Planning your next show? 

If there is one piece of advice Id like each competitor to follow its:

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR OFF SEASON!

What does this mean?

GROW! Devote the entire off-season to building muscle.

Let go of having abs, abs are for stage. You'll get them back.

Get used to eating a lot of food. Food is fuel to support your training which should be designed specifically towards building muscle.

Hire a dietician or a trainer who has proven results in muscle growth (not just on themselves, but their clients also).

Train to build muscle. If you are doing cardio everyday I can tell you now, you're not building muscle. You're wasting time on what should be focused on growing. No-one ever grew from long runs or daily 'Morning Walks'.

Shock your body into a new style of training. If you've been working reps of 8-15 for the past 3 months its time to do something different.

Lets move past looking 'lean', having abs and being shredded.

Its time to think like an athlete.

You will achieve a better stage body if you focus on building muscle and being 'ok' with holding a little more body fat. You don't need to 'get fat' and if you do, you're doing it wrong (again, this comes back to hiring a professional to handle your nutrition).

Move away from having abs and push towards building as much damn muscle as physically possible!