Book Review – “The Precontest Bible”

Book Review – “The Precontest Bible”

When I first started bodybuilding in the late 1970’s, there were a series of books that were released called “Three More Reps”. Written by master bodybuilding writer Rick Wayne and gym owner/contest promoter George Snyder, the “Three More Reps” books summarized seminars that had been given at George Snyder’s gym by many of the bodybuilding superstars at that time. This impressive list included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu, Mike Mentzer, Robby Robinson, Danny Padilla, Kal Szkalak, Boyer Coe and many more.

The “Three More Reps” books were so sought after because it revealed the training and diet secrets of the best bodybuilders in the world. Now there was no more guess work on what the superstars did to attain their incredible physiques. Everything from what weights they used to how many sets they did to what supplements they took was spelled out in detail.

Now Larry Pepe, NPC judge and a writer for MuscleMag International, has repeated the process in his book, “The Precontest Bible”. In this prodigious 480 page book, Larry interviews 32 of the best bodybuilders in the world today. These bodybuilders range from current Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman to his predecessor Dorian Yates all the way to brand new professionals like Mark Dugdale and Erik Bui. The book also includes three top amateur bodybuilders, Steve McLeod, Stan McQuay and Mike Ergas.

The full list of the 32 bodybuilders featured in the book includes Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates, Dexter Jackson, Will “World” Harris, Tom Prince, Bob Cicherillo, Gustavo Badell, Rich Gaspari, Chris Cormier, Stan McQuay, Lee Priest, Johnny Stewart, Craig Titus, Quincy Taylor, Mark Dugdale, Troy Alves, King Kamali, Mike Valentino, Kris Dim, Steve McLeod, David Dearth, Aaron Baker, Art Atwood, David Henry, Victor Martinez, Jamo Nezzar, Mike Ergas, Ahmad Haidar, Johnnie Jackson, Erik Bui, Shawn Ray and Jay Cutler. As you can see, a very impressive list featuring many of bodybuilding’s top stars from the present, past and near future.

“The Precontest Bible” uses the same format with each bodybuilder featured in the book. This makes it easier to compare what each bodybuilder does to prepare for a competition. The first page on each bodybuilder reveals his vital information including major titles won, birthdate, height, contest weight, off season weight and how far out they begin preparing for their competition.

The next few pages for each bodybuilder covers their pre-contest training. You will learn how often each bodybuilder trains when preparing for a show and how they split up their bodyparts. Also covered in this section is how much cardio each bodybuilder does pre-contest.

I was surprised at how many of the bodybuilders train an average of six days per week, sometimes with a double split routine, when preparing for a competition. Art Atwood and King Kamali even train seven days a week during pre-contest training with Atwood hitting the gym twice a day, every day, 16 weeks out from his contest. The exceptions to the almost daily training were Dorian Yates, Mark Dugdale, Mike Valentino, Steve McLeod, David Henry, Dexter Jackson and Johnnie Jackson who all train an average of four days per week.

When it comes to pre-contest cardio, the bodybuilders interviewed for this book do not mess around! Many of them do cardio twice a day, six or seven days a week for as much as an hour each session. Mike Valentino and David Dearth actually work up to doing cardio three times a day before a competition!

Of course, there are always some lucky individuals who are exceptions to the rule. Rich Gaspari admits to only doing cardio three times a week for 30 minutes each session but Rich also employs a brutal version of drop sets during his pre-contest training which burns up a lot of calories. Stan McQuay only does cardio twice a week when he is preparing for a show. Steve McLeod only did 5 ½ hours of total cardio when preparing for his win at the 2004 Junior Nationals and Aaron Baker did a total of 3 hours of cardio when prepping for the 2003 Pro IronMan Invitational. However, the luckiest bodybuilders in the book in regards to blowing off cardio and still standing onstage in ripped condition were David Henry and Dexter Jackson who normally do NO cardio when preparing for a show. Lucky bastards!

The next very important section of the book is the pre-contest nutrition and supplementation that each bodybuilder follows. The diet that a bodybuilder follows is critical in attaining the conditioning that wins competitions so this is a vital part of pre-contest preparation.

Every bodybuilder profiled in the book eats at least six times a day (Kamali eats 11 meals a day) with an emphasis on protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. Ronnie Coleman, for all of his extremely heavy training and extensive cardio regimen, eats fairly low calories and carbohydrates when preparing for the Mr. Olympia. Other bodybuilders who eat pretty low carbs when getting ripped include Haidar, Atwood, Badell, Quincy Taylor, Valentino, Dearth, Henry, Johnnie Jackson and Shawn Ray.

Craig Titus and Jay Cutler favor alternating low carb days with an occasional high carb day to accelerate fat loss and keep the muscles filled with glycogen. Titus eats 420 grams of protein with only 200 grams of carbs for three days before filling up with 320 grams of protein and 750-880 grams of carbs on his high carb day. Cutler eats low calories and low carbs for 3-4 days consisting of 300 grams of protein and 200 grams of carbs. On his high carb day, Jay eats only 200 grams of protein but between 700-800 grams of carbs. During the off-season, Jay revealed that he normally eats between 6000-10,000 calories a day with as much as 900-1300 grams of carbs.

Many bodybuilders get confused on what to do during the last week of preparing for a contest. Many theories persist on the proper way to carb deplete, carb up, eliminate sodium, cut out water, etc, etc. The next section of the book asks each bodybuilder profiled to reveal exactly what they do in the last week before a contest.
The vast majority of the bodybuilders questioned favor carb depleting and carb loading in the last week before stepping onstage, although each of them did it in a way that benefited their particular physique. The bodybuilders also explain how they cut back on their cardio and weight training as the show approaches.

The section on water depletion was very interesting. Most bodybuilders will drink lots of water leading up to the contest and then cut it back as the show gets closer. Johnnie Jackson begins cutting back on his water intake as much as four weeks prior to the show. In stark contrast, Shawn Ray and Mike Valentino will drink 5 gallons of water a day during the last week before cutting back in the final days before the contest! Valentino revealed that he will normally go to bed weighing 215 pounds and wake up at 201 pounds when drinking this much water a day.

The next section is called Finishing Touches and it explains each bodybuilders approach to posing, tanning, backstage pumping and how many days out they fly to a show to avoid water retention. Pro Tan seems to be the tanning agent of choice by the vast majority of the bodybuilders interviewed for this book. Even most of the black bodybuilders will tan in the tanning beds and use Pro Tan to make their skin as dark as possible for the bright stage lights.

The last section of the book is called “Finish This Sentence…”. Each bodybuilder is allowed to answer questions such as what they like most about contest preparation and what they like least, what foods they are craving for after the show is over and what show they feel that they were in the best condition of their lives.

There is a shameless plug for a product called Spray Flex in the book. Several of the athletes featured in the book (Mark Dugdale, Will Harris, Erik Bui, Johnny Stewart and Steve McLeod) promote this testosterone boosting supplement and an 8 page color advertisement is included in the middle of the book. Aside from the free publicity for this product and a lack of natural bodybuilders featured in the book, “The Precontest Bible” is a valuable book for your library.

Overall, “The Precontest Bible” is packed with information on what the top professional bodybuilders do to achieve their contest winning physiques. Every detail is covered including what setting they use on the cardio machines and what supplements they take pre-contest. If you would like to get some insight of what is required of top amateur and professional bodybuilders to reach peak condition, pick up a copy of “The Precontest Bible” and get educated!

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