Here We Go.. Sask. Provincials/National Qualifier

[bassmonkey16]

Quick lil' bit of info to bring everyone up to speed. It's been quite a few months since I've posted, but every once in a while when i have time (which is every once in a long long while) I still like to peek into the FORVM, which is a continual source of real-life info as well as inspiration. Time I contribute my contest journey, and through it, I hope I can produce as well as aquire info, and inspire as well as be inspired.

So I spent the past summer, fall and now bitter Canadian winter (we already dipped below -50 degrees C.. definitely not looking forward to February at this rate) preparing mentally and physically for this contest prep. I've busted my to put on every quality pound i could, without getting morbidly obese of course, and found new personal intensities I never reached before. This last summer I'm talking 12-14 hours working manual labour in construction, 7 days a week, every day of the month, only to give my 75-90 in the gym at night, playing with weights I only dreamed of two years ago. I've grown considerably, putitng every extra dollar kicking arund into my exponentially increasing food bill, and as always, my daily Pak. I worked on the road, so this little Pak was worth every penny when I didn't have the luxury of a refridgerator to store a large variety of foods. Thankfully I moved to the city a couple months ago, got a job in sales, slowing things down work wise so i can speed things up in the gym

'Nuff said. Basically, I believe I did everything I consider possible to put quality gains over my body, reinforcing my strong points while making leaps and bounds in bringing my weak points up. I'm coming in thicker and wider for 2010, while keeping my waist nice and tight, where it needs to be.

Contest? 2010 SABBA Provincials to be held in Regina, Saskatoon on April 23 and 24th.
Goal? First place Junior Class (21 and Under), which will qualify me for Junior Nationals. Technically top 2 will qualify me, but fuck that I'll take 1st. Top 3 in my weight category (Open Class).
Weight? I'll see. Last show I was far too foused on weight, and kept dieting way too hard past the weight I should have competed at. Hindsight is 20/20. I've talked to a lot of trainers and national competitors, based on my current weight probly around 190-195 before cutting water.
Timeframe? 16 weeks, less one day and 4 hours

So here we go. Second show, Learned a lot last show, time to put that knowledge as well as all the hard work this off season and make a helluva physique outta it.

[bassmonkey16]

Weighed in yesterday. Jan 1st, 16 weeks out. I always weigh in the morning before consuming anything. Came in at 224.4.
I'd consider myself a Meso-ectomorph. I'm 5'10", got a pretty large upper body bone structure and a pretty slim waist.
As for conditioning, I am looking pretty good at this weight already. Visible abs and serratus, moderate seperation in my quads (striations in some of the muscles when flexed), quads just barely starting to show vascularity. Chest and shoulders showing striations and some vascularity, calves look great as always. Seperation in my back, very very slight detail in my hams.
I'm really excited for this year. This time last year when I was prepping for my first show, i weighed in at 223., and looked like total shit. gut, double chin, the works. I did my homework this offseason, lemme tell you that. Lets see what I can do with what I'm starting out with this year.

[bassmonkey16]

These first four weeks won't include a drastic change in my diet from my offseason. Basically just controling portions, and skipping any extra shit that I don't need. I'm not going to go nearly as low carb as last year, at least not off the start.
Pretty straightforward, starting the day off with 6 whole eggs, 1 cup oatmeal (measured dry). throughout the day I consume 1.5lbs of lean meat (Chicken, lean beef, deer, bison) as well as 2 cups cooked rice and 2 cups steamed mixed veggies, all spread out over 3 meals. I include a shake consisting of 35 grams of protein inbetween two of my meals, depending on my work schedule, and eat an apple with it. After two weeks I'll likely need to edit this, according to how my metabolism reacts to the diet and cardio.

I'll just include training in here as well. I'm gonna do cardio every two days, 15 minutes or so of high intensity intervals. Abs are done on every other day. As for reps/weights, I'm keeping it heavy and plan on doing so right up to the show. I'll make adjustments as things go on, but I'm going heavy now, with short rests.

Any input will not go unappreciated, as I can not afford a trainer this time around. I'm relying mostly on my own experience as well as opinions and advice from those willing to lend it. So if you have something to say, be it criticism or praise, say it, and I will thank you for your opinions.

[ProteinJunkie]

Fellow Canadian here and subbed for this 16 week ride. Go get it. I’ll be watching...

And take a min and join up on our CDN Tribe – we’d love to have ya join the ranks and am positive you’ll have many more Canadians supportin’ your efforts.

http://forum.animalpak.com/group.php?groupid=22

[bassmonkey16]

so far so good, things are coming along somewhat expected for my first week. i registered a drop of 6.8 pounds, bringing me down to 217.6, but i'm not too concerned about this. I expect much of it was water, as i haven't been experiencing any fatigue or loss of strength, in fact, my leg day was one of my best in a month or so. as well, i'm not too terribly hungry (YET) , again bringing me to believe this was a loss of water, simply from getting myself into a maintained diet and eating at specific times. of course, if i register a drop of three pounds or more over the next week I'll have to make some adjustments, either bring up my protein or add some extra fats in. or just have a huge cheat meal! haha... so far I've been able to stave off any cravings that have crept up. although it was my managers brithday today and we had a big cake that was awfully tempting..

as for condition, again i'm not going to judge it too much this week, as i expect my weight drop was primarily water weight, but i am seeing my lower abs come in. this is way ahead of schedule in comparison to my show last year, where i didn't even have a respectable six pack till 8 weeks out! again, i am very enthusiastic and excited for provincials.

any tips, tricks, advise, as i said before is greatly appreciated

[bassmonkey16]

i just realized i spelled "National" in my title incorrectly. whatever haha don't judge me on my spelling!

[naturalguy]

These first four weeks won't include a drastic change in my diet from my offseason. Basically just controling portions, and skipping any extra shit that I don't need. I'm not going to go nearly as low carb as last year, at least not off the start.
Pretty straightforward, starting the day off with 6 whole eggs, 1 cup oatmeal (measured dry). throughout the day I consume 1.5lbs of lean meat (Chicken, lean beef, deer, bison) as well as 2 cups cooked rice and 2 cups steamed mixed veggies, all spread out over 3 meals. I include a shake consisting of 35 grams of protein inbetween two of my meals, depending on my work schedule, and eat an apple with it. After two weeks I'll likely need to edit this, according to how my metabolism reacts to the diet and cardio.

I'll just include training in here as well. I'm gonna do cardio every two days, 15 minutes or so of high intensity intervals. Abs are done on every other day. As for reps/weights, I'm keeping it heavy and plan on doing so right up to the show. I'll make adjustments as things go on, but I'm going heavy now, with short rests.

Any input will not go unappreciated, as I can not afford a trainer this time around. I'm relying mostly on my own experience as well as opinions and advice from those willing to lend it. So if you have something to say, be it criticism or praise, say it, and I will thank you for your opinions.

Looks like a pretty good start. I assume over the weeks you will be lower calories slowly and upping cardio?

[bassmonkey16]

Looks like a pretty good start. I assume over the weeks you will be lower calories slowly and upping cardio?

I'll reduce calories and up cardio accordingly. This time around I'm going to focus a lot more on the mirror and a lot less the scale, as last year I looked best at 5 weeks out yet my trainer kept pushing more, more, more, and i continued to lose pounds but it was mostly muscle. As for how the judging went at my show, I could have afforded to come in looking like I did at 5 weeks, coming in that much fuller to compensate for the minor change in conditioning.
We'll see as the weeks go by. Obviously, this is only my second show so I'm not 100% certain in how my body will react to changes, but hopefully by keeping track of details by posting on here, I can look back at this for my next show and reflect on successess and failures.
I do hope to get a hold of a half decent camera, at least by the 12-week out mark, and see about putting some pics online, probly on facebook, and if anybody would like to view them I would most certainly add them to my friend's list.
Next time I post I'll have all my calories and protein and stuff added up. I've been working a lot lately, so it's pretty much sleep, eat, prep food, work, gym, go back to sleep.
Peace

[bassmonkey16]

well, weighed in this morning at 214.4, another 3.2 lbs down since last friday. this I'll leave as aceptable, as I did seriously up my protein after weighing in. daily totals right now are
320 g protein
150g carbs
No added fats (30g from eggs, traces from chicken)
I added an extra shake in and upped my daily intake to 30 oz chicken after that drastic drop last week. Probably a rash decision, but I have some extra time this far out to make a mistake here or there, and so far, I'm still dropping. strength is still up, if not improving.
conditioning is improving, I see more of my lower abs, as well as vascularity in areas I didn't even show at my last competition. Inner bis, traps, both shoulders, these veins are popping! as well, I have one that is popped 24/7 on my left quad. I'm very excited to see what I've developed in one short year!
Peace

[Beach91]

Hey bassmonkey, whats the Sask Provincials like, have the amount of guys doing the shows gone up or down the past few years?

I'm in Manitoba, and its slowly dying, Last years provincial show had under 20 guys competeing with some of the weight classes only having 1 or 2 competitors.

Anyhow, I am subbed for this

[bassmonkey16]

Hey bassmonkey, whats the Sask Provincials like, have the amount of guys doing the shows gone up or down the past few years?

I'm in Manitoba, and its slowly dying, Last years provincial show had under 20 guys competeing with some of the weight classes only having 1 or 2 competitors.

Anyhow, I am subbed for this

I haven't kept very close track of total numbers the past couple of years. The novice show I did last year had at least 35 men. If anything, the calibre of the athletes is going up. Unfortunately, that means it's a lot tougher field for us naturals guys. Even the last two novice shows I know for fact the overalls were not natural (big province, but we all kinda know each other lol).

Another thing I noticed is the quality of the shows themselves. Every year we're getting better venues, more professional mc's, better sound and lighting, and the fitness fairs/expos in between the morning and night shows are getting better every year. So I think we're seeing things gain popularity here. From my gym I know of 3, maybe 4 guys competing in the provincial leve this year.

Either way, I'm fucking pumped. I have high expectations for myself and I believe I will achieve my goals. If somebody beats me, it won't be because they outworked me, I'll tell you that much

thanks for subbin bro

Cheers

[Beach91]

Thats good news, its good to hear its growing. The only thing growing in Manitoba is the womens and figures divisions, they get over 50 competitors for the shows, whereas the mens div. are the same guys every year.

Its good to see the quality of the competitor and the show itself are going up to, think of it you put in a solid 8 month offseason, and bust your ass in a 3-4 month diet for that day, you should be treated good.

Youve got agood attitude and a solid work ethic, follow it through and you will do yourself proud, I wish u well.

Now, get those goals!

[bassmonkey16]

Weighed in at 212.8 this morning, another 1.6 lbs down. I'm happy to see that things are slowing down a bit, I was getting quite concerned after dropping ten pounds the first two weeks!
This week coming up a got a job doing some construction so I'm not going to change things up yet, I'll need the extra cals on the jobsite.
As for condition, as always it's improving. seeing more vascularity in my right thigh, as opposed to a week ago I could only see a bit in my left. Striations in my obliques are slowly working further down my torso, soon I believe I'll see the entire abdominal wall including obliques! very excited.
My excitementy for this show grows with every breath, rep and meal. Definitely going to make an impact on the stage!
Til next time, keep on pushing through the pain and hunger.
Bassmonkey

[bassmonkey16]

well, down another 2 pounds this week. this week was an absolute nightmare to be honest. I took a cash job doing construction - talk about fatigue! see, the way I'm dieting right now works great for my fulltime job. Furniture sales 8 hours a day is a LOT different than 12 hour construction days!!
So I stuck to my diet for the most part, and after my first incredibly exhausting day upped my carbs by 50%. You would believe the look on my boss's face when I started unloading my truck into our hotel room - cartons of eggs, boxes of chicken, grill, rice cooker etc. gotta do what you gotta do eh
needless to say, even with my carb increase I was incredibly flat halfway through the day, and couldn't get much of a pump in my workouts, but it's not like i took on this task expecting it to be easy. I'm a little under 12 weeks out now, and this 2 pounds was quality, I'm seeing striations and vascularity come out like crazy.
so i'm back into the grind now, I don't think I can physically afford to go after a job like that for a full week, i might work for the guy on my days off from my fulltime job, but now I know what to expect. My excitement for this show is growing exponentially as time (and fat) goes by.
off to catch some z's now.
keepin it ANIMAL

[bassmonkey16]

well I'm down another 3.2 lbs.. It'd time I start eating more. Yes, more. I don't like dropping this fast, and since I've been dieting and adding cardio in, My metabolism is obviously increasing, so I'm gonna have to eat more. Not a ton more, I'm thinking of just adding another 1/2 cup (dry) oats to my breakfast.

So here's the diet. I also changed my last meal of 10 oz chicken to 2 can's tuna. Macros pretty well stay the same, but for me I just need the convenience :P

Meal 1
6 whole eggs, 1 1/2 cups Oats (measured dry then cooked)

Meal 2
10oz boneless skinelss chicken breast, 1 cup cooked long grain brown rice

Meal 3
50g whey shake, apple

meal 3 10oz chicken, 1 cup cooked rice

meal 4
50g shake, apple

Meal 5
2 cans tuna, two cups mixed vegetables

So there ya have it. I'm still doing about 15 minutes of intervals on the stepmaster every other day. the weight is just peeling off, and I'm seeing changes every week. Getting pretty pumped for the show!

[bassmonkey16]

Not a big drop this week, but a drop nonetheless. I care more about the results I see in the mirror, which are still going incredibly well. I'm seeing vascularity I've never seen before, in my lats, shoulders, thighs, everywhere. my obliques are getting more defined day after day. I'm so pumped for this show.

I had a bit of a cheating spree thursday and friday night lol. I baked some biscottis for my valentine, and, well, chowed down more than I would have liked. then friday niht took her out for some fine dining. but saturday night I went stright back into contest prep mode so everything is back on track

[bassmonkey16]

Well I believe I've struck a plateau here, 9 weeks out. I'm actually debating cutting back on the protein a touch, I'm eating way more during this cut than I've ever eaten in the off season. which may be why I'm keeping so much size, but it's wreaking havoc on my digestion.
As for lowering carbs, I think I'll leave them as is this week, some days it takes all i have to stay awake at work, i've been sleeping 10-12 hours some nights and I'm still so beat from trainging and cardio.
so, as it is, this week I'm not going to focus so much on a drastic diet change, I'd rather up my cardio. instead of 3-4 sessions of 15 minutes of stepmill intervals, I think I'll bump that up to 20 minutes each.
As for conditioning, continual improvements there, so I'm not panicking about this plateau!
Keep lifting strong.

[Beach91]

Upping the cardio looks like the way to go, you are still 9 weeks away, so up the cardio and save the food cuts for later. What is your goal weight? If you are extremely lean at the moment and ahead of schedule, you could try a moderate cheat meal to get the metabolism up and humming again.

just a few suggestions, keep up the work though

[bassmonkey16]

I actually weighed in the next day (after some "improved digestion" overnight haha) and came in at 206, so the weight is still coming down. I don't necesarilly have a goal weight just yet, but most guys I've talked to who are in this game figure I'd be roughly 190 before dropping water. Which is a solid 7 pound gain in the offseason, which I am very happy for, especially being natural.
Lately I have been considering possibly skipping this year due to my money situation. to continue through with the show, between entry fees, travel, hotels, tanning, etc, I am unsure if I can even affordto compete this year. It's not so much the cost of it, but U'm passing up job oppurtunities that would triple my income, and I have my tuition savings to consider
If I do decide to opt out this year, I will continue to diet, for the experience and the knowledge. I can compete as a Junior for the next three years, so not all would be lost. I know money won't be an issue next year, and I've dieted through school before so I'm not afraid to do so.
It's such a difficult decision, as I've wanted this since I competed last year. But it could ork to my advantage, If I could have an offseason like I did last year. As well, I monitered my intake so much during this diet, I wouldn't have any guesswork at the start of next year,
We'll see. Either way it goes, I strive for continuos improvement. I will own the stage, if not this year, one of the following. To me, this is a lifestyle, I will never drop out of the game entirely. You have to approach everything methodically and with passion.
On a side note, I pulled a 550 pound deadlift last night. Felt fucking good, considering the last time I pulled that I was around 40 pounds heavier. couldn't have put me in a better mood before bed:P

[Beach91]

I hear you on that Bassmonkey, your only 19 and still have time to grow and improve and if you dont plan on making a living on competeing, a year off to put on extra mass may be beneficial.


for a good couple of years here in Manitoba I did the shows every year, as many as i could, and i found my gains from year to year really slowed, so i have taken a year off of competeing to try and make more gains, as well it definitely helps with the money situtation, as you put so much into the shows, and for the most part, monetarily speaking you receive nothing back. Its nice to do well in your weight class, do pics and have all the memories from the show process, but once u do it a few times, it looses its shine unless you are making huge improvements