Bud Turner

Bud Turner had a dream of competing in a bodybuilding contest. Bud started weight training in his teens and always had the desire to get onstage and compete with other bodybuilders in an actual bodybuilding contest. Unfortunately, as often happens, life gets in the way of our dreams. Bud got married, went into the military, had children, started a job as a fireman in Rockford, Illinois and began his own personal training business. Now, at the age of 43, Bud wanted to fulfill his fantasy of getting ready for a bodybuilding contest and finally stepping onstage.

Bud came to me in late January of 2006 and told me his goal was to enter the 2006 NPC Natural Grand Prix competition in Belvidere, Illinois. Since this was the same event I helped Bonnie and Paula get ready for a year ago, I was excited to help Bud out.

BEFORE	AFTER

Bud began his diet on January 23rd, 2006, approximately 15 weeks before the contest. When Bud started his preparations, he recorded his bodyweight at 202 ½ pounds with a waist size of 37”. Bud was not fat by any means but I knew that to be successful in the contest, he would need to reduce his bodyfat and come in really ripped. It’s all about conditioning when competing in bodybuilding shows and Bud was well aware that he needed to follow his diet very strictly over the next 4 months in order to fully prepare for this contest.

Bud had two goals for this competition. The first was to come in really ripped and conditioned. Bud invited all of his friends and co-workers to the contest and he didn’t want to be embarrassed by getting up on stage in anything less than top condition. He actually purchased a total of 60 tickets for the night show from the promoter Kevin Noble. Kevin told Bud that he set the record for largest amount of tickets ever purchased by one person.

The second goal was to get a trophy. Since only the top five in each class receive a trophy, Bud knew that he had to give it everything he had to walk away with some hardware. Bodybuilding competitions are tough because you never know how many people will be competing or what they will look like.

BEFORE		AFTER

When I first looked at Bud’s diet, I realized that he was actually not eating enough calories. This often happens when an individual begins a diet. They think they have to starve the weight off by drastically dropping their calories and carbs. Although you definitely have to eat a below maintenance level of calories, the amount cannot be too low or your body will react by stubbornly holding onto the fat cells instead of shrinking them.

I changed Bud’s diet by giving him more food to eat and increasing his caloric intake and his carbohydrate intake. However, I gave him two diets to follow: one for the days when he weight trained and the other for his rest days.
I also had Bud cut back on his cardio workouts. Bud was doing cardio 5-6 days a week when he started his diet.

I told him to cut it back to only 3 days a week and let the diet do it’s work in eliminating the bodyfat. There is no sense in overdoing the cardio and practically ensuring the loss of valuable muscle tissue while following a reduced calorie diet.

Bud was very meticulous in recording his bodyweight and his waist measurement every day. I told him this was very important because this objective feedback will let him know if the diet is working properly so he is losing only bodyfat while retaining his muscle mass. I advised Bud to keep a weekly log of his weight and waist measurements along with his average intake of calories and carbs for the week.

When we took our first set of assessment pictures for Bud, I was a little worried about the amount of fat he was holding in his lower abdominal region. I felt confident that he could get cut every where else on his body but the fat on his lower abs was greater than any other part of his body and I didn’t know if we would have enough time to get rid of it all in time for the contest.

However, as the weeks went by and Bud continued to follow his diet religiously, he was getting harder and harder. In the beginning of his diet, his bodyweight was going down faster than his waist size. However, as his metabolism began to increase, his weight reductions leveled out while his waist began to lose more inches faster. This was because Bud was holding onto his muscle mass while simultaneously reducing his bodyfat. As he got leaner, his metabolism naturally increased because less bodyfat on the physique causes the metabolism to gear up a few notches.

Here are Bud’s measurements during his contest preparation period:

About eight weeks before the contest, I started to work with Bud on his posing. Bud met me at my training studio every other week on each Sunday and I would analyze his physique to see how he was progressing in addition to helping him with the poses.

We started out by going through the mandatory poses that are part of the pre-judging with every bodybuilding competition. I showed Bud how to position his body in each of the poses to show off his physique to it’s best advantage. It’s so important to present your body correctly when you are on stage because if you don’t, it could really cost you a placing or two in the final results.

Bud’s wife, Shelly, was very instrumental in Bud’s success. She was behind him 100% and was present in all of our meetings to give her input about the posing and take pictures of Bud. It’s unusual in the bodybuilding world to have a spouse who was so supportive and caring about her husband’s preparation for this contest. Shelly even decided to postpone her birthday celebration because her birthday took place while Bud was dieting.

On the big day, May 6th, 2006, Bud Turner took his first steps on a bodybuilding stage. He was in peak condition, having brought his waist down 5 inches from when he began his diet. Bud had reduced his bodyweight by almost thirty pounds, from 202 lbs to a ripped and lean 173.

Bud competed in the Masters division in the contest. His division was from 40-50 years of age. He took fourth place in a very competitive line-up and realized both of his goals by winning a trophy and also by competing with a very ripped physique.

Bud (and his wife Shelly) was very happy with his experience competing in his first bodybuilding contest. To completely change his physique in only 15 weeks is an amazing accomplishment. It’s a testament to Bud’s commitment and dedication that he was able to realize his goal and achieve peak condition. Now that he has his feet wet, you can plan on seeing Bud Turner compete again soon on a bodybuilding stage near you. He will be back, as soon as his wife Shelly makes her contest debut.