Competitive bodybuilders try make muscle gains in the off season (when they are not close to a bodybuilding show) and then approximately 3-4 months away from a bodybuilding competition they switch to losing body fat while keeping as much muscle as they can.

Some offseason bodybuilders gain as much as 40 50 lbs over their contest weight. Most still eat relatively clean even in the offseason but sometimes eat junk food such as pizza, ice cream, cookies, etc. Lee Priest's off season diet has been said to include McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Off-season training is geared towards gaining the most muscle size. Bodybuilding offseason workouts are done hard and heavy using mostly basic exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press, press over head, curls, etc. Also the off-season is a good time to trying new training techniques, supplements, etc.