Preparing for first contest! 12 weeks out!

**Sean15782** · 02-06-2007, 09:15 PM

Hi guys,

I am currently in preperation for my first contest on april 28th! I am 18 years old, and 5'9" 180ish with under 10% bodyfat. Im just under 12 weeks out and I hope to come in with very tight conditioning.

My diet consists of:
1 cup oats, 6 egg whites

40g protein shake

4oz turkey breast, low carb tortilla

6oz tuna, 1 cup veggies

40g protein shake

6oz chicken breast, 2 cups veggies

40g protein shake

This has me at just over 100g carbs per day, and saturday and sunday I will eat lean red meat instead of the chicken meal to get extra fats.

My supplements are:
-Mulitvitamin
-Fishoil
-**** Lean Dreams(starting tonight)
-Scivation xtend (taken 4 scoops while working out, and usually 1 scoop with breakfast water)

-My usual water intake is anywhere between 1.5-2 gallons of water/day.

My workouts change every two weeks, to keep variety currently im doing one muscle a day with 4 exercises, 4 sets, 8 reps, with rest periods more than 60 seconds. I am performing 20 minutes of cardio pre-workout, and 1 hour on friday, saturday, and sunday.

Im currently doing a test water depletion and I will take pictures on friday when I am dried out.

After the first 3-4 weeks I may consider doing one cheat meal a week to stimulate my metabolism, depending on how I have progressed.

I decided to post mainly so I can get some feedback from more experienced competitors, and just to talk to others who are also competing! I welcome any comments or questions!

**BigJacob1990** · 02-07-2007, 05:11 AM

I would say that 100g of carbs are too low
I weight about 5 lbs less than you and when I had 175g of carbs and 20min of cardio a day I was loosing not that much of fat and a lot of muscles. Unless you have a slow metabolism

You can correct me If I am wrong

**Cytrainer913** · 02-07-2007, 07:38 AM

It should be more like a refeed, not a cheat meal, instead of carbs being about 100, they should be higher! I would at least try and bump them up with some sweet pot or oatmeal, at least 150 g's and then see how the body responds. The refeed should just be a day once a week to keep the metabolism going by maybe hitting carbs about 200-250 g's, but good extra amounts of food, not bad foods!

**Sean15782** · 02-07-2007, 08:10 AM

Cytrainer913 - Yes, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. By cheat meal, I do mean either sweet potatoes or brown rice. I eat extremely clean, and I will keep it this way.

I have been gradually bringing down my carbs, they were at 150g last week. I was going lower this week along with the water depletion to see how my body would respond.

And yes BigJacob, I have a very slow metabolism! Fat loss has been very difficult for me in the past, especially because my body stores most of its fat around the waist area.

**Sean15782** · 02-07-2007, 11:05 PM

My diet is going as well as possible. Today was the first day I had significantly less energy due to carb restriction, and my numbers for shoulders reflected it, but still a very intense workout. My shoulder workouts are emphasizing rear delts, as this is a weakness for me!

I usually do two warm up sets for my first exercise of any body part, and at least one for each exercise there after. That being said I will leave them out of the lifting numbers.

20 minutes precore elliptical HR @ 140

Behind the Neck Barbell press:
95 lbs x 8 reps
115lbs x 8 reps
135lbs x 8 reps x 2 sets

Bent over dumbell laterals(pinky up to stress rear delts)
30lbs x 8 reps x 2 sets
35lbs x 8 reps

Rear cable side raises(low pulley with cable behind back)
25lbs x 8 reps(per arm)
30lbs x 8 reps x 2 sets

Upright barbell rows
95lbs x 8 reps
115bs x 8 reps x 2 sets

**coloBB** · 02-08-2007, 09:54 AM

are you working your delts twice a week? because that seems awefully low volume if you are only doing that once a week.

**Sean15782** · 02-10-2007, 12:03 AM

Well, I try to avoid overtraining. Im also trying not to work my anterior deltoids very hard so I can allow some time for my rear delts to catch up. I try to keep my workouts brief but very intense right now. Normally I would hit each mucsle twice a week but im changing it up for now.

**TJ_Strong** · 02-10-2007, 09:45 AM

Id bump the meat up a little bit dude.

Iam eatting 8oz of meat on my cut diet and loosing fat better than expected.

I however believe in more cardio and work than reducing important nutrients and calories that the body needs.

**Cytrainer913** · 02-10-2007, 10:25 AM

I would rather keep cals in check tighter and not try and drop weight with cardio. Cardio should be used according to bodytype and not as a way of eating more foods, if it were that simple, go and eat an extra 500 cals per day and then try and work it off to keep the same condition, not going to happen. That's why those that keep it in check and do drop their cals 1st and foremost will have an easier time tightening up. Cardio should be done as little as possible as you are dieting.

Ectos will do little to none!

Mesos will do a little bit more, but nothing out of hand! Their diet should almost take care of their bodyfat!

While endos will be hitting the cardio for the highest frequencies and longest durations!

Carbs should be as high as possible for you to retain muscle, yet lose fat as these will be your source to retain muscle in a caloire restricted diet!
Ectos will eat a ton carbs, mesos will get up there but not as high, and endos will have the lowest amounts of carbs!

Protein does not need to be that out of hand either as if this is too high, it will help to retain muscle as well.
Ectos will use the most, mesos next and endos usuallu have an easier time retaining muscle under the most extreme conditions.

Sean,
I would try and bump up the protein a bit as I only counted about 220 g's and maybe get that near 250-275 g's! And there must be fat in there as well, near 55 g's or so!

**Sean15782** · 02-10-2007, 10:22 PM

Craig,

I am glad to have your opinion on this as I know that you are very knowledgable. I am working with a very good prep "guru" if you will. As corretions to my earlier post, I am actually eating 6 oz of turkey in meal three and 8 oz of chicken with dinner! I incorrectly stated lower numbers.

Believe me I do not enjoy doing cardio at all! However I would consider myself as an endomorph. You can judge yourself from my pictures though. For the next few weeks I will be having 150g of carbs and 250g protein. I will get the 50g of fat from cheese, tuna, pb, fish oil, and perhaps, occasionally milk.

**Sean15782** · 02-10-2007, 10:31 PM

So here is my updated diet:

1 cup oats, 6 egg whites, fish oil

40g protein shake

4oz turkey breast, 2pc swiss cheese low carb tortilla

6oz tuna, 1 cup veggies

1-2 TBSP PB

40g protein shake

8oz chicken breast, 2 cups veggies

40g protein shake, fish oil

After the first week or two of this I am planning refeeds on sunday and wednesday, with sweet potato as the carb source.

Ill post a few pictures in a little bit but keep in mind they are from my mac's photobooth, so i have only 3 seconds to get into position and the quality/lighting is very bad.

**Sean15782** · 02-10-2007, 10:58 PM

here are a few pictures!

**Cytrainer913** · 02-11-2007, 08:21 AM

Believe me I know all about endos, as I am one myself with some meso qualities. It does kind of suck, but hang in their! You are prepping for a natural show? Who are using for your prep? I hope he's a natural prep guy like Layne or Dr. Joe Klemczewski, as I would consider those 2 the cream of the crop in terms natural prep guys.

**TJ_Strong** · 02-11-2007, 08:31 AM

Little behind dude buts its alright dont sweat it too much, have fun with your first show.

How old are you bro?

Sorry yeah I would listen to Craig he knows his stuff. I on the other hand have a very weird body type. I have traits of ecto-meso-endo

its weird. I am naturally skinny and can get cut east, i gain muscle fast and respond well to weight training, but iam sensitive to carbs i have to keep mine low or get pudgy.

weird, anyway not to jack your thread or anything. Good luck dude, post some more pics as you progress

**Sean15782** · 02-11-2007, 10:57 PM

TJ - would you really say im behind? I have 11 weeks now... BTW i am 18.

Craig- The show itself is not natural, but I am personally. I am working with a former NPC competitor in the Michigan area. You probably have not heard of her, but she is very knowledgable for contest prep and has a good list of guys and girls shes done the prep for to show it! I am a personal trainer myself, NASM and ACE certified, but contest prep is her expertise, so it is defintily nice to have her guidance.

Im really nervous about coming in with very tight conditioning for his show, so hopefully im not really behind. I have been as low as 6% bf before but that was when i was wrestling in high school, and weighing 140lbs. Gaining has been very simple for me, as I have put on 45 pounds since then, but now its time to change gears to leaning out. I guess we will see how it goes.

Hopefully I can update with new pictures every week or two, and ill post every day that I can on my progress, and any changes with my diet.

**mass_chaos** · 02-12-2007, 01:45 AM

Hey Sean,

I've been following this thread since it started but I never chimed in. I feel your pain on the endomorph thing. I am a endomorph/mesomorph. I had the same mentality as you and I still have to grab myself from time to time and remind myself that I am fine. I have never compteted before so I am not sure whether I am on schedule, behind, ahead of schedule but I know that I am competing against myself in this upcoming show and so far, I am winning. I look better than I ever had and that is what drives me. Don't get me wrong, i want to win as I am very competitive but don't stress yourself and take your time. Like CYTRAINER said, Let your diet do its work. It will happen. Good luck. BTW, I'm 11 weeks out too, so I can relate.

**TJ_Strong** · 02-12-2007, 04:58 AM

Originally Posted by Sean15782

TJ - would you really say im behind? I have 11 weeks now... BTW i am 18.

Craig- The show itself is not natural, but I am personally. I am working with a former NPC competitor in the Michigan area. You probably have not heard of her, but she is very knowledgable for contest prep and has a good list of guys and girls shes done the prep for to show it! I am a personal trainer myself, NASM and ACE certified, but contest prep is her expertise, so it is defintily nice to have her guidance.

Im really nervous about coming in with very tight conditioning for his show, so hopefully im not really behind. I have been as low as 6% bf before but that was when i was wrestling in high school, and weighing 140lbs. Gaining has been very simple for me, as I have put on 45 pounds since then, but now its time to change gears to leaning out. I guess we will see how it goes.

Hopefully I can update with new pictures every week or two, and ill post every day that I can on my progress, and any changes with my diet.

Oh man bad for some reason i thought you were like 8/7 weeks out or something

**Sean15782** · 02-12-2007, 01:28 PM

Thanks for all the comments guys!

VA- I was born and raised in virginia beach! Looks like we will be going through the same pains. How much cardio are you doing? Right now im only doing 20 minutes a day when I lift(4-5 days depending on the week) and non lifting days I do 45min-1hr.

Im considering after this week increasing the cardio on lifting days to 30 minutes for a few weeks and then going from there. Other than that its still pretty much the daily grind of eating perfectly and working hard. I was really nervous going into the prep but I had a chance to meet Eryk Bui a few weeks ago and that was pretty inspiring for me.

Best of luck to everyone in achieving their goals.

**Cytrainer913** · 02-12-2007, 02:04 PM

Sean,
If you had a chance to look at Layne's article:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne36.htm
about prepping for a show naturally and I hope you get that type of advice in the end that works for natty's, because a lot of times when these other non-natural "gurus" give you that last week of advice and loks like this:

1.Heavy water in the beginning of the week that completely gets shut down by wed and and no water thurs or fri, you could be in trouble!
2.carbs are shutdown sat, sun, mon, tues, and then heavy carbing begins on wed, you could be in trouble! too early too soon, carbs work way too fats for a natural. You better be the ecto in the world for that to work or you better win each time in Vegas for that to work, cause your that lucky!
3.No workouts at all the last wekk of prep, wrong falacy!
4.Potassium loading, not a great idea, no need for it!
5.Sodium early on in the week and then shut it down for the last three days for the show, this is crazy and the body will shut down cramp up, and even worse cause some major damage!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drjoe2.htm

**Sean15782** · 02-12-2007, 02:41 PM

Well, the majority of the people she works with are natural and compete in tested shows. We have not gone into to much detail as for the final week before the show but as far as I know the water depletion will run

Saturday/Sunday/Monday - 2 Gallons
Tuesday/Wednesday - 1 Gallon
Thursday - 1/2 gallon
Friday - 32 oz
Saturday- 16 oz

That is what I believe we will be doing as that is waht he have done in the past for test depletions.

However After the point of 1/2 gallon or 32oz I have noticed I really start to flatten out so im not sure what exactly we will do.

**Cytrainer913** · 02-12-2007, 02:44 PM

Saturday/Sunday/Monday - 2 Gallons
Tuesday/Wednesday - 1 Gallon
Thursday - 1/2 gallon
Friday - 32 oz
Saturday- 16 oz

This will pull valuable water out of your muscles as well and you will appear flatter and even make the body hold onto water in the skin!

WAY to LOW! Not good!

Read the DR Joe article:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drjoe3.htm

I drink near 2 gallons on fri before the show and I am only about 145 for the show!

**Sean15782** · 02-12-2007, 02:49 PM

So basically you do not water deplete at all?

according to laynes calculator I should only be having about 80g of carbs a day! My oats alone at just under 60g!

**Cytrainer913** · 02-12-2007, 02:52 PM

Check that what bidytype are you?

Water and lots of it!

**Sean15782** · 02-12-2007, 02:55 PM

I am an endo and I am weighing 180 pounds currently. I was reading his article, and threw my weight into the estimator. I know this is not a good number, I just thought it was funny.

I am currently drinking 2 gallons a day.

**mass_chaos** · 02-12-2007, 04:30 PM

Originally Posted by Sean15782

Thanks for all the comments guys!

VA- I was born and raised in virginia beach! Looks like we will be going through the same pains. How much cardio are you doing? Right now im only doing 20 minutes a day when I lift(4-5 days depending on the week) and non lifting days I do 45min-1hr.

Im considering after this week increasing the cardio on lifting days to 30 minutes for a few weeks and then going from there. Other than that its still pretty much the daily grind of eating perfectly and working hard. I was really nervous going into the prep but I had a chance to meet Eryk Bui a few weeks ago and that was pretty inspiring for me.

Best of luck to everyone in achieving their goals.

Sean,

I just bumped my cardio up to 35 mins per session.(5 days a week.) I'm lettin my diet do the work. I read some of CYtrainers post and he is very knowledgeable. IMO, He would not tell you any wrong.

**Cytrainer913** · 02-12-2007, 05:06 PM

Sean,
REad Joe's article on peak and about water, these are the most accurate accounts of what the real natural body does and needs in terms of water and peaking for the last week!

**Sean15782** · 02-12-2007, 08:57 PM

I have read it several times, but he does not actually list any number for water or any nutrient, but he says to test different sodium/potassium/carb levels to figure out what is your best individual combination. Or did I miss something in there?

**Sean15782** · 02-14-2007, 09:29 PM

Hey guys, just a quick status update:

Everything is going well. Energy was low today for the first time, but I have a refeed tomorrow, so that should help. I was going to do 1 large sweet potato and 1/2 cup brown rice with my preworkout meal. What do you guys think about that? Should I keep it to one meal or have carbs with dinner as well? (Craig your input is appreciated)

My workouts have been great, numbers are very good. I can post them if anyone is interested, but i dont think anyone wants to read all of that haha.

**Cytrainer913** · 02-15-2007, 04:12 AM

I like to spread them out and let them get assimilated throughout the day, not too much at one! Put a little bit of what you said in each meal and get those little extra carbs in the preworkout meal, especially when precontest going on. So keep the oatemal for preowrkout and then spread the sweet pot throughout the day for your refeed.

**Sean15782** · 02-15-2007, 08:25 AM

Would it be ok to have my oatmeal for breakfast, sweet potato at around 3pm with my pre workout meal, and then have a cup of brown rice at dinner (about 7pm)?

Thread: Preparing for first contest! 12 weeks out!

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Preparing for first contest! 12 weeks out!

cheat meal??

retaining muscle

endos!

final week prep

way to low

not sure about that??

READ DR. JOE's Article

Spread them out

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions