Jeromy Bryk – @Bryk_Squuaadd
While I have been contemplating this for a while, I have finally decided to get on a bodybuilding stage this upcoming spring in the new, Classic Physique Division. For those of you who don’t know I got my “start” in fitness competing in Men’s Physique before I got turned onto powerlifting, with which I have been hooked ever since. It’s been 3 ½ years since I have been on a stage and I have to say I have really missed it. I’m very excited to get back up there, and see how I stack up against some very tough competition. For me to have a chance I will need to bring in the biggest, most conditioned me that I can bring to the stage. At the same time, I want to maintain as much of the strength that I have gained over the past few years as I can. In this article I want to cover some of the keys to my gameplan!
Keep Training Powerlifting Movements:
- I have become a huge promotor of powerlifting training over the past few years after seeing what it has done to my body! I’m stronger and denser than I have ever been. I don’t plan on falling into the trap of training too light through contest preparation, rather I will keep training heavy to force my body to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible, which will help me stay dense. I will keep my heavy powerlifting movements as the base of my training. Not training heavy enough and being in a caloric deficit create an avenue for the body to lose muscle mass, and in for me to be competitive in this show I need to remain as dense as possible!
- While I will still be using powerlifting training as the core of my movement, the focus of these main movements will be changing slightly. For instance, I will be using less max effort work and focusing more on the repetition method, with reps in the 3-6 rep range on my main movements. On my leg days I will be alternating a lot between narrow stance high bar squats, front squats and box squats as main movements. High bar, and front squats to build up my quads and wide stance box squats to build my glutes and hamstrings. I do not plan on using low bar squats much until after my competition aside from speed work. My upper body movements will not change a whole lot, besides using incline bench more frequently to continue to build the “shelf” look on my upper chest!
More Focus on Isolation Movements:
- Like I said in number one, powerlifting movements will still remain the foundation of my training. However, in order to bring out as much detail in my muscles as possible for the show I will be adding in more isolation type movements after my compound lifts. This means more exercises like chest flys, bicep curls, triceps extensions and side raises just to name a few. These are exercises that I like to do throughout the course of the year, but would otherwise not be as much of a focus during powerlifting training. Isolation movements are a must to build a winning physique.
Heavy Usage of Advanced Intensity Techniques:
- Throughout this prep I will be taking full advantage of many of the advanced intensity techniques that I have covered in previous articles including the pre-exhaust method, supersets, giant sets, partial reps and drop sets. My plan is to use these techniques to take my training intensity to a new level, thus improving calorie burn and bringing out as much detail as possible without relying too much on cardio. I have had success in the past with getting leaner through training faster
- and heavier, and this is the same plan I will utilize here!
Daily Cardio:
- While I do plan on utilizing weight training intensity and diet as my main tools to get lean, cardio is an essential part of a bodybuilder’s training in terms of getting competition lean and I will certainly be doing my fair share of it during this contest prep. My cardio routine currently consists of 15 minutes steady state cardio every morning after my weight training workout, with walking lunges as my cardio on lower body days. In the afternoon I head back to the gym and do another 20 minutes of cardio, alternating between steady state and HIIT training every other day. Later on in prep I may find that I need to add more cardio, but this is my starting point at 11 weeks out from competition.
Overall, my training is not training a whole lot leading into this show, besides altering my training intensity and changing my focus in some areas. I am very much looking forward to this new challenge and seeing how I fare as a classic physique competitor! I plan on posting training updates here at ironvalleybarbell.net as prep goes along!
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