Postponing Nationals...

Team Cygen's Steve Doucette is a successful National Level bodybuilder and has been competing for many years.  Here is his outlook on taking time off...Enjoy!

My career revolves around working with numbers, looking at trends, analysis of data on a daily basis. So it’s not surprising that I would look at my own progress in this way. If I look back to my first year of competing, just shy of my 18th birthday, I can remember the high I got after competing. Back then, Nova Scotia had two shows throughout the year, and I can remember another junior competitor asking me: “Are you going to compete this fall?” I quickly answered: “FOR SURE”… It wasn’t until I got advice from someone who had been competing for a few years that I decided it didn’t make sense for me to go through with it again so soon. So over the next few years, I decided instead to make competition more or less a yearly thing.


In 15 years of competing, I’ve identified the years where I gained the most muscle: From 2003-2004, from 2009 to 2010, and again from 2011-2012. What those periods all have in common is that they were 3 shows that I did where I did not do a show within the previous year. I am not going to look at this from any sort of scientific perspective… Just some honest observations in myself… Let’s look at the details:

In the year 2000 I learned a lot about my body and how competing can take its toll. I competed in back to back shows in the spring, again in late summer and then finally once more in the fall. What I noticed was with each successive show, I actually got worse! Sure, I got pretty ripped for the middle show (I dieted from an already lean state throughout the summer) – however this was at the expense of muscle fullness. Then trying to keep that level of condition for another show – it simply didn’t happen! I was too young, and too inexperienced to be able to pull off maintaining that level of conditioning for so long without hurting my body.

2004 was the first time I ever took a full 2 year break between shows. The result? A much MUCH leaner physique with approximately 10 pounds more stage weight than my 2002 showing. Awesome right?! Fast forward to 2010, another huge change in my physique. Yes, part of this was the fact that it had been 4 whole years since my last show, therefore one would obviously expect much more improvements… However, I must share that this was during the years I had my first child, took a long break from the gym, bought my first home, focused a lot on my career, etc. I basically only really focused on bodybuilding from mid 2009 until the 2010 show. However, that said…I truly feel the break actually helped my growth in the long run. Muscle memory is a good thing…

Finally, 2012. A huge change in my physique from 2010. I vowed to get in my best conditioning to date, which I did. I also was determined to do this while increasing my stage weight substantially, which I did. With all this said, it’s not really a surprise that I’ve decided to sit 2012 Nationals out and wait before doing Nationals for the first time. My goals for competing are to improve from show to show… And with only a few months between my last show and Nationals, I realistically would have looked the same.

Now, I know what some of you may think…The pros compete all the time, many shows, guest appearances, etc. However, I argue that those individuals don’t change all that much, they’ve attained more or less their genetic maximums, and therefore a solid off-season is not necessarily what they need. Changes to their physique at this stage are more ‘polishing’ than mass gaining. Learning to get ripped without sacrificing too much fullness, water manipulation, learning to perfect the final week of their prep… Those are the goals at that level. Of course there are those that can do that, all the while continuing to grow…This is a great feat, however I wonder if they would accomplish an even GREATER feat if they could take that precious time off? One thing to keep in mind, is that at that level, it is no longer a hobby – it is a career, and as such they have to decide what is best for their career. Often times, taking time off competing means time off their career (through guest appearance, self promotion, etc), which isn’t the smartest thing to do from a financial perspective!

For most, this sport is a hobby, as well as a lifestyle. For most, we share the same goals. To eventually become the best bodybuilder we can be in the long run. I truly believe that it is perfectly acceptable to look the same each and every year if you simply enjoy the process. Many people fall in this category, but many others, myself included, would benefit from time off competing to relax, train hard, grow, let injuries heal, and motivate for the next one!