New things for the New Year

New things for the New Year

It’s been a couple of weeks since writing and I apologize. I like to keep up to date on the way things are going. Fortunately, things at work, Gold’s Gym Miami Lakes, has picked up. The New Years resolution wave is growing by the day at the gym and we couldn’t be happier. Being a personal trainer, this is prime time for us to pack our book. I like to see everyday filled with people I’m trying to teach and help create the body and mind they want.

We are always looking for new ways to teach and insprire others. In early December, my wife and I took a new certification program called Body Pump by Les Mills. You really have to check out this web site and see what this particular program is all about. The web site is www.lesmills.com The certification class took three days working 8-9 hours each day to learn all the techniques associated with the class, along with many motivating methods to really get the class pumped up. Well, this Monday, February 2, we are finally launching the Body Pump class at the gym. The owner is helping to make it a really big deal. The gym is having a customer appreciation night which includes discounted memberships and pro shop discounts. He’s hired a DJ to come in and play music. We will be teaching two classes, one at 6:15pm and the other at 7:30pm. We created a sign-up sheet a couple of weeks ago to gauge if we could fill up the class or not. We can fit about 25 participants, along with the instructors in each class. We managed to fill up both lists and have a 10-person deep waiting list in the event that someone doesn’t show. We are all extremely excited about the class and wish anyone could come by and check it out. We plan on taking video and pictures, so I’ll post them in the near future. Anyone in the future wanting to come by and try out the class, just tell the front desk people to come and find me. Let me know you read about this on this blog and I’ll get you in to the class for free that day. I’ll let you all know everything about it the launch.

On the contest front, I will be unable to retain the services of Hany Rambod this year. After such a tough 2008 financially, we just can’t fit him into our budget. I am disappointed, but have faith in my ability to get myself ready for the 2009 Nationals. I hope I know my body after 19 years of training. My wife and I gambled that some form of an endorsement (even a little one) would come out of the show, but not a single thing. Bodybuilding is a difficult sport to continue without some financial help. But, I believe I can get myself in the shape needed on my own. As always, I’ll document eveything. One big plus over last year is my bodyweight. It’s been around 215-217 lbs. which is well below my usual 235 lbs I used to carry in the offseason. Keeping much leaner and feel better doing so.

Well, all for now. All the best to everyone.

NEW TIMES AHEAD

NEW TIMES AHEAD

Well, here we are in the beginning of anoher year. Usually at this point in time, we all hope for even better times ahead than the previous year. This holds true this year from most people more than ever. It had been a challenging year and critics tell us that it’s not going to get better soon.
Maybe we can find the good in this in that we are now forced to rely on our basic needs and go back to what is essentially most important to us. We can now longer spend money freely without thought. We now have to budget ourselves once again. During this time, we will be cooking at home more instead of going out to eat. We’ll rent movies rather than going to the theaters. We’ll spend more family time at the beach or parks. We can think of this time as family bonding again.
Look, I love the technology age and have benefited from it greatly. But, at times it feels as if our lifestyles are becoming less practical. We are an instant gratification society who is growing increasingly impatient. We want everything done yesterday and that just isn’t practical or even feasible most of the time. This leads us into the weight loss dilemna our country faces. We want to loss weight at a fast pace while eating more food. Simply impossible.
Being a personal trainer, I know I’m going to face this head on at the gym my wife and I work at. Here, the gym is holding a 12 week challenge to see who transform themselves from fat to phat. The winners in each category will be given prizes. I just wonder how few will finish or even show significant progress. Wow, did that sound cynical. Sorry. I just realize I’m fighting an uphill battle. I’m all about educating others in the how to loss weight and change their lifestyles, but I know that most of the time they “want to have their cake and eat it too”.
So to all of you about to join in the most common New Years resolution, don’t give up. Stick to your guns and maintain your path. Learn how to change eating habits to make them a lifestyle. Have faith in yourself and you will come out ahead.
All the best everyone in 2009. May we all have plenty of work.

HOLIDAYS & FUTURE PLANS

HOLIDAYS & FUTURE PLANS

This time of year is the most challenging for all of us. The holidays bring nothing but plenty of food, which 99.9% of the time is unhealthy (but yet oh so good). It seems like every week or for that matter, every day there is some kind of party or get together that brings us around unhealthy foods. Temptation around every corner. So this is a time that we must show a least a little restraint. Look at me on top of my soap box when I just ate four pieces of brownies a friend baked for me as a post-contest celebration. Holy crap were they good. Well, if you think about it, I did show a little restraint. I mean I didn’t eat them all, even though I’ll probably finish them off tonight with my wife. Thankfully, she ate three of them too. If it weren’t for her sweet tooth I’d have to eat them all by myself. Wouldn’t that be terrible.
On the future plans on the contest front. Waiting until next November, only 49 1/2 weeks away, to hit the stage again. Going to work with Hany Rambod again this year and really work my ass off to bring about the most complete package I can next year. Going to keep offseason weight to a maximum of 220 lbs, but shooting for a couple of pounds less. My normal offseason weight over the years has been 235 lbs. By staying much leaner, I should be able to come in much fuller and even a tad leaner next year. So, back hitting the weights a little harder this week and going to keep it going from here on until November 09. Best part about it is that it’s in Miami, just a hop, skip & jump from my humble obode.
Now, I’ve at the National scene since 1999 and have even placed as high as 2nd in 2003 and have been all over the top 12 since. Well, after deep thinking between myself and my wife, we have decided that next year will be my last year at the Nationals. If things don’t go exceptionally well, that will be my last contest. It will be time to walk away from the sport that I enjoyed for so many years. The exception to keeping me involved will be placing 1 or 2 and receiving some endorsement contract. This sport, although enjoyable and full-filling, is extremely costly. My wife has given up so much so I can live out this dream and it is time for me to return the favor. Besides, that fire eventually fades and the will to push to the limit fades as well.
But that day hasn’t come yet, so for the next 49 1/2 weeks, I’m going to work my ass off to hit that National stage in hometown Miami and BRING IT!!!
All for now. Peace and love to all. Eat well, but have a little fun. I know I will. I can hear those brownies calling me now

ALL IS SAID AND DONE

ALL IS SAID AND DONE

Well, as long as a process it was getting ready for the Nationals and the months and months of work leading up to the show and what felt like at times it would never end, has come and gone is a FLASH. It’s absolutely incredible how we can work and work and work for something and when it suddenly is upon us, we blink and it’s over. It’s a strange feeling when it’s over. All I’ve known for the past four months has been strict, regimented dieting without a speck of deviation, weight training six days a week and cardio performed practically everyday. Now……it’s all done. The diet consists of whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it, no cardio and no training. Oh, by the way, no cooking, no tanning, no triple showering a day, along with endless amounts of laundry. Suddenly I have time, and lots of it on my side. To tell the truth, it’s kind of anti-climatic. Well, maybe if I won the show, emotions would be different……no, they would definitely be different. Anyway, in a sense, I miss it. You see, as bodybuilders or anyone in the fitness competition realm, this is what we do. We are competitors. We live for this. We may groan at times, but it is what we live for. I tried explaining this to my mom and she just can’t seem to get it. When I told her that I didn’t win, she always says, “Awww, that’s a shame”. Yea, it’s a shame, but it’s nothing to slit our wrists over. At every show, there is one winner and the rest are unhappy, pissed, depressed or any other negative feeling. My class at this years Nationals had 41 competitors……41. That’s crazy! So there was one happy competitor, in this case it was Peter Putnum, and the rest of the 40 competitors were pissed. You see, 1st gets their professional card and the rest of us get a handshake and “Hope to see you next year”. That’s it. One winner and the rest are losers, or for those pol itically correct, 40 non-winners.
Here is a quick rundown of what happens after prejudging. Saturday night rolls around and the top 15 show back up at night to get introduced one at a time on stage. Following that, the top 5 competitors perform their posing routine and receive trophies. I was not in the top 5 and finished (as I found out Sunday morning) in 7th place. Now everyone, myself included, wanted and expected to finish in 1st, but that didn’t happen. Reflecting back on the show, placing 7th is still pretty good, knowing that only six guys placed ahead of me. I have seen the photos and realize that I’m still not at that elite level yet. I still have to make some serious improvements in my arms, along with bringing my waist down some more and even add a little more size to my chest and shoulders. So, it’s back to the drawing board and hitting the weights with furious intentions in about a week or two. For now, it’s rest the body and let it heal. I beat the hell out of it this time around and it is in desperate need of a break.
Goals for this coming year are make the necessary improvements I just mentioned, along with not allowing my weight to get past 220 lbs. I used to let it get up around 235 lbs. If I’m going to stay in the light heavy class for the time being, we decided the weight should stay around 220. This should impact the waistline and in time help to bring it down.
Well, I hope everyone enjoyed the preparation ride. It was fun documenting. Now it’s time for the next phase of things and it’s about back to the brutal training, but after my little break.
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Eat well and indulge a little. I know I will.

AFTER THE DUST HAS SETTLED

AFTER THE DUST HAS SETTLED

Now I had all intentions of blogging throughout the whole process of weigh-ins and throughout, but due to the absolute hectic eating schedule I was put through, that was simply impossible. Here is a rundown of the last 48 hours leading up to the Nationals.
Wednesday we left Pembroke Pines at 2:30 am to drive to Atlanta. We left at that hour due to the fact that I wasn’t sleeping much at that time and to hopefully have a smooth drive up with little traffic. It actually turned out to be an extremely relaxing trip. Traffic was practically nonexistant and we hit a total of 10 minutes of traffic. The drive was smooth. We stopped twice to gas up the vehicle and eat a meal. The total drive time we were anticipating was 10-11 hours, although it only took us just over 9 hours.
We arrived to the hotel just before 12:00 pm and were slightly worried that we wouldn’t be allowed to check-in as their usual time is 3:00pm. Well as God was on our side during this whole trip, He was there once again and we were allowed to check-in. We are staying at the host hotel, the Hyatt in Atlanta, absolutely beautiful. Another grace of God was our placement of our room. Most of the rooms are in the main lobby and due to this, the elevators are constantly congested due to the volume of competitors in the show. To our luck, we are in an adjoining tower off to the side of the hotel where little traffic takes place and we are slightly secluded. So basically, we get the best of both worlds. We’re here in the mix of things, but we are off by ourselves away from the madness of the others.
OK, so weigh-ins took place Thursday night. I needed to be no heavier than 198.25 in order to make it into the light-heavyweight class. In order to make weight, I needed to continue to deplete up until the actual weigh-in. Well, I made it….barely. I weighed in at 198.0 lbs. WHEW!!! From here it was on to carb and fat loading. I had roughly 24 hours to load my body up to prepare it for the following nights (Friday) prejudging. Normally, you allow yourself two days to carb load, but due to my circumstances, I had only one day. Next you will see what I consumed during that 24 hour window. How I did it is still unknown. I ate roughly every 1 1/2 hours squeezing 11 meals and 6 carb powder meals all in that 24 hour period. I ate 5 1/2 pounds of lean ground beef and 6 1/2 pounds of potatoes…………all within 24 hours. Needless to say, I not really in the mood for a potato or steak. Chicken actually sounds quite nice at this moment. You see, this is necessary in order to fill out the muscles and get them to pop out and show off all of their density.
On to Friday night, the prejudging took place. My weight class, the light-heavyweights had the largest turnout at 41. That’s insane; 41 athletes squeezed into one weight class. The brutal part of it all is that the class is broken down to the top 15 with a matter of minutes. Each competitor is brought out in groups of eight in numerical order to perform our quarter turns and compulsory poses. After each athlete completing this stage of the show, we all wait off to the side of the stage and wait to hear our number to see if we made it to the final top 15. That means 26 others will be going home at that moment. BRUTAL. Those 26 others are done with the show and have nothing left to do. They can go out and eat and come back Saturday night and WATCH the show for free, but their participation is over at this time. Basically, “Thanks for coming. Hope to see you again next year.”
Anxiously waiting to hear the top 15 called out, when the wait was over and my number WAS called, a sigh of relief was felt. Now it’s on to the nitty gritty. The callouts begin. First callout contained only three competitors…..I was not one of them. My goal to reach it was at that moment realized NOT reached. I did not make the top three. My goal was to win. The second callout was placed and I was part of it. Here, five competitors were compared. This basically means I’m somewhere between the 4th through 8th spot. Not what I had come to Atlanta for, but what am I’m going to do.
Tonight, I’ll find out my final placing, but disappointment is the only feeling I have at this time. I’ll write again and tell all about my final placing and how the finals go.
All for now. Feeling numb and don’t really know what else to say. OUT.

LAST REMAINING WEEK

LAST REMAINING WEEK

     Well, here I am down to the last week before the Nationals.  Actually, it’s down to 6 days.  Everyday counts when you are counting down to that wonderful moment carrot cake and me are going to share.  LOL.  Here is a rundown of how the upcoming week is going to shape up.  My wife and I will be leaving Wednesday morning around 4 am.  We are driving for a multitude of reasons.  First off, flying although faster, SUCKS!  When preparing for a show, a lot of supplies are required to bring along.  With security being so strict nowadays, cooking pan, food scales and for that matter, food is scruntized heavily.  By the time you get your bags, the locks have been broken off and everything has been searched through, sometimes breaking things in the process.  Not the kind of stress one needs when a couple of days out from a show.  Being that the show is in Atlanta, it only takes about 10 hours to drive there.  By plane, it’s about 2-3 hours I believe, but then you must show up to the airport 1 1/2 hours before takeoff and that doesn’t guarantee that you will leave on time.  After landing, there is retrieving your bags, picking up the rental car and transporting everything to the car and driving to the hotel.  When driving ourselves, we can pack the night before and be done with it.  The drive is actually stress free and we can go at our own pace.  Secondly, on the way back home once the show is over, we break the trip up into two days, stopping halfway in Gainesville, FL (home of the MIGHTY FLORIDA GATORS!! -GO GATORS!!).  We spend the night there, take in some delicious food, pick up some Gator artifacts, relax, see the beautiful university and basically just take it easy.
     So, like I said, we’ll be leaving around 4 am Wednesday morning in order to get past West Palm before the morning rush hour traffic begins.  If everything goes smoothly, we should arrive in Atlanta around 2 or 3 pm which would put us ahead of their afternoon rush hour traffic.  Nice plan huh?  Thirdly, driving is very therapeutic for me.  It’s a time away from everything.  At that moment in time, everything for the most part, is done.  Cardio is done and I only have a little workout to do once I arrive at the hotel that afternoon.  By then, I have almost reached the end of the journey.  Carrot cake, my friend, I can smell you already. 
     After checking in Wednesday afternoon, I’ve got a basket of chocolate covered strawberries ready for delivery to our room for my wife to enjoy.  Guys, don’t ever forget to show gratitude to your wife/girlfriend.  They deserve it.  Lord knows my wife deserves that and much more everyday I live.  She is my support system and this process would not be possible without her.  Once we get checked in, relaxation begins, well after my quick final workout.
     Thursday night is weigh-ins.  Here I must weigh no more than 198.25 lbs.  At this moment, I’m 200.4 lbs first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.  Being that weigh-ins are in the afternoon, I still need to deplete and monitor my weight up to that moment.  Once I hit the scales and make the class, it’s back to my room for a 24 hour carbing up process. 
     Prejudging is Friday afternoon, so the moment of truth has arrived.  Here we get compared and examined thoroughly.  Once prejudging is over, we all have a pretty good idea of the placings.  After that, the stress is over, the decisions have been made and now the fun can begin.  Saturday night is simply for show.  Here we perform our routines to music and the awards are given out.  I will do my best to document the process as I go through it.  Even if it’s a few sentences, I’m going to try my best to keep an update on how things are going and also to include pics.  Well, here we go with the final week.  Excitement is starting to boil and I can’t wait to get up there and battle it out.  I’ve worked my ass off and I want to show the judges what I’ve managed to bring to the table this year.  The reward will be a pro card in the waiting.  All the best, speak to you all as the week progresses, hopefully Thursday after weighins.  
     These pics were taken Wednesday, three days ago.

WINDING DOWN

 WINDING DOWN

     Well, here I am down to 12 days out from the pre-judging at the Nationals.  This show can’t come a day too soon.  Weight is down to 204.2 lbs. so need only to drop 6 more pounds by the time weigh-ins take place, which by the way are on Thursday night November 20.  Definitely within striking distance.  The way things have been going, I’m assuming I’ll keep carbs where they are at 75 grams a day in order to continue to drop weight.  Creatine will get dropped in the next couple of days which should lighten the load, along with the gradual depletion of sodium.  And naturally the 1 1/2 hours of Step mill everyday of the week.  This combination formula should bring me right at the top of the weight class.  After weighing in, it’s back to the room and begin a 24 hour loading process being that pre-judging is Friday night (the following day).  At this point, I just want more food than I’m eating.  I’ve been consuming all of the 75 grams of carbs with my first meal in the form of steel cut oats.  If you haven’t tried these, give them a try.  They blow regular oatmeal away as they have a better taste and more of a texture.  Well, after Meal 1, that’s it for carbs for the day.  Basically, carbs at 4:00 am and that’s it for the day. 
     Here in lies the problem with carbs being that low.  Brain function, or should I say proper brain function requires carbohydrates.  Well when only 75 grams are provided for the entire day and the body is also required to hit the Step mill for 90 minutes along with weight training, the brain seems to suffer, along with the people I’m trying to have conversations with.  I will literally be in the middle of a conversation and completely forget where I was going with it.  I just seem to go into this state of fog and can’t recall where I was going with my words.  I rely heavily on Post-Its to remind me of all the things I need to take care of.  My brain is absolutely FRIED.
     Another side effect of low carbs and non-stop training and food depletion is mood alteration.  Basically, you can start to become a prick.  I have little patience for conversation, let alone stupid questions such as “How are you today?”  LOL.  All kidding aside, when energy levels are so low, it’s difficult to hold a conversation with something because it hurts to even think. 
     Through convincing of my wife, I’ve decided to stop working at this point with clients and train at another gym until we leave to Atlanta.  This way I can go someplace where no one knows me and I can simply get my workouts in and be out of there.  No conversations.  It’s like I’ve become anti-social and I’m OK with that because at this point I’m on a mission to do only one thing and that’s to win my class at this show.  I’ve been envisioning this for the whole year, from how I’m going to look to the callouts to the photo shoot requests taking place the day after the show, which by the way I’ve already got one arranged.  Planet Muscle has contacted me and wants to take pics the day after the show.  Now my next goal is with Flex and/or Muscular Development.
     I’ll be bringing my laptop to the show, so I plan on blogging quite a bit of the experience as I go through it along with adding some photos.  Stay tuned and let’s go through this fun experience together.  All for now, speak to you next week as the time frame dwindles down even more.  I’m out.  

 

Well, here I am down to 12 days out from the pre-judging at the Nationals.  This show can’t come a day too soon.  Weight is down to 204.2 lbs. so need only to drop 6 more pounds by the time weigh-ins take place, which by the way are on Thursday night November 20.  Definitely within striking distance.  The way things have been going, I’m assuming I’ll keep carbs where they are at 75 grams a day in order to continue to drop weight.  Creatine will get dropped in the next couple of days which should lighten the load, along with the gradual depletion of sodium.  And naturally the 1 1/2 hours of Step mill everyday of the week.  This combination formula should bring me right at the top of the weight class.  After weighing in, it’s back to the room and begin a 24 hour loading process being that pre-judging is Friday night (the following day).  At this point, I just want more food than I’m eating.  I’ve been consuming all of the 75 grams of carbs with my first meal in the form of steel cut oats.  If you haven’t tried these, give them a try.  They blow regular oatmeal away as they have a better taste and more of a texture.  Well, after Meal 1, that’s it for carbs for the day.  Basically, carbs at 4:00 am and that’s it for the day. 
     Here in lies the problem with carbs being that low.  Brain function, or should I say proper brain function requires carbohydrates.  Well when only 75 grams are provided for the entire day and the body is also required to hit the Step mill for 90 minutes along with weight training, the brain seems to suffer, along with the people I’m trying to have conversations with.  I will literally be in the middle of a conversation and completely forget where I was going with it.  I just seem to go into this state of fog and can’t recall where I was going with my words.  I rely heavily on Post-Its to remind me of all the things I need to take care of.  My brain is absolutely FRIED.
     Another side effect of low carbs and non-stop training and food depletion is mood alteration.  Basically, you can start to become a prick.  I have little patience for conversation, let alone stupid questions such as “How are you today?”  LOL.  All kidding aside, when energy levels are so low, it’s difficult to hold a conversation with something because it hurts to even think. 
     Through convincing of my wife, I’ve decided to stop working at this point with clients and train at another gym until we leave to Atlanta.  This way I can go someplace where no one knows me and I can simply get my workouts in and be out of there.  No conversations.  It’s like I’ve become anti-social and I’m OK with that because at this point I’m on a mission to do only one thing and that’s to win my class at this show.  I’ve been envisioning this for the whole year, from how I’m going to look to the callouts to the photo shoot requests taking place the day after the show, which by the way I’ve already got one arranged.  Planet Muscle has contacted me and wants to take pics the day after the show.  Now my next goal is with Flex and/or Muscular Development.
     I’ll be bringing my laptop to the show, so I plan on blogging quite a bit of the experience as I go through it along with adding some photos.  Stay tuned and let’s go through this fun experience together.  All for now, speak to you next week as the time frame dwindles down even more.  I’m out.

INSOMNIA

INSOMNIA

     Normally at this time of year, I’m along with most people are thrilled to death about the thought of daylight savings time for the simple fact that we gain an extra hour of time to our sleepless lifestyles we’ve adopted over the years.  That extra hour of rest without penalty is always welcome.  Unfortunately for me at this particular time, that’s not exactly what I needed.  You see, sleep for me has become a painful experience where I am without food until the following morning.  During the day, I feed myself 7 meals spread throughout the day every 2 1/2 – 3 hours apart.  To be honest, about 30 minutes after each meal hunger begins and the countdown to the next meal begins.  It is quite a painful process at this moment in time.  Hunger pains are not fun, especially when you experience them all day long, every day of the week with only the ending of the show allowing for a break from the misery.  As nighttime comes and sleep is the next objective (which by the way is greatly required for recuperation and to function properly the following day), the hunger pains do not simply go away.  Fortunately in my situation, I’ve been so dead tired at night that my body falls to sleep within 10-15 minutes.  Unfortunately, staying asleep is another matter.  The first awakening usually occurs within 1 – 1 1/2 hours after falling alseep and that is always to pee.  You see, I drink plenty of liquids to help suppress the hunger pains.  With that comes the slow process of eliminating those fluids throughout the ENTIRE night.  So, no straight sleeping for me.  Basically, if I can sleep for 2 hour stretches, that is productive.  Eventually though, the hunger takes over and I must wake up and start my cardio and get that out of the way in order to have meal one.  This last weeks has seen my schedule slip back slightly to an even earlier hour due to the ravous hunger pains awakening me.  Normally I wake at 2:45 am, get to the kitchen, slam 3/4 of an EndoRush along with some L-Carnitine and allow my body 15 or so minutes to wake before beginning my first session of 45-55 minutes of cardio.  After which I finally get to eat meal #1.  Well this last week, my stomach has not been cooperating with me.  It’s asking for more food and at a faster rate.  Well, that’s not going to happen at this present time, so basically I’m now getting up around 2:15 – 2:30 to begin cardio.  Normally on the weekends, I figure since I don’t have to work with clients until later (I start at 5 am Monday through Friday and not until 8 am on Saturdays) I try to sleep another hour or two.  Well Mr. Stomach won’t have anything to do with that.  He’s on a schedule and he wants his food.  Can you guess who wins that competition?  So being that’s it’s just past 5 am on Sunday and I’ve been up since 2:30 again, I long for that feeling of fullness and ability to sleep throughout the night with little to no awakenings.  Such is the life of a bodybuilder.  Hey, at least I’m down to 2 weeks and 5 days until prejudging.  At least on that day, I’ll be carb loading and finally filling my stomach up.
     Well enough for now.  I think I’m going to head to target and pull a Chris Wan and see what freaks are out at this strange hour.  Need a new coffee maker.  All the best and below is an updated pic.  Weight is down to 206.2.  Rockin’ and rollin’!!!  Almost there!!!!  I can almost taste that carrot cake now.  YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!

One Day Break

One Day Break

     As the weeks have gone by, I could feel myself entering meltdown mode.  My body was literally giving out on me.  I was finding it increasingly harder to find the energy to train, perform cardio and even function.  Walking at times became a mission and I was beginning to wonder how I was ever going to make it to the finish line without dropping some of my personal training clients.  Being that I have just under a  month to go from now, that just isn’t an option.  Bodybuilding is certainly not the cheapest sport to decide to make a hobby and I don’t think the bill collectors would be understanding of my situation.  I can see it now, me calling my mortgage company and asking them if I could have a couple of months off from paying them because I have a bodybuilding show to get ready for.  Not going to happen.  Or, they say “sure” and tax you on finance charges, as if they don’t hammer us enough with those charges. 
     Well, feeling completely burned out and the body ready to give out any moment (remember I’m training six days a week and doing double cardio sessions seven days a week), Hany recognized this and gave me a day off.  He said my weight was right where it needed to be and that I should take a day off from training, cardio and basically the bodybuilding life.  Take a day for my wife and myself and simply enjoy ourselves.  Basically RELAX.  This was last Sunday, exactly one week ago today.  I wrote last weeks blog before the festivities began so I’m just now getting around to detailing them today.  Hany wanted me to have some cheat food too, but what he dictated.  At this point in the diet, anything different is a welcome change.  Boy was I in for a surprise.  During the day I was allowed two small bowls of berries and two tablespoons of natural peanut butter.  Here comes the kicker, my wife and I were instructed to go to IHOP for breakfast and have a vegetable egg white omelette and harvest grain pancakes using the jam instead of the syrup.  I thought I died and went to heaven.  I would’ve eaten the pancakes plain if he wanted me too.  They were absolutely delicious.  I was in such ecstasy while savoring each bite.  I had forgotten how good IHOP is.  Man I love that place and now can’t wait to get back there again.  After breakfast, which occurred at 4:30 in the morning because I couldn’t wait any longer anticipating the food, my wife and I came home and I slept for about 2 1/2 hours.  It’s incredible how carbs can knock you out and put you in such a wonderful sleep.
     Now for lunch, we were allowed another cheat meal.  This time it was sushi, which by the way is my absolute favorite food in the world.  I was allowed two rolls and a piece of salmon.  OMG.  I thought I died and went to heavy twice that day.  Wishing there was more to eat, but greatly satisfied, we went home and felt like a new person.  I had the refocus to now get through the remainder of the diet and felt like a new phase had started and there was only 4 1/2 weeks left.
     Below is a pic from that wonderful day displaying a hand up the number of weeks left at that moment, along with a pic taken two days later displaying more fullness, but also a tad bit of water retention from the days worth of carbs and sodium. 
     As of today, the weight is back down now to 208 lbs. and we are just under the four week mark.  Three weeks and five days until prejudging to be exact.  Well, enough for this week.  Will write again next week and include some more updated pics.  Starting to feel the anticipation now and can’t wait to get this thing going and battle it out for the top spot.

 

Whoa Nelly…..

Whoa Nelly…..

 

     Here I am at the 5 weeks mark and things have slowed down dramatically.  Not my progress, but my energy, ability to sleep, patience with most people, long conversations with most people & stupidity (although my interpretation of stupidity seems to bridge across quite a large gap).  Oh the joys of a long, strict precontest diet. 

     Anyone who’s ever competed once before, knows the next time what they are getting into, so if you want to get mad at someone, get mad at yourself.  With that being said, it still doesn’t help deal with the stupid people.  “God, please show me the way to patience.” 

     I also understand that the joys of victory can make all this pain disappear in one quick swoop.  It’s really quite incredible.  You push yourself day after day, week after week, and month after month.  You go until many times, you get sick near the show or your body just shuts down certain days.  But when on stage with your hand in victory, the pain simply disappears.  Quite incredible. 

     Here is a day in the life of myself this past week just to give an understanding to those who are interested in competing some day.  Wednesday afternoon after finishing my 2nd session of cardio for the day, I was showering and was barely able to muster up enough energy to clean myself.  I leaned against the wall and tried to find the will to finish.  I told my wife that there was no way I could even think about getting behind the wheel of a car, much less train any clients.  I immediately called my clients, apologized and cancelled them for the night.  I had to go to bed immediately.  My body had simply shut down whether I wanted it to or not.  You see, this is how hard we push ourselves when our goal is to win. 

     Now, back to the sweeter side of things.  Going through all of the rigors of contest dieting and training, brings the most tremendous amount of satisfaction.  You feel as if you could get through just about anything after surviving a contest diet.  You beam with pride and it reflects in everything else you do in life after that.  When asked the other day if all this pain and suffering I’m going through is worth it, without hesitation I said “Absolutely Yes!”

     The other “sweet” side to the contest diet is post-contest eating.  Holy F–king S–t!!!!!  Everything tastes so freaking good.  Cakes, cookies and just about anything sweet makes you feel as if you are about to have an orgasm.  You have no idea how much I can’t wait for that moment.  I’ve already got most of my friends and family member reserving cakes for me after the show.  Thanksgiving falls four days after the Nationals.  PERFECT!!!  I’ve been dreaming about cake.  That’s my fetish this year.  Every year it’s something different.  This year, carrot cake is screaming in my head just about everyday.  Well sweet thing, you will be all mine soon.  Don’t you worry.

     Alright, enough babbling.  Speak to you next week.  Update, weight is 209.  Things are really shaping up now.  Excitement is building.  Check out this pic taken on Wednesday, 10/15.  I’m only taking in 105 grams of carbs a day, so I’m slightly flat too.