Off Season Bodybuilding Advice from Dorian Yates

The off-season is here, and that means one thing, bulking up over Winter, right? Well yes, but I don’t call it bulking.

Traditional “bulking” often means trying to build muscle, but with a bulk of fat that can come along with it. My advice in a nutshell, is to make small, lean muscle gains, with limited additional fat.

So let’s explore how you can do this and maximise your off-season.

Calories!

The aim of an off season is to increase your caloric intake to make solid muscle gains and like I said, to limit the amount of body fat that can come with it. So firstly, you’ll need to put yourself in a caloric surplus, how much? You’ll find out later in this blog.

Determine your goals, what are you trying to achieve from this off season. Typically, people are covered up and not competing in shows during Winter so yes it makes sense to use this window of opportunity to focus on building muscle and later on, to shred down for the Summer months or to compete in bodybuilding contests during particular months.

So set your goals and duration for your off season and try to have a rough number in mind for weight you’d like to achieve. But I will say this; don’t become fixated on a weight number, for example 100kg body weight could look very different on two different people. I recommend having a rough number in mind and this comes with years of experience, but try to monitor your physique in the mirror and via pictures too, to get a visual representation of what you look like.

In my first year of training back in 1983, I was able to put on 20lbs of lean bodyweight but of course, I was new to the gym and it’s not going to continue. It depends on how far you are in your journey so please manage your expectations.

Back to your caloric intake, make a note of how much you’re currently weighing so that you have a starting point to work from. From here you’ll need to work out your maintenance calories (the amount of calories you need to consume to stay at your current weight) and an easy way to do this which is what I did back in my competitive bodybuilding days as we didn’t have tools like MyFitnessPal etc, is to write down everything you eat for 5 consecutive days including the amount of calories you consume each day, then add up the total calories and divide it by 5 to get your maintenance.

From here it’s a case of increasing your daily calories in a small manner, to give you a rough guide, I’d say anywhere between 200 - 400 at the very max to start with. Ideally if you’re fairly new, on the lower end, I recommend doing this in small increments where you adjust and review accordingly.

You’ll need to be in a caloric surplus as you can only build muscle for a limited time if you’re in a negative balance. But again, it should be a slight surplus.

The reason why I’d never recommend going all out and consuming everything under the sun in the hope that you’ll build massive amounts of muscle, is because not only will you put on a load of fat, but you won't feel good both mentally and physically. Besides, the process of building muscle is fairly slow so again, it needs to be a reflection of your off season duration.

If you’re going well above your maintenance, say increasing by 700+ for example, you’ll most likely put on a load of fat which you’ll need to lose when you start dieting down and you could also lose some muscle too… which defeats the purpose of the off season!

Also, don’t try to guess your maintenance and your surplus. Take advantage of tools such as MyFitnessPal or create your own spreadsheet, or you could do it the old fashioned way which is what I did, where you write everything down on paper!

So be smart and be patient.

What about cardio?

It’s not a priority during the off season but personally I think a little cardio to keep up your cardiovascular fitness is good. I mean training legs in Blood & Guts fashion will give you a good cardio workout too, but yes it’s good to do outside your weight training.

Again, align it to your goals. Perhaps 30 minutes of biking per week for health reasons, nothing super intense as you’ll need to also recover from your training which I’ll come to.

Walking is great for cardio and health, plus it’s free! You’re not gonna burnout or overtrain so I’d recommend walking outdoors. I did a lot of walking during my off seasons for mental health and it gave me space to think.

Training and intensity of effort.

Needless to say, you’ve got to train hard. I’ve spoken numerous times about training with intensity and keeping to infrequent workouts.

Stimulate the muscle during your workouts, then rest and recover, then finally allow time for muscle growth which depends on each individual in terms of duration.

If you’re a natural trainer (training without PEDs), then I would say to train roughly 3x per week to allow sufficient time for recovery. And if you’re enhanced, then perhaps 4x per week.

Regardless of your status, I advise all of my clients and you reading this, to train with high-intensity effort to muscular failure and sometimes beyond. The maximum time I was ever in the gym was for 1 hour and that was for leg day, usually it was 45 minutes tops. You can’t train with all out effort for a long period of time, so use your time in the gym wisely.

Another thing I recommend is to keep track of your workouts. Write down the exercises, weight used and number of reps, and aim to beat these numbers each workout. Monitor your strength here, if you’re getting stronger, you’re building muscle. The weights have got to go up, otherwise myself and Ronnie Coleman would still be benching 150lbs! Keep it simple and use the proven exercises.

So train hard, infrequently, with a full range of motion and keep track of your progress.

Remember, your physique is an accumulation of your workouts.

Food choices

This article is a rough guide so food choices are dependent on the individual, but again the principle remains the same that I recommend which is consuming first-class proteins such as: eggs, chicken, beef, fish and if you choose, a whey protein supplement.

I would say aim for 1-1.5g of protein per pound of body weight through regularly spaced out meals throughout the day. Although I now practice intermittent fasting, my goals are not to build muscle and I believe it can be difficult to consume large amounts of food which are needed for gaining muscle mass through say 1-2 meals per day. Back in my competitive bodybuilding days, I was eating roughly 5 - 6x per day every few hours.

I also recommend consuming fats through natural sources such as egg yolks, avocado, meat etc. And to try and avoid seed oils too.

Same with carbohydrates, I kept my carb sources to oats, rice, potatoes and some fruits mainly. You’ll need to experiment between your carbs and fats to find a ratio that suits you. Some people feel better with higher fat and lower carbs and vice versa.

I preferred back then to have a higher carbohydrate split, but it depends on each individual.

Overall on food choices, try to opt for quality foods rather than highly processed foods too.

Another quick mention is cheat meals. Yes you can still enjoy a cheat meal 1 - 2x per week I’d say but just try not to overdo it and go overboard. You don’t need to be fanatical, just enjoy it for example during Christmas and birthdays etc join in and have fun!

It’s great to be disciplined, but you’ve got to keep balance.

What about supplements?

So pretty much from the get go, I was using some form of dietary supplementation as I am, and always have been, a big believer in supplementing your diet with quality products to enhance your potential. Whether that’s an extra push in the gym, or something to help you reach your protein goals for the day.

Now, I’m not just saying this because I have my own supplement company, I’m known for my authenticity in the fitness/bodybuilding industry! Just go back and have a read of the many articles and interviews I did back in the day, I was using supplements to help reach my goals. 

It can be difficult to consume a lot of protein via whole foods so I’d recommend a high-quality whey protein from our leading whey protein range.

Another supplement I’d recommend is creatine for its numerous benefits including helping with muscle strength.

Wrap up

There are so many variables and each person is different, so use this as a guide. Your exercise selection, goals, foods etc are all unique to you, but if you need guidance and would like to work with myself and my team for 1-1 online coaching tailored to you, visit dyacademy.co.uk and let’s work together.