Growing INTO a SHow (or the beach)

Question here guys.
a little about me first, im on TRT doc perscribed , 100mg a week or so. I have always struggled with Staying lean. I was a perma bulker for a long time. Im 6 foot, 200 lbs now. I look full and muscled though. Just dont have the density which adds that extra weight I guess. I seem to store alot of subQ water, and fluff even when on clean foods.

Last summer, i did a drastic cut on 1700 kcals a day, with a 4 week blast of orals, and looked GREAT. I went from 213 to 193, It worked soo fucking well. I had abs, veins all over my stomache. However, when I went back up to maintenance type calories, like 2000-2400 range, I started packing on fat again. Granted I wasnt "on" besides TRT. I dont want to permabulk or even bulk. My last 8 months has been trying to stay lean and hard, but it went away and FAST. So my method for coming into beach season shredded would be a "growing into a show" type of thing...

When people grow into shows, I imagine there is a big emphasis on the DRUG part, and less on other aspects. My guess is, a Low calorie diet, and high drug use is how people "grow" into shows. They let the AAS do the growing and the diet to shed the fat and change body comp right? that being said, i am very conservative with drug use. I feel doing TRT at my age of 30 is not really all that great (eventhough i was diagnosed with hypogonadism at 27), so i try to be very careful and respectful with doses and my health. I am not a fan of high calorie eating, for me, it just makes me fat. Id rather be a lean 195-200 than a soft 215. When I am soft, I dont look like an athlete or someone who trains when my shirt comes off.

1. Is growing into a show mainly drug related, with a low calorie diet?
2. for someone who struggles with high calorie diets (i.e. makes them FAT, no matter how clean or how well he trains), would this approach be best for spring-summer time (or thong contests if your into that)

no, you need to learn how to diet..."clean" doesn't mean anything if it doesn't work for you

for the first time ever I figured out I have a pretty severe intolerance to eggs and dairy..now dairy may not be on everyones clean menu but eggs certainly are

I eat eggs now and I'm miserable and get puffy, true story
I've turned into a one man promotional team for this guy but check out shelby starnes (just google him)
dude is my current coach and took me to considerably leaner-ness (word?) while preserving and perhaps adding muscle

I've dabbled plenty into aas use and multiple other coaches and never gotten very far for very long

food is king...try carb cycling...high..med..low..low..repeat

not a bad idea...I'm on a easy peasy carb cycle now that has no bearing on my training believe it or not

What you describe is basically gaining very lean mass at a slow and steady rate . Not the typical bulk and cut . It is a healthier approach and no I don't think it's mainly a drug thing at all . It always requires all the spokes in the wheel , training , diet , supps and yes drugs depending on the level you want to acheive . A big part of your training will be cardio . Finding the amount and type that burns excess calories and fat to give you that low bodyfat appearence you want . Your diet will require you to find your sweet spot on calories to maintain the muscle you have and some extra for growth . As s2h said carb cycling is great and much better than just eating low carbs all the time . As far as drugs you would want to avoid things like dbol and probably deca and opt instead for tbol and NPP for example . Make sure you keep e2 in range as no one stays lean with high estrogen . It is never a let drugs do the growing . It's putting all the pieces of the puzzle together in a way that accomplishes your goals . Diet and cardio will be crucial . Just my thoughts .

Good thread

so you dont think when pros grow into a show, down to sub 4 percent BF, they are eating normal amounts of cals? i dont really buy that.

they're eating normal amounts of cals for their size along with water manipulation and I would find it hard to believe anyone at the "pro" level is natty

but were talking dudes that are shredded to the fuckin bone in the 240lb range...

you're barely breakin 200 at 6' and i don't mean that offensively but as a comparison my husband sits around 210 at 6' 1" with a terrible diet and is lean enough to carry a four pack yr round,

and when I mean a terrible diet I mean candy, soda and fast food...daily.

^^^ there are dudes around who can eat like that and look great.

I am not one of those dudes

Tong Po said:

so you dont think when pros grow into a show, down to sub 4 percent BF, they are eating normal amounts of cals? i dont really buy that.

Click to expand...

Your comparing apples and oranges here...your a average gym rat...not 5'7" 255lbs on stage...so trying to do what Phil Heath or Kai Greene does isnt realistic....yes they take a lot of drugs....but they have a whole lot more to drug up...these guys are using drugs and protocols that are well above most on the internet...and more dangerous health wise...

But if you time jump back to when those kind of guys were just getting going until now....they had to work hard.....eat right and enough....and be dedicated 365...

Also the pros dont all diet or eat the same when prepping... I watched Dexter Jackson eat chicken wings sauce and all about 8 weeks out from the O one time....next day saw Branch eat 2 ribeyes and 2 load baked potatoes + dinner salad at a steakhouse. . guys that muscular can get away with a lot more..

All this bs you watch on videos for sponsor plugs is just that...I wanna see somem pro make a video with a slin IV gobbling honey in the shitter one hour before stage time getting all filled out..that would be realistic..

Also nobody is sub 4% bf....well a dead guy maybe...John Meadows proved that in a YouTube video when he took a static water bf test after a show ..

And that guy is argubly the hardest guy on stage..he was 5.5% or right around that...the video is available on YouTube...

Since I'm on a roll..lol...a lot of these guys lie about there weight...big time...I have seen a bunch of pros in person...and amazingly when there is a 212 Pro next to a open pro (standing there)...the 212 guy looks no smaller...example with Branch again...he and Flex Lewis are standing side by side talking ...Flex Lewis is easily as big or bigger then Branch...but they compete at 40-45lbs apart...I dont think so..

Pro level growing into a show is large amounts of igf, peps, gh, slin, tren, mast, etc. Theyve also been doing it for YEARS and understand what they can and cant do with their physique. For you, it you are just on trt and orals, diet and training are key

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s2h said:

Your comparing apples and oranges here...your a average gym rat...not 5'7" 255lbs on stage...so trying to do what Phil Heath or Kai Greene does isnt realistic....yes they take a lot of drugs....but they have a whole lot more to drug up...these guys are using drugs and protocols that are well above most on the internet...and more dangerous health wise...

But if you time jump back to when those kind of guys were just getting going until now....they had to work hard.....eat right and enough....and be dedicated 365...

Also the pros dont all diet or eat the same when prepping... I watched Dexter Jackson eat chicken wings sauce and all about 8 weeks out from the O one time....next day saw Branch eat 2 ribeyes and 2 load baked potatoes + dinner salad at a steakhouse. . guys that muscular can get away with a lot more..

All this bs you watch on videos for sponsor plugs is just that...I wanna see somem pro make a video with a slin IV gobbling honey in the shitter one hour before stage time getting all filled out..that would be realistic..

Click to expand...

would rep you if I could. great post and thanks