Dave Meryer: The Lessons He's Learned In Contest Preparation the Beverly Way

   Cardio used to be a dreadful task. I did hours upon hours of cardio in the past. I would be so tired and exhausted that I could barely train. Now I use cardio as just one tool in my contest preparation. I found that if I keep my bodyfat in check by improving my nutrition I do not need to do endless hours of cardio to get ready for a contest. I ate double the amount of calories this time around and cardio was not even an issue. Lesson Five - With the correct diet and supplements you can limit precontest cardio to just twenty minutes per day.

I definitely did not look lean at the start of my contest diet even though my bodyfat was below ten percent bodyfat.

   Now that you see the philosophy I used this year, I want to share my actual progress, nutrition and supplement programs, and training. I started my formal precontest preparation at 9.18 percent bodyfat. My bodyweight was in the low 220’s at ten weeks out from my primary contest. Sandy suggested a diet somewhat higher in calories than I had ever followed precontest. See left margin.

   My supplements at this time were a Beverly Super Pak with my first meal. I took four Mass Aminos and four Ultra 40s with each meal; and eight Muscle Synergy tablets twice daily, first thing in the morning and thirty minutes before training. The Muscle Synergy turned out to be fantastic. I stayed as strong through my precontest training as I had ever been. It was amazing. Four weeks later my bodyfat dropped to 6.5 percent at a weight of 216 pounds.

Training

   I train on a two-week alternating schedule that coincides with my work schedule. I do up to fifteen total sets for large bodyparts and ten to twelve sets for smaller bodyparts. I generally do three or four sets on each exercise, adding weight each set, as I am able. I always start my back training with pull-ups. The lower my bodyweight goes the higher the reps! If I tried to do them when I weighed 250 pounds, I might get six or seven reps. At 205 pounds I do three sets of fifteen to eighteen reps. This exercise seemed to have helped my width when I was younger, so I continue to do them now. At one time I did all my training for width, then I switched and concentrated on thickness by doing everything close grip style. Now I do a mixture. (See the chart on the bottom of the page for my complete precontest training program.)

   My goal is to continually improve my physique. My back and legs are strong points for me now. As stated earlier I developed my back through early concentration on pull-ups. My legs were fairly decent to start, but I almost lost one a few years ago. At work I operate a concrete saw. I was on the job cutting one of those concrete walls that run along side an interstate highway when the 54-inch concrete saw blade (it weighed so much that it took two guys to place it on the machine) cut into my front thigh just above my patella. The cut was 4 ½ inches deep into my quadriceps. I thought I was finished as a bodybuilder. The doctor said if I had not had the dense amount of muscle tissue I had built through bodybuilding, the saw would have cut my femur in half. It took sixty-five stitches to put me back together. (If you look closely you can see the scar in the accompanying photos on my left quad.)

   I hope this article has been helpful to you. In the past I wasted a lot of time trying one thing after another, always looking for the quick fix, the wonder supplement, or a crash diet. This year I relied on the tried and true methods of Beverly International. In closing, I’d like to thank my wife, Amy, my training partner Tammy, and Sandy at Beverly for all their support.