Road to the Pros - My journey to a Natural Pro Card

[Sean15782]

Hi guys!

I am fresh off my last contest the OCB Great Lakes show held on June 28th of this year. I was able to win both the teen and the novice divisions in my second show. I dieted for 20 weeks to come in at roughly 155lbs with 5% bodyfat.

I've eased on the calories over the past 3 weeks and I'm finally ready to start my offseason muscle building diet, so I figured a new journal would be exactly what I need to keep the fire alive!

GOALS
-Add 15lbs of lean mass to my frame in the next year
-Stay at or under 10% BF to make dieting for my next show easier, and look good in the offseason!
-Add more size everywhere but specifically to the Quads, Back, and Biceps
-Keep a symmetrical and balanced physique that I can take tot he stage in the next 2 years and win my natural pro card!

I attached a picture of my 3 days out from my contest! I am still waiting for photographer pictures from the show, I will definitely post them up when I get them!

[daYDreAmErX]

Good luck with your goals

[Sean15782]

My current diet:

Meal 1: 50g carb, 15g fat, 40gprotein
1 pc toast, ? cup grits, 1 cup veggies, 8 egg whites, 2 oz meat, 2 Tbsp PB

Meal 2: 30g carb, 15g fat, 40g protein
1 cup brown rice, 2 Tbsp PB, 2 scoops protein

Meal 3: 30g carb, 15g fat, 40gprotein
2 pieces bread, 2 Tbsp PB, 6 oz meat

Meal 4(preworkout): 75g carb, 0g fat, 40g protein
6 egg whites, 4 oz sweet potato, 1/3 cup grits, 1/3 scoop protein, syrup

During workout: 30g carb, 20g protein
1 scoop waxie, 1 scoop syntha-size

Meal 5(postworkout): 75g carb, 0g fat, 40g protein
2 scoops Dark matter ? (48, 12) (30g protein, 1 cup brown rice)

Meal 6: 40g carb, 15g fat, 40g protein
1 cup veggies, 1 cup brown rice, 2 tbsp PB, 6 oz Meat

Meal 7: 10g carb, 7g fat, 35g protein (eaten during the night 4am-ish)
3 scoops SAN Infusion


TOTALS: 340g carb, 67g fat, 295g protein (3143 calories)

[Sean15782]

Current Training Split:

This is a totally new split I'm using, I am loving it thus far! All exercises are performed using the DC- rest pause technique. Each day has 2 workouts which are alternated, so I am not doing the same thing very often.

Monday - Horizontal Push/Vertical Pull

Workout 1
Incline DB
Pull Ups
Dips
Hammer Pull Downs
Machine Fly
Side D-bell Laterals

Workout 2
Incline Smith Barbell
WG Pull Downs
D-bell Pull Over
NG Pull Down
D-bell Fly
Cable Side Laterals


Tuesday - Off


Wednesday - Bi's/Tri's/Traps/Abs/Calves/Forearms

Workout 1
Overhead D-bell Ext.
Barbell Curl
V-bar Press Down
Cable Concentration Curl
Barbell Shrugs
Forearms
Calves

Workout 2
Close Grip Bench Press
D-bell Curls
Rope Press downs
Hammer Curls
One Arm D-bell Shrugs
Forearms
Calves


Thursday - Extra Quad Work/HIIT

Squat (4 sets x 12 rep)

10 Intervals HIIT

Friday - Horizontal Pull/Vertical Push

Workout 1
Smith Shoulder Press
T-Bar Rows
Hammer Rows
D-bell Pullover
D-bell Fly

Workout 2
DB Shoulder Press
Rack Pulls
D-bell Row
Dips
Machine Fly


Saturday - Off


Sunday - Quads/Hamstrings/Calves/HIIT

Workout 1
Squat
D-bell SLDL
Barbell Lunges
Lying Leg Curl
Leg Extensions
Hyper Extensions
Calves
5 Intervals HIIT

Workout 2
SLDL
Leg Press
Smith Squat
Glut Ham Raise
Leg extensions
Hyper Extensions
Calves
5 Intervals HIIT

[Sean15782]

I'm feeling great right now, yesterday was day one of the new diet. My plan as of right now is to stay on this diet(adding more cals as necessary) with the goal of gaining approx. 1lb per week.

I will do this until September 8th, at which point I will switch over to a 3 week cutting phase. I'm doing this in attempt to keep my bodyfat in check at all times, this way I won't have to loose 40-50lbs for my next show!

I'm sitting at 170 right now, and hopefully I'm on my way up!

[g85]

Sean,

So how did you start out and what sups do you take? I've been working out pretty hard for 9 months with modest gains. i'm starting to tweak my diet a bit and I just started rippetoes. do you bulk for a while and then cut for 20 weeks every time? Just wondering! good journal.

[Sean15782]

G85, Thanks for checking out my journal!

I suppose a little background info on me would be prudent.

I was a little overweight in high school until I found wrestling, which I dropped all the way down to 135lbs for. But after high school I found bodybuilding and decided I wanted to train for that!

So over the next 6 months I bulked my way to 185lbs. And at that time I picked out the first competition I wanted to do in May 2007, which was 4 months away. So I dieted for 14 weeks to come in at 148lbs @ 6% Body fat. I placed third in the teen division of that show which motivated me even more to train harder!

Following the May competition I bulked again through December of last year, leaving me at 195 but with about 15% bodyfat. That is when I started preparing for my most recent contest, for which I was 155lbs @ 5% BF.

I wouldn't recommend dieting for 20 weeks unless you are going to be competing in a bodybuilding show. I will be running cycles of 6 weeks bulking and 3 weeks dieting from now on to allow me to add lean mass, and stay relatively lean!

As for my supplements, they change often, but the basics are ALWAYS in place.
-Fish Oil
-Multi Vitamin
-Creatine
-Sesamin
-Whey Protein Isolate
-Xtend(BCAA's)

[g85]

G85, Thanks for checking out my journal!

I suppose a little background info on me would be prudent.

I was a little overweight in high school until I found wrestling, which I dropped all the way down to 135lbs for. But after high school I found bodybuilding and decided I wanted to train for that!

So over the next 6 months I bulked my way to 185lbs. And at that time I picked out the first competition I wanted to do in May 2007, which was 4 months away. So I dieted for 14 weeks to come in at 148lbs @ 6% Body fat. I placed third in the teen division of that show which motivated me even more to train harder!

Following the May competition I bulked again through December of last year, leaving me at 195 but with about 15% bodyfat. That is when I started preparing for my most recent contest, for which I was 155lbs @ 5% BF.

I wouldn't recommend dieting for 20 weeks unless you are going to be competing in a bodybuilding show. I will be running cycles of 6 weeks bulking and 3 weeks dieting from now on to allow me to add lean mass, and stay relatively lean!

As for my supplements, they change often, but the basics are ALWAYS in place.
-Fish Oil
-Multi Vitamin
-Creatine
-Sesamin
-Whey Protein Isolate
-Xtend(BCAA's)

Great info and thanks for the reply. Not to pick your brain too hard but...in roughly 10 months you were ready to compete? What kind of training program where you on?

[Sean15782]

I had a pretty decent muscular base because I had been lifting consistently for 2 years before I decided I wanted to train for bodybuilding.

If I remember correctly my split was:

Day 1:Back/Biceps
Day 2: Off
Day 3: Chest/Triceps
Day 4: Cardio/Abs
Day 5: Shoulders/Legs
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Cardio/Abs

What becomes more and more clear the longer you train is that it is usually always the nutritional side of the equation, that is the limiting factor keeping you from getting the results you want.

We all make the hour or so a day commitment to bust ass in the gym, but the 24 hour commitment of eating correctly to build muscle or shed body fat is too much for most people to handle!

[Sean15782]

Off from lifting today, just went to the driving range for about an hour with my buddy to hit some balls.

Arms/Traps/Forearms/Calves/Abs tomorrow!!!

[Sean15782]

I really feel good about where my calories are right now, and I think it's safe to say its time to get my GROW on!!!

Going to hit the gym in a couple hours, I'm really looking forward to moving some big weight now that I have my calories back up.

[blueboy22]

Looking solid man. Good luck and I'll be following along.

[Sean15782]

Thanks! Glad to have you. Hopefully I can build some calves like yours, and I'll be set.

[Sean15782]

Arm workout was sick, I ahd to go to a different gym last second due to the power being out at mine, but great workout none the less!

Horizontal Pull/Vertical Press today, I am running off 2 hours of sleep though, so we'll see how it goes!

[Rigit23]

Just kinda curious. Aren't you going to slowly ramp up calories to avoid massive fat gain?

[Sean15782]

I did 200g of carb/day for the first two weeks and kept my cardio up at 40 minutes 4 times/week, before I let loose this week. I was going to take a full month, but I was just ITCHING to grow.

It seems to have worked pretty well. I feel great since all of the calories I'm eating are clean! I cheated a few times in the the first week but now I've really cleaned it up. I'm going to do a 3 week mini-cut after my first bulk phase so I'm not to worried about gaining a little fat. I'm sitting at about 8% right now, which is right where I wanted to be.

[Sean15782]

Workout intensity is REALLY picking up now. I had a great Leg workout yesteday. I hit 305 x 6 reps on my SLDL which is almost back to full strength! I will try for 305x8 next time! My legs are noticably bigger already, I'm excited to see how they will respond over the next year!

Vertical Pull/Horizontal Push on tap for today:

Workout 2
Incline Smith Barbell
WG Pull Downs
D-bell Pull Over
NG Pull Down
D-bell Fly
Cable Side Laterals

Big things goin on over here!!!

[Sean15782]

I'm going to try for 205x10 reps today on the incline and maybe attempt my previous PR of 225x6 if everything is feelin good. I have completed my deload with the weights and its time to set some PR's!

[Cnstnce]

It sounds like you are truly dedicated and have the right mind going into this. I feel you on the itching to grow, I'm itching to lean out for contest myself, but go slow, you will reap far more rewards!

[Sean15782]

Thanks Cnstnce, I am definitely going really slow with this process. Time is the one thing I have plenty of!

I am only trying to put on about a pound per week, so my fat gains should be minimal, and my mini cuts should keep me right about the same bodyfat %

[Sean15782]

I hit 205x10 and 225x4 yesterday on the incline which I was very happy about! Today is a rest day, but tomorrow's arms/traps/calf workout will be sick, no doubt about it!

[Rodzilla]

Congrats and good luck!

a few questions. Are you naturally very, very lean/have a low set point? I've seen 10-12 to be the best are for muscle gain quite a few times.

Also, are you working with anyone?

[Transformer08]

Im subbed shaun! DC training is a serious routine, i love the techniques and progression factor. U had a good year this year, have the same attitude this off-season things will only get better

[Sean15782]

Congrats and good luck!

a few questions. Are you naturally very, very lean/have a low set point? I've seen 10-12 to be the best are for muscle gain quite a few times.

Also, are you working with anyone?

Actually I am not very lean naturally. I tend to blow up quite easily if I'm not careful. I want to avoid this, as I hate not looking like a bodybuilder. For my first two competitions I ended up loosing 40lbs before stepping on stage. I feel this is too drastic and can only result in muscle loss.

I want to stay about 15-20lbs over my contest weight, as I feel this is much more conducive to success as a natural competitor due to the decrease in severity of the contest diet. All of the guys who I know personally as well as the pros who post here seem to adhere to this policy.

I am not working with anyone in the off season but I am a firm believer in the theories of Layne Norton for contest dieting as well as off season cutting/bulking cycles. I am also a NASM and ACE CPT.

[Sean15782]

Im subbed shaun! DC training is a serious routine, i love the techniques and progression factor. U had a good year this year, have the same attitude this off-season things will only get better

Oh yeah, you know I'm glad to have you following along! It's time to get better!

[big blind jay]

Hey man, in for the pro card. Keep killing it bro.

[Drekkor]

Ah, you're hitting up the Dark Matter... you're the first person I've stumbled upon who does the waxie maise... what do you think of it?

[Sean15782]

Hey man, in for the pro card. Keep killing it bro.

Thanks Jay! I will definitely be killing it EVERYDAY, whether its giving it my all in the gym or nailing my macros, I'm definitely getting serious in here!

[Sean15782]

Ah, you're hitting up the Dark Matter... you're the first person I've stumbled upon who does the waxie maise... what do you think of it?

I love the Waxie Maize as a pre/intra/post workout carb source! I actually just upped my Intra-Workout dose to 45g today and I may go as high as 60g in the future. I never get tired and the muscle pumps/fullness are INSANE.

Dark Matter is definitely I great product, I am recovering very quickly from workout to workout, and my strength is increasing big time with every workout, couldn't really ask for more.

[Sean15782]

I have decided that once I reach 175lbs (probably in 3-4 weeks) I will start my first mini-cut of 4-6 weeks, which will take me down to a leaner, meaner, 165-168lbs. From there I will do another bulk cycle of 8 weeks then evaluate myself and decide where to go from there.

In the attempt to really focus on remaining proportionate I may back off in the training of my Chest and Triceps because I feel my chest is to large for my shoulders and my triceps are too big for my biceps. I will probably train them with the same weights, but simply for fewer work sets.