[** Paul's Balls to the Wall First Contest Prep! **]

[Paul_2_Oh]

BACKGROUND

Hello BB.com Faithful,

I am beginning my log leading to my first (and perhaps only) contest season starting 1 Apr 2011! I will be applying to medical schools in the summer of 2011 so this is my shot to compete while I can. I grew up always wanting a more muscular body but nobody in my family had anywhere near the genetics or the knowledge to attain such a thing effectively. I grew up a 3-sport athlete and was still kind of chunky. Chalk it up to loving the wrong food. As the years passed I got heavier and heavier; by the time I hit 24 I was teetering around 300lbs and said enough was enough.

I got myself into college and started getting educated. I started health and wellness classes at a small community college (along with standard beginning science and general education courses). These initial classes were monumental as they required me to log food intakes and perform a predetermined number of logged workouts at the campus gym. That clicked it inside and I haven't let up since. I'm now 26, 197lbs (bulked from a low of 164) and I am now 20.5 weeks out from my first competition! All shows are tested.

tl;dr
Got fat over childhood, early adulthood
Got educated, lost 140lbs
Now 197, dieting for a show

PURPOSE

Obviously we've been through this with countless logs; I want to keep track of my progress and be open to any and all criticism when it comes to posing, diet, training, cardio and all other circumstances that may arise during the course of this preparation.

What to expect

For the first few months (7-9 weeks), I'll just be posting the cleanliness of my meals and/or just the food type. Once I have more time to break down the macros to a finer level, I will. As it stands right now, I have a heavy course load this semester so I am working with rough numbers. NOTE: For at least half of the prep I will be eating almost exclusively from the college dining halls; this can be an advantage but more often a disadvantage. Once I get leaner and the fat becomes more stubborn, I will have to start buying my supplemented foods like oatmeal, sweet potatoes, etc. Basically, anything that can cook in a microwave. I have no access to a stove.

TRAINING AND SUPPLEMENTATION

This is my current split, starting Tuesday Nov 2.

Day 1 - Upper body power
Day 2 - Lower body power
Day 3 - Rest
Day 4 - Chest/back
Day 5 - Arms/shoulders hypertrophy
Day 6 - Legs hypertrophy
Day 7 - Rest

This is a fresh routine and the purpose is to preserve as much strength as possible while allowing moderate refinement. Cardio will be added 2-3 20min sessions as needed depending on the scale/mirror for the first 3-4 weeks.

Supplements:

Whey/Casein Powders
Maltodextrin Powder
L-Glutamine
Creatine Monohydrate
Multivitamin/Fish Oil
Intraworkout EAAs
SuperPump 250

On to the pics!

PICTURES

This was me towards the peak of my weight gain and then at my smallest --- 290 to 164lbs



This is me now, last night after some posing practice. More to follow. Any suggestions and/or comments are always welcomed. Thanks for reading!

Continued....

[Paul_2_Oh]

PICTURES CONT'D

Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned!

[Paul_2_Oh]

Sunday - 31 Oct 2010

Morning weight: 197.1

Diet
Not a bad first day. Meals went as follows
M1 - 2 scoops whey, 2 rice cakes (dining halls closed until 1030)
M2 - 7 egg whites, 1 cup oatmeal
M3 - 7 egg whites, 1 cup oatmeal
M4 - 1.5 scoops whey, 30g Maltodextrin (Postworkout)
M5 - Chicken salad, Grilled chicken/bacon whole wheat wrap
M6 - 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 scoop Casein

Weekends are kind of iffy on meals because the dining halls have abbreviated hours. See tomorrow's response for a less supplemented diet.


Training
Did arms today, got a pretty good pump. I've been off Pre-workout powders and most stims for over a month. 1 scoop of SuperPump, even spread over 45 mins will still hit me like a truck at 200lbs. Kind of nice.

10 min jog - Warmup

Triceps

Overhead DB Ext. - x15 x10 x8 x8
Skullcrushers - x12 x10 x10 x8
DB Kickbacks - x12 x10 x8 x8
Overhead Rope Ext. - x12 x12 x12 x12 x12 (20 second rest, burnout)

Biceps/Forearms
Alt DB Curls - x10 x8 x6 x7 (2 cheat)
Superset with heavy holds for forearms @ 110lbs DBs
Concentration Curls - x10 x8 x8 x8
Superset with grip holds/contractions
Cable curls - x10 x10 x10 x10 x10 (20 second rest, burnout)

Light stretching, had to split quickly for MCAT study group.


On to tomorrow!

[Paul_2_Oh]

Monday, 1 Nov 2010

No training today - I just spent 12 straight hours between classes and studying for my three exams this week. Absolutely brutal week ahead.

M1 - 1 scoop whey upon waking
M2 - 3 eggs, 4 egg white omelet with peppers and mushrooms, 1 cup oatmeal
M3 - 8oz chicken breast, 1 cup rice
M4 - Protein bar while studying
M5 - 6oz turkey breast, 4oz chicken breast, 1 cup stuffing, mixed vegetables, 8oz milk
M6 - 2 chicken thighs (meat only), 1 scoop Casein pre-bed.

Felt fine, just very cold today. Winter's coming.

[Devils]

20 weeks is plenty of time to cut up, good luck. Don't need to drop calories too drastically, just enough to lose a few lbs a week while keeping lifting performance up.

For cardio, try steady state low intensity for 30-60 mins.

[DREhova 87]

Congrats on the weight loss. What an accomplishment in itself. Look forward to seeing your prep.

[Diskd]

In on this. GL to you buddy!

[Paul_2_Oh]

20 weeks is plenty of time to cut up, good luck. Don't need to drop calories too drastically, just enough to lose a few lbs a week while keeping lifting performance up.

For cardio, try steady state low intensity for 30-60 mins.

When would you suggest interval cardio? If at all?

Congrats on the weight loss. What an accomplishment in itself. Look forward to seeing your prep.

In on this. GL to you buddy!

Thank you, gentlemen. Cheers!

On to do a heavy back workout. Yep-yep!

Workout motivation for today -

[Paul_2_Oh]

Tuesday 2 Nov 2010

Not a bad day overall. Spent 9 hours studying, feeling stressed but no big deal. This will suck more once I get deep into prep, for sure.

Diet
Pretty clean today. Felt good.

M1 - 8 egg white omelet with peppers/mushrooms, 1tbsp Peanut Butter, 1 cup oatmeal
M2 - 9oz chicken breast, 1.5 cups brown rice (Preworkout)
M3 - 1.5 scoops whey protein, 30g Maltodextrin (Postworkout)
M4 - 9oz chicken breast, 1 cup brown rice, 3 cups mixed veggies
M5 - 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 tbsp Peanut butter
M6 - 1 scoop casein before bed

Training
Having a few commitments this weekend will keep me away from training so I had to alter the first few days of my new split. I just smashed back the best I could today.

Heavy Rackpulls x8 x6 x6 x6
BB Shrugs x15 x10 x8 x8
Seated Cable Row x12 x10 x8 x8
Single-Arm DB Rows x12 x12 x12
Wide Grip Pulldowns x15 x12 x10 x10 x15

Did 15 mins on one of our "elliptical" machines; I think it's built like the Gazelle machines. Anyway, got into a good groove and kept my HR at 170 the whole time. Cleared my lungs out proper.


Time to sleep

[Paul_2_Oh]

Wednesday, 3 Nov 2010

Morning weight - 191.9. I dropped about 4lbs of water from this time last week. I was having a bit of 'fun' with Dairy Queen and the like before I started my cut Sunday. So, obvious to say I was holding a bit of fluid from sugar and salt.

Diet today was clean, pretty much exactly like yesterday except higher carbs for leg training.

Training was GREAT! Smashed Legs with some pretty heavy weight.

10 min Warmup
Deep Squats 135x20, 225 x10, 315 x5, 315 x5, 225 x12, 225 x13
Walking BB lunges outside w/ 135 ~20-25 steps, 4 sets
Front Squats 135x15, 185x10, 205x7
Leg extension x20, x15, x10, x9 (1 FR), x8 (2 FR negatives)
Hamstring curl 130 x15, 155 x12, 155 x12, (155 x8 + 105 x12 + 70 x8 drop set)
LOTS of stretching and light biking to cool them off.

Legs were TIRED; I had really hit a groove with the squats. It felt really good. Overall very happy with today. Really nailed 2 tests this morning then had a solid leg day. Food was good. Arms/Shoulders/Chest volume training tomorrow.

[Trapzillaoo7]

First of all, amazing progress from your heaviest to now. Congrats, you've already WON! Secondly, best of luck with the Prep and rip it up come show time.

Brian

[AustrianOakJr]

I see you are in Rome, NY......what show are you getting ready for?? Im in the Rochester area and I know there is an INBF show out towards Buffalo sometime in March. It should be a pretty good one.

[Paul_2_Oh]

I see you are in Rome, NY......what show are you getting ready for?? Im in the Rochester area and I know there is an INBF show out towards Buffalo sometime in March. It should be a pretty good one.

Cheers Oak! I go to school in Oneonta and that is the first show I plan on doing just to get the nerves out. The school hosts a physique competition on April 1st. After that, the OCB Empire State IFPA pro qualifier show is held in Binghamton April 14th. Big show, but I plan on being ready to get in the mix.

My chiropractor is a big powerlifting/bodybuilding promoter and he's the reason I started getting into PL comps and the like. He does a BB show in the spring usually - I hope he does again this year.

[Paul_2_Oh]

Thursday, 4 November 2010

Had a weird day. I caught myself 30 mins into my workout with a real lethargic feeling - quite possibly could have been a let-down effect since I have been extremely stressed up until today and tomorrow with school work. No matter; I powered through.

Diet - Same as previous two days in terms of food choices. Just used some PB and 2 scoops Casein before bed because the dining hall had nothing but crap, per usual later in the week.

Training - Hit some higher volume chest/shoulders/arms trying to get it in before the weekend. I need to take the next two days off from training due to travel.

10 min cardio warmup
Bench Press x15 x12 x8 x8 x8
Seated Shoulder Press x12 x10 x10 x20
Pushups x20 x20 x20 x20 (this is when I hit that odd "wall")
Military Press Machine x8 x8 x8 x8 x8 x8 (30 sec rest)
Close-grip Bench x20 x15 x10 x8
Superset with Alt DB curls x8 x8 x8 x8 x8
15 min moderate cardio

I considered the crash could have been due to hypoglycemia; I remained cautious and had my protein/carb shake quickly after lifting. The crash subsided completely within 2 hours. The length led me to believe it was just a side effect of the week. In any case, I kept the rest times low and intensity up. My shirt was soaked when I was done.

[Paul_2_Oh]

Sunday, 7 Nov 2010

Been a few days. I had some traveling to do for school so I couldn't train but I had plenty of protein bars, rice cakes, peanut butter to sustain me.

Today I traveled back to school and trained some high volume legs - the second leg workout of my regimen.

Diet
M1 - 4oz chicken, 2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites, 1 cup oatmeal
M2 - 7 egg whites, 1 cup oatmeal
Snack - 2 rice cakes, 1 tbsp Peanut Butter
PWO - 2 scoops whey, 30g maltodextrin
M3 - 8oz chicken breast, mixed vegetables, 1 cup rice
M4 - 1 rice cake, 1 tbsp Peanut butter, 1 scoop casein

Training
Smashed some high volume leg training. Felt very good.

10 minute warmup + some contraction stretches

Standing Calf Raise x30 x20 x20 x20 x15
Front Squats (Suspended Heel) x15 x15 x15
Leg Press (moderate weight) x30 x30 x30 x30 x30+x15 drop
Standing Hamstring Curl x15 x15 x15
Stiff Leg Deads (Light) x15 x15 x10
Leg Extension x25 x30 x30 x30 x30+x15 drop

15 mins high intensity cardio

Hitting heavy upper body tomorrow. Sleep!

[Paul_2_Oh]

Monday, 8 Nov 2010

It started snowing, and I felt kind of sick but had a good training session nonetheless.

Diet
M1 - 25g whey upon waking, 3 egg/5 egg white omelet, 1 cup oatmeal
M2 - 7oz chicken breast, 1 cup whole wheat pasta, 1 cup mixed vegetables
M3 - 7oz chicken breast, 1.5 cups brown rice
PWO Shake - 40g whey, 30g Maltodextrin
M4 - 3 egg/5 white omelet, 1.5 cups vegetables, .5 cup seared potatoes, .5 cup cottage cheese
M5 - 2 rice cakes, 2 tbsp peanut butter, 44g casein protein

Training
Hit heavy upper body, first time trying it and it was tough. My strength was there, but for some reason I had a hard time keeping a clear head. Maybe a little sickness is making my head foggy.

7 min cardio warmup

Flat Bench Press - 135 x20, 135 x20, 225 x10, 225 x8
Flat DB Press - 75 x12, 90 x7, 90 x6, 75 x10 (weak)
BB overhead snatch - 115 x10, 155 x8, 155 x7
Push Press - 155 x8, 185 x5, 185 x4
Rack Pulls - 225 x15, 315 x10, 375 x8, 375 x8
Corner T-Bar Rows - 90 x15, 135 x15, 180 x12, 225 x8, 270 x8
Single Arm DB Rows - 90 x12, 100 x12, 120 x10, 120 x6 (spent)

Stretching, very sore from yesterday's leg volume training. Off to bed.

[Paul_2_Oh]

Tuesday, 9 Nov 2010

Felt less sick today, overall pretty lazy day compared to a week ago.

Diet
Very similar to yesterday, just had a BBQ chicken dinner + baked potato for dinner.

Training
35 minutes of cardio - active recovery day
Did some miscellaneous forearm and abdominal work, then stretched.

Time to sleep.

[Paul_2_Oh]

Wednesday, 10 Nov 2010

Happy Marine Corps Birthday! Was a good day.

Diet
Scoop of whey split between midnight piss break and upon waking
M1 - 3 egg/5 white omelet with peppers and mushrooms, 1 cup oatmeal
M2 - 8oz chicken breast, 1 cup whole wheat pasta, tomatoes
Post Workout - 40g whey, 30g maltodextrin
M3 - 4oz turkey sandwich on whole wheat, 4oz chicken breast, 1.5 cups mixed vegetables
M4 - 8oz chicken breast, 1 rice cake, 1 tbsp peanut butter

Training
Another great heavy leg day. As follows.

7 minute cardio warmup, light contraction stretches
Leg Extensions (moderate pre-exhaust) x20 x20 x15
Walking BB lunges - 135 -> 185 -> 185 -> 185 + 135 (drop)
Box squats - 135 x20, 225 x15, 275 x10, 275 x10, 225 x14
Hamstring Curls - x20 x20 x12 x10 (negs) x10 (negs)
Leg Extensions - x15 x12 x10
Standing Calf Raise - x30 x30 x30 x20 x10 (negs) x10 (negs) x30

Stretches, etc. Going to be sore from the lunges. Oh yeah. Off tomorrow, just 35-40 minutes of cardio.

[halllj38]

Just subscribed to your threat. Gunna be watching your **** so keep up the great work. Glad to see your already on top of everything 19 weeks out. I am not worried about your prep at all; your gunna kill it in 5 months...

[Paul_2_Oh]

Thursday, 11 Nov 10

Happy Veterans day to my fellow vets. Had a weird diet today; I was in lab for about 7 hours.

Diet
Whey upon waking
M1 - 3 egg/5 white scramble w/ pepper and mushroom, 1 cup oatmeal
M2 - Protein Bar during lab (Supreme)
M3 - 8oz chicken breast, 1 cup wheat pasta, tomatoes/cucumbers
M4 - 1 scoop whey, 1 rice cake, 1 tbsp peanut butter during lab
M5 - 7oz chicken breast, 1/2 cup couscous, 1/2 cup chili
M6 - 1.5 scoops casein, 1 rice cake, 1 tbsp peanut butter

Training

Just did cardio today. 40 minutes of moderate intensity; HR stayed 130-150 the majority of the time. Got a good sweat out. Time for sleep and weekly weigh-in tomorrow.

[iGottaLift]

Innn on this.. Keep up the hard work

[Paul_2_Oh]

Saturday, 13 November 2010

Apologies for not updating yesterday. I trained chest/back and finished with light deadlifts, only 225, and my back started feeling very strange. I strained my sacral-lumbar region somewhere and just tried to nurse it last night.

Morning weigh-in: 189.6

Diet
My numbers to hit for the next few weeks are as follows:
200p, 275c, 50f

25g whey upon waking - 25p, 4f
M1 - 1 cup WW pasta, 4oz chicken, banana, 1tbsp peanut butter - 25p, 60c, 5f
Postworkout - 35g whey, 40g maltodextrin - 35p, 40c
M2 - Whole wheat wrap w/ chicken, peppers and 2 eggs - 38p, 35c, 16f
M3 - 6oz chicken, 1 cup brown rice, 1.5 cups vegetables & dressing - 30p, 70c, 6f
M4 - 5oz deli turkey, 2 slices of WW bread, 1 cup spinach/celery/tofu - 30p, 55c, 7f
M5 - 1 scoop casein, 2 rice cakes, 1 tbsp peanut butter - 20p, 15c, 6f

Totals - 203p, 270c, 46f

Training
Hit shoulders and arms today, high volume.

Military Press superset with BB curls x4 sets
Seated lateral raise superset with preacher curls x4 sets
Tricep pulldown superset with tricep pushdown x4 sets
Dip machine giant drop set x6 sets

Finished up with 20 minutes of posing and stretching. Back is still very tender. High volume legs tomorrow, we'll see how it goes. Now off to bed.

[Paul_2_Oh]

Innn on this.. Keep up the hard work

When are you going to compete, sir Matt?

[Paul_2_Oh]

Sunday, 14 Nov 2010

Back is still pretty tweaked; feels primarily like connective tissue pain and not so much muscular. Slightly better from yesterday. I trained volume legs today but avoided leg presses as they put a lot of strain on my back. The rest of the exercises were fine.

Nutrition

Spot on my numbers today. 202/280/47. Diet is redundant as I am eating the same things. I will post further diet once I change the numbers.

Training

Pumped up the legs with some solid volume training today and felt VERY full.

Calf Raises x9 sets + negs
Smith Front Squats x30 x30 x25 x20 x20 x16 (winded)
Body-weight lunges x30 x26 x22 x20
Free-Weight leg extension x30 x30 x30 x20 x20+x15 drop
Lying Hamstring curls x30 x20 x15 x14 x10

Then I did 15 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical with 45s fast/15s sprint pacing x8 intervals. I was beat and had trouble finishing the last one. Then again, that's the point right?

[Devils]

Sorry to hear about the back, but looks like you can still train hard.

Keep it up, hope it gets better.

[Xplod3]

Good luck! I'll definitley be following Looks like you're on the right track, keep it up!

[Paul_2_Oh]

Sorry to hear about the back, but looks like you can still train hard.

Keep it up, hope it gets better.

Thanks, mate. It feels better each day but definitely something I can't brush off.

Good luck! I'll definitley be following Looks like you're on the right track, keep it up!

Cheers!

[Paul_2_Oh]

Monday, 15 Nov 2010

Off-day from any training. My quads are SORE from yesterday. The combo of high volume leg training with HIIT definitely did it's number on my legs. Feels good man.

Nutrition
** Program note - I posted above my numbers as 200/275/50, they are in fact 200/275/65. For some reason I undercalc'd my fats and adjusted today.

Hit my numbers, for the most part. A little low on good carbs available at the dining hall. Had to compensate with a little fat.

205/220/70

Off to bed. I will still train upper body heavy tomorrow, but mostly with machines to keep the tension off my lower spine until this strain dissipates. A little improvising is good, right?

[chrisboudreaux]

IN for the ride. gl

[Paul_2_Oh]

Tuesday, 16 Nov 2010

I woke up feeling a little better and pretty dry for being this far out. I posted a pic at the bottom of this post. Back pain is dissipating more and more, but still present. I was able to stretch it out pretty well after my upper body workout today.

Nutrition

Pretty spot on today. Able to hit my carb numbers because the dining hall had plenty of sweet potatoes out - by far my favorite carb source. I nom'd at least 120g just from them.

210/260/60

Training
Upper Body - Heavy
* I tried to use mostly machines to keep the tension off of my back. It worked pretty well that way.

Smith Machine Incline Press x15 x10 x5 x5 x5 x4
Military Press x12 x10 x6 x6
Smith Flat Bench x10 x6 x5 x5 x5
BB Shrugs x20 x10 x8 x8+x15 drop
Reverse-grip Lat Pulldown x15 x10 x10 x8
Wide-grip Lat Pulldown x12 x12 x10 x8+x14 drop
Iso Back Row x12e x12e x10e x10e
Reverse grip machine curls until my arms felt like popping.

The sweet potatoes gave me a lot of energy today - I had a good workout. Minimal rest, I was sweating hard and was done within 75 mins, including stretches at the end.

Here's a picture, 2 weeks in.