Blake Selby - Teenage Natural, NPC Teen Nationals Contest Prep.

[BlakeSelby]

My name is Blake Selby, AFAA Certified Personal Trainer at IM West (Michigan State Gym) and Full-Time student at Michigan State University studying Biochemistry. I have been bodybuilding since 2005. I placed 3rd in the mens tall division at the Gauthier Classic 2007, and 2nd in the teenage division at the OCB 45th Parallel in 2008, weighing in at 165lbs at 5'9. Currently I am 175lbs (bare weight first thing in morning) at 9% bodyfat. My last contest was april 2008 and I will not be competing until June 20, 2009 in my warmup show (the NPC Great Lakes Natural) followed by the NPC Teen Nationals July 18, 2009. I am going to attempt something that few can. I am and always will be drug free, yet I will be entering into the NPC Teen Nationals, a show notorious for drug use. My goal is not to win the show (I know it cannot be done without performance enhancing pharmaceuticals) but instead, my goal is to win the teenage division at my warmup show and then come in so incredibly shredded at the teen nationals, that I make the junkies in my weight class look out of place standing next to me. I am of the same mindset as Layne Norton (who has been a great inspiration to me and to many others) in that if you dont have striated glutes... dont bother. I have already taken criticism and have had people try to convince me to take steroids for this show. They keep saying "you have the potential to win this thing man.. just hop on some ****." I got into this sport for health, and I have done countless hours of research into the world of endocrinology, which have lead me to believe that in the long run, the negatives outweigh the positives. I want to have a wife and kids some day. I dont want my 16-year-old daughter saying "Why shouldnt I be able to do Heroin if you did steroids?... they're both Class III controlled substances"... I'm one who leads by example. Talk is cheap. I am a bulldozer and I get **** done. Even in the off-season I never put sauce on anything. I bring tupperwear to restaurants. Subway is considered a "cheat meal" which I take maybe twice per month. Everything is weighed, measured, calculated. Every calorie accounted for. Bodybuilding is a science, also and an application of that science. Just like I hit it hardcore in the gym every day I go, I also remain militaristic about sleep, eating, and focus when outside the gym and I love every minute of it and wouldnt trade it for the world. I have gone through numerous relationships because of it, and made some of my truest friends because of it. I dont try... I do. I dont quit... I finish. Where I lack in genetics I surpass in dedication and work ethic. I dont bodybuild for girls.. I dont bodybuild for fame... I bodybuild to be an inspiration to other young guys, who live for the pump and who need a role model in a society that teaches fairness and honesty, yet practices nothing.

Now that my intentions are clear... I want to discuss the progress I have made so far over the last year. September 29, 2007 I took 3rd in the Gauthier Classic Tall Men's Division weighing in at 150.0lbs at 6% bodyfat. By February of 2008 I Raised that weight to 162lbs at 8% bodyfat. By my 3rd show, the OCB 45th Parallel, after only dieting for 2 weeks I came in at 165lbs at 7.5% bodyfat where I placed 2nd to a genetic freak of a teen who outweighed me by almost 50lbs. Figure that one out... Now, August of 2008 I am 175lbs at 9% bodyfat. In january of 2008 my 2 rep max on deadlift was 255. As of 3 weeks ago... It's 315 (Raw, no belt, no straps, no chalk.)

This morning I met up with a friend from GNC where I work as a sales associate and we hit the gym for some back and shoulders. Right now my training split looks like this.
Day 1- Legs/Triceps
Day 2 - Back/Shoulders/Traps
Day 3 - Chest/Biceps/Abs

I take rest days when I feel the need. My rest days would be hell days for the average person. I do high intensity Parkour on rest days. Parkour is basically freestyle running. I'll throw a little gymnastics/calisthenics in there too. I mostly do that because I enjoy it and I learn a skill at the same time unlike conventional cardio machines. My diet is fairly simple realy. Tuna, Almonds, Cottage cheese, Pasta, Oatmeal, Broccoli, Water. My supplements are barebones for sure. Whey Protein, Creatine Monohydrate, BCAA's, and Dextrose. Thats it. No test boosters or pro-hormones or anything like that.

Please join me on my journey to the NPC Great Lakes Natural and the NPC Teen Nationals and be a part of a statement to our youth that you CAN be natural and still go national.

-Blake Selby, AFAA Certified Personal Trainer
Selbybla@gmail.com
Myspace.com/TeamSelby

[Cheski]

Damn, Blak, looks like you got it all under control. Good luck on your journey to the NPC Great Lakes Natural & NPC Teen Nationals in '09!

[bennutts929]

What's up blake, If all goes as it should I'll be up there with ya!

You have some great ideals, and we share alot of the same principles on the purpose of the sport! I'll start journaling in this thread as well! That's funny about the two weeks of dieting, because that's all I did for my first show as well! Sinse we live so close as the comp gets closer we should hit up the gym once or twice and share some insight on each others progress!

I'm currently fighting a severe case of exertional headaches (fights starting to look alot better, finnally got some squats in today!) that kind of threw me off for the last month of training, my stats as of today are 168 pounds, 9% bf (actual measurement not some hopefull guess!)

I'm in a hypertrophy phase right now
mon-chest/tris
tues-quads
wens-back/bi's/hamstrings
thurs-shoulders
friday-sumo deadlifting/regular deadlifts
sat and sunday-off

I'll be continuing this program until january where I'm going to do some powerlifting type training for a little while before I start my cut!

I'll post some updated pics later this week!

[thepijj]

nice man, im definately gonna follow along

[BlakeSelby]

Rock on Bennutt. Post your stuff here. We'll def. have to hit the gym up.

[BR22]

Read your post.
Good luck with everything! Your looking really, really good.
I actually live right by MSU, thats were I plan on going to college if I can get my grades up!

I just started a Workout Journal, it would be cool if you checked it out and gave me some help

Talk to you later.

[BlakeSelby]

Saturday Aug 16, 08


I have really leaned out the last couple of weeks from lowering my fat intake from 110 to 85 and upping my carbs from 300 to 400.

I had a really crap day at work which fueled an awesome arm workout today. I am nervous about being so small for the teen nationals. I weighed in at 169.5 this morning bare. That is very light for me and I am concerned that I am going to get blown off the stage by the roiders. I still have about 9 months to mass build though, so maybe I'll surprise myself. My biggest area of emphasis over the summer has been my chest. I am quite pleased with my progress and cannot believe what a difference laying off flat bench and switching to more incline stuff has made. If I were to knit pick, I would say that my outer-lower chest could be fuller, but other than that, I would be satisfied if that's how much size I had to work with pre-contest. My traps were an accidental improvement, but its night and day for the traps, both upper and lower. My back has gotten a ton thicker. Unfortunately with all the improvements to my upper body, leaning out has caused my legs to appear smaller because I tend to store more fat there than the average person. My calves have suffered the most. Also my arms (especially biceps and forearms) need to be brought up to match my larger muscle groups like chest and back. I think my shoulders are good, but because of my narrow clavicles, it makes them appear small from the front. I really dont think 9 months is going to give me boulder shoulders, but when I shred down, I truly believe that they will stand out more. My abs look good. Hamstrings and quads are proportional but like I said before, need improvement. I definetely look like a different person from 9 months ago, so I can only imagine what 9 more with even better dietary intake will turn me into hopefully that picture worked above, if not, I will repost.

[bennutts929]

Looking great blake, you have some serious thickness going for ya, I just started a clean bulk like a month ago and have gained a few pounds (5). weighing in at 173ish (heavy for me) really wanna hit 180 while maintaining 10% or less bf (9% right now)

Will get some pics up next week!

[ruga buga]

i shall join n your journey to the great lakes.

Very interesting log and subbed.

GOOD LUCK

[BlakeSelby]

Bennutt, good work bro, RUGA BUGA are you going to do the show with us?

[ruga buga]

Originally Posted by BlakeSelby

Bennutt, good work bro, RUGA BUGA are you going to do the show with us?

no, i shall follow your log. its cool to see a guy who actually gets out there and competes

I am no bodybuilder

[BlakeSelby]

My grip strength is going way up from doing parkour and calisthenics. I shrugged 115's for 6 full range the other day without straps and my traps failed before my grip. Today I hung on the pullup bar with 3 45's chained to me for one full minute. Why am I doing this? I dont like crutching myself with straps. The 2007 middleweight Mr. Michigan winner Mark Labadie once said to me "I wont lift it if I cant pick it up"

[BlakeSelby]

My metabolism has been randomly taking off. I have been leaning out on 420g carbs. I am taking my carbs up to 460 now to see if the extra 200 cal. from carbs helps fill me up more. I'm seriously at 9% bodyfat. Off season that is far too low.

[bennutts929]

Originally Posted by BlakeSelby

My metabolism has been randomly taking off. I have been leaning out on 420g carbs. I am taking my carbs up to 460 now to see if the extra 200 cal. from carbs helps fill me up more. I'm seriously at 9% bodyfat. Off season that is far too low.

you know blake, I've figured out that I bulk at 9-11% pretty decently, at our age its not unheard of, and when your cutting out to a show starting at 9% the amount of muscle you lose is so minimal it will blow your mind! I do that same sort of thing that layne nortan does, with times of bulking and cutting even in a bulk, but mines more like 4 days bulking 3 days cutting(off days)

[BlakeSelby]

I am starting to hate the divide between Bodybuilding and Natural Bodybuilding. I also hate the name. There is nothing "natural" about bodybuilding, and there's a million ways to pass those tests. I'm thinking I'd rather try for an IFBB pro-card without taking steroids and just call myself a Bodybuilder. I dont need 3 words to describe what I am and I dont need to compete in organizations that think steroids are the devil. (I'm doing steroid research as a career). the ignorance of most "natural" bodybuilders pisses me off. I really do think the risks of taking steroids in large dosages outweigh the benefits, so its not for me, but it doesnt mean that people who do are evil, they're just impatient. I'd get way more satisfaction out of publicity and knowing that I'm beating some of the drug users without taking drugs myself. I've already gotten drug tested 4 times in the last year to prove I'm not using. We need to give the public a better impression of our sport. We are the only sport out there that has a whole separate league that is drug tested because the main league is "infested". An IFBB pro-card isnt impossible naturally, dave goodin was close. I want to hear some opinions.

[Jayce_]

Best of luck in the NPC Great Lakes Natural. I'll keep an eye on this journal and stop in every once in a while.

Take care,
Jayce

[BlakeSelby]

Originally Posted by Jayce_

Best of luck in the NPC Great Lakes Natural. I'll keep an eye on this journal and stop in every once in a while.

Take care,
Jayce

I appreciate the support!

[bennutts929]

I agree with that statement completely blake, although steroids have more misinformation on them then just about anything else in our modern time, that still doesnt mean the public will ever accept them, or a sport that condones their usage.

I am a natural bodybuilder because natural bodybuilding is really the only hope for the sport. face the facts, bodybuilding's only getting less and less publicity as time goes on due to the sole fact that steroids are so rapant, people look at a bodybuilder and think "steroids", even if you explain to them the dedication and commitment it takes they still only see the fact that they use hormonal supplements.

but, I came on here to post something I think everyone should try.

parking lot lunges

my god, there's no words to describe what I went through this mourning at the gym, I did a leg workout today consisting of about 12 sets, since I'm on an 80% day I'm only doing sets of 6, so in the end it really wasnt as painful as some of the higher rep days, so I do what I've been doing for about a month now at the end of all leg workouts and take a bar and some 25s out to the parking lot.

I warm up outside with just the bar for a little bit and prepare myself for a all our set till failure, I put the weights, clip em up, and start up.

I hit about ten lunges and get scared because I really dont think I'm gonna make the goal of 40 steps.

at around 15 my legs start burning considerably, not the kind of burning you getin your biceps when you pump out some curls, but burning like a message your body's sending your mind an extreme alert, begging your mind to stop.
This is ok, I continue on, I'm a bodybuilder right? this isn't new to me

I'm about halfway across the parking lot (nice sized parking lot) when I hit 35 and I don't have anything left, there starting to take longer and longer, I continue doing as far steps as I Can, to keep the pain on the quads, and thats when I started a count down.

when I reach fourty I look up and see I'm almost clear across the parking lot, a fellow trainer at the power house I work at had come outside to watch this odd way I had discovered on torturing myself and started yelling at me to finish, so I continue walking, trying to keep count of my steps in my head.

not a chance of that, it took everything I had to go down and up every step, by this time the pain was so deep in my legs I was practically yelling, and this wasn't screaming intensity, these were screams of agony. when I got there I literally dropped the weight and collapsed for about 5 minutes before he helped me to my feet, my legs wern't pumped, they were swollen, it looked like someone had just bashed both my knees with a sludge hammer.

This my freinds is what it takes to be a bodybuilder, every now and again going 25 reps of lunges past the pain carrier.

seriously try these out, they made me a new man, really got me to understand why I do this again

[BlakeSelby]

Parking lot lunges are awesome. I've seen good leg improvement from those in the past. I'm going to make a revision to what I said above. After talking to Layne Norton, Dave Goodin, and my girlfriend (who is a drug free bodybuilder), I am supremely convinced that if "natural bodybuilding" (I refuse to call it natural... I say "Drug-Free Bodybuilding") is to survive and gain power/publicity/respect, we have to unite it. No more of this 15 organizations for one country handing out pro-cards like Halloween-Candy. A pro-card has to be SELECTIVE or else it has no value. One organization that actually TESTS the athletes with something Ronnie Coleman couldnt pass with a masking agent. The problem is, (and Layne Mentioned this), is that everybody thinks "their" organization is the **** and wont unite with anyone else. We cant have fricken 15 organizations for one country. It DOESNT work. Also, we need a DRUG TESTED TEEN/COLLEGIATE NATIONALS!!!! Even if it's at the normal nationals show (doesnt have to be a show by itself). Our success in the future is going to be determined by my generation of upcoming guys. We have to get the young guys competing and get them in the habbit of getting tested. I'm doing the untested teen michigan and nationals because the "natural" organizations dont even test the damn teens!!!!! (I speak from personal competitive experience). IF.... and only IF we can get it under 1 name, 1 organization, 1 representation, will we be able to be taken seriously and draw in the crowds/prize money/publicity that true champions deserve to have. That's my take on things at least. What do you guys think?

[bennutts929]

I agree with you completely, lets start with Michigan, I feel we need to get ALL the teens we can find and all compete at the same shows, lets get 10+ teens coming in per show, it's a start right?

[classic34]

Originally Posted by bennutts929

I agree with you completely, lets start with Michigan, I feel we need to get ALL the teens we can find and all compete at the same shows, lets get 10+ teens coming in per show, it's a start right?

count me in

[BlakeSelby]

Originally Posted by bennutts929

I agree with you completely, lets start with Michigan, I feel we need to get ALL the teens we can find and all compete at the same shows, lets get 10+ teens coming in per show, it's a start right?

I'm gonna ask Layne this too, but under what organization should the teens compete in michigan? NPC? IDK if I like that Idea. The only OCB show really is in Gaylord. thats a bitch of a drive for most teens. I got second in the teen division there last april. It's a good show but you gotta look at what time of year it is. Teens/Collegiates need shows toward the end of summer so they can diet and not be moronic in school.

[BlakeSelby]

Hell Yeah Cassie!

[EricBarrenger]

Ill probably see you at some of the same shows Blake

[BlakeSelby]

Awesome, def. come introduce.

[bennutts929]

yeah, I don't know if I like the npc(commonly called "never piss clean"), what other choices do we really have though, npc really puts on alot of shows.

[BlakeSelby]

Originally Posted by bennutts929

yeah, I don't know if I like the npc(commonly called "never piss clean"), what other choices do we really have though, npc really puts on alot of shows.

Well OCB would be the next logical choice. They almost have something that would work (drug-tested nationals) but, it's the wrong time of year. The show has to be mid-summer to work for teens/collegiates who are in school and cant afford to have grades suffer on a diet.

I just put up new pictures on my bodyspace... all taken today. Check out progress if you want. I've got to work on some chemistry b4 I sleep.

[BlakeSelby]

Strength and BW are increasing rapidly after upping carb intake. Raw Deadlift (no straps, no belt, nonstaggered) 315x6. Weighing in at 176lbs, still have abs. My original predictions may have been too conservative for weight gain. I might be 190 before I cut. 14lbs seems very close at the rate I've been going. I'm not going to start my diet until the middle of april.

[ruga buga]

good work blake... WOOT!

how do you guys find out/enter these competitions? I have been looking on the net and can't seem to find anything

[BlakeSelby]

It takes hours of searching... talking to people... and going to the contests. Bodybuilding is horribly disorganized. I'm pretty good about knowing what the contests are now.