Spats....food for thought!

[SteelWeaver]

OTC - heh heh - you sure have a way of looking at the bright side of things!! Secretly, though - I'm kind of hoping that's exactly what will happen - that even if I don't have the muscle mass or density that will probably take me another 5 (or 10???) years or so to develop, I'll still manage to look pretty darn large next to the other girls

"Geesh ya don't ask for much Steel!"

MS - from reading some of your other posts around these boards, you strike me as the kind of person who LOVES a challenge I have great faith that you'll be able to answer almost any question I throw at you ...

... not to worry, though, I'll spread the joy around ...

It's definitely BB physique, not figure. So I should aim lower than 10% bf?? I can do that - no problem!

Aren't the isoflavones in soy protein supposed to increase oestrogen output? What about casein? I've read that it digests more slowly, and one should use both casein and whey.

Trainer-wise, there is one bit of good news: my gym owner is also a JFBB judge, and ... wait for it ... will be on the panel for the competition(s) I enter next year! I'm not sure how updated his training methods are, but at least he has a judge's eye, and knows what to look for.

" Just make sure we're clear on the difference between fat mass and %bf-Has your fat mass stayed the same, or has your %bf stayed the same? And how was this measured??"

For the longest time I used the silly little hand-held digital sensor type monitor. That put me around 18% bf for several months. I bought calipers last month (Accu-measure - claim to be quite accurate) and came up with 20-22%. Judging by, say, Fennec's pics and some other pics on the boards, that's pretty accurate. The hand-held monitor said my fat mass was between 13 and 15 kilos, but I wouldn't have any idea right now what it is. It seemed to stay between those numbers, mostly. I will only use calipers from now.

Uummm - I think I see what you're getting at - if I got bigger (LBM) but my bf % stayed the same, my fat mass would have gone UP???

spatterson - so you're zig-zagging up on training days and down on non-training days? How much above and below maintenance do you go?

OK - one day I'll learn to be less verbose!

 

[OTCbooty]

Uummm - I think I see what you're getting at - if I got bigger (LBM) but my bf % stayed the same, my fat mass would have gone UP???

Right on, sister. Hypothetically, say your mass went from 160lbs to 170, remaining 20% BF. You started with 32lbs of fat, ended with 34lbs.... Overall, though, I think it should be considered an accomplishment to maintain your body composition while gaining weight.

From what I've seen and read, the level of competition in the ranks of the novice class can vary quite a bit. I've seen photos of novice classes from some comps (should be noted these were natural, drug-tested comps) where I swear any one of us whose photos I've seen on elite could have walked on stage without any dieting and walk out with the novice trophy. They weren't all that lean, in some cases they were downright chubby. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try to prep as best as you can, by all means, diet yourself as lean as you can. But if you only hit 10 or 12%, I wouldn't back out of the contest.

I think it was Sassy who made the observation that the one who managed to prepare the best--leaning and drying out, tanning, posing, etc--is usually who wins, and everything I have seen since has been true to that. Just a little input from a chick with no experience whatsoever