British bodybuilder Ryan Terry finished third at Mr. Olympia 2018, so he can rightfully claim to be the UK's top fitness model
Terry has shared the general workout plan that got him into stage-ready condition. Heed his advice and you too can make some serious gains.
Planning and preparation
"Bodybuilding is all about consistency and having a routine. By eating six meals a day, you have a routine. Training twice a day is a routine, sleeping eight hours a day is a routine.
"I'm very sporadic in my day-to-day training and I like to keep shocking my body. I train two times a day. I train first thing in the morning which is cardio-based before my breakfast and that will be 20 minutes maximum. so low intensity just to get the heart rate going before my first meal."
Cardio in question
Ryan's cardio takes centre stage in the run-up to any competition, not least Mr. Olympia.
"I'm doing 60 minutes of cardio first thing in the morning. It's just low intensity work on a treadmill, or on a walk just to get my heart rate up.
"For me at this stage it's about longevity rather than short, high-intensity bursts. If I do it that way, I will speed up my metabolism up too fast and will start to burn fat too quickly.
"It's about losing that body fat very slowly over the 12 weeks and I try to increase and maintain as much muscle mass as I can."
Getting in the gym
To retain as much as size as possible, hitting each muscle group with sufficient volume is crucial. Terry, a USN ambassador, says:
"I also train again in the afternoon, working on different muscle group every day. The type of training I'm doing now is chipping away at stored fats rather than ramping my metabolism up to the fact that I burn fat too quickly."
This involves careful management of a weight-training regime. These are a few staple lifts that Terry swears by:
Chest
Back
Legs
Abs
As the emphasis is on building and retaining muscle, perform each exercise with three to four sets, and 8-12 reps.
"When you get to the latter stages of your preparation, i.e. the last 2-3 weeks, you really have to dig in and it tests you. Mentally it's quite hard but if you can get through those final few weeks, it really is what defines you."
Read more: an office worker's guide to weight loss
