Week 4–Stuff is happening fast

Here is the first of likely 2 or 3 entries for this week. 

Starting weight:  199.  Down 3 pounds from the previous week.  33 pounds total. 

We are down to the final push to the end.  I am almost tempted to start keeping track of days versus weeks, because it seems like so much is happening so fast.  Between keeping track of stuff for the show, getting meals in, shaving, tanning, doing laundry from all the workout clothes, cardio, posing practice, lifting…I could really use a personal assistant to keep me focused.  Each day I am seeing progress on different areas.  I am also trying to cut out caffeine from my daily intake.  I was up to basically a pot a day.  We’ll see what the impact is, but I was having major ups and downs throughout the day.  If anything, I can cycle it.  Take a week off and then try to get back on it next week.  And I am sick of the sugarfree gum.  I totally OD’d on it last week.  I maybe grab a piece before my morning cardio and another after I eat tuna in the afternoon.  But that is it!  We also added in a bag of broccoli in lieu of an ounce of walnuts.  Perhaps that helped with the decrease in weight.  No idea…I promise to one day learn the science behind this process, but that would be too taxing on my brain right now. 

Overall, I am not where I had hoped to be and now dreading if there comes the day when the trainer pulls the plug.  My rule going in to the contest prep was that I’ll do whatever it takes…as long as I don’t look like a fool on stage.  Translation:  Don’t put me on stage if I’m not ready.  Progress is coming quickly, but will it come just in time?  That seems to be the million dollar question that I don’t have the answer.  Hopefully this Friday we can see better results….Plan B is always there if needed, but only if needed. 

So far this  prep has been 100% physical.  This week the mental side of it came out in full force.  My brain is kicking my butt right now…   

Week 5–Let There Be Abs

Starting weight 202.  Still no idea on what happened last week…but if I have only one bad week in this process, I will not get worked up about it.  Total weight lost….30 pounds. 

It was only 2 pounds, but I was surprised at some of the differences I noticed this week.  It was definitely time to break out some clothes I hadn’t worn in awhile.  They all fit with room to spare.  And then on Friday we did pics with the trainer.  In previous sessions and with the right light and if you look hard enough I swear you could see abs.  This was the first pics session that you didn’t have to try hard to see them.  Not as well defined as I want or need, but just to see the muscle start to rise to the surface was a great accomplishment. 

Here are a couple more pics from the session:  Overall there was lots of progress and I was happy with where I am at.  Sixteen weeks seems like a long time and we are down to the final 4. 

I always know that there is a chance I will need to do more cardio.  One week of gaining weight and a couple weeks of not seeing much progress from the pics…equaled more cardio…a lot more cardio.  Still low intensity, but the sitting there and grinding it out on a machine was eating me alive.  We are all about motivation and drive right now.  I downloaded every Rocky movie made to watch during my cardio sessions.  Whatever it takes!  If you’re looking for some motivation…try Rocky! 

Week 6–The Opposite of Progress

It has taken me a couple of weeks to write this entry and here is the reason why…  I usually wake up each Monday morning and head straight for the scale.  Same routine this week…except that I was ready to crawl back in to bed after seeing the number on the scale…207.  That is a 3 pound gain from the previous week.  I stood there for what felt like an eternity.  Thinking of everything I ate.  Every cardio session.  Every set and rep I went through.  I didn’t stray at all this week and felt I was even pushing the intensity levels to the breaking point.  So my reward was +3 pounds.  Yeah, going back to bed was definitely what I wanted to do, but instead I did what any insane person would do….threw on my workout clothes, cooked my breakfast and headed to the gym.  I was waiting for the look on the trainer’s face when I told him my news…surely he would be as surprised as I was.  Nope, he didn’t skip a beat.  Told me to not even think for 2 seconds about it and to weigh again on Wednesday.  He was right…by Wednesday I dropped the 3 pounds.  Water retention, stress, smelling carbs in the bakery aisle…there were all sorts of ideas on what happened.  But by Wednesday my confidence levels were back and I was moving forward.

The rest of the week was uneventful.  Same lower back pain.  Same twice a week leg workouts.  Otherwise everything is going as planned.  Here is what the leg workout looks like:

Leg Extensions:  4x12 w/ 15 half reps

Smith Machine Bench Squat:  1x15 feet together, 1x15 feet shoulder width, 1x15 normal

Lumberjacks:  4x10

Unilateral Leg Extensions:  4x12

Smith Machine Lunges:  3x15

Stiff Leg Deadlifts:  3x30

Leg Curls:  4x12 w/ 15 half reps

Calf Raises:  5x15 squeeze at top

It’s brutal.  And to do it on Monday and Friday is even worse.  It does hit every muscle in the leg, so we got that going for us.  The trainer did start talking about the next offseason…we may need to negotiate if he throws in lunges again.   

Week 7–Grounded by Leg Day

Starting Weight:  204.  Down 28 pounds from the start.

Some guys can walk in a gym with no agenda or plan.  Maybe they know which muscle group they want to train…but which exercise, how many reps or sets, or even the types of sets (rest pause, drop sets, etc) they figure out as they go.  I am not one of those guys.  I have strict plans.  Otherwise I am likely to fall of track or even worse….lose track.  At this point  after 5 years of serious training, I think I can safely say I understand what I am doing in the gym now.  Five years!  It’s complicated.  And getting to the gym is the biggest problem people struggle with….but knowing what to do when you’re in the gym is the next biggest problem.  I was timid at first when I started.  I felt comfortable on a piece of cardio equipment, could stumble through some dumbbells or machines, but dare not enter a squat rack.  I worked with the trainer to come up with a 4 or 5 day split and then he determines everything else.  All of the guesswork and research to find a good routine is off of me.  But like I said, I am finally at a point where I think I can write out my own plans (but still not dare walk in to the gym without some plan in hand).

For the past 9 weeks we were on the same routine schedule.  Some moderation in our cardio, but the lifting routine was the same.  Ten weeks is about my max for staying on the same routine schedule.  I just get to the point where I get bored.  So for the past few weeks WC and I were asking for some sort of a change.  And we got what we asked for. 

Here is our 6 day split (I’ll likely post some of the exercises later):

Monday:  Legs 
Tuesday:  Chest/Triceps
Wednesday:  Back/Biceps
Thursday:  Shoulders
Friday:  Repeat leg day
Saturday:  Abs

Remember my rules about leg day?  This routine violated those rules.  Two leg days in one week.  Not to mention I pulled a muscle in my lower back last week and have been nursing the injury for several days.  The thought of smith machine squats or stiff leg deadlifts made my back hurt worse.  The basis of the new workouts is focusing on higher reps and blasting each muscle group.  Leg day has 8 exercises!  Oh they were blasted alright!  We needed a little extra motivation one day at work and we were looking at pics from the guys at last year’s show.  There was one thing that set guys apart…it always came down to their legs.  Fine…legs twice a week it is.

I barely had enough energy to complete the last workouts when I was running on no carbs.  So if Week 8 was the proverbial truck….then in Week 7 I got hit by a train.  Words can not express how little energy I was functioning on each day.  The Tuesday morning following legs was the worst.  Every muscle in my body was one giant cramp.  The pain in my back was even more intense.  I grimaced at the thought of putting on my shoes and going to do cardio.  The pain lasted most of the week….until Thursday.  Wednesday night I went to bed and got a solid amount of sleep.  It was just what I needed.  I woke up feeling refreshed and all of the pain and body aches were gone.  It was a great feeling and probably why I have the energy tonight to update my posts….or else the blogging guilt has gotten to me and I finally want to say that I am caught up.  Either way, I am enjoying this energy for as long as I can…note to self:  go to bed early. 

Tomorrow is the next assessment.  As we get closer to the show these are going to be once a week (usually on Fridays).  It gives us a chance to practice posing and the trainer a chance to take a look at where we are and make any changes necessary.  We are still holding out for the cheat meal he promised, but I’d bet I don’t see one of those until after the show.  Ugh!  Who needs food that tastes good anyway?

Week 8–The Second Half and Pics

Starting weight:  206.  Down 26 pounds from the start. 

I am so slow in getting these weekly posts out there.  As I am writing this entry I realized I am nearing the end of Week 7.  Time flies and with my sudden lack of energy the thought of coming home and typing my entries makes me want to crawl in to bed.  I keep telling myself to conserve energy and use it in the gym.  So far that has worked.  But it is night and day between my energy level in the gym and what I can exert when I am not in the gym.

Needless to say…Week 8 I felt like I was hit by a truck.  Three weeks and not one carb.  Still eating the same food for the past three weeks.  Nothing has been changed and now food is fuel.  The trainer threw in a tease with our new workout…’let’s see where you are at the end of the week and perhaps we can throw in a cheat meal.’  He didn’t say a re-feed meal.  Re-feeds are oatmeal, brown rice, potatoes.  Cheat meals are the stuff dreams are made of…pasta, burritos, pizza, chicken wings.  I wasn’t worried about my assessment at the end of the week….I was focused for an entire day on where I would go for a cheat meal…inhale!  And then it dawned on me…it was a trick.  For the 8-10 hours I was thinking about my cheat meal I was relaxed, my mind was off of the pain and anguish of the process, my energy was at an all time high, I suddenly felt more focused on where I was in my training.  I went to the gym and had one of my best workouts in a long time.  Just the thought of eating normal food was enough to change my whole outlook.  Be that as it may…my assessment came and sure enough…no cheat meal!  But just the thoughts and ideas and smells that came to mind were enough to get me motivated this week.

My assessment is always visual.  There is a girl at work that came to us one day determined to lose weight.  WC and I were happy for her and supportive.  We asked her what her goal was and she replied that she wanted to lose 9 pounds…9 pounds?  Gosh, that seems rather specific.  To her it’s a number in her head she sees on the scale.  Once she sees the number….then she met the goal.  WC and her even have a bet going just for a little extra motivation (whatever works).  She is willing to work her tail off with eating right, getting in cardio, and three sessions of weight training a week…just to see a number.     

My assessment is always visual.  I can tell you what I weighed when I turned 16 because my driver’s license still has the same weight…155 pounds.  Imagine the police officer’s look when a 232 pound guy hands him that driver’s license?  Whoops!  Since around the time I was 16 I always strived for a certain look…never caring about what the scale said.  It’s all relative is what I have learned and mostly centers around the amount of muscle I can add to my frame.  Sure there are always numbers in my head of what I want to see, but whether you want to lose 9 pounds or 90 pounds its really more about how you feel when you look in the mirror. 

My assessment is always visual…this is the Week 8 assessment (and the reason why no cheat meal was allowed):
 
These next two pics turned out better than I thought.  This was our first full session of posing so many of these we had never tried before.  The hardest part of the process is to get into position and flex all of the right muscles at the same time….oh and hold it until the picture is taken….not an easy task by any means.  If any of the pics appear blurry, it’s not from the trainer taking the pics…more likely it’s from me shaking violently trying to hold the pose.  I was winded!
    You can’t see my face, but I am cracking up laughing trying to hold this pose.  We took these in an open area in the gym….which also happens to be in the basement of where WC and I work.  A couple people walked by with puzzled looks on their faces.  They wouldn’t last 5 minutes in this crazy process!

That’s it for now.  Off to eat my 5 cage-free eggs for an evening snack….trust the process!

Week 9–I Dream of Tequila

Starting weight:  209.  Down 23 pounds from the first week.

It seems that everyone has some dream that sticks out during prep work.  Mine occurred during this week.  I was at a dinner party with friends.  Everyone was sitting around eating and having fun.  I wanted a margarita for some reason, but there was no sour mix or salt.  No worries!  I’ll just drink it straight.  Tequila…straight!  Who dreams of stuff like this?  Apparently pancakes, bread, or biscuits are not what I am craving right now…9 weeks in and I dream of alcohol.  I just woke up thinking ‘please let this be a dream!'  Whew! 

Food was the same….now going on 2 weeks without a single carb.  No more carbs and no more veggies….Hoo-Ah!  So long green beans! 

They finally posted more information about the show.  At the end of this week I am at the half way point…sure I lost 23 pounds already, but there are some spots (my abs) that are not even close to stage ready.  There is still some time…and apparently we have a new workout routine coming in a week or two that will make us work harder than ever…lower weight, higher reps.  Seeing the progress on the scale and through the pics has been helpful.  In 8 weeks, I haven’t strayed and only missed one session of cardio the weekend I was moving.  So overall I am right at 100% on the straight and narrow…now just to let my body catch up. 

Week 10–So Long Carbs…

Starting weight:  212…down 20 pounds in just 6 weeks. 

More importantly this week was more about how to cope with zero carbs.  Here is my meal plan:

Meal 1:  3 cage free eggs, 2 scoops protein

Meal 2:  6oz chicken w/ Walden Farms BBQ sauce, 1oz walnuts.

Meal 3:  2 scoops protein, 2 tablespoons natty peanut butter.

Meal 4:  Can of tuna, 20 almonds.

Meal 5:  Plate of romaine lettuce w/ Walden Farms dressing, 6oz lean ground beef.

Meal 6:  5 cage free eggs.

I was planning for the worst…super tired, low energy, not able to lift the same weight.  I didn’t have any of those symptoms this week.  I used black coffee to perk me up in the mornings and again in the afternoon to give me a boost before going to the gym.  If anything I was full of energy during my morning cardio and all through my workouts.  By the time I got home…I was exhausted and coming down from the caffeine, but that seems standard no matter what I am eating. 

I did have several temptations this week.  A luncheon at a really good Italian buffet and then an alumni gathering at my alma mater.  Fortunately I had been planning for these events for awhile and knew I had to stay focused and keep gum or water close by to prevent any inadvertent eating.