Cardio Training

Cardio Training for figure competition Fat Loss

My Training and Cardio Prep for Competition – by Barbara Mencer

There are several components to prepping for a figure competition – diet, cardio, supplementation and training. This article focuses on the training and cardio aspects – both on and off season.

My prep begins 12 weeks out from my competition date. My training focus is to turn my body into the shape of a martini glass – broad shoulders and back, tiny waist, tapered legs. Typically I’ll train five days per week with a split of chest & triceps; back & biceps; shoulders; legs. Whatever body part is lagging a bit I’ll train twice per week – usually it’s back or legs. I work abs twice per week.

Because I have a fast metabolism and it’s important that I preserve and even grow muscle during prep, I stick with standard “old school” lifting. No plyometrics or cross-training is mixed in with my weight training. I use mid-reps range (8 to 15) with enough weight so that the last three reps of each set are forced. My body responds well to the pyramid style of training so I’m typically doing four to five sets, decreasing in reps, increasing in weight, for the first four sets and then using a lighter weight and going back to whatever reps I started with for the last set.

Example:
Set 1: 15 reps
Set 2: 12 reps
Set 3: 10 reps
Set 4: 15 reps

I find that it’s important to look at my week in advance and strategize how my workouts will play out. For instance, I typically don’t want to train shoulders on consecutive days with back or chest. This is because fatigued shoulders can affect the quality of my back workout and a fatigued chest can affect my shoulders workout. Equally important is figuring out where to put in my rest days. I never train more than 3 days in a row. Sample split:

Monday - Back/biceps
Tuesday - Legs
Wednesday - Shoulders
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Back only
Saturday - chest/triceps
Sunday - Rest

As mentioned previously, cardio during prep is done independently from my weight training. Because I stay so close to stage weight year round, I never have to do crazy amounts of cardio. Typically, my cardio at the beginning of prep (12 weeks out from show) will be 20 minutes, 5 days per week. After a few weeks, it’ll be 25 minutes, 5 days per week, then 30 minutes, 5 days per week. Depending on how my body is responding, cardio will be slowly increased in 5 minute increments over several weeks. I may even add a 6th or 7th day, but I’ve never done more than 50 minutes per day, 7 days per week.

In addition to steady state cardio, I’ll occasionally do 20 minutes of HIIT cardio just to mix things up. For example: 30 seconds all out effort, 60 seconds recovery speed. Repeat for 20 minutes. Whether I’m doing steady state or HIIT, I alternate between the Stairmaster (my favorite), elliptical and spin bike. I also sometimes take my cardio outsides where I’ll run bleachers or stairs.

When my competition season ends I either go into maintenance mode or building mode. Maintenance training is 4 days a week and cardio is about 20 minutes a day, 4 days per week. If I’m building muscle, training is 5 days a week and I lift heavier than during competition prep. I’ll still use the pyramid style and my sets may look like this:

Set 1: 12 reps
Set 2: 10 reps
Set 3: 8 reps
Set 4: 12 reps

Cardio during a building program is 3 to 4 days per week for 15 minutes. This light cardio allows me to maximize muscle growth while keeping my metabolism burning so I don’t gain fat.

Because there are so many training styles available – and it’s not one size fits all – you may want to experiment and see what works for you. If you’re considering competing in figure and are a novice at lifting I highly recommend working with a trainer who is experienced in competitive physique building.

Above all, have fun with it and enjoy the journey!