***Quest to the 2009 NPC Emerald Cup***

[Ripped Italian]

After following Mark's journal for a while now, he has inspired me to log efforts and training leading up to my next contest, the 2009 NPC Emerald Cup. I goal is to compete in the Middle Weight Open Men's Division. The Middleweight class is open to any competitor in the 154 to 176 pound range. My goal is to come in at no less than a contest weight of 175 SHREDDED pounds of LBM and hopefully, God willing, win the class if possible. I will be 20 years old by the time of the contest so I am still a youngin' !

From now until the show, I will log my diet, training, and other useful and useless occurrences throughout my journey. Let the off season begin!

Stats:

Age: 19 (20 in June)
Height: Was 5'5'' back in August 07, but I may have grown because I'm taller than my dad who is also 5'5''. I'm probably 5'6'', I'll check soon.
Weight: 160 pounds ( I got sick)
BF %: I'll check soon

***Body measurements will be taken this Saturday

[Ripped Italian]

The Diet:
After reading through most of the Scivation Dieting books, I have finally came up with a type of hybrid diet from both the Lean Mass Diet & the Bulking for Mesomorphs Diet.

Calories: 3100 calories on WO days & 2900 OFF days
WO day ratio: 30 / 40 / 30
OFF day ratio: 30 / 35 / 35

Protein: 250 grams both days = 1000 calories
CHO: 300 grams on workout days, 250 on non workout days = 1200 - 1000 calories
Fats: 100 grams = 900 calories

Meal 1: 15g Fats / 75g Carbs / 42g Protein
Meal 2: 20g Fats / 60g Carbs / 42g Protein
Meal 3: 15g Fats / 55g Carbs / 42g Protein
Meal 4: 15g Fats / 55g Carbs / 42g Protein
Meal 5: 15g Fats / 45g Carbs / 42g Protein
Meal 6: 20g Fats / 10g Carbs / 42g Protein
*** I do not count carbs from vegetable sources. No less than 1 gallon of water per day, ideally I'll be shooting for 1.5 gallons.

The Training:

I usually follow a set training regime as far as my split goes, but I never will do the same workout twice. I'm very instinctive when it comes to my training. So days I feel like doing low reps and vice versa. I also am trying really hard to improve my arms and delts because I have never trained them as hard as I do other body parts.

My current split is as followed:
Day 1: Chest / Delts / Triceps
Day 2: Back / Biceps
Day 3: Quads / Hams / Calves
Day 4: Triceps / Biceps / Forearms
- OFF -
Repeat

*** Low intensity cardio will be added after each lifting session. High intensity cardio will be done on off days. All cardio sessions in the off season will last 15 - 20 mins. Calves will be done on leg days, but also, I will throw them in on random days throughout the week; same goes with abs. Also, i never do any direct lifts for my traps because they have a tendency to grow out of control...

I figure this will be a good starting point, and after two weeks of following this, I will adjust it as necessary. All comments and critiques are welcome!

[Ripped Italian]

This past December, I decided to transfer back to Washington State University-Vancouver from the main campus in Pullman. While I did have a great time while in Pullman, WA, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth the extra money to go to school there when I live 10 minutes away from WSU-V. By commuting to school, I'll be able to both focus more on academics and training while also working.

Today was a job searching day. I decided not to go back and work at the Fitness Club I used to work at because the co-owner I hate bought out the original owner, who was a family friend. Since I was out and about today, I only ate about 4 times today, so I won't log it.

Today was Day 2 of my split which meant one thing... BACK ATTACK! I didn't bring my notepad with me to the gym today so I'll try to remember what I did as accurately as I can remember.

Back
T-Bar Rows
2 45's x 12
2 45's x 10
3 45's x 8
3 45's x 8
2 45's x 10

Pull-ups
Bodyweight x 10
Bodyweight x 8
Bodyweight x 6
Bodyweight x 6

Snatch Grip Deads
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5

Hammer Row Machine
Superset of 2 plates per side till failure

Overview: Overall it was a pretty good workout. No PR's, but I did focus on using strict form which lead to me getting a wicked full back pump

WO Rating: 9/10

[Ripped Italian]

I left my dig camera over at my dad's house so I decided to expiriment with my built-in cam on my new(ish) 24 inch iMAC. Sorry if They aren't the greatest quality. I'll be using my real camera in the next following days.

[Ripped Italian]

Here's a great compilation of my bodybuilding hero, Lee Priest !!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOmEKvP1WTg

[Ripped Italian]

I'm still somewhat under the weather. I'm not sure what it is but my appetite is gone and I'm a bit lethargic. Woke up like at 2pm today which helped me recover a bit since I got nearly 14 hours of sleep .

Diet:
Still not fully on my diet because of being sick. I did however try to down as much food as possible today.

Meal 1:
1 cup oats w/ Agave nectar, raisins, and whole banana
4 whole DHA Eggs
1 scoop Syntha-6 Mochachino w/ large cup of french pressed coffee

Meal 2:
2 scoops WPI
2 tbs Almond Butter

Workout Nutrition:
1 scoop CarbSlam
6 scoops Lemonade Xtend
2 scoops WPI (pwo)

Meal 3 (45 minutes after WPI shake):
1.5 cups Brown Jasmine Rice
6 oz Chicken Tenderloins
2 tbs Almond Butter
Spinach Salad

I'll try to eat 2 more times before I go to bed tonight. They will be as followed:

Meal 4:
Will be exactly like Meal 3

Meal 5:
1 scoop Syntha-6
1 pack of CNP Protein pudding

Training:
Squats:
135 x 20
135 x 20

Hack Squat:
180 x 12
270 x 8
270 x 8
270 x 8
180 x 8

Hamstring Curls:
110 x 15
110 x 10
>>> Giant Set #1
95 x 5
80 x 6
65 x 5
>>>Giant Set #2
50 x failure
40 x failure
30 x failure
20 x failure

Leg Press:
I must have done over 10 sets on 360. Didn't write down rep ranges but foot placement was narrow and low on the sled platform.

***I felt well enough to make it to the gym today. I didn't feel as strong as I normally do but I still got a pretty decent workout in. I only did squats as a warm up exercise today because My lower back and hams were destroyed from the snatch grip deads I did yesterday. My rest periods in-between sets were about 30 seconds today; worked up a great sweat and got a monster pump. Didn't do PWO cardio today but I will start tomorrow.

[Ripped Italian]

[Ripped Italian]

Here's the Trailer for Mark Dugdale's new dvd, "A Week in the Dungeon". Off to do some arms, enjoy!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-odht-zkM8E

[Ripped Italian]

Here are some new pictures. I'll update my log later tonight.

[Ripped Italian]

I apologize for my absence from my log. Been working quite a bit long with lots of packing and moving into my new house.

Diet has been fairly clean, not as clean as I would have liked. Not nearly getting in enough calories but I have still made great gains regardless. Been focusing a lot on my arms and delts because they have been a huge weakness in my mind. I slightly injured my back 2.5 weeks ago. My guess is from doing a n extremely heavy squat day after a heavy load day of deadlifts. It was careless on my part for doing back to back heavy days that taxed my lower back. I'm practically back to full capacity now. Here are some new pics as of a few hours ago.








New leg pics to be posted early next week!

[Ripped Italian]

[latimus]

u still doing the e-cup juniors? should be a good ecup this yr. I know alot of people doing it. including 2 juniours. 1 of has just started dietin and is 227lbs now. should be like 190-195 or so at 5"9 on stage if he can hit it just right.

[andyroo]

I'll be in that middle weight class this year. See you there!