Balanced Bulking Blueprint by Vinny Galanti Here in New Jersey, we are starting to get the cold chill of winter as we get into the first week of November. Most people hear a song on the radio and it reminds them of a time and place in their past, when I feel the cold chill in the air, I quickly remember catching the number 10 bus on Kennedy Blvd in Jersey City in freezing cold weather to head into Bayonne to go train at Billy's gym back in the early 80's before I could drive. I loved, and still do, the feeling of baggy sweats in the winter…When winter comes, its time to bulk up, its time to get huge, its time to lift very heavy over the winter, so that when spring comes, you can be huge for the summer, and upcoming competition. Well, I actually never followed those rules, never saw the reason to bulk up, or train heavy and get huge. I thought “I'm a bodybuilder; I should look like one all year long.” Why bulk up and get fat in the off-season? I thought it was an excuse for most bodybuilders to become lazy and fat. Now don't get me wrong, I like my share of McDonalds and pizza, but I don't let my body fat go higher than 9% in the off-season. I remember training for the 1989 novice Suburban here in NJ, and it was about 8 months out from the show, and I remember going to Diamond Gym to go train, to go see some of the guys that I would be going up against. I thought to myself, these guys are huge. But when March 17th came, they were all smaller and I was only 5lbs lighter, and in awesome condition winning the middleweight class and overall. Very early on, I learned that bulking up was the lazy way for a bodybuilder. My training never really changes from precontest to off-season. All year long I try to train heavy and intense--incorporating supersets, drop sets, low reps, high reps, and even light weight, when my body needs a break. My body changes more from nutrition than anything else. Like I said earlier, I have my share of junk food, and I don't care if I gain a little body fat, and my abs are blurry. As long as my body fat is not any higher than 9%, I'm happy. Some bodybuilders will gain 40lbs in 2-3 years, I have gained 40 lbs in the last 24 years, to some that might seem like nothing. But in competition you will never see me with a distended stomach from overeating to bulk up. I don't believe in gorging yourself with high amounts of food in attempt to get huge. Besides eating decent and training smart, the off-season bodybuilder needs to pay attention to supplementation. I have always believed in BCAAs and EAAs as a staple in my training. Before and after all my workouts, I take Nitro G. I just mix it in water before I leave for the gym, and as soon as I'm done training before walking out the gym door. During the day, I have always taken a combo of vitamin e, c, b-complex, zinc, and l-lysine. All combined together makes a great protector for your immune system. And with the start of the day, I take 1 Animal Pak with breakfast. Here is an example of my current off-season diet: Meal 1 Bowl of oatmeal 8 egg white omelet Banana Meal 2 1 pack of success white rice 1 grilled chicken breast Salsa sauce Meal 3 1 vanilla Unisyn 1 scoop of peanut butter Meal 4 3 cups of pasta 1 can of water packed tuna 1 tbl spoon of olive oil Meal 5 Baked potato Large steak Vegetables Meal 6 1 vanilla Unisyn 1 scoop of peanut butter