"growing into the show"

[Biggerp73]

I was just thinking yesterday or the day before about how we don't really see guys talking about this or doing this much any more

Seems everybody is on the "off season to grow" then lean up and get tighter during prep.. type of approach

Then you hear guys debating whether it's even possible to grow muscle and lose fat at the same time, acting like if it is possible the muscle building has to be very slow...

But I think of guys like Levrone who would go from 15-20% body fat, average dude build, to 4-5% body fat, Mr. Olympia build, and all the other competitors who, not quite as extreme as Levrone, nevertheless would still "grow into their show", and would gain large amounts of muscle and size while getting leaner and shredded

The only guy I can think of recently who did something similar was maybe Rhoden, because he would lose a lot of size and get really fat, and the during prep he would blow up and get shredded

I was thinking this is probably because guys just stay on and don't really come off, probably a lot don't even come down to TRT levels for a bit

And that being able to "grow into a show" is made possible by coming off the gear or at least going down to TRT for a significant amount of time

And also by keeping "energy" calories like fats, and to some extent carbs, limited, while keeping protein high... so the body can build lots of muscle while using body fat as the fuel to do it

 

[275bills]

I believe its hard to improve alot (added size) by doing this.

steve kuclo talked about doing this in a recent interview with fouad though.

 

[TheOtherOne55]

The idea of "staying on forever" has kinda killed the grow into a show method.
Youre absolutely right that if you are off for awhile, you can grow and lose fat at the same time. Guys could go from a soft 250 to a hard 240 relatively easy when coming completely off was a thing. But year round cycles and always ON killed that.

Also, at a certain point in time you just arent going to add anymore massive size. Its just fine tuning. Going from 200 to 220 was cool.
But when you are 250 lean, it's very small jumps and fine tuning. If you gain 4 quality lbs in a year, you did great.

 

[livinlean]

Aj Sims guys seem to do this don't they?

But I agree with Theotherone, staying on forever has killed this method

 

[MR. BMJ]

You have to pretty much have the size prior to doing this concept. Otherwise, you have to do what is needed in the off-season to grow. A lot of these guys that do it already have the size, but they never improve until the do an old fashion off-season or two. I don't want to lump everybody in this category, i'm sure there are some freaks who can grow by doing any method, lol.

 

[alfresco]

Guys in the 70’s did it all the time. When they were ‘off’ like Arnold for instance (there were others), they were off, not on jacked TRT dosages, completely off. The amount of time they were off totally was variable, but when they did do this, and they did, they did this to give their body a total break weather they needed it or not. That was the philosophy back then and they, by all appearances, seemed to live longer and be healthier later in life than what we are seeing now (dropping like flies) with the excuses being ‘it runs in the family’. Sure.

My balls are not crystal and I have no way of going back in time to observe this in its entirety but I have listened to and talked to more bodybuilders from the ‘Golden Era’ than I care to admit to and believing them more than the current crop which are sadly being widely criticized for both overstating or understating (most common) their usage which seems to common practice as of late.

Rip the ‘old timers’ apart as liars which again seems be the current tend, cherry picking what you want to believe and disregarding what remains, all in effect, to justify their current usage . . . remember you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

 

[luki7788]

It is said so many times and people still do not understand or rather do not want to understand what "grow in to the show" means.

This is not muscle growth, it is just rebuilding them and these are completely 2 different worlds, you are not able to go from 220 lbs and 8% bf to 245 lbs like levrone 3-4% if you have never had this muscle mass before. Only bodybuilders who have gained all the necessary muscle mass long ago and the only thing they do is rebuild it can afford something like "grow in to the show"

 

[gradeaphysique]

It is said so many times and people still do not understand or rather do not want to understand what "grow in to the show" means.

This is not muscle growth, it is just rebuilding them and these are completely 2 different worlds, you are not able to go from 220 lbs and 8% bf to 245 lbs like levrone 3-4% if you have never had this muscle mass before. Only bodybuilders who have gained all the necessary muscle mass long ago and the only thing they do is rebuild it can afford something like "grow in to the show"

I think the misconception stems from hearing about this approach with little context.

 

[Wayacrucis]

It is said so many times and people still do not understand or rather do not want to understand what "grow in to the show" means.

This is not muscle growth, it is just rebuilding them and these are completely 2 different worlds, you are not able to go from 220 lbs and 8% bf to 245 lbs like levrone 3-4% if you have never had this muscle mass before. Only bodybuilders who have gained all the necessary muscle mass long ago and the only thing they do is rebuild it can afford something like "grow in to the show"

This is spot on. Even then, MOST elite bodybuilders can't even do that (Put tissue back on that they previously had during contest prep). I remember when Victor Martinez got out of jail, he went through a full off season and then went to Jim Manion to ask his opinion about whether he should prep to compete and try to qualify for the O. Manion told him no and that he's too small. Obviously, this is an extreme case since Victor was in jail, but the point is he wasn't able to put back nearly all the tissue that he previously had in an entire off-season. So... how do guys except to add on significant muscle during prep? A little bit of tissue that they had in the past? Sure, significant changes? Unless you're an anomaly like Kevin, then It's not happening lol.

 

[Mute]

This thread screams Regan Grimes.
You’re seeing Nick, Hunter and Blessing (minus the wheels obviously) zooming pass Regan when it comes to growth. In my opinion it’s more of race and not sprint in regards to really establishing the stage weight and how much better you are than your previous showing.

 

[hawkmoon]

It is said so many times and people still do not understand or rather do not want to understand what "grow in to the show" means.

This is not muscle growth, it is just rebuilding them and these are completely 2 different worlds, you are not able to go from 220 lbs and 8% bf to 245 lbs like levrone 3-4% if you have never had this muscle mass before. Only bodybuilders who have gained all the necessary muscle mass long ago and the only thing they do is rebuild it can afford something like "grow in to the show"

Very true.

It's also the massive uptake in glycogen and associated intramuscular water that comes with ramping up AAS use.
I certainly didn't gain weight when in prep, but I got much bigger looking, with the muscle bellies themselves clearly expanding along with skin appearing to tighten.

Because of the orals and GH I use in prep, my total dosages are perhaps 2x my offseason - if not more, and the body responds accordingly.

 

[Love_to_Bodybuild]

I've grown into most of my shows. Example this year I've taken four and a half months on true trt doses. That's about 150 mg for me.

This year I've started on GH I take one IU a day sometimes 1.5 and I started insulin I usually take 5 to 10 I use maybe 4 to 5 days a week something like that pre-workout, and this is the most muscular I've been ever.

I feel this is the best approach for me for health prevention.

 

[w8tlifterty]

I've grown into most of my shows. Example this year I've taken four and a half months on true trt doses. That's about 150 mg for me.

This year I've started on GH I take one IU a day sometimes 1.5 and I started insulin I usually take 5 to 10 I use maybe 4 to 5 days a week something like that pre-workout, and this is the most muscular I've been ever.

I feel this is the best approach for me for health prevention.

Pics? We’ve seen you on stage but never truly stage lean? Wouldn’t you agree, if being honest w yourself?

I’d like to see what growing into a show looks like for you? From off-season to stage.

This goes back to what Luki was saying, you have to have copious amounts of muscle to pull this off and ‘been there, done that’ so to speak.

 

[Bio]

The answer to this question lies in one's definition of "growing".

 

[Love_to_Bodybuild]

Pics? We’ve seen you on stage but never truly stage lean? Wouldn’t you agree, if being honest w yourself?

I’d like to see what growing into a show looks like for you? From off-season to stage.

This goes back to what Luki was saying, you have to have copious amounts of muscle to pull this off and ‘been there, done that’ so to speak.

Pictures from 2012 or 2018 when at leanest wouldn't like my look now as I've added muscle since then. Got some loose skin around chest as well, that seems to go away as I tighten up but started around maybe 37-38 or so. 40 now Even 2020 as I've added quite more muscle since then.

Yes I agree stage conditioning has always been an area that needed improvement to say the least. Thats why I placed 9th out of 10th at Junior nats in Classic D ,Chicago in 2017. They had A B C and D then and changed it to C. Class was 6ft and up , I was tallest person the show and of 650 competitors. In sports Id be called bone lite, or lite bones, as my wrist are 6.9-7 inches. I saw Steve Weinberger look at myself ,in the lineup,and I m sure he thought this dude doesn't even belong in this category.

I can only march to the beat of my own drum , and for me, this means coming down to 150 mgs four to five months out of the year. Forty years old and started bodybuilding in April of 2002. I m sure if I had proper knowledge, and used anabolics younger I would have peaked around 35 but I have the most muscles Ive ever had , so as long as I continue to improve , stay in well health, then its a win/win.

Despite what most people in bodybuilding say, if you plan doing this many years and not get in and get out high doses, then doing things slowly, and taking a good amount of time on trt , in the year, is good for health preventation.

Ok so here are some comparisons from 2018 to 2021, the years. Attached is 2018, I injured my right leg this year(hack squatting 5 plates per side 11 reps as low as could go, word of advise put feet higher up on hacks, esp when going extremely heavy for yourself) and quads were down-sized. itll never be fully the same I feel. Wouldnt let me attach 2021 pics says they were too big so imbeded.

second back lat, third double bicep, fourth closeup, fifth ab n thigh

but this is four years ago and you can see ive added muscle from here to 2021. Back esp has added since 2021, arms some, shoulders, quads, hams

https://imgur.com/VUk4L3S

https://imgur.com/3l0nqWI

https://imgur.com/Sk8L2m6

I feel so much a dork putting pictures up when asked and breaking down my body.






I've added muscle since then and so thankful bc I didnt really use any higher dosing anabolics this year, so whatever I'm doing is working

 

[headtrainer]

I was just thinking yesterday or the day before about how we don't really see guys talking about this or doing this much any more

Seems everybody is on the "off season to grow" then lean up and get tighter during prep.. type of approach

Then you hear guys debating whether it's even possible to grow muscle and lose fat at the same time, acting like if it is possible the muscle building has to be very slow...

But I think of guys like Levrone who would go from 15-20% body fat, average dude build, to 4-5% body fat, Mr. Olympia build, and all the other competitors who, not quite as extreme as Levrone, nevertheless would still "grow into their show", and would gain large amounts of muscle and size while getting leaner and shredded

The only guy I can think of recently who did something similar was maybe Rhoden, because he would lose a lot of size and get really fat, and the during prep he would blow up and get shredded

I was thinking this is probably because guys just stay on and don't really come off, probably a lot don't even come down to TRT levels for a bit

And that being able to "grow into a show" is made possible by coming off the gear or at least going down to TRT for a significant amount of time

And also by keeping "energy" calories like fats, and to some extent carbs, limited, while keeping protein high... so the body can build lots of muscle while using body fat as the fuel to do it

You can still grow some muscle in a caloric deficit if you have enough body fat to provide the energy to do so. Growing into a show works for people who haven’t been using anabolics during the off-season and/or who haven’t been lifting weights. It’s best to get big in the off-season using hormones, then try and maintain as much muscle as possible while losing body fat and continuing to use hormones. Kevin Levrone started using hormones before he began dieting down with a short off-season. He gained a lot of lean muscle quick. Then he just leaned up a little at the end. You’ve got to read between the lines.

 

[Love_to_Bodybuild]

Levrone also had muscle memory which makes a big difference vs growing new muscle into a competition.

I prefer being as muscular as I can with maybe dosing a lil higher than last year but not necessarily, esp if I'm growing without... lowest dose possible thing is somewhat true, truer with those with superior genetics, with still taking enough time that I want too off or at true trt doses. If I shrink some, so be it, it'll come back, and quite fast with muscle memory. I've seen it happen on me.

 

[165StateChamp]

@luki7788 I want to ‘like’ your laugh reaction to that post. But I can’t. So I will just say it instead

 

[Gaintrain72]

Pictures from 2012 or 2018 when at leanest wouldn't like my look now as I've added muscle since then. Got some loose skin around chest as well, that seems to go away as I tighten up but started around maybe 37-38 or so. 40 now Even 2020 as I've added quite more muscle since then.

Yes I agree stage conditioning has always been an area that needed improvement to say the least. Thats why I placed 9th out of 10th at Junior nats in Classic D ,Chicago in 2017. They had A B C and D then and changed it to C. Class was 6ft and up , I was tallest person the show and of 650 competitors. In sports Id be called bone lite, or lite bones, as my wrist are 6.9-7 inches. I saw Steve Weinberger look at myself ,in the lineup,and I m sure he thought this dude doesn't even belong in this category.

I can only march to the beat of my own drum , and for me, this means coming down to 150 mgs four to five months out of the year. Forty years old and started bodybuilding in April of 2002. I m sure if I had proper knowledge, and used anabolics younger I would have peaked around 35 but I have the most muscles Ive ever had , so as long as I continue to improve , stay in well health, then its a win/win.

Despite what most people in bodybuilding say, if you plan doing this many years and not get in and get out high doses, then doing things slowly, and taking a good amount of time on trt , in the year, is good for health preventation.

Ok so here are some comparisons from 2018 to 2021, the years. Attached is 2018, I injured my right leg this year(hack squatting 5 plates per side 11 reps as low as could go, word of advise put feet higher up on hacks, esp when going extremely heavy for yourself) and quads were down-sized. itll never be fully the same I feel. Wouldnt let me attach 2021 pics says they were too big so imbeded.

second back lat, third double bicep, fourth closeup, fifth ab n thigh

but this is four years ago and you can see ive added muscle from here to 2021. Back esp has added since 2021, arms some, shoulders, quads, hams

https://imgur.com/VUk4L3S

https://imgur.com/3l0nqWI

https://imgur.com/Sk8L2m6

I feel so much a dork putting pictures up when asked and breaking down my body.






I've added muscle since then and so thankful bc I didnt really use any higher dosing anabolics this year, so whatever I'm doing is working

No offense m8 but did you do a prep or just get into the show?

 

[165StateChamp]

If you are gaining scale weight into a show but you aren’t in stage condition when you do the show, I don’t know what you’re doing but it’s not ‘growing into the show’.