Bodyweight: 170.6
Over the weekend, Zack competed at Nebraskas Strongest Man and took 2nd by half a point. He had a great day winning 3 events and taking 2nd in another… but the points just didn’t add up in his favor.
I’m sitting at about 10 1/2 weeks out right now from the CB show. I’ve reached 170 in bodyweight so I’ll probably be down in the 160’s by the end of this week or early next. I’m pretty happy about that… I’d like to be in the condition I was for my last contest at about 4-6 weeks out… that would give me some extra time to get even leaner.
So I feel like I’m right on track. I’ve still been walking for about 1/2 hour at 5 a.m. about 5 days a week. That’s the only cardio I’m doing right now. I also started taking caffeine to help in the fat loss - I take 400 mg in the morning, 200 mg at noon, and 200 mg in the afternoon. I’m not sure if this really helps… but for less than $3 a bottle I wouldn’t mind if it’s a placebo effect.
Lighter and lighter weights are getting heavier now… I squatted yesterday - I did 3 sets of 315 x 6. It was tough.
I’ve also picked out my posing music, but I haven’t plotted my poses that I’m going to do to it yet. I hope to have that done by next week so I have about 8-9 weeks to practice it.
Bodyweight: 174.6
I’ve decided to not do the Gold’s Classic in Kansas City and instead do the Bluffs Classic in Council Bluffs on September 27. It’ll fit my schedule a lot better and save on money and stress. Plus I think I have a good chance of being very competitive at this contest.
So as of today I’m 11 weeks and 5 days out. I feel great about where I’m at.
We had a great workout yesterday at Jesse Jobe’s when two strongman competitors came down from Kansas to train… we had some good music and soem good, serious training. It was a nice change from FairyLand (Golds Gym).
Saturday is Zack’s competition at the Nebraska Strongest Man.
I’ll continue training hard this week and I’ll keep walking Mon-Fri in the morning. I had a good high-carb day yesterday with some Ezekial Bread, Oatmeal, and brown rice. Today it’s back to low-carb, but no workout today. I’ll post some pictures later this week.
Cardio
Today I started doing some early morning cardio. I don’t like doing cardio - especially hard, death cardio. I take walks early in the morning, around 5:00 am when it’s nice and cool. I really like this cardio… it’s refreshing and a great way to start the day. Some bodybuilders don’t like doing cardio before breakfast… but I think it has some benefits… plus it’s a great time to do it for me.
So I’m walking in the mornings 5 days a week for about 20-30 minutes from now on. I also do some walking maybe about 2 or 3 days a week in the afternoon with my family. This is enjoyable cardio too. Hopefully this is all the cardio that I’ll have to do.
Carbos
As for carbs… I started cycling my carbs last week. Here’s what my schedule looks like for carbs:
Sunday - High Carb Day (250-300 g’s)
Monday (Non-workout) - Low Carb Day (0-50 g’s)
Tuesday - Medium Carb Day (100-150 g’s)
Wednesday - Medium Carb Day (100-150 g’s)
Thursday (Non-workout) - Low Carb Day (0-50 g’s)
Friday - Medium Carb Day (100-150 g’s)
Saturday - Medium Carb Day (100-150 g’s)
That kind of seems jumbled, but basically I have a high carb (refeed) day on Sunday and go low-carb on my non-workout days.
- Just married (dieting is not the best way to start a marriage)
- Wife is pregnant (that means two of us are cranky in the house)
- Can’t afford it -> entry fee, org. card, polygraph fee, gas money, new posing trunks (new house, making gym in basement, I have more than myself to worry about now)
- Can’t take vacation in Sept (we have a big project cutting over in my department on Oct. 1)
- I don’t look any better than I did last year (what’s the point then?)
- I don’t seem as in to it as last year (last year I watched all the videos, read books, etc…. this year I’m just doing it)
- Low energy (My 6 year old step-daughter still wants to play with me a lot… in a few years she probably won’t… I hate to waste this time with her because I’m dieting)
A lot of bodybuilders think of bodybuilding as their life. That’s not me though… bodybuilding is a hobby… my family is my life. Bodybuilding would never bring me the happiness that they have. However, my family is very supportive of my bodybuilding. My wife does the grocery shopping and even prepares most of my food for me. But doing a contest is very hard on a family. I still get cranky… even if it’s for a split second. It’s hard for me to put my family in that situation.
Bodybuilding is just something I do. I try to do it 100% and put my all into it… but I have to remember to keep things in perspective. A lot of times I question if dieting for a contest is worth it… it’s not that it causes huge problems… it just places little burdens on everyone that you know… really. So this week I’m focusing on keeping things in perspective and realizing that there are more important things than bodybuilding… while at the same time still doing the very best that I can. I’m trying not to let my hobby get in the way of living my life.
With all that said… I’m about 11 weeks out now. Here are some pics.
Bodyweight: 179.0
Yesterday was leg day and I had a great amount of energy that fueled a great workout. I’m not sure why - I didn’t take in any extra carbs or anything. So far, I think the diet hasn’t really affected my regular life too much… it has my lifting a little bit - but not too much. Definately not as much as last year at this time.
Not much has changed. I’ve been sticking pretty much exactly to the diet I had planned out. One minor change was that I no longer ear broccoli at work. It’s just too stinky and it takes me longer to eat. I still eat brocolli at home when I feel like it. I believe vegetables should be used to make you feel more full — I’m not really getting any vital nutrients from it. I still really haven’t been starving though - I think it might be because it’s summer and you generally eat less when it’s hot out as opposed to last year when I dieted in winter/spring.
I’m approaching 12 weeks out and will begin making some more adjustments next week. I will no longer eat steak everyday but rather just once a week. I will instead replace that meal with another meal of either chicken, tilapia, or egg whites. I will also cut back my carbs on non-workout days.
That’s it for now.
I’ve been making it… one day at a time. That’s what bodybuilding’s all about… routine…. routine…. boring. I don’t think I’ve really lost strength… but I have lost power… and some energy. We worked legs yesterday and squats were tough to get through. Squats are so much fun when you’re powerlifting and you’re full of energy — but they’re the opposite when you’re low on energy and have to do a couple reps… it’s a struggle.
My most recent source of motivation is a natural bodybuilder who posts a training log over at BodyBuilding.com and he goes by the name Father Flex…. he recently got his pro card but is preparing for a series of shows… Check out the picture about 3/4 the way down on post #1886.
Other than everything is still the same… Just trying to stay on track.
Body weight: 181.0 # (5:30 am, shorts on)
I spent Saturday in Des Moines watching my brother compete in a very, very competive heavy weight division at Iowa Strongest Man. He usually competes in middle weight, so getting 16 out of 28 competitors going for a pro-card in the heavy weight division was a good accomplishment.
But the day was a real hassle for me… travelling in general is, but the venue he was competing at didn’t allow food or drink… so every two hours I had to go out and get food at the car and stand in the hot sun and eat it. It wasn’t fun - but I made it through without missing any meals. We also took Sunday off lifting and worked on our new home gym a little more… we (mainly Zack) built our deadlift platform. All we’re really missing is a squat rack and about a hundred more pounds before we’re ready to go.
The diet has been suprisingly easy so far - I’m not sure if that’s good or not. I feel like I’m leaning out and staying on track for the most part. Sometimes I feel I’m ahead and sometimes behind… my mind will play these tricks on me all the way up until showtime… I just have to learn to block that out and stay the course. I made one minor change to my diet… I moved my protein shake to 10 am and another chicken and brocolli to 5 pm…. I did this so I wasn’t eating so much at work.
I’ve had plenty of rest and my energy levels are still real good - so I’m ready to hit the gym tonight.
My (1) reader, DJ, asked a few questions on a previous post and I want to respond to them in some depth:
Is this how you did things last time, with all those carbs later in the day?
Yes… I workout later in the day and it’s best to take most of your carbs in around your workout. Before to have energy during your workout and after to help refeed your body from the workout. Also, in the evenings is when I’m most tired… I’m a morning persons I generally have plenty of energy in the morning… so those extra carbs in the evening help a little with that.
Some people think that taking in carbs in the evening is bad… but I think they say that because the evening is when “average” people tend to break out the Doritos, have a slice of cake, or go out for ice cream…. none of which are a good source of carbs. Most people don’t eat plain oatmeal in the evening. The source of your carbs is a big factor.
Also, do you keep your diet the same on non-workout days?
Right now yes… I will still take in my pre and post workout carbs even though I’m not working out…. for now. This will probably be one of the first ways I cut carbs though.
Supplements
I wanted to mention what supplements I’m taking right now. In the morning I’m taking a generic multi-vitamin and 500 mg of Vitamin C. Before my workout I drink a protein shake that also includes 2 scoops of Scivation’s Xtend… BCAA’s. I’ll also add a few scoops to my jug of Crystal Light that I sip on at night. That’s all I’m taking right now. These supplements are all basically pre-cautions…
- Multi - to make sure I’m getting most of the essential nutrients… it’s easy to miss some when you’re eating very limited foods
- Vitamin C - because the last thing I want is to get sick during pre-contest
- Xtend - To ge those BCAA’s for energy and protein synthesis
My wife posted my diet for me on the refrigerator door… so I was looking at it the other morning while I was eating my morning egg whites…. and I realized that there was no way I’m eating 91 g’s of protein and 651 calories for breakfast. There were a few mistakes I had made in my diet print out so I corrected those. My other big mistake so far was - I didn’t realize that I had down 2 servings of oatmeal after my workout… that sure would’ve helped those few evenings I was starving.
Here is the new fixed diet… you’ll also notice that I added more carbs in general… I feel good about where I’m at and want to keep my carbs up a little higher for a while longer.
I also think someone hacked my blog because sometimes it automatically redirects me to some Russian site… I’m going to see if I can fix that.
Had a good back workout at Golds. Like Zack says… you want to utilize the machines and equipment they have because it won’t be very much longer before we’re out of there. We were supposed to get a bench tonight for our gym but the guy hasn’t called back yet. Zack has also researched building a deadlift platform which is something we’ll probably do.
As for the diet today it went good. The morning is still easy and I can’t finish some of my meals. The evenings are a little tougher but this evening wasn’t bad. I spent most of the evening enjoying the nice weather outside on the deck with my family.
The rest of the week looks like this… Tomorrow - maybe arms, but Zack will probably have to work late… then take Thur, Fri, and Saturday off. Saturday we’ll be in Des Moines cheering on my brother.