The sport of bodybuilding isn’t easy.
It takes an extremely dedicated and determined individual to excel at it.
As a fan, you don’t get to see the majority of the work that goes into being an IFBB pro.
Sure, you may follow a pro or two on social media and get a glimpse into their life, but it’s hard to relate to the consistent effort that goes into excelling at the sport.
With that said, how would you like to see a behind the scenes exclusive of a Men’s Physique Competitor as he prepares for the biggest show of the year?
We thought you might say yes.
That’s why we teamed up with Team USN as they captured IFBB Pro Ryan Terry’s 12 week prep for the Mr. Olympia contest this past September.
Enjoy!
Introduction to Ryan Terry
Ryan was approached by USN after his victory at the Mr. Great Britain contest in 2010 and they’ve both represented each other ever since.
Ryan was very excited when he was approached by USN. The brand has garnered a very large following in the United Kingdom and when Ryan first began bodybuilding it was really the only premium supplement line available on the shelves of supplement stores in the UK.
In fact, it was actually the first brand of supplements that Ryan had ever tried. As USN has grown as a company, Ryan’s grown as well. Ryan even states that with the launch of their new supplements, they’ve helped him break through training barriers and plateaus.
Related: Physique Competitors Do Train Legs! Ryan Terry's Quad Workout
For every one of Ryan’s competition preps, he utilizes the brand's supplements. Obviously, he has to tailor his supplement stack to be in line with his goals, but there are two key supplements that Ryan always advocates for.
One of those is a solid BCAA supplement to take intraworkout to make sure your muscles have the nutrients they need to push through extreme training. The other is a high protein (whey or whey isolate) post workout supplement to help you repair your muscles immediately after a workout.
Ryan says it’s not easy to take America by storm. However, he is proud to see his home company and partners starting to flourish in America.
The remainder of these videos outline Ryan’s complete prep to the Mr. Olympia stage. Starting from 12 weeks out, he’ll break down his workouts, supplement stacks, and nutrition plans video by video.
Episode 1 – 8 weeks out
The video begins with Ryan up early and already out and about doing fasted cardio. He is now 8 weeks out from the Mr. Olympia.
4 weeks into this prep and things are already going well for Ryan. He’s got a very different mindset for this prep and is focused on enjoying the entire process as much as possible so he can bring his best package to the stage.
His goal is to make slow changes to his body and to not do anything drastic, as he knows very well impatience can be one of his faults.
Being 4 weeks out, Ryan has a good balance between cardio and weight training. He aims to consume between 2-4 high carb meals before attacking the weights later in the day. Ryan tries to keep weight work into his routine as much as he can by adding in high volumes with lots of intensity.
Ryan avoids training as heavy as he can for every session during his prep. The reason being, it would be very hard on his body and could lead to a potential injury.
Plus, he would also put himself at the risk of boredom. He likes to keep his workouts as sporadically fresh as possible. In the long term, it’s very beneficial as Ryan’s body reacts well to the different amounts of muscle stimulation.
Ryan’s current nutrition plan is very high in carbs. Due to his high metabolism, eating a high carb diet allows him to hold on to more weight during his preps. For that reason his macro breakdown 8 weeks out is 600 grams of carbs, 230 grams of protein, and 60 grams of fat. Surprisingly, he is still losing weight with that amount of food!
Along with his food, Ryan takes LipoXT, CLA, BCAAs, and Diet Whey Isolate too boost his fat loss while promoting recovery from his workouts.
Episode 2 – 4 weeks out
The second episode of Ryan Terry’s prep starts out with him driving around Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
His nutrition plan is very similar, remaining pretty high in both calories and carbs. However, he has increased the amount of cardio he’s been doing and keeping his workout volume high to burn additional calories.
He is still on pace for his show, keeping the gains coming and burning fat nice and slow.
He’s accomplished his goal of enjoying this prep. In previous preps, he’s been stage ready 2-3 weeks out, which is not ideal when you have to fight to keep on weight as Ryan does.
For supplementation, Ryan is drinking a whey isolate post workout, taking a BCAAs before and intra-workout, and will be introducing CLA in the next few weeks.
Episode 3 – Night Before Flight
It’s the night before Ryan flies to Las Vegas for the Olympia. Only a few days left to go and Ryan is eager to step on stage.
As Ryan has mentioned, he wanted to keep the carbs in his diet for as long as possible during this prep so he could stay bigger. It wasn’t until the last few weeks that Ryan brought down his calorie count and carb intake.
He feels as though the strategy worked very well as he is coming into this show a lot tighter than in the past. While his body fat is lower, he has also been able to hold onto a lot more mass this year.
To make sure he doesn’t hold onto too much water retention from the airplane flight, Ryan is making his trip to Vegas a few days before the competition. This will allow him to familiarize himself with where he’s staying, find a local gym, and get all of the water retention out of his system.
Related: Ryan Terry's Ab Workout - 3 Exercises For Insane Abs
Ryan’s excited to have a lot of his family and close friends traveling with him this year. While bodybuilding can be a lonely sport, Ryan has the advantage of a very supportive inner circle of friends and family. His girlfriend has even prepped with him during this year Olympia prep.
His pre-show carb intake this year is going to be a 2 day hard high carb intake, but it will be all complex carbs. His pre-show training will be composed of full body circuits with high rep ranges to really flush out any excess water weight.
While he is stoked for the show, it sounds like Ryan is even more excited about his post show victory meal at The Cheesecake factory. It’s one of Ryan’s favorite restaurants and he enjoys a nice burger and shake to celebrate with his family and friends.
Episode 4 – Arriving In Las Vegas
This episode begins with Ryan and his girlfriend cruising on a plane at high altitude en route to Las Vegas. While flying he is getting in a well-timed meal high in lean protein and complex carbs.
Ryan feels as though he is in the best shape he could be in and is both excited and nervous. He feels the pressure of beating his 4th place finish from a year ago.
He’s got a few things up his sleeve including a new routine, a new hairstyle, and (most importantly) a new and improved physique.
His first stop after landing and checking into the hotel is straight to Whole Foods for the food he needs for the week.
The following morning, Ryan does his last cardio session before the Mr. Olympia contest. While he stopped by the gym after being unable to sleep, Ryan decides to take his last cardio session outside. He scoped out a nice park on the drive to the hotel and in an attempt to get away from the competitors, he and his girlfriend head out there for some cardio intervals.
Later in the evening, Ryan heads to the gym for a full body depletion workout. For this workout, Ryan does a complete full body circuit performing each exercise in the 18-20 rep range. The purpose of the workout is to eliminate any excess water from the flight while also preparing for a mass carb intake in the last couple days prior to the show.
Episode 5 - Showtime!
It’s the big day. Everything Ryan has done in the past 12 weeks has led him here. And he is absolutely ready to step on stage.
At this point Ryan is all sprayed tan and starting to bloat up a bit from the heavy amount of carbs he is eating to finish his prep.
Ryan steps on stage and shines among the stiff competition. He places 2nd moving up 2 spots from his 4th place finish last year. Ryan is progressing the right way and is happy about his showing at this year’s Mr. Olympia.
Congratulations on your 2nd place finish and thank you for letting us share your Mr. Olympia prep on Muscle & Strength, Ryan Terry!
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