0 Hours | 0 Minutes | 0 Seconds | The Final Week and Results

So with the title I had to keep the same trend because at some point the countdown timer must end.  Yesterday was my very first bodybuilding competition.  It has been a day that I have been working towards for a long time.  Long before I started dieting down for the show.

Leading up to the moment, I was asked all the time if I was nervous.  To be honest, I wasn't really nervous.  This Saturday was the fulfillment of a dream deferred.  Not deferred because of outside forces but because for a long time I didn't feel good enough, pretty enough, young enough...and however many enough's you can think up.  After making the decision to finally say I am going to do it no matter how I "feel", spending the last year and a half learning how to trust the process and the last six months dieting down for this show, stepping on the stage was a no brainer.  I was getting on the stage come hell or high water.

I have been thinking all day and all week about to what to write in this posting.  The day itself was a great day and nothing can describe the feeling of being on stage -- so I'm not going to try.  But as I have spent this blog talking about my prep, I will conclude it in the same way.  And I have decided on a few lessons learned from the journey I would like to share.

Diet
I was asked several times about my diet this week and if I would be carb loading, reducing salt or water.  None of the above occurred.  My diet this week remained unchanged until the final day - Friday.  Despite the things you read on the Internet about contest prep, the Boss always says that most athletes are 100% successful at ruining their physique the day before the competition trying a lot of "last minute" adjustments.

As my diet remained unchanged, it allowed my body to continue to work on the final mission.  At the end of the day, you can only come in the best you can based on what your body allowed for that prep.  This being my first prep, I did not come in as lean as I "dreamed" but I came in the best I could with 100% effort.  Sure, the Boss could have pushed the envelope a little further to drive certain changes, but it would have sacrificed muscles and size for my strong points.  The things about the first diet is that you are fighting with your body to lose the body fat you've had since you were a baby.  This is a fight to the death - literally.  But once you lose it, you don't gain that fat back.  Sure you will gain some, but the next prep will be easier.

On Saturday, the Boss said the diet is over.  Which means that my breakfast included rice cakes, peanut butter, honey and cookies.  OMG!!!  It felt so weird.  The day was filled with whatever I wanted to eat.  I didn't overdo it because I was in shock and all I wanted was my pizza.  One difference was with the water.  I did not drink the normal 7.5 liters of water as I normally do.  The Boss said that the key to not blowing up like a polar bear after the show is to not drink so much water since you're eating A LOT.

Today was also a day I could eat "whatever".  For breakfast we had a traditional German breakfast which was nice.  Full of bread!  I had a McChicken from McDonalds and "some" white chocolate.  But I will admit, I was going through prep food withdrawal and I made some turkey breast and veggies for dinner.

Tomorrow it's back to the diet food and drinking A LOT of water to flush my system out.  Of course the calories will be increased, but I will be doing my normal turkey, chicken, fish, rice, veggies diet for most of the days of the week and either Saturday/Sunday give myself a cheat day.  After a few weeks I will decide if I will bulk or just try to maintain.  But first things first....real life.

Training
My last leg day was last Sunday, 1 week before this show.  This is a standard.  Monday through Wednesday I did total upper body training all three days and of course my daily dose of 45 minutes of cardio #.  These were just pumping workouts.  Thursday was cardio for 45 minutes and posing.  Friday absolutely nothing.  This day was about sleeping and relaxing.

Weight
It's amazing how the body works.  By the end of the week I had gotten down to 67.9kg/150lbs.  I got some hair added to my head on Thursday so it added a few tenths of a kg to my weight on Friday so my last check-in was officially 68.3kg - I'll take it.  What was cool, I saw a ton of changes to my body this last week, and especially the last days (even with no special tricks).  The best was when I finally got lower ab veins.  The Boss said that means I'm somewhere around or under 10% body fat.  It wasn't checked but the ab veins I will take and keep. Thank  you very much.

Because of not drinking a lot on Saturday, my shape today was still very good and my ab veins were still there and more!!!!  Still not a lot of drinking today, and tomorrow I'll be flushing everything all out.

Photos

No progress photos this week, but actual show photos.  The stage shots in the blue suit were sent to me by my wonderful friends who go up before sun up to come cheer me on a pre-judging and making an awesome sign.  It was a great day.   I won 1st in my class.

Did I come in how I envisioned? - absolutely not.  But I am very happy with the package I brought to the stage and motivated to get back in the lab on Monday to continue to get better.  Today I enjoy what I have achieved and I let tomorrow worry about itself.

M

What's next
For me, this is a one-and-done competition season this year.  But I will definitely take the stage again in 2015.  Over the next weeks I will slowly increase my calories and as I mentioned before and begin training again.  I will post still post weekly blogs with updates on my post-competion shape and training plan but I would like your help on future content.  Questions you may have that I can answer in one of these posts whether it's about training, contest prep, nutrition and such.  The sky is the limit.  Include your request in the comments and I will make it happen!

Thank's to everyone who sent a text message, Facebook message, Instagram comment, email, etc... I started this section off mentioning names but that will get me in a lot of trouble :).  What's important is that no matter how often I receive a message, call or we even communicated, everyone one of you have been an integral part of my journey and I appreciate your love and support.

Until next week's blog and lessons learned.

5 Days | 15 Hours | 15 Minutes | 15 Seconds and Counting

Rounding the last curve, I am just under six days out from my first bodybuilding competition.  This week I was faced with an additional challenge of being under the weather.  So when I already had zero energy, I went on ahead and overdrew that account this week and I was definitely in the red.

This week - even more this process - has been a true test and there were times where I felt like I wasn't going to make it.  It is a good thing that "feelings" really don't matter and this not only pertains to prepping for a competition - it applies to life in general.  The reality is, everyday for different reasons we will feel a multitude of emotions - some for reasons we cause and many from situations beyond our control.  In one day alone feelings can change dramatically.  WE have the choice whether we succumb to the feeling or we acknowledge and and keep going.

What if you reached the end of your life and had the opportunity to meet the person you could have been if only you were not afraid and you stayed the course?

Direction does not rely on feeling.  Direction means that there is an intended destination and regardless of the "weather conditions" the destination is still unchanged.  Yes, sometimes we may have to take a detour, sometimes we my slow down due to changing traffic conditions, we'll get a flat tire.  We will be halted by sickness, by sadness, by new additions to our lives, etc... The journey will be filled with many emotions and will not always be a pleasant one.  However, in the end, we must stay the course, maintain our direction, finish our individual race.

Diet
As I talked about last week my diet is hard right now.  I've made it a bit harder on myself - honestly being lazy.  I have been fulfilling my diet conditions eating only turkey and rice cakes.  The turkey is not the problem - it's the rice cakes.  Now rice cakes are good, don't get me wrong, but in the last two weeks I have gotten pretty much zero fiber in my diet.  Needless to say, some normal bodily functions were not too "normal".  Yesterday I restructured my meals to include more romaine lettuce and green bell peppers (paprika).  This also has help with hunger in general.  You can almost eat lettuce and bell peppers to no end and the volume it adds really helps.  So I took a little extra time to cut up the veggies to eat yesterday and today and I'm hoping that it gets everything back on track.  Moral of the story - don't be lazy.  You will pay for it.

I talk to the Boss later this evening but I am not expecting any changes this week regarding what I eat.  I already packed some chocolates away for Saturday night that I got for my birthday.  Chocolates and Pizza.  That's all I dream about.

Training
This is the part that I love.  I cannot say this enough.  No matter what, when I walk in the gym everything is okay and if it was already okay, it's better.  Who can be upset at that?

My strength is definitely down, but I go as heavy as I can.  At this point though it's not about setting new PRs and trying to up my weights.  I train to remind my muscles that they need to hold on and remind them what they are capable of.  I do a lot of pumping to keep blood flow moving and working on pumping up for the show on Saturday.  Cardio is still maintained at 45 minutes a day.  I do try to get as much more general movement in as possible, but I will admit I don't over do it.  This week I couldn't anyway.  My body was one rep away from making me sit my behind down somewhere.  Friday I felt better and it was a good training session.  Puts things into perspective when you get sick.  Before I had zero energy. Then I had negative energy.  Now I am back to zero energy and it feels great.

Weight
Last week I saw a big jump in the weight loss.  I spent most of the week this week pretty much on the same level and going back and forth between 69.8kg to 70.2kg.  Yesterday, I didn't even realize it, but I was down to 68.8kg.  I just logged it and kept going and didn't even think twice about it.  I realized it this morning when I got a message from the Boss and he saw it.  This morning I was 69.0kg and I'll take it.  I'll probably be somewhere near 68kg by next weekend.  The goal was 67kg, but I will take the 68kg.  I have definitely worked hard for it.

Progress Photos
Since this is the last entry before the show, I decided to spice up my outfit with the Nike shorts my sister bought for me.  Next week there will be show photos, lessons learned and next steps because this is only the beginning.

            

         

I dedicate this post to my friend Lynn Mells who answered the call to go home to the Lord almost 3 years ago now.  I can't believe it's been so long.  Lynn battled breast cancer twice. And the second time she lost that battle.  Lynn and I went to the same gym, that's how we got to know each other.  We took kick boxing together.  Then we started to do things outside of the gym.  We ran in races together and spent Saturdays doing our long runs together.  Even when she was "sick" - she still ran.  I remember vividly one autumn Saturday morning when we were doing a long run in Kensington park. We were talking about a guy that she was dating and the fact that he did not know she was currently battling cancer.  Her reasoning was that "she never wanted to be look at like the 'sick' girl."  In my memories, Lynn is not that girl.  She is a great mother, loving daughter, passionate mentor, and wonderful friend.  There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about my friend.  And I try to live my life not to be anything but who I want to be, and to do that to the fullest.  Even until today, Lynn inspires me and I am thankful for the time we shared.

12 Days | 16 Hours | 44 Minutes | 37 Seconds and counting

It's almost surreal to believe that today marks just over 12 days out from my first bodybuilding competition.  I was back to work this week after an extended weekend with my diet changes in hand and I can definitely say it was one of the toughest weeks I have gone through in a long time.  My energy level is greatly reduced.  I was really thinking about it a lot this week.  I would almost parallel the feeling to that of fasting for spiritual purposes.  I've fasted before; however, not as strictly has friends who have fasted during Ramadan or for extended periods maybe only juicing or even having nothing.  I cannot imagine Jesus being in the desert for 40 days fasting.  I say all of that to put things into perspective.

This is the first time in my life I have been challenged in this area.  I am happy that the Boss didn't run down the exact feelings and what to expect.  He always said it would be one of the hardest things I would do; however, you cannot know what that is until you do it.  These last few weeks are what separate the women from the girls and the men from the boys.  One of the things all people have in common is wanting to look better and/or feel better.  We live in a microwave world where we want to spend as less time as possible to achieve the largest gains.   However, in this game of life - nothing really worth having comes easy and everything has a price.  It's all about the value of the reward on the other end.  

I envy those athletes who can just do their profession 100% of the time.  There are millions of people every year who say they want to compete and start the process; however, the people you actually see step on stage in the end are only a mere fraction of the total number who started.  So here I am, just under 2 weeks out from my first competition and there is nothing but a bright shining light - and a pizza - at the end of the tunnel.

Diet
Last weekend the Boss made some drastic and brutal changes to my diet because my body just would not go into the fat reserves to eat all of that stuff up (my mommy asked me not to curse on my blog :)).  My diet right now is extremely simple - turkey, rice cakes, and romaine lettuce.  Coffee is my best friend and I can drink it to no end.  I do a good job of timing my meals and starting to eat as late in the day as possible.  I usually wake up around 8am, cook my turkey for the day and pack my rice cakes, and tea in my meal bag before heading to work.  I don't eat my first meal until after 11am.  Usually with the coffee and tea I am okay until then, but once I do start eating I usually have to ingest something every few hours.  The real challenge is eating enough to buy more time, but not until I am full.  Sometimes you just want to eat.

Because of the adjustments my energy levels are somewhere near the earth's ozone layer.  As much as rest is important in these last few weeks, my weekly schedule does not really support such a "rest mechanism" and I felt it come the second half of the week.  I started feeling a bit under the weather.  Today I rested and focused on getting healthy and it's amazing what a little more rest will do for you. Come the evening I felt a lot better.

The diet is working as I have seen both the changes on the scale in in the mirror all week.  Checked-in with the Boss earlier this afternoon and we stay the course with no further changes this week.

I purposely do not give calorie content in my blog because (1) I know too many people who will try to start at the end of my journey and not at the beginning and (2) if you are really interested in competing and/or losing weight, please hire a coach/trainer/nutritionist.  This especially goes for competitors - and don't hire someone who has only done one show.  Hire someone with experience, not only in competing, but also with preparing athletes.

Training
Training right now is NOT focused on hitting new PRs, or increasing weights.  I still push heavy weights but not as heavy as I could with more calories.  I am almost forced to pull back.  Right now I cannot get as many sets or reps in as I normally do.  When I was in the Grand Canaria we started with a "lighter" weight for 20-30 reps, then climbed up decreasing the reps as the weight got heavier.  I really liked this.  I had a pump out of this world and it was fun.  I brought that back with me this week.  It helps to get in more movement, sweat and get a good pump.  Plus I can still push heavy weights, just not for as many reps.  The Boss knows me well and he constantly scolds me that I cannot go hard all of the time.  This is a race and sometimes it's okay to be the Hare but most days the Tortoise makes the most gains.

Training is about getting the stimulation. Period.  Not going to failure and not completely wiping myself out.  I'm just happy that training is still fun.  No matter how I feel or how tired I am, when I walk in the gym everything is in order.  Everything is just how it's supposed to be.

Weight
I am happy to report that I saw some real progress on the weight loss platform this week.  Last Sunday I was 73.0kg/160.9lbs and this morning I weighed in at 69.9kg/154.1kg.  I am down over 32lbs total since I started my prep.  Crazy right?!?!?!  The last time I was this weight, I was skinny fat.  I've definitely built some muscle the last year and a half.  I think every competitor freaks out about their weight.  I know that I've been on the edge of the cliff many times over the last weeks and months.  I probably won't be as lean as I want for my show; however, I am very happy with the progress I have made and I know that I can only get better from here.

So the battle this week paid off and I came out a winner.  People keep asking me about what happens after my show.  Well, not eating like crap for weeks on end - that's definitely not for sure.  I "plan" on reverse dieting and slowing working my way back up.  I don't want to gain 20-30 lbs back out the gate.  The plan is to stay on the diet and come slowly back up but enjoy a cheat day on a weekly basis.

So let's just say these blog entries will not stop.  The journey is just beginning.

Below is a pic I posted of  yesterday morning's shape.  You can just call me Skinny Minnie :).

Progress Photos