How to Look Like a Competitor Part II

Looking Competition Ready – Now time for the workouts!

By: Corry Matthews, IFBB Pro

Ok…so you have your nutrition squared away from part I!  Now, it’s time to build those muscles and create the “look” of a competitor.  Training for a show is different than training to lose weight, run a marathon or just stay healthy.  There are key muscles that one must develop in order to create the ideal competition look.  To give you an idea…just check out the NPC’s rules for each category of competition.  You will quickly see several muscles that stand out!

• Shoulders – the round cap
• Abs – lean, and for most categories (except bikini) the defined 6 pack is preferred
• Wide lats with a narrow waist
• Quad sweep (look at the legs from the front)
• Glutes/hamstring tie ins

Your basic workout won’t achieve this look so we’ve asked several experts in the field of bodybuilding to give us their favorite exercises and combined into a Hers & His workout.

Remember - along with this weight training program it is recommend to do cardio at least 5 times per week for a minimum of 30 minutes to keep body fat low. 

The biggest thing to remember - the key to looking like a competitor is staying in shape – year round and not over indulging in the holidays or winter when we’re all covered up.

Hers – 3 Day Split

Day 1: Legs and Shoulders (sets x reps)

4x15 Straight leg deadlifts (warmup)

Superset with 4 x 30 walking lunges

3 x 30 light leg press (this should burn, feet turned out at a slight angle to hit the glutes and outer thighs)

4 x 15 leg extensions

Superset with 4 x 15 leg curls

4 x 15 one arm lateral raises (out to the side – no swinging)

Superset with 3 x 15 upright rows with dumbbells

4 x 15 machine front press

Day 2: Back and Biceps

4 x 10 T-Bar rows

Superset with 4 x 15 lat pull downs

3 x 10 one arm rows with cable machine

3 x 15 pull downs (standing by pulley machine, slightly squat and pull the bar down towards thighs, keeping arms straight and engaging the lat muscles)

4 x 12 Hammer dumbbell curls

3 x 15 Twisting curls (this is a supinated dumbbell curl – start with palm facing in to legs and rotate it out as lifting the weight, squeezing the biceps)

4 x 10 Straight barbell curls

Day 3: Chest and Triceps (with some additional leg shaping (non-weighted) exercises).

4 x 15 pushups

Superset with 4 x 20 step ups on a bench

3 x 10 dumbbell flies

Superset with 4 x 30 jumping or plyometric lunges

4 x 15 pushups

Superset with 4 x 20 box or bench jumps (jump up with bent knees and then stand up tall and squeeze your butt before doing the next jump)

4 x 15 machine or bench dips

3 x 10 dumbbell extensions for triceps (sitting on a bench, extend dumbbell over head)

3 x 12 two arms at a time dumbbell kickbacks (no swinging)

His:

For these exercises go heavy at 8 reps, aim for 4-6 sets.

Day 1/Legs:
Leg extensions
Squats
Leg presses
Lying leg curls
Seated leg curls
Leg extensions (yes, twice)

Day 2/Chest:
DB Incline presses
DB bench presses
BB decline presses
Machine flies supersetted with pushups
Rope pushdowns(Just to get blood in the tri's)

Day 3/Back:
Lat pulldowns
Close-grip pulldowns
T-bar rows
Seated rows
Machine curl(Just to get blood in the bi's)
 
Day 4/Legs (Repeat Monday):
Friday/Traps, Shoulders
DB shrugs
BB shrugs
Rear delt flies

superset with bent over flies
DB Side laterals raises

superset with machine laterals
Front presses

superset with front DB raises

Day 5/Arms:
Rope pushdowns
Close grip bench
Skull crushers
Dips
Machine curls
DB curls
Rope curls

BONUS:

For making those abs pop it is all about forward flexion and isometric holds.

Ab Workout #1

3 x 30 regular crunches

3 x 30 reverse crunches

3 x 30 side to side oblique crunch

3 x 30 regular and reverse crunches together

Do each exercise once all the way through for reps listed and then repeat 3 times

Ab Workout #2 – the ladder

The exercises are the regular crunch and the reverse crunch.  Do 10 reps of each, then 20, 30, 40, until you hit 50, then go back down 40, 30, 20 ,10.  Making sure you do the number of reps for each!