Flavour

I think I gave the wrong impression in one of my previous posts, that I don't do anything to add flavour to my meals. I think I was trying to make the point that you need to know what you're adding before you add it, and I was mainly talking about pre-comp diets. Leading up to the show I had a few favourites that I added to just about every dinner to flavour things up a little. Garlic, onion, tomato's and soy sauce. We were able to keep these in our dinners nearly all the way to the end (it was only the soy and tomatoes we had to cut out 2 weeks out).

It really pays to know what you're adding to your meals. The meals I eat during the day are very plain and boring, mainly because I'm too lazy to get all fancy for every meal (when you're eating 8 meals a day you get sick of strong flavours very quickly!). However I do like to get a little creative with dinner, and so does Steph. She has been much more creative than me with her meals lately. She's discovered low carb sweet and sour sauce which is awesome! I'm a sucker for a good sweet and sour dish.

If you're not being anal about the labelling on the foods you buy then start now! We buy pizza sauce every week as a nice treat to have with dinner. Anything that reminds me of pizza is da'f*ckin bomb. Steph usually gets it off the shelf and since all the bottles look the same I nearly grabbed the wrong one. Just before I put the bottle in the cart I check the label and compared it to another brand... The sugar content in the one in my hand was 500% of another bottle. The other wasn't labelled low sugar or advertised as a healthier option in any way. It pays to look.

Speaking of sugar, if any of you are unsure of why it is so counter productive then have a read of this. It's important to understand how your major hormones work when you are trying to change your body. Insulin is a major one that is vital for muscle gain and fat loss. Have a good read of that article and hopefully it will show you how important it is to have a carb-free (starchy) period each day and to take plen ty of carbs in around training.

I'm in Miami Bitch!
Peace out Gym Rats
xox

Low Carb Bread

Ok, so it has at least the same, if not more cals than 'normal' bread, but it's really low GI and low in carbs. I was shocked to find that that Burgen Wholemeal and Seeds bread has only 17g carbs for 2 slices. I'm not a fan of light fluffy bread anyway so this heavy, grainy bread is da bomb!

End Transmission (I'm such a nerd).

Is Milk just for Babies?

'Milk is for babies' is such an appropriate name for my blog. I have been eating 'functionally' for so long now that I find it hard to understand why people eat foods that are so completely nutritionally defunct - Eg. Cakes, meat pies, noodles. Likewise, people see me eating chicken and broccolli they give the the 'you poor boy...' look. They think my life must somehow be less rich and full because my lunch doesn't taste as good as their lunch. Taste cannot be your priority if you want to change your body. Sorry to burst many bubbles, but I do not enjoy broccoli or tuna any more than the next person, but I do have the discipline to eat it when I know it's going to benefit me. "You're lucky you like vegies, I hate vegies, thats why diets don't work for me". No, sorry. Doesn't work like that. People who say that rubbish are just too lazy to get out of their own way. Suck it up. Not every meal needs to taste like it came from a 5 star restaurant. How can you really enjoy fine food if you try and have that kind of flavour at every meal? Even when I went through a phase of having 2 takeout meals a day I was still buying foods that served a purpose - or so I thought. Basically the only pre-requisite at the time was that the meal contained 50g protein... So big macs and chicken rolls were a regular part of my diet. I got strong and put on muscle, but I also got FAAAAT!

This is quickly becomming a rant... It wasn't meant to be. I just wanted to explain why I called my blog 'Milk is for babies'. I'm sure you've all seen 'Pumping Iron' (1975) where Arnold made that saying famous.
Reporter - "So you drink skim milk?"
Arnold - "No, no milk, no. Milk is for babies, when you grow up you have to drink beer."

While I barely drink (plan to have my fair share of brandy this xmas.. hehe) his attitude when answering the reporter really inspired me. Milk is full of fat and sugar (lactose), and skim is merely a reduction of the fat. However people see milk as 'healthy', and it is! But if you want to be serious you need to quit being a baby and drop the comfort food. Milk definately has it's place in the off season, don't get me wrong, but it should be sparing (I'm hooked on the half water, half skim cappuccino's).


I grew up living down the road from a family who blamed their weight problems on genetics. They looked at each other and thought that since they were all fat it must be a genetic condition so why fight it. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that they always had 30-50 frozen hotdogs and doughnuts in the freezer at any given time. They bought fruit juice by the gallon and had (no joke) 5 fridges/freezers in the house. They had a son who I grew up with, and when I started training he came along with me at first for a little while. One day we were making sandwhiches at his place and his mother came walking by, saw her son eating a cheese and tomato sandwhich and commented sarcastically "why are you eating so healthy?" White bread, cheddar cheese, butter and tomato. Tomato is a fruit, right?... lol. I'm just using that little example to show that while things may appear healthy, they may be detremental to your weight loss goals. Oh and another quick story. Around the same time we were having a movie night/sleepover, and our girlfriends stayed over. We got up in the morning and started making french toast with a little spray oil on the pan. When his mother saw us cooking she said "thats not how you make french toast" and promptly poured canola oil in the pan from a 2lt jug, enough to deep fry the bread. The horror on my girlsfriends face when the oil soaked bread was put in front of her was priceless... I might add that both his parents had a stroke and/or heart attack in their early 50's and his father is now a diabetic. Oh oh... and another quickie. They used to go to the chinese shop down the road in the late arvo to buy up all the stuff that had been sitting around all day for cheap. This was after his father had his first heart attack. This was because take out chinese is just meat and vegetables so it must be clean and healthy.. right? By that point I almost felt sorry for them but I figured they knew the truth about the foods they were eating deep down but just didn't want to accept it.

Another quick story: A while back I was helping out a young guy with his diet. He was obsessed with looking fully sik for the chics, meaning he wanted full muscles and Abs. No easy feat. I worked with him for a while on his diet and he wasn't getting any harder. I couldn't understand it... Until one day I saw him walk into the gym with his protein shake. My first thought was "wow that looks creamy, gotta get me some of that protein". Until I found out that it looked creamy because it was made on half a litre on milk. After I hit him up about it I found out he'd been having 2 litres a day.... Needless to say that now he's dropped the milk and is now the shape of his life.

I'll stop ranting now. Milk is just one little example. Tomato sauce, cheese and alcohol are other examples of things that are easily overlooked but with trample your progress. There is 820 cals in 2 litres of SKIM milk. So just imagine these figures on top of what I already had him eating. No wonder he wasn't getting in shape. Milk is not just for babies, but know what you're eating before you put it in your mouth and stop measuring the quality of your life by the taste of your meals.

I'm hoping this stirs you all up and we get a nasty-ass debate roaring here :) Feel free to post your comments and opinions, I'd love to hear them.

Peace out gym rats xx

High Carb Day Shenanigans

I just want to briefly touch on a subject that I think confuses alot of people and causes big problems when getting ready for a show. Personally I don't think having high/low carb days are going to give you the best results but I do know that it works well for some people (King Ronnie included) so I can't completely write it off. I think the way that some people make it work is by setting a plan in place and sticking to it no matter how they feel. Eg. Ronnie's plan was 6 low carb days followed by a high carb day. Ronnie also ate copious amounts of bbq sauce leading into a show, so I don't think it's a good idea to model your comp plan on what that genetic freak can do.


The trap that people fall into is having a high carb day when they're feeling flat or think that they've been 'good' and they deserve it. I hate to be the one to break the news but you should be feeling flat. Dieting for a show burns your muscle glycogen stores right down. Throwing in a high carb day when you get that flat feeling or because you have stuck to the plan for a week or so will only slow or completely halt your progress. Instead, try making small, intentional changes once a week following your skin fold measurements.

Only Big Ron Colement can pull off ass conditioning like that after downing Masterfood BBQ sauce by the carton, and having high carbs days consisting of over baked french fries.

For example, following a week where you lost 2 ml on your skin folds (which is a good average drop if you have given yourself enough time to get ready) you might increase your cardio sessions by 5 minutes, reduce your starchy carbs or fats by 10-20g and increase your fibrous carbs (vege) to fill in the loss of cals. I think cheat meals are something you can enjoy up until about 6 weeks out, but cheat days and/or high carb days will do nothing but bring you in soft. They're not going to magically fill out your muscles and bring you in big and buff on stage. If you are concerned with loosing muscle tissue you should be -->

*Avoiding high intensity cardio unless absolutely necessary
*Taking essential Amino's during weight and cardio training
*Taking maltodextrine during training
*Limiting the volume of your weight sessions (Less sets)

If you time your carbs well - with breakfast and during/after training - then you should be able to keep a modest amount in your meal plan every day. Going super low carb for 3-6 days then smashing in starchy carbs for a day is only going to waste muscle tissue and store fat. IMHO.

Peace out, Gym rats.

Chesty Laroo

Now that I've got your attention I have to disappoint you and talk about my boobs, not hers. Chest training has never been a strong point for me. Even when I was at my peak and quite strong, it most definately didn't come naturally. Guys would watch me bench and come over with stupid comments like "I wish I could bench that much..." and "You're lucky you can bench that much". Luck had nothing to do with it. We very deliberately worked our way up to the big weights. We took rest when we needed it and we ate like silverbacks after mating season.

About 20 weeks out from the show (typical) my left shoulder decided to be a bitch. So again I found myself in a position where I had to work around a shoulder injury. I've gotten quite good at it actually, which isn't surprising since I've been negotiating with the rotator cuff terrorist since I was about 18 years old. About 6-9 months out of every 2 years I spend nursing a shoulder problem. I'm usually very careful, warm up thoroughly and only do exercises with a natural feel (no behind the neck press!! Eeekk). It only takes one rushed session to throw me out for 6 months. The most rescent issue was originally caused by a masseuse who was a physiotherapist in training (I think she still had 2 years left at uni). She was doing stretches with my arms when she seemed to do something that my shoulder didn't like. The following week I couldn't do shoulder press, and I had the tell tale feeling that my cuff had been damaged or irritated again... Back to the long, long road to recovery.

I know which exercises I can get away with and which I can't. I think it's important for everyone who has to deal with an injury (which is everyone who brings their balls to training... ladies included) to know what they can train through and know what they should complete avoid. Basically if it hurts, don't do it. You'll eventually make it so bad you won't be able to do any exercises, let alone your minimal selection determined by your cranky injury. Getting ready for the show with a bad shoulder wasn't easy. In the end my upper chest was so flat I couldn't even fill out my 'mansiere' - Seinfeld: The Doorman.

However, in the end I made do with what I had and minimised the problem with some intentional changes to my poses and intense weak point training. Example: Because my shoulders were so flat from not being able to do descent shoulder presses I started all my shoulder workouts with 3 giant drop sets on lateral raises on as much weight as I could handle for 6 reps, 8 reps, 10 reps until I got down to about 30lb dumbells and could do no more. This really helped bring out the lines in my shoulders and keep a little full ness when hitting my side tricep pose.

Now that I'm eating more (heaps more) my shoulder seems somewhat recovered. Last nights chest training was reminiscent of the good ol' days. Heavy, heavy, heavy! I know its dangerous... I realise that one mistake and I could be out for the count for another 6 months, but damnit I love it! And it's the only style of training that gets me big. We've started cycling speed bench with heavy bench again and we've both been making great progress. Too many guys (and some girls - the cocky ones) avoid speed training because they see it as a powerlifting movement. If those 'tards could let go of their ego for one session and realise that the better they get with their speed training the bigger their 1rm will be, and the more they will be able to move when they do their hypertrophy training. I could go on all day about this, but the point that I want to get across is that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Ps. My titties are sore. Giddy up :)

Heavy for Hammies

I received alot of compliments about my hammies at the show. I guess I'm just a little genetically lucky in that department. I don't mean to boast, I'm much more inclined to point out my weak points (shoulders, back width, obliques, upper chest...). However, I've noticed over the years that for even the very few guys and gals that do train legs hard, the hammies are often neglected. Guys especially think that big legs mean big quads. Which is true to a degree. The quads are generally what you see first. But a big meaty set of hammies ensures balance. If you don't have balance you are much more likely to injure yourself. Big hammies also push your quads forward. Think about one of the IFBB pros hitting an Abs and thighs show. They put one leg forward and the hammy almost sits on the rear leg making it look twice the size as it would straight front on. Same goes for us little guys. You need big, hard hammies not only to hit great shots from the back, but also to complement your quads from the front.

My training has gone back to basics (not that I ever stray far) and I'm loving it. Lots of set of really basic heavy shit. Legs on Tuesday night was squats, dumbell stiff leg deadlifts and leg press. I'm not into those obsessive compulsive workouts where you try and hit every angle for a few sets each. Just give me a whole lot o weight and a barbell. The DB stiffies are what really destroy my hammies. I find they're much nicer on my lower back than the barbell version because they can move unilaterally and don't require me getting the bar past my knees (the bane of tall freaks like me). I still make sure I go nice and heavy, just 4 sets of 6 reps, as heavy as possible without a slip in form. An old friend and training partner once told me that hammies are alot like calves in that they get hammered all day with light weight... Walking, going up stairs etc. Theyr'e so used to high repetitions that they just don't respond to anything other that big nasty, tear inducing weights. Yes you might make them sore by doing walking lunges with 10kgs for an hour, but they won't GROW. Big weights (and don't forget big warmups, cause if you bust a hammy theres not much you can do) and consistency build big hammies. And big hammies mean big legs.

On Easy Street

When I first started seeing Jon the hard part for me was kicking the ultra tasty, ultra fast food. Just hand over the cash and they hand you your lunch.. Piece of piss. I was already used to eating big, frequent meals but I was a real take out boy. Sushi and subway regularly made their way into my day and when things were tight I ate ALOT of sandwhiches. At one point I was eating 11 slices of bread a day, every day. 2 Sandwhiches for morning tea, 2 for lunch, and 3 slices with dinner. I was a little naieve about the quality of the food I was taking in. I knew it wasn't the best but I avoided looking into it. Using bread vs rice as an example, 300 cals worth of bread has no where near the same amount of carbs as 300 cals or rice. Looking at that alone it is clear that raw, unprocessed foods are so much more effective for bodybuilding. Not only do they keep you leaner (which I wasn't interested in at the time) but they'll get you bigger aswell.

Since doing the show I have found it ultra easy eating massive amounts of clean food. It's just so damn easy I can't believe I struggled with it before. Leading up to the show I was having small amounts of ultra clean food... So taking away feeling hungry, tired, sore and generally brain dead, clean food = easy street! After the show I jumped straight on to a 3600 cal meal plan which was pretty cheeky, but it included all the little things I missed. Ample nuts, yoghurt and those rediculously addictive Cappuccino's! I felt completely satisfied. The weight has been really slow comming back on so I have been steadily increasing the calories, this week I am on about 4350. I did my skin folds on Saturday and I am on about 38ml. The plan is to maintain < 40ml leading into xmas becuase it's still a little fun having a 6 pack.. hehe. If I can get up to 4500cals without spilling over the goal ml's then I'll be super happy.

My training has been ferocious but still a little weak. My shoulder injury is still healing but at least it IS healing. With the help of my new little training partner we're getting in some really intense workouts. I can feel my test levels making a savage comeback already. Like I said, since I'm eating so much I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything at all. Take-out (even the semi healthy stuff) just doesn't have that irresistable pull that it used to have. Competing has really been good for my training and physical progress in general, even if I never compete again. I'm not so nieve now. I used to justify high calorie take out meals by telling myself that I needed the calories. Now that I'm planning my meals every day of every week I know that I'm getting in plenty of calories, and if I stray too far off the plan then it'll be impossible to see if the plan is working or not. If I stick to the plan and I make good progress then I know what I'm doing is working, but if my skin folds jump up 4-5ml in a couple of weeks and I'm eating take-out every second day how can I possibly tell if the plan is working or not? If I follow the plan almost to the letter and put on 4-5ml then I'll know the cals on the plan are too high.. Simple.

Now that the show is a month behind me I can already feel the pull to compete again... Everyone warned me that I would feel like this but I promised myself that I wouldn't forget just how hard it really was. Either way I won't be competing next year, the plan is to go to the States for the Olympia, failing that, maybe the Arnold classic the following March, and I'll compete again after that. The beauty about this sport is you only get better with age (especially as a natural). You can train your heavily squatted ass off for years but if you don't take your body to the kind of extreme that comp prep and comp recovery does, you can look the same year in year out. I don't feel in any kind of rush and I'm looking forward to seeing how my physique develops and matures over the comming year. Density baby! Yeh

Having a Win

I've been working with a friend for the last 2-3 weeks on getting his meal plan and training going. An extremely brief backgroud would be that he works very hard and has long hours which has resultsed in bad eating habbits, not enough sleep and often rushed, limited food choices. His average day would consist of only a couple of meals, but they were often sugary and fatty. He never ate breakfast and the meals were spaced apart by too many hours. He was able to make it to my comp (which I am grateful for. It was fantastic having so much support) and he said it gave him a little push. Enough was enough, he had been planning to get back into training for quite a while and was now prepared to take the plunge.

Over dinner the weekend following the show we discussed options on what he could do to get his weight down and get healthier. I've known him for 15 years now and I've always thought that he has the genetic potential to hold ALOT of muscle! We are quite the opposite. When we're both in training our bodies head in the same direction, we start getting more muscle and bodyfat changes to a mintainable level. However, when we stop training we are polar opposites; he'll put on fat quite easily while I'll shrink like a paper plane in a hail storm.

So after a good chat that weekend (and a belly full of Sizzler... hehe) we decided to nut it out and come up with a plan. I didn't get a meal plan to him until the following weekend but he still managed to drop 3kgs that week, so that confirmed to me that he was determined to hit it hard and not put it off any longer. The following week he dropped another 2 kgs just by following the meal plan but no exercise. I left the meal plan the same because he still made a good drop without even exercising so I figured the following week would ensure more progress once he started training. And I was right... Another 3-4kgs drop. He's training his butt off to reach his goal weight by xmas. I really want to make this a completely maintainable change of lifestyle for him, I hate approaching things in a '12 week challenge' manner. I've seen it time and again. People push themselves to unrealistic limits to reach a goal in a short period of time and the only thing that gets them through is the notion that once the 6 weeks is over they can go back to their old lifestyle; 'goal achieved'. Inevitably the weight sneaks back on again, and sometimes a little more than before. To beat it you have to enjoy what you're doing and keep it at a maintainable workload, only reving things up for a specific purpose when you need to.

So to sum it up, he's kicking ass! I know he's going to crack that goal weight by xmas. He's got a good amount of strength and I've kept his calories fairly high so he'll be able to take in plenty more when he's ready to maintain a weight he's happy with.

Photo's with Dallas Olsen.

Here is a few of the pics taken by Dallas Olsen about 4 weeks before the ANB State show. It was a big learning curve for me. Getting a good shot takes alot of bad ones... You need to keep moving to try and get that perfect angle. Going through the thumbs of all the pics I saw how little I moved. If and when I do it again I'm not going to sit still! Makes for much more interesting pictures. 

Can you believe this?!

I was messing around on a couple of nutrition forums when I saw this post titled "Chicken is bad for your sexual life". This is what the guy had to say:

I was into this fitness/bodybuilding thing (i dont know which i was doing, but i was very fit at that time, i was turning heads on streets) 2 years ago. I was doing the regular bulk/cut routine, and i was eating chicken everyday.I did a good bulk up/cut cycle and had a fit and good looking body that summer, and it payed back, i got lucky with the ladies..

BUT:at the end of the summer, like in september i noticed some changes in my body and psychology, i noticed i found MEN attractive. my heart was beating when i saw a handsome guy. YIKES. it had never happened before. i was also having poor erections.

I was eating 10 egg whites and like 20 oz chicken breast every day and taking whey protein supplements. when i retrained from this diet, i got back to normal, i again started to like girls. but it was a horrible experience.they feed chickens estrogen and unnatural food, and these animals live and grow in bad conditions. IN NO WAY i will ever eat chicken or eggs again. and now i am very picky at what i eat.

yes, i want that body again but my sexuality is more important than getting big. i don't recommend people eat chicken or eggs or other hormone treated food.also, i dont eat much protein as i did before. i think "1 gr protein per 1 pound of bodyweight" rule is bullsh*t. i follow a 60% carb, 30% fat, 10% protein diet. it's like i eat 8 oz meat every day.now i mainly eat organic lamb, organic milk, and get protein from organic sources.

Okaaayyy... My response was -

hahaha this is obviously some douche from some organic company, otherwise just plain dumb..

Do you also think soy beans are out to get you? Diet coke going to turn you gay? The facts are... yes there is too much estrogen in chickens, but even if that estrogen could increase our bodies levels of E, it won't make you like boys!

If you are a *** then good for you... "Not that there's anything wrong with that". No matter how high your test or estrogen levels get they will have no impact on your sexual orientation... Jesus, go preach your organic bullsh*t to a dumber audience

Ok so I may have been a little nasty, but sometimes people are so naive and stupid that it shocks me. Another guy on the forum did a search for other posts made by Mr Chicken (as I have named him..) and they are mostly about penis's and asses... This guy is either very strange or very funny. One that I found particularly funny was :

hi. ive heard that doing squats will cause your testicles hang down further and they will become useless in the end. also its said that squats damge knees. anyone heard that?

Wait, wait there's more :)

hi, when you get shredded and ripped, does your cock get lean too? does it get thinner?

And last but not least :

well im trying to develop butt muscles. i have dumbells but afraid to do squats. and im running stairs. will running stairs work butt muscles? what else should i do? How many of you are trying to get into shape for the ladies?

I hope this was as entertaining for you as it was for me :)

NEW! Meal Plans and Training Routines

Due to increasing requests I am formalising the process to provide personalised Meal Plans and Training Programs. Until this is finalised, please contact me via mesocorp@gmail.com if you wish to discuss further.

Ps. I've taken the plunge and bought some Tri Creatine Malate instead of the usual Creatine Monohydrate. I'm usually against using anything with additives in it because they usually just charge you through the roof for a good product that is heavily watered down with sugars (or as they call it 'transport systems'). However, Tri Creatine Malate is still 75% Creatine Monohydrate and doesn't contain any sugars, and the bioavailability appears to be better (from what I've read). I'll post on how it goes. Fingers crossed.

Q & A

I recently recieved the below query from someone regarding their training and meal plan. I thought you all might want to have a read. You may find something in the advise I gave that helps you -


I am not naturally lean, it has taken me a long time and some very hard work to get down to these figures. I feel though I have gotten a bit *too* lean and my objective now is to bulk up a bit so I can fill my shirt a bit more!

I have only just started trying a new routine in an effort to gain some muscle mass. I train 6 days week at the gym (in our apartment complex). There are no free weights, just machine weights, so I make do with what I have.

I train in the morning (5am) 4 days of weight training (chest & abs / legs & biceps / back & triceps / shoulders & abs) with 10 minutes of cardio before weights. Most exercizes are 4 sets of 8-12 reps. I do 2 days of cardio (40 mins high intensity on the bike and 20 mins low/moderate swimming). One day of rest.

My caloric maintenance is about 2200 calories/day. As my objective is to 'bulk', I am eating about 2900-3000 calories a day except on my rest day, which is 2000 calories. Should I be cycling the calories more, for example, on my cardio only days, reduce the calories to maintenance or even below maintenance too? I am trying to bulk whilst not putting on too much body fat.

My nutrition plan (training days) consists of:
Meal 1 (4:45am) - 150 calories (not counted in my daily caloric count)
50g dried dates

Meal 2 (06:30am post workout meal) - 700 calories
Oatmeal pancake:6 egg whites
1 cup natural rolled oats
1 ripe banana
serve of bulk protein powder
blueberries & teaspoon of honey

Meal 3 (09:30am) - 500 calories
3 slices wholemeal multigrain bread
100g tuna1/2 avocado
-or-
tuna, lentil and sweet potato pattie:100g tuna
100g sweet potato
120g lentils1 egg white
avocado or tahini to top

Meal 4 (12:30pm) - 600 calories
1.5 cups wholemeal pasta
100g chicken1 cup brocolli
1 tablespoon flax seed oil
-or-
1 large pita bread
100g chicken
1/2 avocado
vegetables to top

Meal 5 (3:30pm) - 500 calories
100g cottage cheese1 apple
handful of strawberries
1/4cup of almonds or walnuts
1 cup skim milk

Meal 6 (6:30pm) - 500 calories
100g chicken
1.5 cups basmati rice
-or-
kidney beans/lentils/chickpease/sweet potato
2 cups salad

Meal 7 (08:15pm) - 200 calories
1 cup skim milk
100g yoghurt
handful of nuts

On the non weight training days, it's pretty much the same food, just different quantities. I have only 1 cheat meal a week and even then it is not really 'cheating', I always try and eat a solid healthy meal. I am very dedicated to achieve my goal. Is the 3000 calories too much? Your thoughts and guidance would be much appreciated.



Hi

Looks like you have the right idea. I don't have much time on my hands at the moment but I can give you a bit of advice here and there where I think you could make positive changes.
It's unfortunate that you don't have access to free weights, they are really important for putting on muscle. However, I think you'll be able to still build a base with the machines you're using, but you might find you out grow them pretty quickly.

Firstly with your training - The split looks good. 4 days of weights a week works well for me too. If your 10 minutes of cardio is anything but very low intensity walking then I'd recommend doing it after your weights. Reason being - when you lift weights your body uses glycogen (carbs stored in your muscles) for energy, and you need that to be able to perform well. If you do your cardio after weights when your glycogen is burnt out you are much more likely to use fat as a fuel source.

8-12 reps is ok for now, but if you really want to get more muscle you will need to go heavier. I know magazines and web sites say that 8-12 is the perfect hypertrophy range, but getting under bigger weights (maybe 4-6 reps) for the big compound movements is essential if you want to get bigger. Leave the 8-12 range for the lighter, more isolated exercises. Eg. Curls of flys.
Regarding your cardio, I'd only do the high intensity stuff if you absolutely love it, otherwise, low intensity, long duration cardio is much more effective for fat loss. Steph and I both only used walking to get lean for the show and Steph ended up with shredded abs (which she never thought possible). Basically fat is a fuel source that can only be used at low intensity's. Yes, you burn more cals in the same time with the high intensity stuff, but your body will go to carbs/glycogen and Amino's (your body will break down muscle tissue to get it) for energy. To give you an idea of the cardio load I used to get lean, I was up to 6 x 1 hour walks a week + 20 mins after each weight session.

Also, the most effective time to walk for fat loss is in the morning on a completely empty stomach (except maybe a black coffee - caffeine is excellent for fat loss and training in general).

Now regarding your diet - It looks really good you have the right idea, however theres a few things you can do to tweak it to make it better for fat loss and muscle gain. Basically you want to have carbs when you'll use them. I train in the afternoons so I have a big carb meal for breakfast then no carbs until my pre-training meal (about 4pm). I also have carbs during training for energy and post training for recovery.

So if you're training in the mornings I'd recommend getting in all your carbs before about midday (unless you have a fairly physically active job). It's important not to have carbs and fats in the same meal. Some are unavoidable, but as a general rule you don't want to give your body 2 energy sources to deal with at the one time. So advocado and bread wouldn't be the best idea - even though it tastes so damn good!

Also, it's important to get in some protein before your weights sessions aswell so you have amino's bouncing around. Later in the day when you're less active your meals should be void of starchy carbs and consist of fibrous carbs (greens), protein (meat) and fats (nuts, PB, advocado etc).

Those mass gainer protein powders can be dangerous because they are loaded with sugar. It would be much better to get those cals from real food. However, since you're not getting in any protein before your training I'd suggest having a big mass gainer shake as soon as you wake on weight training days. Your next 2 meals should have heaps of carbs in them, but void of intentional fats. So if you're training in the morning and want to get all your carbs in early you need to be having really big carbs meals.

The rest of your meals for the day should have plenty of fats, protein and fibrous carbs.
EG -
200g chicken
50g Almonds
300g vegies

This is ideal, I think you will still make great progress with what you are planning, but if you want to stay as lean as possible and make the most out of your insulin response (insulin is a very anabolic hormone released when you have carbs) then you have to time your macro nutrients well. Also, try and consider having carbs during training, like a gatorade or maltodextrine. If you want an example of the structure I'm talking I'll attach a copy of the meal plan I'm working up to, rebounding from the show.

I think 3000 cals will work well for you, just make adjustments if you start to blow out or if you're not putting on any weight.

Watch the milk. Yes it's a good source of protein, but theres just as much sugar in it as there is protein. You're much better off having meat.

I've really blabbed on there... Once I get started I don't shut up! I hope I haven't confused you with too many different ideas to what you're currently doing. In the end everyone is different and what works for me may not work for you. If you're really serious about it you'll need to eventually join a gym, but like I said before you'll be able to build a base on the machines in your complex.

Oh and with your cheat meal, eat whatever the hell you like. As long as you stick to the plan for the rest of the week the cheat meal will shoot right through you. You will hold a little water which may make you feel fat for a couple days but if you're sticking to the plan all other times you won't be putting on any fat (as long as it's in the 1 sitting < 1 hour).

Best of luck.

Tanning

Tanning - Sounds so simple doesn't it? However, you can win or loose a show based on your tan, so it is anything but simple. We were very fortunate to have alot of help in that dept. Alison Matthews (2009 NABBA QLD overall Figure champ) was there to help us with our tanning from start to finish. I found that there's alot of debate on which combination of products gives the best looking colour. The old contest colour with dream tan, the new contest colout with body shimmer... As a newbie to competing it was a little stressful and confusing. When something so simple is so important you don't want to stuff it up. You diet for 5 months and train your ass off every single day only to get on stage and loose because you look like a beetroot?! No thanks. We were so thankful to have Alison's experience to make the right decisions for us.

After preparing all of our meals for Friday and Saturday we settled into bed Thursday night for a short and restless sleep. We rose at 5:30, in time to have a quick breakfast and our last proper shower for a couple of days; then got our lean butts down the coast to get our first coat on by 7am. It was cold as hell getting spray tanned in a shed at 7am in the morning. "I was in the pool!" - Seinfeld joke... However, it felt damn good to have some colour on our depleted white bodies.

One thing I need to mention for those of you who haven't competed before, or those who may use a different method. Water loading is messed up! It farks with your brain, and in extreme cases can be fatal - The fatal condition is known as Hyponatremia. On the Thursday we started on the low sodium springwater and I needed to get in 9 litres for the day. Not too hard at all. However on the Friday I had to get in that same amount by 1pm! (24 hours before I was supposed to be on stage for the pre-judging). The first 3-5 litres are a piece of cake, but after that dizzy spells and stomach aches, compounded by the amount of starchy carbs we were eating really made things hard. It had a weird effect on our moods too. We both felt a wave of savage depression hit us around the time we were finishing the last 2 litres or so, and it subsided about an hour after we stopped drinking. I'll have to try and do some more reading on that one.

Back to the topic; We had our second coat of tan at around 10-11 am, and we quickly realised that we were running out. The cost of competing compared to the physical reward is incredibly disproportionate. The tanning alone cost us $350-400 (for the 2 of us) and we had our own spray gun! After a trip to the store to buy another bottle of contest colour, we had a quick rinse and had another coat put on in the evening. We honestly looked like we had just been rolling around in mud. It was patchy and just looked horrible. However we had complete faith in Alison and knew that we only looked like this because of the residue which would all be evened out with the dream tan the next morning.

When the day was over and we went to bed we crashed and had a good 7 hours sleep. Everyone warned us that we wouldn't sleep but we were that exhausted and full of carbs that sleep wasn't a problem. Up and at Jon's by 6:45 for our last coat and a layer of dream tan, we were polished and where we needed to be. Tanning was suprisingly complicated with the amount of coasts, timed rinsing and combination of correct products, but the finished result was way worth it. When I saw Steph on stage for her pre-judging her colour really stood out compared to the other girls, and made her look as hard as a rock!

Carb Loading

We fanticised about carb loading all the way up to the show. When you're carbs are low and you're over training those starchy little balls of heaven seem to be on your mind all the time. I needed at least 2.5 days to carb up while Steph only needed 2 days. I think it's a little riskier with girls because of so much less body mass there's a chance that they could over do it and spill over. Whereas a guy like me, being tall, I have a whole lot o' man to fill up. It proved to be quite difficult. I was so depleted that it took around 800g of starchy carbs a day to fill me up.

I started on the Wednesday around lunch time (being that the show was on Saturday). That first meal was glorious! 100g chicken, 100g vege and a whole mess of potatoes! We started reducing our sodium on this day aswell, and conpletely cut it out the following day. So this meant that I couldn't have any salt on my potatoes. I used a heap of garlic and mixed herbs and cooked it all up in a big non stick pan. When carbing up it's important not to take in too many fats. Fats are a last resort to be used on the day of the show, you can't rish taking in too much too early. It's amazing how quickly your hunger strikes even when you're having these huge carb based meals. We were both on 8 meals a day and were hungry about an hour after each meal. This is due to the lower protein and fibrous carbs. Both of which usually help keep you full for longer.

On the Thursday we had to eliminate all Sodium. Sodium helps you body hold water, and if you want to be on stage looking sharp you can't be holding any under your skin. We had to switch to springwater (with sodium of <6mg sodium p/litre) and take in around 9 litres a day. No salt could be added to meals and you have to be extra cautious about every little thing you put in your mouth. No chewing gum, no sugar free cordial, soda, jelly or anything else synthetic like that. They all contain sodium. It's amazing how complicated life became at this point. We had to cook our oats with spring water, brush our teeth with springwater, wash our vegies in spring water... You have to be on the ball not to mess it up. All I can say is, we're damn lucky our carbs were up by this point so the ol' brain power had kicked back in.

We spent Thursday getting everything together. Making sure we had enough water (it pays to shop around. We found a brand that sold the 15lt tubs for $10 whereas the recommended 'Evian' was $3.50 per 1.5 ltr's.... We went through 45 litres between us, including for cooking etc, so in Evian money that would have been $157 instead of $30. Do your homework). We cooked and labelled all of our meals ready for the trek down the coast early the next morning for the first coast of tan.

The Depletion

Although the depletion phase officially started on the Monday before the Saturday show, for me it began 2 weeks out. The plan was always that we wanted our bodyfat to be where it needs to be one week out from the show. You really don't want to worry about loosing bodyfat in that last week, and you can't afford to come in too early either or you risk burning through too much muscle tissue. I was 31ml @ 2 weeks out and the goal was to be on stage around 27mls. So taking into account at least 2.5-3 ml in water I knew I was close to where I needed to be, but I had 1 week of fat burning left to really make sure I came in at the best I could.

I was quite lucky compared to alot of people in that I managed to keep fats in my diet up until 2 weeks out (25g almonds @ lunch) but we had to drop them at this stage. Also, I hadn't been dieting with any supplement assistance, stimulant or otherwise, so I had that up my sleeve aswell. I started taking musashi l-carnitine before all cardio and weight sessions and we dropped out all fats, and thats the reason why I say my depletion started 2 weeks out.

Dropping my fats really effected my head space. Physically I wasn't getting all that much hungrier, but it felt as though I became a little 'unstuck'. Bad mood swings and heavy fogginess were part of every waking hour, but I pushed through and tried to make the most out of the remaining workouts. The plan all along was to continue training hard, and keep to the style that had always worked well for me. Heavy weights and adequate rest. The only difference was that I wasn't going quite as heavy and the rest periods were a little shorter, calves or abs were put on to the end of most workouts and I added a few super sets here and there. 14-7 days out were the toughest out of all the prep. We were close but not quite there yet (and still working full time. Dealing with public transport in that state absolutely sux!).

When it came to visiting Jon on the Monday before the show to plan out our depletion I was quite fatigued. I realised that it had been at least 16-18 weeks since I had had a day without some kind of training or cardio. In case you're not sure the goal of depleting is to flush out all the remaining glycogen in the muscles. Preparing them for the carb loading phase, putting them in a state where they will be receptive to all the carbs you're putting in. Also, during this time we sodium load, which involves around 1.5-2 extra tea spoons of salt a day added to your meals. This has a similar purpose, reducing your sensitivity to sodium so when we reduce the sodium to help us dry out our body will be less likely to store it or react strongly to small amounts.

The deplete lasted for 2.5 days for me. 2.5 very dull days. The only carbs were 30g of oats in the morning for breakfast. Training was ok on Monday but by Tue and Wed I was shattered. The best word to describe it was that I felt 'brittle', and I know I looked that way too.

The Final week

It's Monday morning and the comp is behind me. I very happy to say; and still a little shocked that I won! Steph also came 3rd against a massive line up, I'm so proud! She took advantage of her strengths, and crushed her weaknesses. 

I went in trying not to have any expectations, but it was very hard not to fanticise about winning. The last week was an absolute whirlwind. Incredibly stressful at times but the exhiliration of success and freedom kept us grounded. I'd like to share the details of the final week with everyone because it gets very complicated and I've seen people make alot of silly little mistakes with huge consequences. There's no secrets, the information is already out there, the only problem is that there is just so many different approaches to getting on stage in your best shape that many people get confused and do silly things.

I spoke to quite a few competitors about their approach and there were quite a few wacky theories going round. One I found interesting was someone who went to the effort of sodium loading then depleting, but using a pizza to carb up on the night before the show. Uhhhhh What? Did someone forget to tell the guy that the average pizza has around 4000mgs of sodium in it? Meanwhile I'm brushing my teeth with spring water... But I'll cover sodium a little later.

I'll break the posts into a few parts  --->

The Depletion

Carb Loading

Tanning

Show Day

The Morning After

Stay tuned, and feel free to ask me any questions if I miss anything.

Off Season

One week out so I'm sure you can imagine I'm absolutely obsessed with food. I can turn a conversation about a car accident into a witty chat about the new KFC variety bucket.

I've been playing with the calorie king program to get together an off season meal plan to work my way up to. I was on about 4200 cals @104kgs so I figure getting up to 106-7 kgs at the same BF% will mean I'll need at least 4500 cals. 

Here's the first plan @ 4500 cals I came up with----->

Strength

At 3 weeks out I started to feel the crunch. Crunch is most definately the right word for it too. Although my strength hasn't dropped significantly, when I get under the weight it feels like my boney little body is about to crumple like a stack of playing cards. I literally can't wear my weight belt anymore because I'm too damn skinny. At first it was cool seeing the notches go down. I started getting a little worried when I got to the last notch (I use the notch in the middle in the off season), but now I can't even get the belt on because my ribs and hips dig into the belt so hard that I have blood blisters on them. Where oh where has my glorious man-cushoning gone!

I shouldn't complain, its all part of the process. If I want to win I have to get freaky lean... And I do want to win. At this stage I am so far over it that unless I do exceptionally well and really enjoy the state show I will be leaving it at that and not proceeding to the Nationals. Though I know I'm talking 'diet head' so I won't commit to anything until I've done the first show.

Although the cardio has been torturous (6 x 50min... Yes I know many people have it worse than me) the weights sessions have been pretty enjoyable once I get warmed up. I still have maltodextrine during training, and I must admit, I get a little crazy once those sugars hit the ol' blood stream. I speak alot of shit and tend to bounce of the walls a little. I had a few achievements regarding strength that I wanted to stick to leading up to the show. I'm happy to say that they have been achieved. I'm still doing 12 reps on the 165lb dumbell rows which was one of my goals. They feel like 200lbs but I'm still managing to get them out. At my best I squatted 6 sets of 6 reps on 4 plates a side. I was happy last week when I squatted 6 x 6 on 3 1/2 plates. Thats only a drop of 1/2 a plate a side 4 weeks out! It did feel like I was grinding my bones to dust but I still got there!

I've come to the conclusion that you shouldn't change something thats not broken. For that reason, for the most part, my training has remained the same as the off season. I've made a few exceptions to avoid injury, and the volume is down a little because my energy levels fade fast but I'm proud to say that the intensity and big weights are still there ('big weights' is such a relative term. I mean 'big' compared to my own achievements, not compared to anyone else). I only have chest (which has been most effected by the diet) and arms this week and next week will be the last one of serious training before the show so it's all guns blazing!

Don't go walking with Lindy...

I had the pleasure of staying with Lindy for the weekend up at Noosa Beach. Its such a beautiful area. The air is so damn clean! No matter how good the conditions are however, playing the away game makes comp prep so much harder. You don't have the safety nets that you do on your home turf.

I had some cardio to catch up on so I thought I'd join Lindy on the beach. It was a beautiful morning, not hot and not cold. The beachside was filled with people enjoying bacon and eggs by the water. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, and so was I. However... City feet don't bode well with a long walk on hot sand. After about 15 minutes both my big toes had formed into huge blood blisters. I wasn't about to ruin mine or Lindy's cardio so I just kept truckin' so the blisters got bigger and bigger.

Walking on sand is infinitely different to walking on the treadmill. After walking (FAST!) on wet sand for an hour, crossing over the dry sand to get to the car was like doing lunges with 100kgs on your back. Needless to say I barely took a breath when eating my oats afterwards. That cadrio was a real shock to my 'treadmill in front of the tv with sneakers on' system.

The next morning we had our weekly appointment with big Jon. I dropped twice my average! I've stuck to the plan in every way, but I think it was that cardio that bumped my fat loss up a little. Jon has rewarded us with the opportunity to have a 'free' meal this weekend. Its been about 4 weeks since I ate a meal of my choice. The thought of getting to the stage with regrets about my conditioning massively outweighs the urge to eat extra food. If I don't do so well it won't be as dissapointing as getting to the stage out of top forms, knowing that I could have been better if I'd have stuck to the plan. So with Jon's blessing you can bet you lucky fuckin' stars that I'll be enjoying my meal tonight. Pizza capers calzone and garlic bread, washed down with a milky Mocha and McFlurry. Damn... Life is good.

NB: On a side note, if anyone is struggling to shed bodyfat, start doing your walks on the beach (if you have the luck to be near one). Having to push against the sand is so damn effective.

Comp Prep Reality Check

I thought it would be a good idea to write a little about all the boring day to day changes that getting ready for a show brings to your life. I only seem to write a blog post when there has been a success or something exceptional regarding my training, diet or progress, but in reality there’s so much else going on.

Comp prep completely absorbs your life. If you want the chance to be successful it can’t be half assed… Hell it can’t even be 99% assed, you need to put your whole ass on the line. Social life, sex life, work life, it all takes a back seat to your preparation for the show. I feel like I should be getting some of this down on paper so that I don’t forget what it’s really like.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying this. It’s hard god damn work, but it’s what I love. I think people who decide to do a show because a few friends have told them that they’d do well or that they look like they have a lot of muscle, are in for a terrible ride. You have to love it to enjoy it. Training day after day, almost forcing yourself into a state of over training is not something that someone who has to drag themselves into the gym could accomplish without completely burning themselves out and rebounding savagely after the show is over.

Recently, digestive issues have become a very annoying consequence of my extremely high fibre, high protein diet. It happens to most people as they get close to their show, but I was hoping that somehow it wouldn’t happen to me.. Wrong! I was warned by gym buddies that my sex drive would all but disappear, I thought “no way man, not me… I like it freakaaaay”… How wrong I was. Its not completely gone, but it’s closer to celibacy than I ever wanted to be! – I hope my parents don’t read this.

I’ve found that my interest in bodybuilding has greatly dimished. I don’t find myself thinking about it or reading about it. When you have to train before you’re recovered on half the calories that you are used to, your training can become a chore at times so the last thing you want to do it surround yourself with it when you’re not in the gym. My savours have been black coffee and video games! Yes, I am that nerdy. Video games are much more absorbing than tv, you have to give your attention to them. It really helped with me because it makes me think of something other than food. Black coffee has been an absolute saviour. It picks you right up, gives you evergy (even though it may be fake energy), helps you concentrate (which has become a real issue at work) and kills your appetite. Also, I’ve found it’s a great way to hold on to the precious little skeric that remains of my social life. Its something to do when catching up with friends. Unfortunately, eventhing else seems to be surrounded by either food or booze. The opportunities that don’t revolve around consumption often take a long time which can be very impractical when you have to cart all of your meals around with you. It’s much easier to just say no most of the time. We often hear “can’t you just skip a meal?” or “Why can’t you just not go to training today?” On that note, to all my family and friends who have understood the sacrifices I have had to make, all the time and money I have poured into this endeavour, and have still been understanding and stuck by me with no pressure or complaints, you have my greatest appreciation and I love you all. To everyone else, go get fucked.

Now that ugliness is out of the way, I hope that the above gives someone an idea of what prepping for a show can mean for your life in general, with all the glitz, glamour, six-packs, vascularity and dreamtan aside. If I only do this once it will definitely be a highlight of my life. It has been such a massive learning curve and very ‘character building’. I feel stronger because of it. Although its been hard, it’s what I love and I think the shows I do this year will be the beginning of many to come.

Home Stretch

After seeing Jon this morning I've had another small but steady drop (39.5ml). I have to hand it to him, most of the changes have been so gradual that I barely notice them, both mentally and physically. I've been shaken up a few times over changes to things that I was particularly attached to but I managed to get over them quickly. I haven't had one week where I haven't made progress. Slow and steady wins the race right? Now its all a game of holding on to as much muscle as I can...

Today's changes have been simple; More protein and less carbs for both breakfast and my pre-training meal. He gave me the option but I'd much rather keep the carbs in my dinner because it helps me sleep.

Other than that its business as usual. Joints are rickity, I'm sick of cardio, the smell of toast drives me into an uncontrollable fit of rage... but I can't complain. Overall I am enjoying this. I could have trained for the next 6 years and pretty much looked the same. The delight in the amount of progress I plan to make in the off season is keeping me firing! I may be confused for a triathlete now, but come next march I'm going to have to be let in the loading dock at work because the front doors won't be wide enough to let me in!

6 Week Out Landmark

The 6 week out land mark has seen some pretty hefty changes. My progress has been consistant but quite slow, which means I have a little (not alot) of catching up to do.

The first change is saying goodbye to cheat meals. I knew this day would come. Although I really enjoyed the freedom that came with it, I know that if I want to come in peeled I have to give them away now. Secondly, we're off dairy. No more natural yoghurt before bed. Again, I'm happy that I've been able to keep it in the plan for this long. The first night without it was a little struggle. It used to help me sleep and it was nice going to bed with a full stomach. Its definately something I will continue in the off season, which is only 6 weeks away!! woohoo..

We also reduced my fats a little which doesn't bother me in the slightest since it was from the yolk I was having in the morning which I never liked anyway. I must admit I'm getting sick of all the cardio. It really makes you rethink any 'extra curricular' walking that may come up. I'm on 5 x 45min sessions and 15 min after each workout. Hopefull with the fairly dramatic changes we've made this time round I shouldn't have to up my cardio for a few weeks.

My workouts have for the most part stayed intense. Once the maltodextrine kicks in I'm choomping at the bit to throw around some heavy poundages. I'm reluctant to change what I'm doing to the accepted 'lighter comp training'. Why change something that has worked well for me for so long? I am dropping my weights here and there, mainly to avoid injury (though my shoulder is giving me hell again!!), and throwing some supersets into the mix for the smaller body parts. no drastic changes though. Nothing stimulates muscle fibres like heavy weight... NOTHING.

Looking at the past winners of the ANB state show its clear that conditioning is everything. Allthough it's depressing to see that my weight is now 2 digits instead of 3... I have to remind myself that if I want to do well, thats what it takes! Light weight baby!

Progress.. 8 Weeks out!

Just a quick post to show some progress shots. I saw Jon on Friday. He has upped my cardio - 5 x 40min p/wk. Reduced pre-training rice to 50g. Other than that its business as usual.

Coffee... My Friend

Sitting here with a strong-ass long black, I can't help but thank my lucky

stars that I have such a physically un-demanding job. It's Monday and

although my weekend was quite uneventful I spent most of it battling

myself. Energy levels and some minor anxiety about the show are slowly

becomming a prominant issue. I'm not thinking negatively, but I am

thinking about it all too much.





I saw Jon on Friday and I made the usual 1.5ml drop. While I am glad that

my progress is consistant (1.5ml a week for the last 5 weeks) I need to

step it up a little. He said that it would be better to drop 2.5 ml for a

few weeks and coast it in rather than have to cram too close to the show.

Having to loose 10+ mls in the closing weeks would result in too much

muscle loss.





I'm sitting at 43ml (over 9 sites - chest, biceps, triceps, 2 spots on my

abdomen, sub-scap, lumbar, thigh and calf) and I want/need to be at 27ml

on the day of the show. 25ml if I'm doing really well. So therefore, I'm 9

weeks out and have to drop 16ml, thats 2 ml a week minimum (as you don't

want to have to 'drop' any in the last week. The last week is all about

depleting and carb loading). So if I can bump it up to 2.5ml drop a week I

should be ahead of things.





Right now I'm doing 5 x 30min cardio a week, 5 weight sessions and each

weight session is followed by 15min cardio. I'm doing my best to stay

strong, and for the most part it has been relatively easy. My back has

been just as strong as ever, but I'm finding that I fade fast so I've

dropped the total work out volume a little. So instead of maybe 10-12 sets

for chest I'll do 8. Nothing dramatic, but enough to keep the quality in

the session.





Honestly, I can't believe this Saturday we'll be 8 weeks out. I can't

wait... but being my first time I'm also unsure, especially regarding the

crowd and routines etc. The way I figure, I should lap it up. Make the

most of it and give them everything I've got. Nationals here I come :S





Ps: If anyone has information about the IFBB classic show @ the Sunny

Coast on 18th Oct please comment and let me know. I know that it is a

hight:weight ratio regulated division, but theres no information out there

that I've been able to find.

At the right time of day, under the right light...

The title says it all. Its nice to have my abs showing through a little at times, but they're far from being 'in'. 

Up until now I've been a little 'whatever' about my off season conditioning. After all my big problem is putting on the kgs, not loosing them. I've always had a predisposition to being tall and lean. I only put on fat when I really cram down nasty food. However, not that I'm starting to see some conditioning come through I'm starting to like the idea of being in reasonable shape year round. 

I'm really looking forward to being really lean. I think it will be about another 10kgs before I'm in stage shape, but I would be happy with anything over 90kgs (which I think is a reasonable estimate. 

Weekly Skin Folds

The results of my weekly skin folds were 44ml @ 101kgs. I'm pretty happy with that. I seem to be right on track. I'm training pretty hard at the moment so I'd like to keep that going for as long as possible.

The only changes we made were to my cardio. Added 5 minutes to myt post training sessions and 5 minutes to my normal sessions, but didn't touch my food... which is just fine with me!

Also, I forgot to mention I'm now officially a contributer to Oxygen Magazine. I Wrote two articles and edited quite a few others in the up comming issue. So check it out :)

Rough Patch

Ok, so I've had my first tought patch. It's definately a combination of things. Yesterday and today so far have been rough. I had a poor night sleep Monday night and for what ever reason that made sticking to the plan real tough. Also, my Friday night cheat meal has been put forward two days which although is only 2 days it has done my head in a little. Usually I am right as rain for 3 days after the cheat, then content for 2 days, then start to crave for 2 days and then I have the cheat. Now that its a 9 day gap in total I'm letting it get to me. I've got to get on top of that quick smart because at 6 weeks out we're going to be canning the cheat meals altogether. Thats going to be hard, so I've just got to toughen the fuck up.

In a meeting yesterday I felt like I was about to loose it... Listening to a debate about testing environments is anough to do your head in at the best of times. And today I felt like running down stairs and hold up the sushi shop with my lunch fork...

I've found a few things that help when you get a case of the comp-prep crazies->
1. Artificially sweetened treats - Diet coke, chewing gum, long black expresso etc.
2. Getting plenty of sleep.
3. Focusing on the changes in your physique.

My training sessions have been really intense. I'm still pushing some big weights on squats and back exercises, which is really kicking my metabolism into high gear. 10 weeks out this Saturday, nothin but a peanut!

Also, we're going down the coast to see Jon tomorrow morning which is always motivating. Last wee I was 45ml (roughly) so I'm hoping for a 2 ml drop. The more work I do now, means I can come in slower and eat more food the whole time. Therefore, comming in fuller and tighter. I'll keep you posted.

Creeeping Up On Me

10 Weeks out this Saturday. The time is really flying by. I'll be munching

cheese burgers and using coke as mouth wash before you know it. To be

honest I was expecting it to be harder than this. I know its going to be

much tougher in the last 6 weeks, and I know that since I have enlisted the

help of big JD the transition to comp prep has been a smooth one... yet

still... I don't know what the big deal is. People talk of bursting into

tears and chucking little tantrums, I haven't felt anything like that yet.

Yes, I have been a little short with people at times, but nothing too

dramatic.



I'm still allowed my cheat meals once a week. I find that I have no craving

for about 5 days after them, then the next two days are fine anyway because

I know the little splurge isn't far off. I'll loose that freedom in the

last 6 weeks, but thats ok, its only 6 weeks.



Theres no debate on which shows I'm doing now, the only thing I have to

decide is which class to compete in.. Since I'm so tall it might benefit me

to do the heavyweights instead of the novice. Still to decide.

45.5ml @ 11.5 weeks out

Ok, I've broken the 12 week barrier. After following Jon's meal plans for well over 12 months now, 12 weeks feels like a walk in the park. With each change made things get a little harder, but I'm sure its just a fraction of how hard it would have been if I would have rocked up to Jon 12 weeks out expecting him to get me in shape.

Because we've made slow changes over time I'm exactly where I need to be with my skin folds while still having many cards up my sleeve. I still have yoghurt every day, I still have almonds, I'm getting in about 2800 cals and holding 101kgs.

At this rate I think I'll come in around 90kgs which will be nice. My legs are quite full still and my midsection is getting leaner. Feeling very flat today but I'm getting used to the change Jon just made. He took the fats out of my morning tea so that I basically only have protein and fibrous carbs from breakfast till lunch. I'll get used to it in a couple of days.

Leg training tonight, I might need someone to give me a big slap in the face to get going, but I really want to make this workout count!!

Praise to the Local

The gym I go to is about 30 minutes from home. Yes it's that good! The owner has a fetish for new equipment which suits me just fine. Theres more than enough gear to go round and you're never short of a new angle to try.

So during the working week we train straight after work and its not too bad because we're on the run anyway. However, weekends are a little more taxing. I don't want to have a 1 hour round trip for training every weekend, so we decided to go down the road and check out the little 24 hour gym that has just opened.

Compared to BJ's it is quite small and limited with space/weights, however (and thats a big however) most of the time you just about have the place to yourself. I have to give the owners praise with the equipment they chose aswell. All hammer strength and life fitness (best of the best).

Although the gear is limited, it is rock solid. Most angles are covered, theres a nice smith machine and a modern take at a power rack. Theres a huge hammer strength leg press (but unfortunately not enough weight to fill it). Also, the dumbells only go up to about 42kgs which a very limiting for me, as I've gotten used to BJ's range of up to 75 kgs.

All in all, a very nice little gym. Great value for money. If I wasn't so attached to BJ's and big ass dumbells I would have definately changed gyms.

Temple 24 hr Gym, Orion Shopping centre, SpringField.

Oh and they have a 'Pro Spot'. If you haven't seen one before check it out on google. Very cool stuff ;)

12.5 weeks out 101kgs @47ml

The party has really started now. I have to stay focused and make progress each and every week. I can't afford to have little slip ups that result in a 0 loss week.

I'm sitting at 47ml with just over 11 weeks to go. I need to loose 2 ml per week to make sure I hit the target on time. Just because I'm where I need to be doesn't mean I can slack off. I'm going to have to keep working hard for every loss.

My training is still quite heavy. Theres alot of exercises that I want to keep training real heavy all the way up to the show. Shrugs, stiff leg deadlifts, squats... etc. I think most of my pressing movements will get alot weaker as I think water retention can play a much larger role in bench and shoulder press than other movements.

Starting to look good in the mirror. My abs are out most of the time, but will still need to get much, much leaner.
So: Can't miss any cardio
Can't eat ANYTHING that is not on the plan, unless its a cheat meal - Once every 7 days(which I'll probably loose about 6 weeks out)
Have to keep my weights up for as long as possible
Have to focus on getting 8 hours sleep every night

These are all things I'm already doing, I just have to stay focused. I've changed my split slightly, to a plan that works much better for my recovery.
1. Chest & Abs
2. Legs & Calves
3. Arms
4. Delts & Abs
5. Back & Calves
6. Rest
7. Rest

The Calorie Debate

I just don't get it. A rescent trend that is starting to irk' me is the notion that a calorie is a calorie, no matter where you get it from. If you take in more than what you use you will get bigger, and if you burn more than you eat you will get smaller. While this is true to a degree, the type and quality of your food plays a massive role.

Part of this argument centres around sugar and carbs. 'They' are arguing that sugars will not be converted to body fat unless they are acconpanied by other nutrients. Garbage! Sugars raise your blood sugar. Insulin is responsible for storing fat (very basically said).

Sigh* One of them quoted Dorian yates saying that a trainee would get the same results eating x amount of calories from rice as they would from x amount from cookies. Do you think Dorian ever ate cookies while getting ready for a show?! Hell no... The calorie is a calorie theory may work for someone with a 'jenny craig' physique, but if you have a care in the world about your body composition then clean it up!

I've had my rant...

German Volume Part Two

One of the greatest lessons I ever learned in the gym was knowing where the

value lies. Basically knowing what you have to do to get results and

ditching everything else that doesn't matter. I think that is a good way to

attack life in general. How many times have you over thought a

confrontation with someone. Whether their a colleague, friend, client.

Being able to forget the unessential conflicts in our lives would make us

so much happier.. And keep life simple!



I applied that theory to leg training last night. I knew that legs would be

a killer when applying the German volume formula, but I also knew that it

has real potential to make the ol' wheels grow. I fought with myself all

day trying to figure out the exact exercises, sets and reps I wanted to

work with. The best I could settle on was that I would definately be doing

10 sets and that I would be doing some kind of squats at some point.



So... after 5 minutes on the bike and some energetic stretching I started

to psych myself into the squat. Thats no easy feat... I've been under that

bar many times before and I know just how tough it is. I'm now about to

attempt 10 sets in a row? What am I nuts?



I said to myself that I have to give squats all I've got. If I had to go

home after that then so be it. Squats are what matter, all the other

exercises are secondary, almost insignificant compared to what I was about

to face. Knowing me and my lust for weight I approached the bar where 2

young boys were squatting 3 plates a side. Which is very descent. The only

problem was that they were barely bending their legs. Not only could you

not call what they were doing a squat, you'd be a little brave calling it a

bounce or a bend. Even though... I'm stubborn and wouldn't accept the fact

that they were doing a weight close to what I was about to do. So the plan

started to formulate in my head. 10 sets of 6 reps on 4 plates a side

(180kgs). I think it must have been the caffeine talking me into it.



The first set was tough. I thought to myself, ok that was nasty, I'll do

one more then drop to 160 or 140. But after the 2nd set I thought maybe I

can make it to 5? To be honest the middle sets were the easiest. I just had

to talk myself into one set at a time, concentrating on my form rather than

the weight. If you think about the weight too much you will become undone.



In the end I made it to 10 sets but I was smashed. Absolutely smashed. In

the end thats 60 reps on 180kgs, 19 weeks out and counting. I hobbled to

the treadmill and walked for 10 minutes to try and get the blood moving

again. It felt good to let it out. I highly recommend the above :)

Cleanses the soul.

German Volume Part One

I thought I'd try something a little different this week. Comp prep has

officially kicked off so I needed something to give me a kick start into

bad ass land. Although while dieting you can't expect to be breaking

records, you still have to train like an animal. Someone once told me that

to get through it and be in winning shape you have to have the mongrel in

you. If you don't, if you let the whingeing voice in the back of your head

tell you that hard workouts just aren't possible while your dieting then

you can't possibly expect to be in your best shape on the day of the show.



I've done a bit of reading on some different styles and the German Volume

style seemed to intrigue me the most. The basic rule of thumb is 10 sets of

10 for each exercise, however everyone has their own spin on how to apply

the style. Anyone who knows me should be well aware that I like to train

heavy. I've gotten the best results in my life my getting under loads of

iron. Getting a pump is fun, but it doesn't get you anywhere. So Instead of

10 sets of 10 I did 10 sets of 6, and I thought I would split up the week

as follows -

1. Chest and back

2. Abs and Calves

3. Legs

4. Abs and Calves

5. Delts and arms

6. rest

7. rest



For day one I started with barbell rows for back. I'm stubborn and wouldn't

let myself go lighter than 3 plates a side. The first 2 sets I managed 10

reps but I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep up those reps with solid

form for another 8 sets so I dropped the next 8 sets to 6 reps and

tightened up my form. Loved it.



Next, for chest I did bench press, 2 plates a side for 10 sets of 6. Not

too hard but I was quite tired by the 7-8 sets. And finally I finished with

3 sets of DB fly and wide grip chins super sets. Took about an hour all up

with a good warm up. I wouldn't do it every week but it was definately a

nice way to change things up for a week.

Comp Prep Training Intensity

Ok, so my calories (more specifically carbs) are starting to be dropped.

I'm managing to keep my strength up, although I'm certainly not getting

close to any PB's.



I've been fortunate enough to train alongside many people who have been

getting ready for competitions and I have learnt from their mistakes. One

of the more common I have noticed is the steady decline in training

intensity and the belief that when you're getting ready for a show you only

need to use light weights with high reps. From what I've seen and in my

person experience that is the worst conscious training decision you could

make.



Yes, your joints get achy and your energy levels plummet, but with good

nutrition you can time your energy level peaks to coincide with your

training sessions.



I plan to train hard and heavy all the way up to the show, even though I am

already starting to feel like 'going easy' on myself in the gym. Is that

urge practical or lazy? I think the trick is to time your carbs well so you

have a strong insulin spike coinciding with your training session and to

keep your sessions short. Don't waste energy on useless exercises. Do what

you have to do then go home eat and sleep.

Progress

The last visit to the coach was a little dissapointing as far as progress

goes. My body weight hadn't increased but my skin folds had gone up 3 ml. I

spent the next few days fighting it over in my head trying to figure out

what I had been doing wrong. How was I doing things different before when I

was making progress. In the end I realised that over thinking it was going

to set me back. At the very least it would keep my progress stagnant.



Needless to say he tightened up my diet a little to get things under

control. My breakfast oats were reduced from 100g to 75. My training carbs

brought down from 130 to 50. However my pre-training rice was brought up

from 75g to 100 and my post training potato from 250 up to 300g. So

basically I've substituted more real food for less training supplements. My

calories are a little lower but not much. According to his calculations my

cals are still at 140-150% of my base maintenance cals (though I couldn't

imagine living off 2500 cals).



I know that as I get closer and closer to the comp there are going to be

more frequent and more intense head games to deal with so I'm doing my best

to get a mental strategy aligned before I get any closer. Basically its

just heads down bum up. I don't care about the scales I'm just going to eat

what I'm told and train hard. I'm going to wear big baggy clothes to the

gym to stop people commenting becuase it messes with your head and can

effect your workouts.



I have an appointment to get my skins done again tomorrow. I've definately

lost weight and looking leaner in the mirror, but it will be interesting to

see just how much..

Going Single Ain't So Bad

I'm not talking about soup-for-one style (what the hell is soup anyway?!

Its not a meal, its not a drink. To me its just useless flavoured water),

I'm talking about one gut wrenching rep with weights that inspire fear. If

I'm not a little afraid of the weight I'm about to attempt for a single rep

then I know I'm not lifting heavy enough.



Although I consider myself a bodybuilder and not a powerlifter I am a

definite believer in lifting heavy. Not every workout and definitely not

every exercise, but single rep lifts definitely have their place in my

training regime.



You don't get a pump from a 1 rep lift. You don't get that exhausted full

feeling that come from hypertrophy training but you do get days of fullness

and more muscle fibre activation than you could every hope to achieve with

lighter weights.



Last night I thought I was overdue for some rack pulls. Its basically

deadlifting from knee height in a squat rack. Very little lower back injury

risk in comparison to its powerlifting cousin, the deadlift. All you have

to do is hold on tight and stand up straight holding on to the bar. Easy

right? The trick is you have to crank the weight right up. Way up. I mean

bend that farking bar man. Make it earn its keep. I won't bore you with the

reps and weights I did, but I worked my way up 40kgs at a time never going

over 5 reps per set until I reached a weight I could only complete 1 rep on

and I did that little baby set 3 times.



Don't get me started on the hypertrophy vs strength training argument or

I'll go on forever. The fact is that all successful (and I reiterate

successful) bodybuilders have a background in some form of strength

training. You just can't build the size and density to be a winner without

it. Both training styles are essential.



Right now my upper thigh's are bruised, I've torn a callus and my upper

back and traps feel like they've been branded with a hot iron, but it was

all worth it. I know my upper back and posterior chain are going to benefit

from the lifts last night. All I need now is a good ol' massage :)

Simple... Keep it simple

Leg day is always a head f*ck... and not in a good way :S

I've been procrastinating over it for two days now because I know that I
have lost some size in my legs and I have the show comming up in 21 weeks.
If I'm going to make any improvements I have to name them NOW.

So I keep asking myself "So what the hell are you going to do about it?!
Huh?!"

I've decided to squat till I drop. Simple. Focused on one thing. I intend
to stretch thoroughly before hand, the last thing I need is another injury.
3 1/2 or 4 plates a side for sets of 6 reps should do it. And I'll
basically do it until I throw up. Simple but sexy :)

Food Glorious Food

It shocks me how people take for granted what they put into their mouths. I
have been eating 99% of my meals from a functional perspective for around
10 years now. By that, I mean that nearly everything I eat is for a purpose
other than taste (taste is just a bonus). Don't get me wrong I haven't
always eating the right thing, and sometimes I have been so far from the
right way to eat for my goals that I was heading in the complete opposite
direct. It's been a learning experience for me, one which I am still
continuing.

You can't go anywhere without your body right? It's your number one asset.
Without it you're nothing (I'm not going to get into a spiritual debate). I
can't believe the amount of people that have no idea what certain foods do
to their body. Most people just don't understand how it all works.

Classic example. I walked into a coffee shop to have a coffee with a friend
of mine. Two women in their late 40's were chatting away about how they
have been watching what they eat. My ears pricked up immediately. One of
them said "I don't want to ruin my hard work so far. I might just get a
little slice of carrot cake and a cappuchino". Doesn't sound too bad when
you look at it like that hey?

For starters, the slice wasn't 'little' it was McF*ckin huge! She was
obviously just justifying it all to herself. I made a mental note to check
the macro-nutrient breakdown of this particular coffee shops carrot cake on
www.calorieking.com when I got home. Surprise, surprise. 700 calories for
'a little slice of carrot cake'. And with the cappuchino we're looking at a
800-850cal meal. With a similar carbs/fats breakdown to a Big Mac Meal from
good ol' McDonalds.

I won't keep harping on about the subject, but it makes alot of sense to
educate yourself about food. Seen the latest obesity ad campaign? "Are you
eating your way to chronic disease?" A little blunt, but effective none the
less.

Vince, Turn the Pressure Cooker Down!

A lesson in intensity... I wouldn't consider myself cocky, but I do know that I train harder than most people in my gym. However, I usually give myself plenty of time to train. I make sure I am completely recovered before moving on to the next set in an effort to get the most out of the workout.

Tuesday night was leg night, however when I got in the gym I saw a friend there who's training partner was on holidays so I thought I'd join him for some back training. Its always good to get in a session with someone you know trains hard, to be able to push things just a little further than usual. We started with warms ups of a plate a side on bent over barbell rows on the smith machine. We did about 2 sets of 20 reps. These 2 sets were the only light sets we did for the rest of the night. It was guns blazing from then on. Straight to 3 plate smith barbell rows for 2 sets. Which I though was moderately hard but nothing crazy (Vince has a reputation for training like an animal... I' haven't met many people that bench 5 plates a side for 8 reps!).

We then moved straight to under grip barbell rows. I was thinking "well
it's pretty close to the first movement so things should work similar to
the previous sets". WRONG. Straight to 4 plates a side for 3 sets. Nasty,
nasty sets. Bone crushing, spine condensing, jaw clenching sets. Barely
had I finishing my third set when he moved to the hammer strength leg
press. Apparently Vince's idea of a good time is rowing a leg press.
Welcome to pain County boys!

He assurred me that the rest of the workout would be a piece of cake, and
in comparison to the first half it was. We did wide grip machine lat
pulldowns, and an undergrip lat pull down machine. However, the catch was
that we couldn't do any less than the stack (all the weights on the
machine) and the sets were 12-15 reps.

This was all done in 45 minutes. I had to do some abs just to wait for
Steph to finish! As lesson in intensity alright... Lets see if I can pass
that on to the rest of my training.

Time to start posting again...

I've neglected my poor blog. I intend to make good use of her as the comp
season gets closer. I've just been concentrating on working my butt off and
keeping my diet clean.

I've increased my training sessions to 5 nights a week. Training monday to
friday and having the weekends off. I started using a 4 days split over 5
days (ie. on day 5 you go back to workout 1, then the following monday you
would start with workout 2) but every injury I have ever had started to
flare up again. Therefore I've moved to a 5 day split. Once I feel adjusted
to the extra session I'll think about going back to the 4 day split.

My diet has been good. My cheat meal last week was just ham and cheese
sandwhiches. I know that sounds tame, but I used full fat cheese, and boy
it was thick! Went through half a pound of ham too :) I think I've
noticed a difference this week with my physique. Having a slightly cleaner
(but still massive) cheat meal has kept me a little harder this week.

A couple of other changes to note. I have started doing ol' fashioned t-bar
rows again. I bought a double handed row bar (since the gym got rid of
theirs.. wankers) and I've been smashing the t-bar rows every second week.
Man I forgot how hard they hit the rear delts. Its been w while since
they've been sore to the touch. Made my way up to 7 1/2 plates for about 6
reps. The goal is to get to at least 8 plates for 8 reps by May (though I
think I might have a chance at 9 plates for 6 reps.. hehe). I've changed my
form on barbell rows and squats aswell. Both welcome changes. My BB rows
are slightly more vertical and I'm doing them in the power rack. Did 4 reps
on 4 plates a side. My stance on squats is now quite close. My leg strength
has gone through the roof because of it. Most people argue that close leg
should be heavier than wide leg, but it either just works for me or I was
very overdue for a change. I managed 6 plates a side for 4 reps on smith
machine squats the other night. Came outta no-where.

8 Days a Week

Well I've been to see the man with the master plan and on top of bringing up my carbs and dropping a little protein (mainly the amount I take in from shakes) he suggested that I stick with my usual 4 day split but increase my workouts to 5 days a week. I must admit I never would have done it if he didn't suggest it. I've learnt from trial and error that heavy, intense training with plenty of rest makes me grow. However, I'm older and more experienced now. I'm taking so many supps for recovery that I've almost lost count! So with a bit of luck 5 days rest between bodyparts shouldn't be too much to ask of my body. Hell, if I could train for a living I'd be dong a double split. 3 days on, one day off. Two sessions a day!

I'm at hump day (wed). Chest and tri's was monday, legs yesterday and I have delts and calves tonight. I have to do this smart or I'm just going to overtrain. Not from lack of food though.. omg I'm so sick of eating. I can't complain. It's business time. I have 4 months to get as much last minute muscle as I can, then it's comp dieting time.

I figure only having 5 days off between leg sessions is going to do my head in, and I want to stay strong. There's no use turning up the frequency if I'm going to drop my performance. So for legs I'll be doing a heavy quad, minimal hamstring workout, then the following workout it will be just speed squats then more intense on the hammies. I'll have to apply the same formula to most of my other workouts. Go heavy one workout then a little lighter the next. This doesn't mean sets of 15 reps and all machines. It means that I might use dumbells instead of barbells of do something a little more isolated rather than standing.

This will be a big learning curve for me so I'll keep you all updated. I haven't trained like this since I bought Arnie's bodybuilding encyclopedia back when I was 17! I trained 6 days a week, hitting each bodypart twice. I ended up really hard but I was a little overtrained and didn't really put on any size. Time will tell.

DELTlicious

First day back at training. I could barely contain myself. I've been saying to myself 'I'm competing this year'. I can see it being an intense year. I only hope that I don't over train. 

So, being a Thursday and wanting to stay on track with the new split, I trained delts, calves and abs. It wasn't a record breaking workout, but it was intense none the less.

The workout - 

One arm side Db laterals - 75lbs 2 sets of 12 reps.

Rear laterals on pec deck machine - 10, 2 sets 8-10 reps.

Seated DB press - 85lbs for 8 reps, 90lbs for 5 reps.

Barbell front raises - 80lbs 2 sets of 10 reps.

A good set of delts really make the physique. Cannot fault Dennis Wolf's.

Dumbell shrugs - 165lbs 3 sets of 15 reps. (yeh I have strong traps. I usually do no more than 6-8 reps, but the 165lbs DB's are they biggest they have! So I usually do barbell shrugs but my lower back was a little tender, being first day back I thought it best not to take any chances).

Face pulls - The stack for 2 sets of 10 reps.

Super set:

Standing calf raises - 6 plates for 12 reps, 8 plates for 10 reps, 10 plates for 8 reps.

Leg raises on an incline bench with butt lift - 2 sets of 15 reps.

Super set:

Donkey calf raises - 310lbs 2 sets of 8 reps

Cable crunches - The stack + 45lbs 2 sets of 15 reps.

Its good to be back.

Boxing Day (forever known as blast back day)

I had every intention of making the 24th my last training session of the year. It's pretty rare I take time off of training but 2009 is going to be big for me. I've got a long streak of big sessions ahead of me so I thought it would be a good time to take a break. Not to mention all the annoying half days that the gyms do over the xmas/ny period. I received a message from my old training partner Marcus around lunch time on xmas day asking if I'd be interested in a boxing day morning session at a good life near his place (which just happens to be close to my parents place where I was staying over the break). I had my head in the 'I'm not thinking about training for a week' state, but it didn't take me long to talk myself into it. I knew it would be a killer session. Marcus and I have a killer training chemistry. We both like to train heavy and hard, but not too rushed. Plus, I got some Gaspari supplements for xmas that I was already dying to try out.

I picked Marcus up at around 9am and we headed straight to the gym, stopping briefly for a coffee from the local cafe. I always try and get in some caffeine before workouts but on top of the SuperPump, I had some serious caffeine overload! The gym was reasonably set out. I'm used to alot of top quality equipment so I'm a little spoilt when it comes to that. The main thing I noticed was the people. For a boxing day morning there was quite alot of keen people. Mostly in the 20-25 age bracket. It really made me realise how ethnic my current gym is. Nearly every person in the GoodLife I was training in (redlands) was Caucasian but the amount of asian, indian and arabic people that I currently train with is really high (Mt Gravatt).

The plan was to train back thickness. Marcus splits us his back thickness and width sessions just like ol' Ronnie Coleman. All the rowing and deadlifts for thickness and pulldowns and chins for width. We started with rack pulls. I learnt a long time ago that deadlifts from the floor just don't work for me. I spent a long time fighting with myself over this. I know it is an awesome exercise for back size, but I kept getting little lower back problems from it. The day I saw an interview with Charles Glass and he said "BodyBuilders deadlift from the knee, powerlifters DL from the floor" I was sold. So now I do rack pulls, deadlifting from the knee in a power rack... nice and heavy.

With the ridiculous amount of caffeine buzzing through me, the excitement of training in a new gym and the subconscious urge to show my ex-training partner just how sh*t hot I still was, I went all out for a PB. Without going into details of every set, I managed 9.25 plates a side (390kgs or 858 lbs) on the last set. We did about 10-12 sets, never over 5 reps and gradually built up the weight. Marcus was most impressed by my lower back control. I kept it locked in and never let the slightest curve enter my form.

We then went on to ol' skool t-bar rows. My gym recently bought on of those stupid machines that imitate t-bar rows from the floor. All it succeeds in doing is pulling you up onto your toes. They managed to get rid of the double hand grip so we don't even have that option anymore. However, the goodlife had it. We busted out some super sexy sets on the ol' skool t-bar rows. I worked my way up to 7.5 plates but felt like if I worked on it for a couple of weeks I could easily add another plate.

My back has been sore since that session. I absolutely flogged it :) It just goes to show, referring to my previous post, what a good training partner can do for your workouts.

Action Plan 2009

There will be no time to waste in the new year. I'll have 4 months to pack on as much muscle as I can while maintaining my skin folds. I'll start dieting in May, then compete Sept/Oct. At training on Friday night, during a dreadfully average session, I started to mentally list all the things I'm not currently happy with about my training. There are three main things that need to be addressed immediately in the new year.

1. Get a Reliable and Consistent Training Partner:

I have been without a regular training partner for about a year now and its time I changed that. I really need to know that I'm moving forward. Its hard to breach new territory without a good training partner. I've been training on and off with a few guys in the gym that I know but none of them has any fire in their belly! I need someone who wants to break records, grow like a week and support me if I'm having a flat day. 

So therefore, this is my number one priority. Along with this, I intend to drive down the coast to train with Jon more often. Its a long way to go just to get in the gym, but training with Jon is indispensable. We're buying a new car soon so the trip down the coast will be much less of a chore. 

Franco and Arnold were a great team, and are apparently sill best friends.

2.  Spend more Money on Supplements:

To get ahead in the natural game supplements play a significant role. My diet is solid and I train hard, the only thing I'm consistently lacking is cutting edge supps. I always have a good supply of the basics on hand, but I think I would benefit from using some of the more fancy supps on the market. Time to spend up (cause they're damn expensive!).

I'm a big believer in getting your food right before worrying too much about supps, but I feel my diet is going well so some good supps should give me an edge.

3. Re-Evaluate my Training Split:

While training cheat the other night I struggled due to tired triceps. My current split is:

1. Chest, calves, abs.

2. Legs.

3. Delts, tris.

4. Back, bi's.

I think swapping calves and abs for tri's on day 3 makes alot of sense for several reasons. I've been having on and off elbow problems from going to heavy on exercises like skull crushers and 2 hand dumbell overhead extensions. Pre-fatiguing tri's on chest will ensure that I don't have to train them quite as heavy to get the same results. Also, if there's a bodypart I need more development it is definitely my shoulders. So only having calves and abs to worry about after delt's will leave 90% of my mental energy devoted to delt's. Lastly, my tri's will be nice and recovered by the time chest training comes round again. Grow baby, grow!

A Day in the Life

This for you Deb.

Deb recently asked my what an everage day was like for me (portion/nutrition wise), so I thought I'd share it with ya'll. Just bare in mind this has been designed for me personally and wouldn't be appropriate for someone with different stats.

Breakfast: 100g oats, apple, protein shake w/creatine.

Meal 2: 250g chicken breast, 300g green vege (heaps of cucumber lately) and nuts (usually one big handful)

Meal 3: 250g chicken breast, 300g green vege and nuts

Meal 4: 1 banana, 50g (uncooked weight) rice.

Pre training: 50g malto, protein shake (caffeine from one sourse or another)
During: 50g malto, Amino's
Post: 30g malto, protein shake

Dinner: 1 Serve meat (250g chook or 4.5 kang saussages or 250g kang mince) 300g vege, 200g potato

Before bed: 200g Nat yoghurt w/splenda and 1 scoop WPI (25g)

Off season eatin. Ohh baby, bring on the fried chicken.

On off training days I substitute the training protocols for another
chook/vege/nuts meal.

I encourage you'll to share :) I know were're giving out our 'secrets'
here, but bare in mind that what I eat really isn't applicable to anyone
else. Still, I hope you can take something away from it.

Ps: The cassein in the yoghurt is perfect for making you sleepy before bed
:)

Test my Test, you Tester!

There's a fork in the road. You don't have a choice to go from one side to the other as you feel, you have to make a decision. The dilemma for me is whether to compete in the tested or untested comps. On one hand there is a good physique, combined with good health. On the other hand there is an out of this world physique, with uber human strength and size. Unfortunately there is always a downside to glory. The pro bodybuilding circuit is rife with health issues. I'm not the kind of guy to pump myself full of gear regardless of the consequences, I would take the safe route, taking the minimum as infrequently as possible to remain competitive, but there lies the dilemma... To be competitive in the untested arena do you have to be the guy with the deepest pockets and the best connections? Does it come down to simply how much sauce can your body take before it falls apart? I am hoping that research and intelligence can make a modest cycle just as effective as the 'one step back from over-dose' approach.

Since I am only taking the plunge into the competitive BodyBuilding world
for the first time in the coming months (though I've been training for 9
years) I have made the decision to go in as a natural. However, I plan to
do both a tested and a non-tested comp just to get a feel for both. If I
don't like the untested comp then that will eliminate the issue altogether,
but my cravings for a greater than great physique are too strong for me to
rule it out this early. The way I see it, I'd be much better off doing at
least one natural comp to begin with, going through the whole dieting
scenario and taking my body to those extremes without any enhancement. I
can only do better the next time round no matter which way I go, right?

Its easy to say 'just stick to the natural comps, you wana die young?!' The
problem is, I think I can go the untested route in a responsible and safe
way, as long as I keep my head, don't get greedy and make sure that I
listen to more experienced people around me. I find that you get a much
more unbiased and truthful (safe) opinion from those who have been in the
game and are now only observers. For starters they now have to live with
any side effects, without the glory of the great body they once had, and
they're not caught up in the fantastic feeling of being super human. "I'm
on 2g a week, I feel like I could tackle a rhino! You should start at 1.5g
a week, at least! I've never had any side effects, they don't exist!" If I
didn't have someone I could trust to turn to for advise then I wouldn't
even consider it. If I go down the untested path, it's going to be at least
5 years straight (responsible cycles of course) so I need to have
responsible, mature people in my corner.

So does that explain my dilemma? Mediocre body, but guaranteed health (well
at least I wouldn't be unhealthy because of my training)? Or glory and take
a well educated risk? I encourage your opinions as long as it's not 'drugs
are baaad, m'kay'.

Peace out, hip kats.

Hammy Hammer-Time

"I got big legs" - Ronnie Coleman.

Said with absolute confidence but without a hint of arrogance. Its just the way it is. He knows they're massive, so he says it like it is. That little quote goes through my head whenever I train legs. Not because I think my legs could ever compare to his, but because that relaxed confidence helps me dig deep when the tank is running low. Last night was leg night. I was feelings flat and it was hard to get started. After chatting away with a few gym buddies and gulping down a double shot expresso I thought I'd better get started.

Leg press - 12 reps (16 plates)
10 reps (18 plates)
11 reps (20 plates) On the last set I would normally only get 6 reps, or 8 on a good night, but I had a healthy spot from a friend I trusted. Don't get me wrong, he made me work for every inch. I think a big nasty, heavy set like that can do more for growth than all the uber volume you could offer.

Squats - Speed day. 10 sets of 3 reps in 10 minutes. I still like to incorporate some power training into my workouts. It keeps me strong and ensures continued development. Consistency is key, but so is varying your routines. If you shoot for the same rep ranges on the same exercises every week you will never reach your potential. I usually squat before leg press but I'm trying out the other way round on speed day as it normally takes a few sets to warm into speed so why not use leg press as a starter?

-Classic picture from Golds Gym, Cali. BodyBuilding's golden era.

For hammies I did standing hammer strength leg curls and dumbell stiff leg deadlifts. I haven't done the DL's for a while so it was a nice change of pace. They are a gut wrenching way to finish the workout, but the kick I get from feeling my whole body fill out makes it all worth while. I never use dumbells less than 140lbs. I've always found that bigger weights work better for hammies. High rep, low weight stuff just doesn't seem to cut it.

In the end it was a very satisfying and productive session even if it was hard to get started :)

Sizzler is my Spinach

You guessed it! I spent a good part of sunday stuffing my face at sizzler. When you think about 'all you can eat', 3 plates doesn't seem like a lot, but thats 3 big plates of food. I churned my way through 2 plates of seafood, pasta and rice. Followed shortly after by a 300g rump steak and chips. I eat a lot of food over the course of the day but my meals aren't that huge. I followed the steak with some fruit and about 2 spoons of icecream and I had to call it quits. I was feeling sick in the stomach, felt like I was going to burst (or throw up). I had to sit down several times while we continued shopping, all the while thinking "why do I do this to myself". I'll tell you why! Sizzler makes me strong! :)

Its obviously not the fact that it is sizzler, theres no magic ingredient there. It is the sheer volume of food and calories in the one sitting that fills you out the following day. I wouldn't be surprised if I ate 6000cals for the day on sunday. I'm usually used to around 4000cals. When I hit the gym Monday night I was a little tired after a long Monday at work. However as soon as my body started to get into the groove of training, the blood was flowing and the weights were going up, I knew that this was going to be one of those nights where PB's could be made. I had the energy and the potential strength to take things a little further than I normally would (or could).

I always make sure I do side and rear laterals before I do any shoulder pressing, just to be certain the joints are warm. I've had to many on again, off again shoulders problems to take warm ups lightly. Warming up on the 40lb dumbells, then the 65lb, it felt light. All my muscles felt tight and full. Instead of the usual 80-90lbs wave or 85-95lbs, I started on 90 and went from there.

Moving on to shrugs I did big 8 reps on 5 and a half plates a side. Everything still felt nice and full, I had a pump I haven't known for a long time. Moved on to triceps and it was still smooth sailing. Its easy to see how the trap works. You eat big, get in alot of calories and your muscles fill up and you're strong, hitting the gym with gusto. But if you do that too much you get FAT! Balance is the key. One stupidly big meal a week works for me, but I guess everyone is different.

The Volume Debate

How much is too much? How much is not enough? I'm still trying to get a hold on what is the optimal volume of sets and reps for me to grow. I've been doing the minimal amount for the last 2 months or so. The old Dorian Yates style. 2 working sets per exercise. Before that I was usually doing around 5 sets, all quite heavy. Its a big change especially where back training is concerned. We used to do 20 sets for back, now I'm doing 6...

It might all be in my head.. I guess time and progress will tell. For now I'll stick to the Yates style and go from there. I think the key is to make those sets incredibly intense, whereas doing 5 sets per exercise would require that you shied 1 or 2 reps away from failure.