Q&A With INBA Pro and Natural Olympia World Champ Tim Martin

[Pennnnn]

Originally Posted by Goldy

Gday FlexR6,

firstly thanks for the compliment mate.

secondly to answer your question it's something I'm remotely familiar with... perhaps not to the extreme that you took things in your last comp prep with the running.

in the early days I was very over enthusiastic in the gym. When I first learnt about nutrition the difference in my energy levels and ability to recover shocked me (my diet was very poor before hand) so with this new found lease on life in the gym I did tend to overtrain myself. For a while there I adopted training twice a day with weights. While I managed to pull this off for a little while I soon learnt what I was really doing in effect was short changing myself because I wasn't maximising recovery and therefore growth. Given I was in my early 20's at the time might have something to do with my niavety but I discovered my immune system started running low and I came to my senses.

Being enthusiactic as you are is a really positive thing, you just need to direct that enthusiasm in the most effective and efficient way possible to benefit yourself as a competitive bodybuilder. Obviously you've learnt from your past experience that all that running was counter productive to your aims and goals as a bodybuilder so you'll move on from that. 2 years is a relatively short time in the sport so no doubt your still learning flat out and on the way up in relation to the learning curve. All I can suggest is laying down a plan now that you do your best to stick to so that when the blinker go on during a contest prep the 'crazyness' doesnt' take over and throw you off track. Perhaps direct your energy to doing more research on nutrition and all other aspects of contest prep for the natural athlete.

Hope that helps even a little, all the best with your future comps and I hope to perhaps see you at one of the shows later in the year. Be sure to come and say gday.

Take care,

Tim

Hi Tim,
Thanks for the details in this topic.

I'm not new to bodybuilding (training weights for 6 years) but am very new to bodybuilding as a potential competitor.

Firstly, I would like to ask how you see the difference between INBA and ANB? The views of people around me are split and am finding it difficult to make an informed decision.

2ndly, I'm hoping to compete in INBA or ANB in May 2010. My plan until the end of Jan is to bulk up as much as I can (with clean diet) and start dieting.

This year I gave a dry run of 15 weeks diet and I got to 10.5% BF @ 79.3kg (from 103 kg).

I'm pretty sure I am overtraining but I am hitting the gym 2~3 times a day. Early morning is abs/ core / stretch and lunch time is heavy session and night session is light session with slow and strict forms (different body part). I do give 3 days a break (if I did heavy legs on monday, I would do the light session on Friday).

i really respect your comment about everyone's body being different. So I would just like to see how you view the training that I described.

Thanks in advance
Andrew

[Goldy]

[Gday Andrew, thanks for posting these questions.

congrats on deciding to take the plunge and jumping up on stage. You'll no doubt love the experience and learn so much from it!

Ok ANB I've never competed in so I can only tell you about what I've seen attending their shows as a sponsor and supporter. Maria McCarter (sp?) does great job by all accounts in Victoria, huge crowds good vibe at the shows. You'll always get competitors whinging regardless of the federation so we'll leave that one alone. The Standard at the ANB nationals is very high most years and you'll see some of the top tear competitors doing both INBA and ANB. Having said that the majority of competitors are quite loyal to their federation and just stick to one.
I personally am a huge fan of the INBA, how they operate and most importantly their level of drug testing. Rumour is that ANB have just jumped on the ASADA ban wagon whereas INBA have had that accreditation for years and the industry leader with testing. Which is why I compete with them. I've heard all sorts of rumours and seen all kinds of things related to Feds other than the INBA which is why I can only trust the INBA/PNBA.

Sounds like a decent plan in the lead up to the May comps. Just dont get too carried away with the bulk though. Lean mass gains are what we strive for but the unwanted BF will just mark the pre contest taper that bit harder. I'd be more inclined to start your diet earlier and really nail your condition. Leave the bulk until after the comp when you can utilise the rebound effect.

Well done on dropping 24kgs earlier this year that's epic and will make comp prep a huge deal easier! And you'll have the confidence knowing you can bring your condition in and the bonus of it not being such a new and shocking thing to your system physically and mentally!

With regards to your training... I think to each their own. If it's something you can get away with, have the time for and can fully recover rock on and lucky you! Could be a good way to prep for the comp but just keep tabs on your CNS and immune system if it weakens closer to the comp.Keep L-Glutamine high to combat this plus to capitalise on all it's other exceptional benefits.
I think that personally training like you do isn't necessarily the best way to make gains as a natty but you could just as easily prove me wrong. If you'v got your nutrition, hydration, supps, rest & recovery spot on then you might be ok. From experience this training style has limitations and I gave it away.
You grow when your sleeping and resting not training so I try to get in the gym, smash myself for 45-60mins then get out and focus on eating, hydration and getting as much sleep as I can.

Let us all know how your prep goes and yell out if you have more questions mate. All the best.

Tim

[Pennnnn]

Originally Posted by Goldy

[Gday Andrew, thanks for posting these questions.

congrats on deciding to take the plunge and jumping up on stage. You'll no doubt love the experience and learn so much from it!

Ok ANB I've never competed in so I can only tell you about what I've seen attending their shows as a sponsor and supporter. Maria McCarter (sp?) does great job by all accounts in Victoria, huge crowds good vibe at the shows. You'll always get competitors whinging regardless of the federation so we'll leave that one alone. The Standard at the ANB nationals is very high most years and you'll see some of the top tear competitors doing both INBA and ANB. Having said that the majority of competitors are quite loyal to their federation and just stick to one.
I personally am a huge fan of the INBA, how they operate and most importantly their level of drug testing. Rumour is that ANB have just jumped on the ASADA ban wagon whereas INBA have had that accreditation for years and the industry leader with testing. Which is why I compete with them. I've heard all sorts of rumours and seen all kinds of things related to Feds other than the INBA which is why I can only trust the INBA/PNBA.

Sounds like a decent plan in the lead up to the May comps. Just dont get too carried away with the bulk though. Lean mass gains are what we strive for but the unwanted BF will just mark the pre contest taper that bit harder. I'd be more inclined to start your diet earlier and really nail your condition. Leave the bulk until after the comp when you can utilise the rebound effect.

Well done on dropping 24kgs earlier this year that's epic and will make comp prep a huge deal easier! And you'll have the confidence knowing you can bring your condition in and the bonus of it not being such a new and shocking thing to your system physically and mentally!

With regards to your training... I think to each their own. If it's something you can get away with, have the time for and can fully recover rock on and lucky you! Could be a good way to prep for the comp but just keep tabs on your CNS and immune system if it weakens closer to the comp.Keep L-Glutamine high to combat this plus to capitalise on all it's other exceptional benefits.
I think that personally training like you do isn't necessarily the best way to make gains as a natty but you could just as easily prove me wrong. If you'v got your nutrition, hydration, supps, rest & recovery spot on then you might be ok. From experience this training style has limitations and I gave it away.
You grow when your sleeping and resting not training so I try to get in the gym, smash myself for 45-60mins then get out and focus on eating, hydration and getting as much sleep as I can.

Let us all know how your prep goes and yell out if you have more questions mate. All the best.

Tim

Hi Tim,
Thank you for your insight on the two feds and the comments.
I cannot agree with you more in regards to growing when sleeping and resting. I remember George Farah ( in battle for Mr Olympia 2005) saying the same thing and he also said that doing heavy weights doesn't mean huge growth. He also said that no judges in his career ask him how much he lifts and what you present on stage is what matters, so your point accompanies his few very well.

The truth is, I am training so often to keep my metabolism up until end of Jan. This way, I don't geel bad about eating 800g ~ 1.2kg of rice per day in order to gain mass. With this amounts of food, I always feel full and going to the gym regularly seems to help but I might try eating less and train less.

I'm also going to be going through my supplements. I have used fat burners before and reading another topic regarding doping, it seems scary and through preparation is paramount.

Thanks again and best regards
Andrew