![]() If a competitor knows he or she is going to be competing the next year, tracking calories during the off-season can give them the advantage for building muscle wisely without spilling over. And competitors who have more fat to lose at the beginning of their prep can make conservative tweaks to their caloric intake without hurting the gains they made during the off-season. Tracking these numbers throughout their prep will give them an awareness of how their body responds to such measures, which means they'll have a better grasp on what to do the last couple weeks in order to look their best on stage. Another benefit of calorie counting is the precision with which competitors can manipulate their calories and macros. Even competitors who have a coach telling them what to eat need to double check the advice they get to make sure they're not following a recklessly low-calorie plan. Knowing the difference between a reasonable calorie intake and a reckless one is vital. Not only will they step on stage looking depleted, they’ll experience rebound weight gain after the competition. Bikini and Figure competitors are famous for panic-mode: a temptation to eat less and less as the competition nears. Counting calories and macros can prevent competitors from undereating and peaking too early. Train the skill.Ī calculated prep can make the difference between coming in flat and coming in phenomenal. If the results aren't coming, recalculate, re-measure, eat more. Remember, these are guys who want to grow, yet have no appetite. It doesn't have to be precise, but it can't be intuitive at this stage. So if the scale starts going down, they'll need to either recalculate, track more and eat more, or just add more food to their plates, assess the results and adjust from there. Larger bodies require more energy, especially when they're training hard for hypertrophy. They'll also need to be aware that as they build muscle they'll require more fuel in order to keep it. For these guys, it's a skill they must work on, just as they work on their squat technique. ![]() But that ability must first be trained by tracking intake. Once they track their calories for a few weeks and see how much they need to be eating in order to grow (which is often a shock to skinny dudes), they can put away their food logs and just eye-ball serving sizes. These guys cannot rely on their instincts. To them, they eat "a ton." The numbers will usually tell a different story. Naturally skinny guys are often unaware that they're not eating enough.If their main goal is to get big, yet their appetite doesn't support it, then figuring out the numbers is necessary. They're the type who can forget to eat, or eat inadequately when they do finally sit down for a meal. Naturally skinny guys often don't have a consistently strong appetite.Those who struggle with keeping weight on their bodies benefit from figuring out how many calories they need in order to actually build muscle.
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