Bodybuilding Coaching
Build the physique.
Bodybuilding coaching for two kinds of people: those chasing a physique they've had in mind for years, and those who want to step on a stage. The training is largely the same. The coaching is built by someone who has done it.
The Approach
Bodybuilding is a long game played in short phases.
Bodybuilding gets misunderstood as one thing: getting lean. In practice it's a sequence of phases, each with a different job, and the mistake most people make is trying to do all of them at once — chasing a leaner waist and a bigger back in the same twelve weeks, and getting neither.
Coaching here means knowing which phase you're actually in, committing to its job, and moving to the next one when it's time. Building phases are for adding tissue: eating enough, training hard, and accepting a little softness as the cost of growth. Cutting phases are for revealing what you built. Prep is a cut with a deadline and a stage attached. Each requires a different mindset, and each is coached differently.
Most people need more building than they think and less cutting than they want.
Programming is built around your structure — your limb lengths, your leverages, the muscle groups that grow easily and the ones that need years of deliberate attention. Two people can run the same split and need entirely different volume, frequency, and exercise selection to look right at the end of it.
This is also a sport with a real cost, and coaching that pretends otherwise is doing you a disservice. Deep prep is demanding physically and mentally, and the weeks after a show matter as much as the weeks before it. Recovery is part of the plan here, not an afterthought once the tan comes off.
Our founder has competed four times and won twice, which means the coaching comes with the experience of having been on both sides of a peak week — and of the months afterward that nobody posts about.
Two Paths
You don't have to compete to train like a bodybuilder.
Both paths use the same principles — structured phases, progressive overload, deliberate weak-point work, nutrition matched to the phase. What changes is the deadline and how far the final stretch goes.
Physique Building
The look, without the stage.
For clients who want a bodybuilder's physique on their own timeline. Long building phases, controlled cuts, and attention to the details that make a physique look built rather than simply lean — shoulders, back width, proportion, symmetry.
No show date, no peak week, no deadline forcing a decision your body isn't ready for. You stop where you're happy.
Best forNo stage plans — yet
Competition Prep
A stage date, and a plan that works backward from it.
Everything above, plus the layer prep requires: an honest assessment of whether the date is realistic, a phase-by-phase timeline, escalating check-ins as the show approaches, peak-week planning, and stage presentation.
And a structured return afterward — because the plan doesn't end when you step off stage.
Best forFirst-timers and returning competitors
The Full Arc
Five phases, in the order they belong.
Not every client runs all five. Where you enter depends on where your physique is when we start — and being told you need another building phase before a show is honest coaching, not a delay.
01 Phase One
Building
The phase that decides what you'll eventually be able to reveal. Training volume is progressive and tracked, food supports growth, and weak points get the attention they've been missing.
This is the least glamorous phase and by far the most important. It's also the one most people cut short.
Months, not weeksThe longest phase
02 Phase Two
Cutting
A controlled reduction that keeps the muscle you built. Training intensity stays high, food comes down gradually, and progress is judged by photos and performance rather than a single number.
Slower cuts hold more muscle. We use as gentle a deficit as the timeline allows.
GradualPace set by your timeline
03 Phase Three
Contest Prep
A cut with a date attached. Check-ins get more frequent, adjustments get smaller and more precise, and conditioning is tracked closely as the show approaches.
Posing practice starts early rather than in the final fortnight — presentation is a skill, and it's where a lot of placings are decided.
Competitors onlyTimeline set by the show
04 Phase Four
Peak Week
The final week, planned in advance and rehearsed rather than improvised. Nothing dramatic gets introduced here that hasn't been tested earlier in prep.
Show-day logistics — timing, food, tanning, what to bring, when to pump — are written down so you're not making decisions backstage.
Show weekNothing untested
05 Phase Five
Post-Show Recovery
The phase most coaches skip and most competitors need most. Food comes back up in a planned, structured way, training shifts back toward building, and the goal is a return to a healthy, sustainable place rather than an uncontrolled rebound.
The mental side is real here too. Coming down off a stage can be strange even when the show went well, and you're not handled alone through it.
Weeks afterNot optional
A show is one day. The physique, the habits, and your health are supposed to outlast it.
Tally Body — Bodybuilding CoachingThe Building Phase
Nobody wins a show in the last twelve weeks.
Prep reveals a physique. It doesn't create one. Everything that gets judged was built in the months when nobody was watching.
A building phase is where the real coaching happens: adding volume you can actually recover from, driving progression on the lifts that matter for your structure, and spending deliberate time on the muscle groups that lag — the ones that will still be lagging next year if they aren't addressed now.
Food supports the work rather than fighting it. Sleep and recovery get treated as training variables. Progress is tracked in numbers and photos, because month-to-month change in a building phase is slow enough to be invisible day to day and obvious over a year.
It requires patience, and patience is easier with someone in your corner who can see the progress you can't.
Build first. Reveal second. In that order, every time.
What's Included
Everything that comes with bodybuilding coaching.
Both paths get all of the following. Competitors get the prep-specific layers on top.
Training written for the phase you're in and your structure, with progression tracked and volume adjusted to what you're recovering from.
Targets that change as the phase changes — supporting growth when building, protecting muscle when cutting, restoring when recovering.
An honest read on what's holding your physique back, and deliberate programming to change it rather than hoping it evens out.
Regular during a building phase, more frequent as a show approaches. Judged on conditioning and performance, never one number.
For competitors: mandatories, transitions, and your routine, practiced from early in prep rather than crammed at the end.
A structured return to maintenance and building after the stage, with the same coaching attention the prep itself received.
Setting Expectations
The honest version.
This is a demanding sport and nobody should start it with the wrong picture in their head. Here's what you're signing up for — and what you aren't.
What it is
Coaching
- Phase-based programming built around your structure and your goal
- An honest assessment of whether a show date is realistic
- Nutrition that changes as the phase changes
- Posing and stage presentation for competitors
- A planned recovery phase after the show, coached properly
- Someone in your corner on the days the physique isn't cooperating
What it isn't
A shortcut
- Guidance on performance-enhancing drugs — we don't advise on them
- A promise of a placing, a pro card, or a date-certain result
- A stage-ready physique in twelve weeks from a standing start
- Permission to stay in a deep deficit indefinitely
- Prep at the cost of your health, your labs, or your life outside the gym
- Something that works without honest check-ins from you
Tally Body provides training and nutrition coaching for generally healthy adults. It is not medical or dietetic care, and it is not a substitute for advice from your physician or a registered dietitian. Competition preparation involves sustained dieting and high training demands; clients are encouraged to maintain routine medical care throughout, and coaching will not proceed in a way that conflicts with a healthcare provider's guidance. If you have a history of disordered eating, please speak with your provider before beginning a prep — we're glad to coach alongside their care.
Common Questions
Questions people ask before they start.
Do I have to compete to work with you?
No. Plenty of clients here train like bodybuilders with no intention of stepping on a stage — they want the physique, not the show.
The building phases, the weak-point work, and the nutrition are the same. What competitors add is a deadline, a peak week, and stage presentation.
How long before I'd be ready for a show?
It depends entirely on how much muscle you've built and how lean you already are. Someone with years of solid training behind them may be a prep away. Someone newer usually needs one or more building phases first, and that's measured in months rather than weeks.
You'll get an honest answer at the consultation, including the answer nobody enjoys hearing — that this year isn't the year. Being told to build first is coaching, not a delay.
Do you coach first-time competitors?
Yes, and first-timers get more hand-holding, not less: what to expect at check-ins, how registration and divisions work, what to pack, what happens backstage, and how show day actually runs.
Posing starts early rather than in the final couple of weeks, because presentation is a learned skill and it decides more placings than people expect.
Do you advise on performance-enhancing drugs?
No. We don't provide protocols, sourcing, or guidance on performance-enhancing drugs, and that isn't negotiable.
Anything of that nature is a medical matter between you and a physician. The coaching here covers training, nutrition, recovery, and presentation.
Does this have to be in person, or can you coach me remotely?
Both work. Chicago clients can train in person; everyone else is coached remotely through programming, check-ins, and video review — including posing.
Bodybuilding coaching travels well, because the work between check-ins is the same either way.
Do I have to bulk up and get soft?
A building phase means eating enough to grow, and some increase in body fat comes with that. What it doesn't mean is a reckless bulk — the rate is controlled, and it's tracked.
If you'd rather stay leaner year-round, we can build more slowly. That's a legitimate choice; it just takes longer.
What happens to my physique after the show?
Food comes back up on a planned schedule, training moves back toward building, and you're coached through it rather than left to figure it out. Some rebound is normal and expected — an uncontrolled one is what the plan exists to prevent.
Post-show is a coached phase here, not the end of the relationship.
What if I've never trained like a bodybuilder before?
That's a fine place to start. Early on, the work is learning the lifts, building the habit of showing up, and putting on tissue — none of which requires prior bodybuilding experience.
If you're brand new to the gym entirely, personal training may be the better first step, and we'll say so.
How much does it cost?
It depends on the path you're on and how much contact the phase calls for — prep runs closer than a building phase does. It's covered plainly on the consultation call, with no obligation to sign up on it.
Start with the application and we'll go through the options together.
How do I start?
Fill out the application. It takes a few minutes and covers your training history, your goal, and whether you have a show in mind. From there we'll set up your free consultation and work out which phase you're actually in.
Still have a question? Ask it on your application — it gets answered on the consultation call.
Apply for Coaching
Tell me where you're at, and where you want to be.
A few minutes of honest answers is all this takes. It's an application, not a commitment — the consultation that follows is free, and you'll get a straight read on which phase you're actually in before anything else is discussed.
What happens next
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I read it properly
Every application is read by me, not a form robot. Usually within a day or two.
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We book a free consultation
A real conversation about your training history, your goal, and whether a stage date is realistic.
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You get a plan, or an honest no
If bodybuilding coaching isn't the right fit yet, I'll tell you what is — including personal training first.
Prefer to talk first?
(773) 497-2499
liqueantigone@gmail.com
Application received.
Thanks — that's landed with me. I read every application myself, and you'll normally hear back within a day or two to set up your free consultation.
If it's urgent, or you'd rather talk sooner, call (773) 497-2499.
Ready when you are