PEAK WEAK - 2013 NPC Excalibur -- Last Show With the NPC

Since my last post, I've just maintained at the 147-150 lb. range.  I didn't make any changes to my training or cardio to allow my body to stabilize and so my energy levels can be brought up a bit.  I don't want to enter the competition feeling weak and run down.  Starting Saturday, I started cutting cardio in half.  Up until 2 weeks ago, I was doing about 3 hours of cardio in a week, roughly a 1800 calorie burn in total.  Now I am doing 15 minutes a day or about 1.5 hours a week, roughly a 900 calorie burn in total.

I planned on delaying my carb load, but because I felt like turd on Saturday, I figured it was time.  This would give me ample time to deplete glycogen and appear as dry as possible.  As they say, it's always better to step on stage flat than spilled over.  This way, by back loading carbs the night before and on the day of the show, I can control my appearance by increasing small increments of carbs until I am content with my physique.  I made sure to really load up on Saturday, and maximize my glycogen stores so I am read for the week's worth of depletion exercises.

I loaded at about 3100 calories:
170g protein
500g carbs
50g fat

The funny thing was that I still felt fatigued the day after load, which signifies that caloric uptake was still considered low.  Anyway, food for thought for when I enter offseason mode post-show.

I have adjusted my macros to allow for thorough depletion--dropping carbs:

Keeping at about 2000 calories on Regular Days:
230+g protein
>100g carbs
50+g fat

My priorities for the remaining few days leading up to the show is:
1. Cap out my daily caloric intake at 2000
2. Keep carbs below 100g
3. Whatever protein and fats end up so I meet 2000 calories with the amount of carbs I've eaten

I haven't set my carbs so low since months ago when I went on a road trip prior to deciding on competing.  It's going to be interesting to see how I turn out since I've been maxing out my carb intake this whole time thru prep.  So far, this is the plan....  And in order to achieve this, I will be eating a lot of egg whites and egg product (lots of volume for a pure protein source), full fat cheeses (protein/fat source with low-to-zero carbs), almond or peanut butters (favorite fat source with traces of protein and carbs), and tons of vegetables like broccoli, zucchini, and salad greens (trace carbs and tons of volume to keep me from getting hungry).

I was thinking long and hard about the NPC organization, and whether I wanted to renew my membership to compete in the 2014 NPC Ironman Naturally at the Fit Expo.  I've concluded that I'm going to skip that one and just enjoy attending the Fit Expo because of my future goals.  I am and will forever be a natural bodybuilder, so there is definitely a conflict of interest with the NPC organization as even though they do hold natural competitions, the drug testing is very lenient.  I understand that you can not be 100% sure that competitors didn't cheat, but I would prefer the most leveled playing field, which is why I have extreme interest in pursuing natural organizations beginning 2014.  I am looking into the OCB/INBF, and the new ANBF.  But, one thing at a time.  I will explain more later on my future goals of competing.

Lastly, I am having a great experience coaching my friends and clients online.  With clients as far away as Singapore and Australia, I am deeply blessed that these individuals have put the faith in me to guide them towards their fitness goals.  Lots of exciting things to come with this project!  I only have 2-3 seats left before I need to create a waiting list, so if you or your friends have any interest in bulking, cutting, or just simply losing weight, please email me at SWOLEXPERIMENTS@GMAIL.COM.

Until next time!  Just 5 days out!  Let's go!