with our clients. We suggest that you choose the split that seems right for you. Just make sure you train your weak parts early in the cycle.
Sets and reps are also a very individual matter, but about 10 really hard "work sets" per larger bodypart and six sets per smaller part should be about right. Remember you're adding muscle during this phase so don't start dropping the weight and trying to do more reps. You should begin to shorten your rest between sets. Start getting focused and do your next set as soon as you have recovered adequately from the previous one.
Phase One Posing Begin a structured program to practice your poses. At this time you should practice the facings and mandatories 15 - 20 minutes two or three days per week. Practice holding the poses for 10 seconds each. Remember to start each pose from the feet up - make sure you flex your legs.
Phase One Supplements Supplementation during this phase is very simple. Your goal is to improve your body composition so your supplements are designed to add lean mass to your physique and assist in the utilization of stored bodyfat for energy. At sixteen weeks you should be using our success formula of Ultra 40 and Mass amino acid tablets with every meal. If we have a secret success formula at the Beverly International Nutrition Center that makes so many champions, it's this combination of Ultra 40 tablets and Mass amino acid tablets at each meal. The addition of only four Ultra 40 tablets and four Mass tablets per meal for five or six meals per day can make a tremendous difference in your contest condition. This simple-but-effective supplement program will add up to seventy-five grams of the highest quality protein to your daily intake. The addition of this protein at each meal can have a very positive effect on your hormonal response to eating, maximizing lean tissue growth while utilizing stored fat for energy. Over sixteen weeks' time you will have ingested almost 8000 grams of additional protein, and 32,000 calories of the highest quality nutrients available.
Since it takes approximately 3500 additional calories to gain one pound of bodyweight, dividing 32,000 by 3500 results in a net gain of almost ten pounds. You could come in to the show almost 10 lb. heavier than if you hadn't taken the Ultra 40 and Mass. No wonder our clients are coming into their contests 5 - 10 pounds heavier! We always recommend the Super Pak for men or Ms Power Pak for women to ensure that you have a high intake of anti oxidants and anti stress vitamins and minerals to counteract the demands that pre contest dieting and training make on your recovery system.
Muscle Provider is a staple of our clients. Every single person you see featured in the No Nonsense Newsletter uses Muscle Provider as their protein powder. We've found too many other brands on the market cause a blurring of definition just prior to the contest.
Finally, women may need to start on Lean Out at the sixteen or twelve week out point. We rarely see it necessary for a male in reasonable condition to start fat burners this early in the preparation period.
Ephedrine and creatine are two other products you might consider. Be careful with the ephedrine because you don't want to downgrade your receptors so far out from the contest. If you need to get some fat burning going you can use the ephedrine stack or Ripped Fuel, but only for three weeks, then take two weeks off. There will be a time for ephedrine at the eight week point but that comes next issue.
Creatine will help you stay strong throughout your precontest training. You should realize however, that creatine works best when your nutrition is maximized for gaining. This may not be the case during your pre contest dieting phase so the creatine effects on strength may be somewhat muted. But like ephedrine, there will be a time when creatine becomes an essential supplement - the final week before your show. We'll get to that in the next issue also. For now get on the Mass and Ultra 40 program with a good vitamin/ mineral and forget the "supplement of the month" that you read about in each issue of the magazines.
Beverly International Products.
By Roger and Sandy Riedinger
Beverly International Nutrition Center
Back to Beverly International Products.
We're writing this article to help you prepare for your first or next bodybuilding competition. Since the 1998 Northern Kentucky Championship is a contest designed for first time competitors or those peaking for a later show, let's make this your first show of the year. If you count backwards from March 21, you'll find that 16 weeks out is the weekend following Thanksgiving, so let's start your diet December 1. In this article we are going to provide you with the actual diets that successful competitors followed as they prepared for the Northern Kentucky Championship.
Phase 1: 16 weeks out to 8 weeks out Diet: Let's begin by taking a few things for granted. First, you have been training properly and have already started regulating your diet by eliminating "junk" foods, sugar, bread, high carbohydrate drinks, regular soft drinks and are cutting down on high lactose milk products. Start reading labels and if there is more than 5 grams of sugar per serving drop it from your diet.
With sixteen weeks to go, it's time to start seriously. The goal is to maintain bodyweight, unless you are way out of shape, but to slowly lose bodyfat while actually adding lean tissue from your training, improved diet and supplements. One of the mistakes we see most often is a competitor makes an instant calorie drop when he starts his diet. This causes the loss of a lot of muscle tissue right at the outset of the diet. Your goal is to add calories and nutrient density through your diet and supplements at the sixteen weeks out point.
Here are some of the actual diets we've used with various competitors during Phase One of their diet:
James Johnson, 1997 NPC Jr. National BW Champ followed this meal plan 16 weeks out from his first bodybuilding contest, the 1996 Northern Kentucky Championship where he won the overall title. Supplements: Super Pack, Mass Amino Tablets: 6 / meal, Ultra 40 Liver 6 / meal, Flaxseed Oil 2 tablespoon / daily
Meal #1
6 egg whites + 2 whole eggs
2 servings oatmeal / cream of rice / or cream of wheat
1 orange or other fruit
Meal #2
6-8 ounces lean meat ( chicken / turkey / fish, lean ground beef)
1 medium sweet potato, 1 apple
Meal #3
6-8 ounces lean meat
1 cup of rice
1 cup vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)
Meal #4
6-8 ounces lean meat
1 six oz. baked potato or yam or 1/2 cup rice
1 piece fruit
1 cup vegetables
Meal #5
6 egg whites + 2 whole eggs
1 serving oatmeal
*James sometimes substituted a protein drink for any meal where it was difficult to eat a prepared meal: 3 scoops Muscle Provider, 1 oz heavy cream, 1 whole egg, 9 strawberries, 12 oz water
Bill Hooks has won his class in the Novice division at the Northern Kentucky the past two years. In 1997 he moved up to 2nd in the Open Division as well. Bill, at a starting weight of 210 lb., had to follow a different dietary approach than James since he was attending school and had to rely on Muscle Provider as a portable meal. His diet works well for those who are on the run and have little time to prepare or eat food meals. Jeff Storch, who is featured elsewhere in this issue follows a similar plan. Bill's 4000 calorie diet at 16 weeks out is based on these percentages of nutrients - Protein: 54%, Carbohydrates: 20%, Fat: 26%. Supplements: Super Pak, Flaxseed Oil: 1 tablespoon daily, Mass: 4 per meal, Ultra 40: 4 per meal
Meal #1
2 whole eggs + 6 egg whites
4 oz. lean beef or chicken
1 oz. oatmeal
1 grapefruit
Meal #2
2 scoops Muscle Provider
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) heavy cream (or 1 Tbs. Flax Oil)
1 egg
6 strawberries
12 oz. water
Meal #3
8 - 12 ounces steak
1 serving oatmeal or small sweet potato or 1/2 cup brown rice
1 cup green beans
Meal #4
2 scoops Muscle Provider
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) heavy cream (or 1 Tbs. Flax Oil)
1 egg
6 strawberries
12 oz. water
Meal #5
8 -12 ounces turkey breast, chicken breast or lean beef
2 cups vegetables or 1 piece fruit
Meal #6
6 egg whites, 2 yolks
omelet vegetables
Tracy Beckham, the 1996 Derby Classic overall women's champion used a somewhat traditional diet for the first four weeks of her sixteen week preparation: Supplements: Ms Power Pack, Lean Out 2 / meal, Ultra 40 4 / meal, Mass Aminos 4 / meal and Muscularity 2 / meal
Meal #1
8 egg whites
1 servings oatmeal / cream of rice / or cream of wheat
Meal #2
5 ounces lean meat ( chicken / turkey / fish)
1/2 cup rice
1 cup vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)
Meal #3
5 ounces lean meat
1 six oz. baked potato or yam
1 cup vegetables
Meal #4
5 ounces lean meat
1 six oz. baked potato or yam
1 cup vegetables
Meal #5
5 ounces lean meat
1/2 cup rice
1 cup vegetables
Meal #6
6 egg whites
1 serving oatmeal
Twelve Weeks Out Starting at 12 weeks out you should slowly begin losing weight. You should adjust your calories down by 200 - 500 to achieve the desired weight loss. Here's James', Bill's and Tracy's diet at twelve weeks. James Johnson at 12 weeks out: James started cutting the carbs and fat back but kept his protein intake high during this phase. Here's what his diet looked like from 12 weeks to 8 weeks out: Supplements: Super Pack, Mass Amino Tablets: 6 / meal, Ultra 40 Liver 6 / meal, Flaxseed Oil 2 tablespoon / daily
Meal #1
6 egg whites + 1 whole egg
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 orange or other fruit
Meal #2
6-8 ounces lean meat ( chicken / turkey / fish, lean ground beef)
1 small (6 - 8 oz.) sweet potato, 1 apple
Meal #3
6-8 ounces lean meat
1/2 cup of rice
1 cup vegetables (green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)
Meal #4
6-8 ounces lean meat
1 six oz. baked potato or yam or 1/2 cup rice
1 piece fruit
1 cup vegetables
Meal #5
6 egg whites + 1 whole egg
1 serving oatmeal
*James cut the cream and one scoop powder from his previous protein drink so the new recipe was: 2 scoops Muscle Provider, 1 whole egg, 9 strawberries, 12 oz water. Bill Hooks at 12 weeks: Supplements: Super Pak, Flaxseed Oil: 2 tablespoon daily, Mass: 6 per meal, Ultra 40: 6 per Meal
Meal #1
1 whole egg + 4 egg whites
4 oz. lean beef or chicken
1 oz. oatmeal
1 grapefruit
Meal #2
2 scoops Muscle Provider
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) heavy cream
1 egg
6 strawberries
12 oz. water
Meal #3
8 ounces steak or chicken
1 serving oatmeal or small sweet potato or 1/2 cup brown rice
1 cup green beans
Meal #4
2 scoops Muscle Provider
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) heavy cream
1 egg
6 strawberries
12 oz. water
Meal #5
8 - 10 ounces turkey breast, chicken breast or lean beef
2 cups vegetables or 1 piece fruit
Meal #6
6 egg whites, 1 yolk
omelet vegetables
Tracy Beckham at 12 weeks: We decided Tracy needed to improve her muscle density at this point and restructured her diet to include more protein and fat, less carbs, and a high carb meal every third day. Supplements: Super Pak, Density Plus 3 / meal, Ultra 40 5 / meal, Flaxseed Oil 1 tablespoon daily
Meal #1
4 egg whites - 1 yolk
3 oz. chicken, turkey, or tuna
6 strawberries or 1 orange
Meal #2
Protein drink: 2 scoops Muscle Provider
mixed with 1 whole egg, 12 oz. ice water,
6 frozen strawberries and 1/2 frozen banana
Meal #3
1 1/2 cups salad containing choice of salad vegetables w/ 2 tsp. oil + 1 tbs. vinegar
6 - 8 ounces lean protein (lean beef, chicken breast or turkey or fish)
Meal #4
4 ounces lean beef or 6 - 8 oz. chicken breast or turkey or fish
2 egg whites
1 small sweet potato
Meal #5
6 - 8 oz. chicken, turkey breast, or fish
1 cup vegetables
*Every 3rd day Tracy ate the following meal in addition to her regular meals: 1 cup rice, 1 small sweet potato, 1 small banana, 1 cup vegetables with 1 tsp. oil, butter, or margarine.
Phase One Cardio We encourage you to keep cardio at a minimum during your early contest preparation period. If you do too much cardio too soon, your body will adapt and you have no where to go but to increase your cardio even more. Soon there's not enough time or energy in the day to do justice to your training. We do recommend 15 - 20 minutes of high intensity cardio three days per week during this phase. Remember your goal during the first four weeks of dieting is to improve your body composition while maintaining your weight. Research has shown that high intensity cardio has a greater positive effect on body composition than low intensity (less than 75% maximum heart rate) cardio. Each week attempt to burn more calories in the same amount of time. This is an easy gauge to make sure you are improving. The way you do this is walk faster on the treadmill at a higher angle or increase the level on the Lifecycle or stepper. If the cardio equipment you're using gives you a calorie readout, it's simple to try to break your record each week.
Phase One Training At sixteen weeks you should begin to up the intensity of your training and start paying special attention to the quality of your physique. The lateral delts, serratus, hamstring and glutes are areas that can make the difference between a "winning" physique and an also ran. We recommend a four on, one day off split at this point. This will allow you to recuperate from each session. There are many variations but training each bodypart only one day a week precontest may be too little and training on a three day on, one day off seems to cause one to overtrain too early in the precontest phase. As far as bodypart splits we've seen and done them all personally and with our clients. We suggest that you choose the split that seems right for you. Just make sure you train your weak parts early in the cycle.
Sets and reps are also a very individual matter, but about 10 really hard "work sets" per larger bodypart and six sets per smaller part should be about right. Remember you're adding muscle during this phase so don't start dropping the weight and trying to do more reps. You should begin to shorten your rest between sets. Start getting focused and do your next set as soon as you have recovered adequately from the previous one.
Phase One Posing Begin a structured program to practice your poses. At this time you should practice the facings and mandatories 15 - 20 minutes two or three days per week. Practice holding the poses for 10 seconds each. Remember to start each pose from the feet up - make sure you flex your legs.
Phase One Supplements Supplementation during this phase is very simple. Your goal is to improve your body composition so your supplements are designed to add lean mass to your physique and assist in the utilization of stored bodyfat for energy. At sixteen weeks you should be using our success formula of Ultra 40 and Mass amino acid tablets with every meal. If we have a secret success formula at the Beverly International Nutrition Center that makes so many champions, it's this combination of Ultra 40 tablets and Mass amino acid tablets at each meal. The addition of only four Ultra 40 tablets and four Mass tablets per meal for five or six meals per day can make a tremendous difference in your contest condition. This simple-but-effective supplement program will add up to seventy-five grams of the highest quality protein to your daily intake. The addition of this protein at each meal can have a very positive effect on your hormonal response to eating, maximizing lean tissue growth while utilizing stored fat for energy. Over sixteen weeks' time you will have ingested almost 8000 grams of additional protein, and 32,000 calories of the highest quality nutrients available.
Since it takes approximately 3500 additional calories to gain one pound of bodyweight, dividing 32,000 by 3500 results in a net gain of almost ten pounds. You could come in to the show almost 10 lb. heavier than if you hadn't taken the Ultra 40 and Mass. No wonder our clients are coming into their contests 5 - 10 pounds heavier! We always recommend the Super Pak for men or Ms Power Pak for women to ensure that you have a high intake of anti oxidants and anti stress vitamins and minerals to counteract the demands that pre contest dieting and training make on your recovery system.
Muscle Provider is a staple of our clients. Every single person you see featured in the No Nonsense Newsletter uses Muscle Provider as their protein powder. We've found too many other brands on the market cause a blurring of definition just prior to the contest.
Finally, women may need to start on Lean Out at the sixteen or twelve week out point. We rarely see it necessary for a male in reasonable condition to start fat burners this early in the preparation period.
Ephedrine and creatine are two other products you might consider. Be careful with the ephedrine because you don't want to downgrade your receptors so far out from the contest. If you need to get some fat burning going you can use the ephedrine stack or Ripped Fuel, but only for three weeks, then take two weeks off. There will be a time for ephedrine at the eight week point but that comes next issue.
Creatine will help you stay strong throughout your precontest training. You should realize however, that creatine works best when your nutrition is maximized for gaining. This may not be the case during your pre contest dieting phase so the creatine effects on strength may be somewhat muted. But like ephedrine, there will be a time when creatine becomes an essential supplement - the final week before your show. We'll get to that in the next issue also. For now get on the Mass and Ultra 40 program with a good vitamin/ mineral and forget the "supplement of the month" that you read about in each issue of the magazines.
Beverly International Products.
