13 Days Out & Traveling During Contest Prep

I'm sitting on the plane en route from LAX to OKC for a business trip for my day job. One thing that loomed over my head is that I am just 2 weeks away from the Inland Empire Classic--what am I going to do? Will this trip be detrimental to my prep?

The real question is how am I going to prepare myself so I can stay on track whilst taking care of business. This is a very important trip for me to add value to my work experience and I need to stay razor sharp while sticking to my prep plan. Obviously, it's a game of prioritization.

Work comes first, and when time allows for it, find time to train. I've shifted my training schedule around so I trained Push this morning prior to departing to the airport in lieu of taking a rest day. I assigned my full day working in Oklahoma as my rest day. The company I will be working with has a gym facility in their offices. I plan to squeeze in cardio through the day when I can as a final push to advance my conditioning before I enter the final week leading up to the competition in which I plan to take it easy with the cardio and begin to slowly reverse diet into the show. The great thing about cardio is that you don't need a machine or a gym. Just go for a walk!



Today is Sunday and I will be working around the clock and essentially on-call until Tuesday AM. I fly home Tuesday afternoon. If I can find time to train Pull on Tuesday AM I will. The hotel I have been provided has a small gym as well, so there is another opportunity there. Otherwise there are other local gyms in the area.

As for my diet goes, as long as I hit my macros, I'll be fine. I've packed easy to prepare and convenient to eat foods in my carry on. A tupperware of each--egg whites, hash browns, and veggie stirfry. I've also packed a bunch of little fast food condiment packets which I nabbed from the restaurants in the airport terminal to flavor my foods. Tip: hot sauce and mustard goes a long way!

Monday will be a challenging day. I am not sure whether I will be able to get a good night's rest as I will be on-call all day for the project. Thus, I rescheduled my usual Saturday refeed to Monday so I have more flexibility and freedom to eat more and eat diversely to hit my macros. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do and make it work because that's life!

I also have a back up plan in case I either run out of food or through running around I get separated from my food, I know there are fast food and grocery store options in the area I will be staying/working at. No problem there. Also, because I have rescheduled my refeed to allow myself to consume far greater calories on Monday, I can actually accept an invitation to have business lunches/dinners. It is important to be social when you need to especially if it can advance your career or any other important aspect of your life. I heard my hosts love steakhouses so there's a possibility I may have steak, sweet potato, and a salad on this trip! I pre-added this meal into MyFitnessPal in advance as a placeholder just in case this meal actually happens.

And that's really it! It may seem OCD but this is contest prep. If you desire to win, you must do what you can to stay on track with your diet, your training, and be flexible to continue advancing in the other aspects of your life. Just 13 more days... I can't wait!

16 DAYS OUT!!!

  

Snapshots of current conditioning -- will continue to dial in!

 

 It's official!  I am now an athlete and member of the INBA!

 

It’s funny—a lot has changed, yet, a lot has stayed the same since my last post.  I apologize for not updating regularly.  Fast forward from my last post, which marked 5 weeks out, it is now 16 days out.  During this span of time, my clientele list has exploded and the good news for me is that I am loving my new responsibilities as an online coach.  I feel blessed that many of your have asked me questions about anything fitness related and actually cared about my opinion.  Some of you have inquired for my services and that is incredibly humbling.  And some of you are working with me now, bestowing your faith into me to assist you and guide you towards reaching your fitness goals whatever it may be—lose a few pounds for a cruise, build lean body mass, preparing for a photo shoot or an aesthetic-based competition!  I am incredibly thankful that I have the opportunity to do this and I am extremely dedicated to my clients and passionate about helping them reach their goals.  This is probably the main reason as to why I have not been updating my blog regularly, but for frequent updates, I invite you to follow my Instagram -- @way_protein !

So what hasn’t changed?  The main thing is my diet and training protocol – it has stayed relatively the same.  The only difference is that I am doing more cardio and consuming a bit less calories.  The good news is that I do not anticipate dropping my caloric intake further than what it is now and I am living life just fine without the feeling of incredible fatigue and hunger, which I have had experience with while bro dieting two years ago for my first competition. 

Current weekly cardio burn: 1400 calories

Current daily caloric intake: ~1800 calories on regular days, ~3200 calories on refeed days

Macros on regular days are approx..: 150P 200C 45F

Macros on refeed days are approx..: 150P 550C 45F

Training is 6 days a week on a Push / Pull / Legs / Repeat program

Rest day is optional, but lately it’s been a cardio/tinker day

My bodyweight has been hovering between 150.4 to 156.0 lbs. for the past few weeks, and finally today, it has dropped to 149.8 lbs.  But only for a moment until the monitor finally landed on 150.0 lbs.  I probably should have done a few jumping jacks and see if I can pee more to bring it back to the 149s – LOL jk.  Honestly, I just use the number on the scale as one of many determinants for progress.  The main determinant is the mirror.  I believe I will end up somewhere between 148.0 to 151.0 lbs on contest day.  Hopefully it will be on the higher end as I am considering incremental glycogen storage weight.

How I will approach my peak week is well…. nothing.  I feel like I can continue doing what I do and on Saturdays wake up with a physique I am proud of and just do a bit of carb loading to dial myself in.  This time, though, I will be more aggressive with the carb loading because during my last show in December, I believe I looked a bit depleted and flat.  This time, I am more confident in the amount of carbs my body can comfortably handle without spilling over.  Perhaps 200g carbs and 50g fat would be a good idea prior to stepping on stage each time, based on my experiences with refeeding the past few weeks and observing my body’s reactions post feed. 

I may not be able to post again until right before the competition or even right after.  Either way, please check back and see how the story unfolds J  My goal is to have fun and earn a strong placing in my first natural bodybuilding show.  Please follow my Instagram @WAY_PROTEIN to be up to date with my life in fitness.  Thanks for your readership and support!

5 Weeks Out & Updates!

 

 

An example of a Savory Oat concoction that I love!  Oats, fat free cheese, and eggs!  So UMAMI!

 Something fibrous and bulky and with tons of volume, like egg whites and salad greens!

 Each week that goes by, I am increasingly more vascular.  I can't wait until I reach my final form!  5 more weeks to go!

I’m almost 5 weeks out of my target show on March 1^st, 2014 – The INBA Inland Empire Classic.  I’m at the point of conditioning where I can no longer utilize the scale to track my performance.  My only goal is to carve deeper striations in my glutes.  When I visually notice this, then I can rest assured that progress is made.  I will not allow myself to suffer on bland food, so condiments will stay in my diet and I’ll moderate it the final week leading up to the show.  Life has been incredibly busy from all angles:

-wedding planning

-house hunting

-traveling for leisure to San Francisco to visit family for Chinese New Year

-traveling for work to Oklahoma City for a few days (probably 2 weeks out from competition!)

As you can see, there’s a lot going on even from a big picture point of view in my life that can derail my diet.  Thanks to the lifestyle I chose to implement my diet—flexible dieting—I am able to continue to meet my fitness goals to prepare for my competition with all of these milestone events occurring in my life at the same time.  My food choices have been simplified for convenience.  I chose a few meals that I love to eat most and will eat them daily.  This makes it easy to plan and prepare without fail.  Lately I’ve been on this oatmeal kick, so based on a 2200 daily caloric intake, this is practically what I’ve been eating:

Meal 1:  Something Oaty like Savory Oats w/ Kimchi & Eggs

-2 serv oats

-200g kimchi

-3 large eggs, whole, cooked overeasy

Meal 2: Something Salady or Omelettey like Egg white / Broccoli / Salsa Scramble

-10 servings egg whites, microwaved in Tupperware to cook

-as much broccoli it takes so I’m stuffed (1-2 lbs), microwaved in bowl with water to steam

-glops of hot salsa

Meal 3:  Something Oaty again like Savory Oats w/ Kimchi & Eggs

Total meal prep time: a few minutes of microwaving and combining ingredients per meal.

This has been how I’ve been hitting my macros daily this week. 

I only eat when hungry and if my schedule permits me to eat multiple times a day.  Sometimes I eat 2 meals a day, or I split up my meals in half so I graze throughout the day.  Whatever the meal frequency is, it doesn’t matter.

Refeed days are more flexible.  Throughout the week, whenever I think of something I want to devour that’s delicious and out of the ordinary, I add it to my Saturday food diary (my refeed day) in MFP.  My macros are much higher with calories ranging from 3200-3500, so I can continue to enjoy delicious foods that are typically on the restricted list of contest prep diets.  Lately, it’s been burgers, burritos, and rice bowls of some sort; all very savory foods.  I find that I am prone to addiction and anything sweet can trigger my addictive personality.  Thus, I am staying away from sweet foods because it really heightens my hunger and cravings.  The only sweet foods I will keep in my diet are diet sodas and Splenda for my coffee.  I will refrain from the use of Walden Farms products unless it is to make my zero-calorie salad dressings.

The LA Fit Expo is happening this weekend!  I’m so excited!  There is so much I want to see and do, and people that I want to meet!  I will be there practically ALL DAY on Saturday, January 25^th.  Prior to attending the expo, I will be training legs in the morning at the 24 Hour Fitness in Downtown LA, as well.   

So the plan is to dial in my conditioning the in the final 5 weeks leading up to the show.  Each week, I will gradually cut daily calories by 100-200, and increase my cardio by 50 calories per session.  Currently I am performing 200 calorie burn sessions 5 times a week for a total of 1000 calories burned per week.  Next time I increase cardio, I will be doing 250 calorie burn sessions 5 times a week, or do a total of 1250 calories a week.  I have a rest day on Sundays in which I can perform the bulk of my cardio on that day without taxing my body from any other weight training.  The amount of volume in my weight training will be adjusted based on feel.  The incredible fatigue and exhaustion feeling I experienced for a few days last week ensued after continuous bouts of high intensity, high volume training.  I love training this way but it isn’t physically possible while on a caloric deficit.  I know this now and will be making decisions to back off and minimize the amount of reps and sets I perform each training day so I am not left so battered and beat up that I pay for it later.  The trick is finding balance where I am doing JUST ENOUGH for continued progress and without pain or discomfort so I am in for the long haul.  That old adage, “no pain, no gain,” is stupid.  Sure, train hard, but train smart.  I believe I’ve found this balance now and am trucking along nicely.  Mental health and physical health is in tip top shape.  I can’t wait to see if I can break any personal records on conditioning! 

Have a good day!  Will update again next week!

Deloading for the Mind, Body, & Soul

It’s funny how important a deload can be, especially to the active individual that trains hard consistently.  I am the kind of person that find it difficult to take a real rest day.  My rest days usually turn into “tinker days,” where I do direct ab work, maybe some traps, and other muscle groups I may have neglected during the week.  Usually I do some cardio too.  All of this caloric expenditure can really add up and if your caloric intake is not supporting this level of activity, complications can occur over time.  The stress of constantly being on a caloric deficit and/or carbohydrate restriction can be really taxing on the body if energy output (far) exceeds caloric input.  You can’t expect to drive 400 miles on 300 miles worth of gas in the tank.  An effective cutting phase is just like that – trying to travel 305-310 miles on 300 miles worth of gas in the tank – small steps forward to net big rewards over a long period of time.

I train pretty hard with high volume and with sets close to failure.  My body felt like it weighs a ton the past few days.  My mind is foggy.  My motivation to get off my ass is nonexistent.  I’m 7 weeks out from a competition.  I don’t need to feel this way, at least not now this far out!  Sure, it could be that my caloric intake may not be enough; but based on historical data, my caloric intake is the highest it’s been at this level of conditioning in my whole life.  This cannot be the case.  So if it’s not my intake, it’s got to be my output.  I don’t remember the last time I took an actual full on rest day.  I don’t remember when I didn’t train max effort, and just deload for a few days. 

Now’s the time to act and regain my mental and physical health to continue performing at tip top shape in and out of the gym.  Deloading entails dropping the weight to loads where you can easily perform 10-12+ reps without reaching failure.  The focus is shifted to perfecting form.  This allows your body to catch up on much needed rest to recuperate, yet you are still able to continue burning calories and staying on track with your goals.  Sure, progress in weight loss may stall for a week, but a very small price to pay to gather the strength to carry on optimally—taking 1 step back to take 2 steps forward. 

Today, I feel so much better.  I invested 2-3 days of deloading and today, on squat day, I was able to 1RM 3 plates ATG high bar squat.  I haven’t done this in a long time.  I weigh 150 lbs and I’m at about 5-6% bodyfat.  I didn’t think this was possible, but it worked out well.  There is definitely a balance between energy input and output, a synergy, that if balanced, can keep you feeling healthy, performing strongly, and meeting your body composition goals all at the same time—mind, body, and soul.  The trick is finding that synergy!

Making Adjustments, Guesstimating Macros, & Other Updates - 7 Weeks Out

Pull Day

Be FLEXIBLE -- Made adjustments to my planned lunch today and removed a few slices of bread and tablespoons of peanut butter to make room for a work lunch at Pitfire Pizza! 

Mmmm... Pitfire Pizza... Dieting is so hard ;P

Was craving a Big Mac so I scheduled it on my refeed day over the weekend and washed it down with my favorite soda -- Diet Crush!

Good Lighting Opportunity -- wanted to see how the triceps looked.  Should've practiced some leg poses because this was on leg day.

I always take my health supplements -- a good multivitamin, a greens product, something for the joints, and omega 3s for overall health and wellness.  Think of it as health insurance in case you splurged a bit much on processed foods ;P  The oatmeal and strawberries pictured above was a dinner from one of the nights last week.

I am starting to get really excited with my leg development because it is finally developing!  LOL.  I've never had any vascularity in my legs, but I feel like they have definitely grown in the past year.  It goes to show that progress, though slow and miniscule, can compound over time and net BIG rewards.  Just need to be patient and consistent.

I need to keep this short and sweet so I'll just roll with bullet points:

-Hit a low of 150.0 lbs last week, but started to feel a bit run down and fatigued
-Decided to increase carb intake on refeed day to 3500 calories -- 150g P, 625g C, 40g F
-Also decided to increase regular day macros by +100 calories every day until that shitty feeling goes away--I hate this feeling, and it reminds me of how I felt every day when I used to bro diet.  This shouldn't happen at 7 weeks out
-Cardio still at a total of 800 calorie burn per week
-Training will shift in focus to STRENGTH and less emphasis on VOLUME

With the demands of daily life--work, relationship, wedding plans, the house hunt--I really need to be flexible with my diet so I do not drop the ball in any other aspect of my life.  Thankfully, I have the best fiancee in the world who is my #1 supporter, I think she let's me get away with more things than I should.  I combat those feelings of fatigue to catch up to her daily rhythm on our days off with caffeine and if I need to, I'll drink tea all day to be as normal as possible.  The moment I allow myself to be lazy is the moment I put everything else in jeopardy.  I won't let that happen.

Today, my department at work wanted to do a team meeting at Pitfire Pizza.  I always bring my lunch, but I don't want to be the odd man out either.  Though I am in contest prep mode, I am also a flexible dieter.  What is more important to me?  Obviously, competing is not my livelihood nor my life, so I decided to skip a few slices of bread and spoonfuls of peanut butter that I planned for the day to meet my macros to allow myself a pizza from one of my favorite pizza joints.  I built my own pizza and guesstimated the macros.  I understand that eating out, whether the restaurant provides a nutrition menu or not,  the macros provided are not exact.  Hell, I'd be lucky if they're close.  Either way, as long as you make a good educated guess and note the amount of calories you're taking in, it's better than not tracking it at all. 

I based my guesstimate on other like-references online.  Pitfire Pizza is an artisanal pizza joint so I compared their menu items to other artisanal pizza joints that provide nutrition menus to make my educated guess.  I used CPK and Blaze Pizza as my reference points and just made my estimates from there. A few tips when guesstimating is:

1. be honest with yourself -- if it looks greasier than the macros reported, add more fat grams to it
2. it's better to over estimate than under estimate
3. don't sweat the stuff you can't control -- once you made your estimate, then don't think about it -- you've already committed -- just carry on!
4. don't make it a habit... or make it a habit!  It truly depends on your lifestyle.  If you are preparing for a competition, then I'd say keep the restaurants to a minimum.  If you're just dieting, go for it!  You are only a slave to your diet when you allow yourself to be. 

My goal this week is to be in the 149s in terms of body weight.  It's not the primary goal, but it's something I am hoping to achieve.  I actually am just hoping to experience more pronounced vascularity on my body and more muscle separation.  That's the true testament for progress at this point.  I believe I'm 5-6% bodyfat, closer to the 6s, and I'm experiencing great strides in my conditioning after this short reverse diet that I've done in the month of December.  I am consuming 2400 calories regularly and refeeding at 3500 calories and I'm in the 150s.  Early this year when I was consuming 2300-2400 calories, I was definitely 3-5 lbs. heavier and not nearly as conditioned.  My metabolic capacity has definitely increased.  My carb intake is regularly between 300-350+ on regular days as well, which is astonishing.  There is definitely something to be said about the human body always seeking homeostasis in relation to EVERYTHING.  Perhaps that is why I am fuller and more vascular. 

If I can step on stage on March 1st with normal carb intake of 200+ grams and not dipping below 2000 calories, that would be a huge win for me.  I'll just keep trucking and see what happens! 

Prep for 2014 INBA Inland Empire Classic - Roadmap to Shredsville!

Contest prep diet is underway!  My bodyweight has finally stabilized at about 151-152 lbs. after my epic 6K calorie refeed.  I was bloated for over a week, but after a week of normal maintenance level calories, my body is regulating the water retention and vascularity is increased.  This morning I woke up in the 151s.  

I have 8 weeks before my competition date of March 1^st.  As usual, I’d like to be ready 2 weeks out from the show and ease my way into it so I feel and appear strong and full versus tired and stringy.  The plan is to drop 4+ lbs., dropping my bodyweight to the lowest level ever recorded in my competition lifetime.  I want to be leaner and even more conditioned than ever before for my INBA debut.  With that said, with about 6 weeks to drop 4+ lbs, that would equate to about a 0.5-1.0 lb drop per week—totally doable!  I am optimistic that I can achieve this feat simply because I have been maintaining and optimizing my metabolic capacity the past 3-4 weeks and I feel mentally and physically normal.  

 

Beginning a cut at my current conditioning and mental health, I feel like I am in a good place as I do not need to rush losing fat.  I am currently only doing about 800 calorie burns weekly for cardio.  Today, I have dropped my calories a smidge coming off of a maintenance caloric level of:

2500 calories
150 P
350 C
55 F

Refeed @ 3200 calories
150 P
525 C
55 F

Drop in calories begin today to progress in fat loss:
150 P
300 C
55 F

Depending on how I feel by the day of my refeed, I will either keep it as is or increase it a tad:

Refeed @ 3200 (if feeling ok) – 3500 calories (if feeling shitty)
150 P
525 – 600 C
55 F

Every time I experience a week of stagnation in weight loss or visual progress, then I will drop calories by 100-200 increments via carbs at 25-50g increments.  This is my blueprint and is subject to change.  Let’s get shredded!