18 Weeks, Overall is a must!

[NextProtege]

Woke up this morning looking nuts after all that posing. Them veins!



4/13/14
Morning Weight: ??? didnt bring scale to show
6 days out from final show
Macros: 240p/270c/34f
Lower Power Push and 20 minute bike ride
Squats: 135x12, 205x12, 275x10, 295x10, 315 deep slow x 5, 315 deep slow x 5, 315 deep slow x 5
Front Squats: 135x10, 185x10, 225x10, 275x3

Went safe today on squats with weight, but needed to put some blood in my quads. Upper body is pretty tired still from yesterday

[NextProtege]

4/14/14
Morning weight: 180.8
5 days out until the finish line!!
Macros: 230p/250c/30f/2gal
Workout Upper power push, 20min stepmill x350calories (pr), stretching, abs, and 10min jog

Bench: 135x20, 135x 20, 185x15, 185 x 15, 225x8, 225x8, 225x8
Overhead db press: 65x10, 4 sets
Machine flys: 150x15, 4 sets
Overhead db extension: 80x20, 90x15, 100x12, 100x12
Cgbp: 135x10, 4 sets
Abs: 15minutes


Feel like I am either bloated or holding water from this weekend. It could even be stress though. Between this last show and today, I have already compiled my 1st quarter business taxes, got two power workouts in, done an hour of cardio, trained ten clients, and prepped food for the week. Had to have a little self talk tonight on the stepmill to keep trucking hard as this week has been quite brutal. Two days of work remain then I head up to Edmonds, for the final showdown.

[deltpecx]

Woke up this morning looking nuts after all that posing. Them veins!



..

Damn road map!

[NextProtege]

Damn road map!

Never been this veiny!


Some more pics from the show that have accumulated:

[Blazed]

You looked incredible on stage! The bantam guy had insane conditioning as well, I couldn't believe the weight difference. Goes to show how bodybuilding is all about smoke and mirrors.

And holy ish at that wake up pic. Vascularity of PEACE!

[NextProtege]

You looked incredible on stage! The bantam guy had insane conditioning as well, I couldn't believe the weight difference. Goes to show how bodybuilding is all about smoke and mirrors.

And holy ish at that wake up pic. Vascularity of PEACE!

Thanks man, it was a good weekend, hoping to blow it away here on Saturday!


4/15/14
4 days out!
Morning weight: 180.4lbs
Macros: 230p/265c/38f
Workout: upper hyper pull, stretching x 20min, posing x 20 min, bike ride x 20min

Lat pull down: 120x20, 120x20, 160x15, 160 x 15, 190 x 10, 190 x10
Cable rows: 150x12, 4 sets, machine rear delt fly: 162.5x15, 3 sets
Db shrugs: 3 sets x 20
Db curls: 4 sets x 12 each

Extremely hungry, happy today is my final low day of prep!

[jpfaherty]

Woke up this morning looking nuts after all that posing. Them veins!



4/13/14
Morning Weight: ??? didnt bring scale to show
6 days out from final show
Macros: 240p/270c/34f
Lower Power Push and 20 minute bike ride
Squats: 135x12, 205x12, 275x10, 295x10, 315 deep slow x 5, 315 deep slow x 5, 315 deep slow x 5
Front Squats: 135x10, 185x10, 225x10, 275x3

Went safe today on squats with weight, but needed to put some blood in my quads. Upper body is pretty tired still from yesterday

Blows my mind you haven't won your card yet. Just goes to show you never know who is going to show up!!

Next on is the one though! GET SOME!

[domingochavez]

Low days done!

This weekend is yours!

[NextProtege]

Got to the host hotel a day early. Six hour drive was a bit stressful so it's nice to relax here after early check in and polygraph. Kevin James and Lynda Prince, the promoters, are the most warm hearted welcoming folks I have ever met at a show. They have really reached out and made me feel at home already and my stress levels are non existent at this point. Fully carved up presently and looking better than last week, can't wait for Saturday to roll around and pose off against a level playing field for the first time in my life!

[deltpecx]

Got to the host hotel a day early. Six hour drive was a bit stressful so it's nice to relax here after early check in and polygraph. Kevin James and Lynda Prince, the promoters, are the most warm hearted welcoming folks I have ever met at a show. They have really reached out and made me feel at home already and my stress levels are non existent at this point. Fully carved up presently and looking better than last week, can't wait for Saturday to roll around and pose off against a level playing field for the first time in my life!

Give it your best!

[soleution]

Got to the host hotel a day early. Six hour drive was a bit stressful so it's nice to relax here after early check in and polygraph. Kevin James and Lynda Prince, the promoters, are the most warm hearted welcoming folks I have ever met at a show. They have really reached out and made me feel at home already and my stress levels are non existent at this point. Fully carved up presently and looking better than last week, can't wait for Saturday to roll around and pose off against a level playing field for the first time in my life!

Driving up to my show tonite! Hopefully we can both take the overalls! good luck again.

[0jay0]

[QUOTE=NextProtege;1232272203]Woke up this morning looking nuts after all that posing. Them veins!



DAMN! Even better than waking up next to a hot chick

[NextProtege]

Prejudging is over! Battled it out with saven other fantastic athletes for 14 minutes on stage. I definitely didn't look my best. Doing two shows back to back just doesn't allow enough recovery time for me at this body fat I suppose. Ended up flat as hell and probably 3rd-4th in my class but I will take it as a learning experience. On to the night show and then eating and eating and eating

[jaredmus]

saw your pics on instagram starting following you looked great man , loads of improvement great job

[domingochavez]

Mate that's very unfortunate!!!

Rock that night show and enjoy those eats, still inspired a tonne of people on here regardless of your placing!

[Devils]

Aye very unfortunate,

Congrats on making it this far, It's always a learning experience and you can only get better from it.

Looking forward to seeing the pics from the show

[jpfaherty]

Great work man. Be proud of your accomplishments

[NextProtege]

Hey guys! Maybe I was too critical on myself in my last post! Ended up looking better than I thought (after watching some vid) and took home second place! The winner, John Smith (about 200+ lbs stage weight with glutez) ended up winning the overall and nabbing the pro card. I knew when I had heard his name called during the competitor meting that I was in trouble, I competed with this guy six years ago in another overall that he had won! Anyway, I met so many great athletes at te show and had a blast after prejudging and ended up eating enough to make me look far better for the night show and routine . I am super proud of this accomplishment and have began eating myself into a very comfortable offseason bodyfat. Reverse diet begin tomorrow . Thanks again for following this prep to the stage and all te encouragement I have recieved with it. It has truly been an experience and I am excited to enter a long and powerful offseason.

Full write up coming soon!

[deltpecx]

Congratulations! Well Done!

[domingochavez]

Second nice work!

[SammyJr]

congrats on the shows.


people are allowed to compete in the open when they already won an overall? (and are already considered pro?)
if so, that's not fair..

[OrcaLifter]

Congrats man!

[NextProtege]

Some pics back stage with the guys. I don't have anything from the stage yet but I have a buddy who took a video of my routine! So looking forward to that.


Two guys in my class, one finished fourth the other 6th.



The guy in the middle, Andrew 'Petro' won the middle height class in the Open! Very cool dude.

[Vytis]

I'm sorry that I haven't been following this journal sooner, but it was fun to get caught up quick on your contest run!

Crazy how insignificant those 55 lbs are when your shredded huh?!

It truly is. You definitely do not get blown away by the monster.

Video



Not outsized, not outconditioned, not outposed, just outshaped. Genetics is a tough loss to accept, but that's bodybuilding.

Funny, I followed Josh and Matt's journal in MD...and now I see you being in the same show. Here's the link if anyone's interested:

http://forums.musculardevelopment.co...eeks-out/page5

Hey guys! Maybe I was too critical on myself in my last post! Ended up looking better than I thought (after watching some vid) and took home second place! The winner, John Smith (about 200+ lbs stage weight with glutez) ended up winning the overall and nabbing the pro card. I knew when I had heard his name called during the competitor meting that I was in trouble, I competed with this guy six years ago in another overall that he had won! Anyway, I met so many great athletes at te show and had a blast after prejudging and ended up eating enough to make me look far better for the night show and routine . I am super proud of this accomplishment and have began eating myself into a very comfortable offseason bodyfat. Reverse diet begin tomorrow . Thanks again for following this prep to the stage and all te encouragement I have recieved with it. It has truly been an experience and I am excited to enter a long and powerful offseason.

Full write up coming soon!

You should be very proud of your accomplishments. You worked a long and tough prep and came out at your best...great work!

[NextProtege]

[NextProtege]

About 40 seconds of my routine, thanks to Kenny Gonzalez and his girlfriend for getting some of it on video!

[NextProtege]

I'm sorry that I haven't been following this journal sooner, but it was fun to get caught up quick on your contest run!



It truly is. You definitely do not get blown away by the monster.



Funny, I followed Josh and Matt's journal in MD...and now I see you being in the same show. Here's the link if anyone's interested:

http://forums.musculardevelopment.co...eeks-out/page5



You should be very proud of your accomplishments. You worked a long and tough prep and came out at your best...great work!

Thank you sir, I will have to check out the MD stuff!

Congrats man!

congrats on the shows.


people are allowed to compete in the open when they already won an overall? (and are already considered pro?)
if so, that's not fair..

Different federations! He won NPC and NPC doesn't give a pro card out at any show but Team U for naturals. Which is "drug tested" but not truly natural IMO.

Second nice work!

Thanks!

Congratulations! Well Done!

I appreciate it!

[domingochavez]

Posing routine looked great, looks like you nailed your conditioning looking very full and lean!

[NextProtege]

2014 NANBF WA State Full Write Up

IFPA Professional Natural Bodybuilder was what I killed myself this last six months for. I wanted that pro card. Really bad. I didn't diet for anything else this prep, that overall was my goal, and still ended up being, again, Mr. Next In Line. I am not angry.....I am not remorseful, I couldn't have worked harder. Maybe I could have eaten more for prejudging, but I don't really feel like it would have made a difference, as the overall winner was so developed, even my best probably would have fallen short. Strangely, I find myself completely and utterly content this week. Four days after leaving the stage, full of the foods I missed, lifting heavy again, and enjoying life. I am back to me again, for the first time in what feels like forever, I am happy. What I found in Edmonds Washington was something I did not expect..... a new family. As silly as it may sound, this was my first show where comaraderie mattered. For those reading this who have never been to a bodybuilding show, at least from what I have experienced, there is a sense of animosity most the time. There has only been one instance in the NPC where I had felt even close to this level of open support and encouragement back stage and it was my first bodybuilding show where my class were all novice first timers cheering eachother on. This time was so much more than that. I met like-minded, natural athletes who were at this show to display their very best physiques. Guys who killed themselves to get to a level of conditioning you rarely see on any local stage. These warriors, instead of being elitist or superficial, were instead very supportive and helpful. Most went out of their way to encourage the other competitors best look and mindset, even within their own classes! The moment I got to our host hotel, I knew this was my new home, as I made more friends in 24 hours then I have in 6 years of competing in the NPC.

Thursday, 4/17/14
Morning Weight: 181.2
Stressed. I woke up at 6am on Thursday with one goal in mind. Collect everything I could ever need for a long weekend ahead. A weekend that I may win a pro card or at least battle it out in an overall for one. This time I made sure to grab EVERYTHING. Extra contacts, sunglasses, sweatshirt, sandals, 2 CDs of routine music, extra clothes, I even grabbed the Genuine Fitness Microwave when I heard the rooms didn't provide one. I had a toaster, a microwave, a giant cooler, 3 bags of carbohydrates and seasonings and sauces. I was going to rely on nothing, and create a kitchen in my own room. After packing up and getting more ice for a very packed cooler, we headed up to Edmonds WA at 9am. My goal was to look my absolute best ever. I was going to consume the same amount of carbs as I did the previous Thursday. Considering my weight was up a lb from the previous week, I knew my look wasn't going to be as sharp so I decided upping my food intake wouldn't be necessary. I stuck to the same programming and the day pushed on. After 5 bathroom breaks (1.5gallons of water) and a gas stop, we finally ended up in the small town of Edmonds WA with an estimated drive time of 5hours 45 minutes. Not too bad. We checked into the host hotel and after speaking with a lady who was a bit excessive among informing us of all the amenities we headed to our room, I unpacked and knew that I needed to get some blood moving. 2 days out from the show and sitting for 6 hours doesn't make the body look good. I located the nearest Starbucks via the front desk and went on the 1/2mile walk with the girlfriend to get some hot coffee. After waking up my legs and feeling better because of the caffeine I located the host hotel's partnered gym and made my way over for my last pump up session of the prep.
Fortunately, the gym was well equipped and only a $5 per day fee for any hotel visitors. I made sure to get my moneys worth and ended up putting those plentiful carbs to work that day super-setting presses and pulls for upper body, ensuring I wasn't going crazy enough to be sore on stage. I hit abs, I foam rolled, I stretched, and I checked the mirror. Everything was in place. I looked good and ended the workout with a strong 20minute stepmill session and finally found myself feeling good again. I headed back to the host hotel and got registration started. I met with Lynda Prince and Kevin James, the promoters of the show and they were the most supportive and helpful people I could ever ask for. Both were very encouraging and made me feel right at home. I knocked out the necessary paperwork to complete registration, bought a Tshirt (That I ended up trading in for a bigger one since its grow time!) and finished up with the manditory Polygraph. After only 5-10minutes of questions it was done and I was allowed to collect my goody bag and finish my competitor registration.
Showing up the hotel a day early was really nice, I got to sleep in the next morning and our first order of business was to get Starbucks and a pedicure. Fortunately there were plenty of good spots in Edmonds and we chose the first open one we saw and it was awesome! I have always been skeptical on those massage chairs that exist out there but this place knew what was up. During my foot treatment I had that thing set on stress reliever and it felt like a small person was inside the chair kneeding the hell out of my upper back. After 45 minutes of relaxation we concluded our service for a cheap $25 fee each along with a generous tip. For being 1 day out, I felt relaxed and ready to do the damn thing! I ended up eating an additional 425g of carbs on Friday, about 75 more grams then the week before. I found that filling out was being a bit more difficult this week and the extra carbs would be needed for what I heard was a very long amount of stage time that I would be getting the following day. I also spoke to a few great competitors/coaches that day to get my head strait about the following days competition. A big shout out to Darren Foote from Olympia, he went out of his way to hook me up with some nonfat pringles and some words of wisdom about me looking ready to go for battle on Saturday. I went to bed early at 10pm Friday night after getting the darkest tan of my bodybuilding career from LSR tans and Kim Bell. I felt ready, but the apprehension couldn't completely dissipate, it was time!

[NextProtege]

I only slept about 4.5 hours Friday night. My brain was racing. The possibilities of the next day ranged from disappointing those who were coming to see me compete to winning that pro card. It was up to me to relax the collection of thoughts my brain was spitting out at me. However, I just couldn't seem to get back to sleep past 5am. All those months of dieting for this one day, for this one moment, the culminating point was just hours away. It was time for a real competition.
I woke up at 5:45am, I felt bad for Lyndsi as she had been through so many of these days of not being able to sleep because of MY stress and hunger levels, however this would be the final time she would have to suffer along with me. The day had arrived.
Again, like clockwork I headed to Starbucks. I got my Venti Black Coffee and decided a big bowl of oatmeal and egg whites were what would make me feel best that early morning. A local restaurant hooked it up for a cheap cost and thankfully didn't seem to mind that we brought in our own coffee. Again, we tipped well and went on our way. I made sure to show up to the venue early as I had no idea if it would be packed yet or not, which it ended up being, but I got into the competitor meeting on time with all my necessary belongings. After collecting my competitor button, number 116, I heard them call out a familiar name. A name I knew from my first bodybuilding show in 2008, a name that won that novice overall. A name that won the Washington Ironman overall as well on a seperate much more recent year. "John Smith". My heart sank. If this was the same John Smith, I was in trouble. Sure as ****, the man who I had seen never lose a competition came up and got his competitor number and walked off. My thoughts turned negative, as I couldn't help but feel that I may not attain my goal after all. The only hope I had now was to out condition this man, as he had from years past, some of the best hanging full muscle groups I had ever seen on a natural bodybuilder. Backstage, only a few hours past the competitor meeting, John finally unveiled his physique. He was leaner then I had ever seen him, I was in trouble. O_O

Two hours prior to me hitting the stage I had my tan updated, I ate an additional carb heavy meal, and I chatted with a few familiar faces that I had met through social media leading up the show. IFPA Pros like Cohn Wolfe, Tyler Mayer, and D'Ghon Culpepper were super friendly and supportive. Something that is so nice to see in a small community with such few faces. I also got to meet and greet with a few athletes who were after that coveted pro card like myself like Darren Foote, Przemyslaw, Kenny Gonzalez, Andrew "Petro" Pietraszewski, Tony Hall, Alfred Ra'oof, and Micah Massey. All of whom were super cool down to Earth guys that were as excited about the big day as I was.
My class wasn't going on until the very end of the show. I estimated the time to be around noon originally but we had just been called up to be entering the stage around 2pm. Looking back, I could have eaten far more that morning, I could have also taken in more sodium. Both of which I corrected by the evening showing but even then, I didn't believe it was enough to show my best for prejudging. In fact, I felt like I severely under-ate, considering how late in the day it already was, nevertheless pump up for us began and we were prepared to go to war.
If you watched the prejudging video, we posed for 15 minutes. I felt like we all got very fair comparisons and in all honestly, I think the judges got it right. Some may argue a placing or two but considering the class, I was very impressed with the head judges ability to handle the amount of muscle on that stage. After prejudging, there was no butting heads, no animosity, and no boasting or bragging. This was not the NPC, this was a federation of friends and athletes, and everyone seemed content with the amount of time provided for them on stage. I was extremely impressed with Kenny Gonzalez and Alfred Ra'oof, both of which had already competed in other classes and were out there again showing off their hard work. Hats off to them, as that amount of posing is brutal!
I left prejudging and met with Lyndsi, who I can always trust will give me an honest amount of feedback. I also saw D'Ghon outside the auditorium, and thanked him kindly for keeping my posing tight with his words while I was on stage. He really helped me identify how to look my best, and I used his critiques to the best of my ability. I left with Lyndsi and she told me that I was indeed more flat then I could have been and that we had to correct that for the evening. Also, this was the first time she had seen dream tan and she thought my color wasn't as engaging as the gold color that those athletes presented. Other than that, we were in agreement, John Smith was just too much of a beast to handle and possibly one or two more athletes up there pushed me to the point of maybe slipping down to 4th place. At that moment something funny happened. Instead of being angry. I finally relaxed. The prejudging foreshadows whats to come in the evening. Since this was my final show of my prep, I didn't essentially need to be as strict on myself anymore. I told Lyndsi, let's go eat something good. It's time for a burger with fries.
After consuming a Bacon Avocado Cheese Burger, Sweet Potatoe Fries, a side salad with bleu cheese, and a diet coke I made my way over to the frozen yogurt shop and had a large froyo. I knew I needed the food because I was flat, but I wasn't worried anymore about quantity. I wanted to show up at night and kill my routine, be full, be happy, and the those calories wouldn't magically turn into fat by that time. I headed back to my hotel room, laid my head down for ten seconds, and passed out hard for the following hour.
The night show began at 5pm, but I didn't show up until 6:15. I felt refreshed, satisfied, and for once, not hungry. I just felt good. I had a smile on my face because I knew from this point forward there was nothing I could do about my placing and I should just enjoy the process from that moment forward. I ended up parking my butt in the back room where most the athletes were waiting. By the end of the night, all of us bodybuilders back stage were making Arnold jokes, giving eachother ****, eating eachothers food, and having a great time. In fact, I have never experienced anything like those few hours in all my years of bodybuilding. It was truly an honor to share those moments with those guys and we all ended up bonding with some posing pics together and sharing our situations with one another. By the end of the night, 10:45 finally rolled around, and it was the Open Tall Class that was last to roll on stage. I felt like I looked ten times better in the evening routine then I did all morning. We finally lined up for awards and I was presented a 2nd place trophy, 1 of only 3 that they present at this show. I was proud of myself, as this was the toughest class and the toughest show I had ever been a part of, and walking away with 2nd place was a HUGE accomplishment, even if it wasn't a pro card, It was a testament to how far I had come. After the show I wanted to eat. That's all I wanted to do. I packed my bags up and headed out to the after party Las Brisas restaurant where I carried my trophy in and ordered what I had been craving for months. Nachos. They were a perfect cap to an amazingly long and arduous prep. They signified the end of my dieting and stress. Each chip was like its own reminder of how far I had come and what I had earned. I finished them entirely and made my way back to the hotel room with a full belly and a sense of accomplishment like no other show prep I had ever done. It was finally time to move forward, it was time to transition back to me