Tim Martin Q&A

[sugardaddy69]

You're right that fruits would be a good addition to an off-season diet, and I'm trying to include them more. Precontest they are still off limits, and I don't know anything about "ph correctness" - what's that?

I meant PH balance, url:http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=PHBalance

it relates to how acidic the typicla bb diet is and that to optimize health you would need alkaline produce like fruits and veggies.

I guess I am not competing so I am getting my fruits and veggies with most of my meals.

BTW an awe inspiering physique at your web site just awsome man.

[slyfox0507]

Any advice on how to go about working with a sponsor? I have have 4 competitions under my belt now and have done very well. I qualified for Team Universe next year.
2008 NPC Central Florida District Classic (Level III); 1st Light Heavyweight and Overall Champion, 2008 NPC Typhoon Bay (Natural) 2nd Place Heavyweight, 2009 NPC Typhoon Bay (Natural) 1st Place Heavyweight and Overall Champion, 2009 NPC Hurricane Bay Light Heavyweight 2nd Place, 2009 NGA (Natural) Masters 35-39 1st Place, and 2009 NGA (Natural) 2nd Place Heavyweight. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

[Tim Martin]

Any advice on how to go about working with a sponsor? I have have 4 competitions under my belt now and have done very well. I qualified for Team Universe next year.
2008 NPC Central Florida District Classic (Level III); 1st Light Heavyweight and Overall Champion, 2008 NPC Typhoon Bay (Natural) 2nd Place Heavyweight, 2009 NPC Typhoon Bay (Natural) 1st Place Heavyweight and Overall Champion, 2009 NPC Hurricane Bay Light Heavyweight 2nd Place, 2009 NGA (Natural) Masters 35-39 1st Place, and 2009 NGA (Natural) 2nd Place Heavyweight. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

Congratulations! From what I know there are basically two types of sponsorships:

1- Getting paid in cash or product (or both) for the rights to use your image in advertising campaigns.

2- Performing "in-store" appearances at nutrition stores and local contests. These usually pay about $30 an hour from what I understand.

I'm currently sponsored by Iovate (Muscletech, Six-Star Nutrition, Cytogenics). Here is a link for recruitment:

http://www.muscletech.com/recruitment/index.shtml

For amateur athletes they basically want you to send them a "before" picture (off-season, the fatter the better ) and also a photo of you in your best condition. They'll fly you up to Toronto twice for photo shoots, send you $500 of supps per month, and pay contest expenses. If they use you in an add they pay $1000 for each ad, and even if they don't use you you still get supps for the length of the contract (I think most are two years). Be sure to tell them I referred you.

This is the best deal around IMO. I have approached other companies who usually just want to give you a few products and have you give up your Saturdays to work for them. I've had nothing but a good experience with Iovate (they gave me a "pro" version of the contract), and am watching out for a "before-and-after" advertisement that is out in the magazines right now.

[RoadPigJohn]

Hi. Tim!

I been amaze about good you look, you are an example and an inspiration for us trying to make a name for ourself in this sport.

I wan to ask you a few things.

This year I got the experience competing in NPC shows in 9 of them (next saturday is my last contest of the year). So I want to try start competing in all the Natural bodybuilding shows I can for 2010 here in FL, why just in FL, because at the moment I can't affort the cost to travel to other states. So anyway I the beginning of this year I was schedule to do a Natural show but since it was too far from where I live, I decided to the NPCs, I got great experience from them and I think I'm more than ready to present my best shape in my next contest.

Since you been on the Natural shows what advice you can gave me about what federation to choose or anything like that.

I already saw some contest schedule for 2010 from MUSCLEMANIA, INBA, SNBF and OCB.

Thanks in Advance.

[Tim Martin]

Hi. Tim!

I been amaze about good you look, you are an example and an inspiration for us trying to make a name for ourself in this sport.

I wan to ask you a few things.

This year I got the experience competing in NPC shows in 9 of them (next saturday is my last contest of the year). So I want to try start competing in all the Natural bodybuilding shows I can for 2010 here in FL, why just in FL, because at the moment I can't affort the cost to travel to other states. So anyway I the beginning of this year I was schedule to do a Natural show but since it was too far from where I live, I decided to the NPCs, I got great experience from them and I think I'm more than ready to present my best shape in my next contest.

Since you been on the Natural shows what advice you can gave me about what federation to choose or anything like that.

I already saw some contest schedule for 2010 from MUSCLEMANIA, INBA, SNBF and OCB.

Thanks in Advance.

One thing about me is that I have been around the block! I did a quick tally and here's where (and how many times) I've competed:

ANBC - 5
NGA - 1
Musclemania - 2
INBF - 3
WNBF - 6
NPC - 15
IFBB - 1

Obviously I believe the NPC is the best federation to compete in. I've been saying that for years, even before I won the TU. As for the others:

ANBC is now defunct.

NGA is still kicking around, although I don't hear much from them.

Musclemania has always been more about self promotion than athletic competition IMO.

INBF/WNBF have quality drug testing, although they have huge issues with their prohibitive rules. Also, just because you call a contest "Mr. Universe" or "World Championships" doesn't necessarily make it so.

I think the IFPA is making great progress. They seem to offer the most prize money and don't have such restrictive rules governing their athletes.

NPC is the benchmark of bodybuilding. Now with the internet they provide the greatest exposure, and that also means the most opportunity for it's athletes to profit from endorsements. They have the largest geographic coverage in the United States and require their judges to go through a screening process to qualify to serve on a judging panel.

In a perfect world the very best from each federation could come together and compete against each other to see where they really stand, but unfortunately either the particular organization prohibits this or the athlete feels some sort of allegiance to his individual federation. That's why in the past few years many of these champions have decided to leave these smaller groups and compete in the Team Universe.

I will continue to compete in the IFBB. I realize that I probably won't be really competitive but hope that I can still improve and might even turn a few heads in the process. If as natural bodybuilders we could take control of our sport and agree to compete in solidarity then I would give up my pro card to compete with the best drug-free athletes, but unfortunately I don't think this will be happening anytime soon.

[RoadPigJohn]

Thanks Martin for sharing your experience, I'm going to stay competing in the NPC and do my best to get a qualification for a National or Jr/National level competition.

[BlakeSelby]

Dear Tim,


Could you give us a little rundown of what your final few days before a contest looks like? (when you apply tanner, how your food changes (if it does), and maybe what you do right before you get onstage?) Thank you so much!

-Blake

[BlakeSelby]

Dear Tim,


Could you give us a little rundown of what your final few days before a contest looks like? (when you apply tanner, how your food changes (if it does), and maybe what you do right before you get onstage?) Thank you so much!

-Blake

[Tim Martin]

Dear Tim,


Could you give us a little rundown of what your final few days before a contest looks like? (when you apply tanner, how your food changes (if it does), and maybe what you do right before you get onstage?) Thank you so much!

-Blake

The final week is a crucial component in how you look on stage. That said, I think I've made every mistake imaginable over my career and have come to the conclusion that the fewer changes made from your normal routine the better. I try to stick with foods that my body is used to, and I also try not to go overboard with the amounts eaten.

One thing that I think may get overlooked in the final week is shaving. Shaving irritates you skin, so you need to be careful when you do it before the show. I generally will shave on Thursday morning for a Friday night or Saturday morning show (whole body), and if I need any touch-ups (chest) I'll use an electric razor - very gently - the morning of the prejudging. As for tanner, I've finally admitted to myself that Dream Tan hurts more than it helps, in that the lighting has to be perfect for it to look good, and lighting is something you have no control of, so a dark skin color and minimal use of sheen is what you should be aiming for. At the big NPC shows as well as the IFBB shows the "ProTan girls" are back stage applying last minute oil to the competitors free of charge. If these girls are at you contest, use them!!! They do all the top pros and have more experience than anyone out there regarding applying just the right amount of sheen to your physique (less is more). I like the Jan Tana competition color the best and usually will aim for three to four coats.

I did legs this morning with my buddy Chris Mackenzie. We are both aiming to compete in a powerlifting meet here in New Jersey in February, with Chris doing all three lifts and me probably only doing deadlift. We had a short and sweet workout this morning with my sets looking like this:

Leg extensions:
Three sets of 30 reps, 100 lbs.

Yoke bar squats. The bar probably weighs between 80-100 lbs. by itself. I'm new to these, but they feel very comfortable. I videoed my heaviest set to check for form, so I know I need to go lower, but the weight still felt easy.
1 plate x 15
2 plates x 15
3 plates x 12
4 plates x 12
5 plates x 12

Leg press
4 plates x 20
6 plates x 20
8 plates x 25
Superset Hack squats - 1 plate x 30
followed by Leg press 8 plates x 20, with a few plates stripped the last few reps.

Lying leg curls
4 sets of 12 on the Strive machine at 12 plates

Seated leg curls
4 sets of 15 at 10 plates.

[Tim Martin]

Here's Chris' squat of 455:
YouTube- Chris squat 12-12-09

[Tim Martin]

iPhone fun...

Did shoulders/bi's this morning with Chris. It's rare that our schedules line up like this, but I'm appreciative when it happens. These vids are shot from my iPhone, giving me a reality check on form! He was a little late so I did more warm-ups than usual:

Icarian standing side laterals
50# x 15

Icarian preacher bench
100# x 15

Seated shoulder press
135# x 20
185# x 15
225# x 15
275# x 8
225# x 12

Superset of barbell cleans with and an old school selectorized seated shoulder press where the hands come together at the top of the movement.
135# x 10 cleans followed by 3/4 to full stack of 12 for two sets, then added presses with the cleans for the third set followed by machine presses.

Seated dumbell laterals
40# x 15
50# x 15
60# x 12
70# x 10

Reverse pec deck rear laterals
4 sets 200# x 15, the last set with a drop to 100# x 15

Standing bicep curls on another old school machine with unilateral handles, plates loaded about halfway up the lever arm.
1 plate each side (45#) x 15
2 plates x 12
3 plates x 8
2 plates x 12

Incline bench hammer curls
30# x 15
40# x 15
50# x 12
60# x 10

Low pulley seated concentration curls
30# x 15
3 sets 40# x 12

YouTube- Seated shoulder press

YouTube- SeatedLateral60

YouTube- SeatedLateral70

[tornquad2]

question

what type of metabolism would you say you have fast-med-slow and do you feel that 2grms of protein is better than 1.5 i also notice to take in more fats than dave reccomends !!!

[bhman6]

great videos Tim keep 'em coming

[Tim Martin]

what type of metabolism would you say you have fast-med-slow and do you feel that 2grms of protein is better than 1.5 i also notice to take in more fats than dave reccomends !!!

I'd consider myself an ectomorph with a medium metabolism. I do everything I can to keep it going, including offseason cardio and 7-8 meals daily with even macro ratios. As for Palumbo's diet, remember that any plan is just that - a plan. You have to evaluate your response individually and make adjustments. THERE IS NO MAGIC FORMULA! You can get lean on any program provided you burn more than you eat.

On a side note, after listening to several interviews of George Farah's athletes I thought it was funny how they all said on his diet they "ate way more carbs and did less cardio". Something sounds funny here...

[Tim Martin]

great videos Tim keep 'em coming

I will Ben. I shot these on my iPhone and was surprised that they were decent quality. I had never video taped any lifts before, and have to say that I was embarrassed how crappy my form was!! I'll keep the phone handy to use as a tool to improve my technique.