@rylittleton: Thanks a lot for your comments man, really appreciated!!! Regarding abs and cardio, well, since I did a lot of heavy abs work early in my career, my abs grew quite a bit, to the point that now, I only try to maintain them, since sporting a tiny waist onstage is one of my strong points. So during the offseason, I hit them maybe once a week, with light weights, supersetitng 2-3 exercises at a time, and doing obliques once every 3 workouts. During my cutting phase, I gradually increase the amount of abs work Im doing, to the point where I’ll do them almost every workout, not only to work abs, but also increase the calories I spend.
As for cardio, I try to stay away from it as long as possible, first and foremost because I hate doing it, and also to keep it as a last resort way to lose fat. So during my offseason, I don’t normally do cardio, I just stay more strict with my diet. During pre-contest, it will depend of my conditioning level. Normally, I will start cario work maybe 6 weeks out, but last time I’ve competed, I only did 4 weeks of cardio, 45mins total each week, because my bodyfat was so low, I didn’t want to burn muscle mass either. You should always start slow, and increase it as a last resort, otherwise you might end up having to do 1h and more of cardio in each session. People who start too high the amount of cardio their doing, end up not having room to increase it…if you start by doing 45mins 5 times a week, where you gonna go next??? 1h 5 times a week???
Hope this answer your questions bro!!! Take care, stay focus and keep pushing hard!!!