“Fitman” Eric Brown, an NGA Pro Natural Bodybuilder, USATF Masters Sprinter, and the owner of The Fitman Performance & Physique Center in Roslyn, says that there are three things you must do in the gym to have true success as a natural bodybuilder.

“The first factor that will determine your success during competition prep is training,” the 2022 NGA Mr. Natural Philadelphia winner said. “Your success while you are training during competition prep will be determined by your consistency, discipline, and focus on progression. When it comes to building your physique from the root to the fruit, it starts with training. Consistent, hard training over time and during contest prep, is what will allow you to build a strong, complete physique.”

Fitman told us that you can’t expect to step on stage without a plan of action.

“You cannot just walk into a gym and start doing whatever you want to do before a competition,” Fitman said. “Many so-called natural bodybuilders who use that method do not come anywhere close to building the physique that they want. They unfortunately end up spinning their wheels for years and either reach the stage with a subpar physique or never reach the stage at all.”

“After a bad performance on stage, most of these natural bodybuilders will just give up and fade away into the dustbins of bodybuilding oblivion.”

Consistency, Discipline, And Progression

Fitman says that there are three things you must focus on in the gym on during competition prep. “One, you have to be consistent in the gym,” Fitman said. “If you are not willing to be consistent with your training during contest prep, you should immediately cancel your plans of getting on stage! You won’t ever build a great or even a good physique by being inconsistent. And you definitely will not reach the stage.”

“Two, you must be disciplined. Along this journey there will be days during contest prep where you don’t feel like training. But how you feel doesn’t matter or change the fact that when you skip workouts you lose ground on your journey.”

“I have days where I don’t feel great during competition prep but, on those days, I don’t skip training if a session is scheduled for that day. I may have to lower my expectations on how much weight I can lift or how many reps/sets I can do that day, but I still show up. That’s called having discipline.”

“Three, you have to put an emphasis on progression. If your training program is not progressive, you’ll be going nowhere fast,” Fitman said. “The best way to make consistent progress is to track your workouts. You can use a notebook or your phone to keep track of your sessions. I’m old school when it comes to tracking my lifting workouts, so I like to write it down in a notebook.”

“When you track your workouts, you can see the changes in weight and reps over time,” the Abington High School graduate said. “These changes, if they are going in the right direction, will result in a stronger and more muscular physique.”

Looking To Compete In Natural Bodybuilding?

The most prominent natural bodybuilding show in Pennsylvania, the NGA Mr. Natural Philadelphia bodybuilding competition, returns on Saturday April 13, 2024 in Trevose at the Radisson Inn.

For more information, please visit naturalphillybodybuilding.com.

Fitman offers competition prep programs and coaching for natural bodybuilding. You can contact him to start your quest to the stage by contacting him at one of the links below.

Follow Fitman

Fitman is on multiple websites and social media platforms. Fitman is also an internationally published author of 3 eBooks. To get the unvarnished truth about natural bodybuilding, athletic performance, fitness/health, and to purchase his eBooks, follow him at:

Books:

Use Speed To Get Lean! The Sprinting Handbook For Lifters.
How To Build A Sprinter Body
The Ultimate Sprinter Warm-Up

Websites:

FitmanPerformance.com
FitmanClassicBodybuilding.com

Social Media:

Instagram: @FitmanEB
Tik Tok: @FitmanEB
X: @FitmanEB
YouTube: @FitmanEB
Facebook: @Fitman

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