In Route To My First Natural Bodybuilding Competition!!

[mikemillertime]

i'm currently a sr. at Washington state university study kinesiology (movement studies). with future plans to go on to graduate school for physical therapy.

when i arrived at college my freshman year i weighed 135 pounds at 5'7. after my first semester i ballooned up to 170 from pizza an chicken strips all day long at the schools dinning hall. it was then and there i decided to turn things around, since i didnt play high school sports anymore i needed to exercise on my own and loose weight. by the end of the year i was back down to 140 but with some new added muscle from my working out. it was then that i found my passion for bodybuilding and decided to start a quest to become as big as i possibly could.

fast forward close to 4 years and here we are 195 pounds and ready to shed my fat and see what kind of progress i made. i have my eyes set on a natural competition in the start of june if i can be ready in time.

i started dieting 2 weeks ago
my macro's are 250g protein 225g carbs and 55g of fat. with refeeds roughly once ever week or week and a half.
i weigh and log all my meals into an excel spread sheet to monitor everything exactly that way it will be easier to make adjustments in the future
below are a series of pictures taken last night.
please feel free to critique and judge and give pointers, as this is my first contest and any information would greatly help especially from many of the good eyes that are on this site

[mikemillertime]

due to time constraints i cant upload all the photos now but i will this evening. i have roughly 9 more poses for all you guys. but any input in the mean time would be great thanks

[mikemillertime]

to clarify some more info
i am training right now using Layne Norton power hypertrophy training system. and im loving it. i trained max OT for quiet sometime and had good results and get pretty dang strong but i experienced shoulder pain from lack of stretching and no deloading. I actually had to do some physical therapy. so with power hypertrophy i get the best of both worlds i get to train heavy early in the week and more traditional bodybuilding later in the week.

as the prep goes along i will post my training and diet as well as progress pictures to keep myself honest and to allow all of you to critique/ encourage me.

as promised here are a few shots of me posing last night. weight in photos roughly 193.

[hamiltronj]

Hey man, Just checking in. I started similar to where you are except I was 202lbs when I started my prep, but I am sitting at 180.5 after almost 11 weeks. Get a good plan and kill it. Goodluck!

[mikemillertime]

That's good progress my man.
I still got a long way to go I don't have a set weight obviously but im assuming I'll have to be in the 160's at the least to be in condition. But then But again I've never competed so we'll See.
Yesterdays lower body power

Front squat 245x 6 for 3 set
Hack squat going real deep 295x5 for 2 sets
Leg extensions 210x8 2 sets
Stiff deads 205x6 3 sets
Leg curls 130x 8
Super set seated and standing calf raises

My diet is logged at home in my excel spreadsheet
I made one that you just type in your grams of pro carb an fat an it calculates your calories for you as well as adds your daily gram totals to make seeing if you hit your numbers easily an effectively. If anyone wants it just shoot me an email
Anywho I'll post my calories later when im off work.

[hamiltronj]

I might have missed it, but are you doing the PHAT routine? I did that for about two months but with my 75mins of cardio a day is was just too much volume for me. Keep it up man and stay focused

[hamiltronj]

Nevermind... i saw where you posted saying you were.

[shez.virani]

Good luck man! I remember when I was getting ready for my first show (so far the only show I've done). It is definitely a learning experience and it really allows you to learn how your body reacts to what you eat, how you train, etc. I learned so much from my first contest prep that I have applied to what I do now and I have made great gains in a short time. Again, good luck with your prep. I'll be checking in from time to time. DO WORK!

[acm807]

so you're ~13 weeks out?

[mikemillertime]

I might have missed it, but are you doing the PHAT routine? I did that for about two months but with my 75mins of cardio a day is was just too much volume for me. Keep it up man and stay focused

ya im doing phat at the moment. I'm not feeling overtrained yet but it's early in my prep an only doing cardio on off days so it's kind of like a fat loss/ active recovery an with the high demands of phat I burn more calories then a normal routine so we'll see how it goes I know I'll have to make changes as time goes on an cardio has to increase. But im loosing weight at a constant rate an still feeling and looking and full. So I think my carb level is on point at the moment. But thank you for all the encouragement I think if I was doing 75 min of cardio that phat would be to much too haha.

[mikemillertime]

so you're ~13 weeks out?

looking at the calendar im a little over 11 out. An been dieting for 3. We'll see how far I can push my fat loss to make it in time. I know im further out of shape than one would like to be at this point, especially as a natural. I may have to push my diet an get more aggressive an we'll see where im at but im shooting for it. Worse case scenario im not as lean as I would have hoped an I'll do the novice class for experience an then keep dieting down into the next show an do the open. The first novice class will give me posing experience an much more an that's what im hoping to get from it. Sure winning would be nice but I only see it as a stepping stone, I'll strive to be my best in the time provided for this show but nail my next one

[mikemillertime]

hey everybody, been a little busy being on my spring break from school and haven't posted my diet at all. like i said before i have made an excel spreadsheet so instead of typing out my meals i decided to just take a screen shot of it to make it easier and will attach it below.
going to be heading back to school tomorrow its a 6 hr drive so ill be spending my st Patrick's day cooking meals to bring with me haha, anywho have a good st patrick's day everbody

let me know what ya think about my diet. my macros jump around from day to day, lower cal on cardio days and such, but i try to have my weekly average come out to be where i want it so my body is always guessing through out the week


diet 1.jpg

[co1e_train]

hey everybody, been a little busy being on my spring break from school and haven't posted my diet at all. like i said before i have made an excel spreadsheet so instead of typing out my meals i decided to just take a screen shot of it to make it easier and will attach it below.
going to be heading back to school tomorrow its a 6 hr drive so ill be spending my st Patrick's day cooking meals to bring with me haha, anywho have a good st patrick's day everbody

let me know what ya think about my diet. my macros jump around from day to day, lower cal on cardio days and such, but i try to have my weekly average come out to be where i want it so my body is always guessing through out the week


Attachment 4246173

My honest .02.

You should not have macros very each day unless your cho cycling but it doesn't look like you are. You should have your cals set at a place that you are losing 1-2 pounds a week. Having your body "guess" frankly does nothing. Also, you may want to consider doing a later show to have more time but maybe you can make in11 weeks though you may not be as lean as you like.

[mikemillertime]

i appreciate the input, i do agree a should have more set numbers that i should hit every meal so when i change the type of food i still hit the same macros at that meal
however i did come across an article on simply shredded by chris aceto a well known bodybuilding guru an the article said to vary your intake but make your average at the end be what you want that way your body does guess and you wont hit plateaus. similar to a refeed or carb cycling. hmm just guess its all food for thought i guess maybe we should ask more ppl to put in their input

[WoopItsKevin]

Hey man decided to check in and see what's goin on in here!

Your diet looks good to me...I've personally never been on to hit an exact number of macros or calories every day for the week, I tend to vary it every day like you are. As long as you are in the calorie deficit and seeing the results then you should be good to go. If I were you I would maybe not have a set date for competition...but rather take your time to get competition ready and then decide what show you want to do. It seems at 11 weeks out you'll have to do some crash dieting to get in shape and thats not the best way to make your first stage appearance...trust me on that one I took dead last at my very first show! Just some food for thought.

Definitely have some good size on you though, legs are thick, posings not bad at all...keep it up!

[mikemillertime]

Hey there, ya I agree on being to far out to make that show,im just going to keep dieting at the same pace to keep muscle an see where I am. If im no where close I'll hold to another show the next show I had my eye on was all the way in Aug so I guess I got some planning ahead of me
Well today was spent driving across the state to school. Tomorrow will be a training day with some numbers posted.

Btw I took a look at your page an you got a great build. I was curious how did gains wise when going back into an off-season. Just being that height wise we are about the same size an close to same weight although you are much leaner at that weight haha props to you

[Devils]

I wouldn't compete so soon, get lean slowly first, then pick a show that comes up

[mikemillertime]

I wouldn't compete so soon, get lean slowly first, then pick a show that comes up

i agree with that idea
i'm starting to think that's best just diet slowly try to keep my mass and do one thats coming up once i'm in shape. but ill continue to log on here to keep myself honest and keep the gains going
what do you guys think about it being my first prep, should i enlist the help of anyone and if so is there anyone around on these forums to get in touch with that you know of

[WoopItsKevin]

Btw I took a look at your page an you got a great build. I was curious how did gains wise when going back into an off-season. Just being that height wise we are about the same size an close to same weight although you are much leaner at that weight haha props to you

Honestly this past off season never really started until about Aug-Sept of 2011...After placing 3rd/4 in April I really realllly slacked for a few months. I'm not sure if it was the disappointment of getting 3rd or what but I was in a big funk. Then I just started eating like I knew I had to and training my ass off in the gym. Got a good training partner and we just killed every session. I do have a very fast metabolism though and can eat a lot of food without gaining much fat.

[mikemillertime]

Honestly this past off season never really started until about Aug-Sept of 2011...After placing 3rd/4 in April I really realllly slacked for a few months. I'm not sure if it was the disappointment of getting 3rd or what but I was in a big funk. Then I just started eating like I knew I had to and training my ass off in the gym. Got a good training partner and we just killed every session. I do have a very fast metabolism though and can eat a lot of food without gaining much fat.

well looking at your photos you looked pretty dang lean an full. I mean idk about contest day but I saw it said you were doing an npc show, I was wondering why u didn't do a natural show, cuz from what I see I think you can compete pretty well against natty guys.

[mikemillertime]

hey everyday time for a daily check in.
weighed in 191 this morning steadily dropping, got a busy week this week with school, so i gotta manage my time well to get all my meals cooked and ate as well as train. thus fat cardio has been vary minimal 1-2 sessions a week and im dropping weight. i hope to start implementing more cardio sessions this week and from here on out to get this fat loss really going. right now i just do 30 min on the elliptical on fat burn mode and adjust the resistance and incline up to make it moderately difficult. what type of cardio do you guys suggest?

PHAT upper body power

T-bar row
3 sets 225x6

weighted pull ups
2 sets 35x5

pull downs reverse grip
210x6
230x4

db bench
90x6
105x5
105x6

weighted dips
2 sets 90x6

db military
70x 10
80x7
70x12

this is where i have a serious problem and would gladly take some input, as to my shoulder training.
summer of 2010 while doing max OT i was up to pressing 110's for 4. then an injury and physical therapy later i was pain free and back to 90-95x6
but with phat im to exhausted to put up much weight. i struggle hard to get 80 for a meager 7 reps. i mean its obvious i need to train them on there own.
so what would you guys suggest maybe add a day or two to my split and maybe train them max ot style one day and then again later in the weak as a hypertrophy style or just once a week on their own but heavy?

macros thus far today are
262/193/23 from pro/carb/fat
with still a meal or two to go to hit my numbers

[WoopItsKevin]

well looking at your photos you looked pretty dang lean an full. I mean idk about contest day but I saw it said you were doing an npc show, I was wondering why u didn't do a natural show, cuz from what I see I think you can compete pretty well against natty guys.

Thanks man I competed for my WNBF pro card in 2010 when I was 20 and ended up winning my class but not the overall unfortunately. My focus now is to take this long off season and my main goal is to compete (and do well) at the national level.

As for your cardio dilemma, I'd like to say hiit is the best to burn fat..intervals are KILLER. and as for the workout split I've actually never done any of those sheiko, max ot, westside barbell, etc. I just train instinctively so I suppose I can't help you out much with that issue haha

[mikemillertime]

today was just an active recovery day. so i did abs calves and some cardio

idk if any of your gyms have a jacobs ladder but wholly cow are they exhausting. did a min min stint on there and moved onto the the elliptical for 30 min burning what it said to be 270 kcal pluss the jacobs ladder so a little over 300 kcal. i plan to keep at the cardio at about 4 times a week right now and see how the progress goes. considering im dropping weight without cardio i may need to up cals a little so i dont loose to much.

i adjusted my diet and planned it out better so that i can roughly eat the same meals everyday and try to hit my macros at each meal and stay exactly on target which righ now looks as following

260 pro/ 223 carb/ 52 fat...... what does that look like to you guys? sound about right or would you make adjustments based on my size and condition
input would be greatly appreciated.

[WoopItsKevin]

So you'd be about 10-11 weeks out then right? the macros looks good, 2200 kcals seems like a good amount to be taking at this point for you. I personally would INCREASE cardio (frequency and duration), and keep the cals the same. The fact that weight is coming off is a good sign, you should'nt be afraid of that and start increasing calories. With only 10-11 weeks to go you've still got a fair amount of BF% to drop to be competitive on stage. Just my opinion :-)

[mikemillertime]

hey everyone,
diet still holding strong just smashed a chest workout got a good pump overall went well
currently weighing in at 187-188 so down about 7-8 pounds from the start. here are some pictures just ten days since the last pics so roughly 2 weeks. time get my butt in real gear and make this dream a reality

[WoopItsKevin]

The new progress pics look good, you can definitely see you've been tightening up a bit. Slow and steady man keep it up

[mikemillertime]

The new progress pics look good, you can definitely see you've been tightening up a bit. Slow and steady man keep it up

thanks Kevin i appreciate the encouragement. i like where my physique is going.
i talked to a buddy here at school who competes naturally, big dude haha, nad hes gonna help me pose and work with me on my diet to make sure im ready so that will be a great help as well as a good learning experience for the future so im looking forward to what is to come in the next weeks/ months and ill keep the photos coming on a constant basis.

[mikemillertime]

Hey everyone time for an update.
This morning just a smidge under 184. 183.8 actually haha. Well training has been going great calories are still hanging around the same.
Sunday calories were
225/197/45
Mon
222/227/43
And today was more on point with
252/215/55.

Been doing cardio more frequently, keeping the points coming off that’s about 2.5 pounds or so In a week. Little more then needed. But I did up my cardio and kept calories the same.
Right now cardio is at 20 min stair master every other day. Weight has been on the steady decline as you can see since the 24th just over a week ive lost close to 3 pounds although some I think is water of course.
So what ya think keep things as is. Ive dropped almost 13 pounds total so far. With no change since my original diet. And cardio at only 3 times a week.
Im still looking full and loosign weight and staying strong so im happy.
Only thing is, looking at the calendar and that june 2nd sure is coming quick. Id rather skip the show and diet into another instead of crash dieting and looking small and stringy.
What you guys think I want some good input here  thanks

[WoopItsKevin]

thanks Kevin i appreciate the encouragement. i like where my physique is going.
i talked to a buddy here at school who competes naturally, big dude haha, nad hes gonna help me pose and work with me on my diet to make sure im ready so that will be a great help as well as a good learning experience for the future so im looking forward to what is to come in the next weeks/ months and ill keep the photos coming on a constant basis.

Sounds good, it always helps to have a second set of eyes in your corner!

I agree with just taking your time rather than crash dieting, just my opinion though

[hamiltronj]

Sounds good, it always helps to have a second set of eyes in your corner!

I agree with just taking your time rather than crash dieting, just my opinion though

^^This. Keepiong things nice and slow is the way to go. Learn from this experience and gain as much knowledge as you can. Keep at it boss!