Becoming a champion hopefully in 2015

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Bodybuilding/fitness has been a big passion of mine over the last few years and has been an outlet outside of work/everyday life as a means of challenging my own limits and pushing past what I thought possible.

I recently competed in the BNBF Southern Qualifiers back in June (of this year), coming 6th out of a decent lineup of 9 guys, some of whom were a lot older than me, although some appeared to be of a similar age. The problem was I knew I didn't do myself justice; prepping was subpar (too many cheat meals and lack of structured cardio) and I relied on being naturally lean and bringing good upper body condition, however my legs looked flat and lacked detail/development to challenge for the qualifying places for the finals. I want to go into my next competition knowing that I could of done no more from the point I step onstage, and give the best account of myself. Work ethic and diligence with regards to diet needs to be a lot more stringent. Stepping onstage was such a buzz and doing my posing routine for one minute was a daunting albeit amazing feeling.

From here on out I need to go into full offseason mode; I'm going to get a food diary and log all my food for the day, not tracking calories but making sure I take in 6-8 meals with added calories from peanut butter, weight gainer etc. I have to really endorse the notion of eating to grow and training heavy 10-4 rep range and utilising the two aforementioned means to make some serious gains ie eating and lifting big. I'm typically ectomorph and naturally very, very lean; I'm up from 79kg from stage day to 85kg but still looking not far from contest shape.... So need to increase cals significantly to kick start some new growth.

Legs are a big focus, training them twice per week (one quad focus/one ham focus workout) with calves trained most upper body days (start of workout).

I truly believe if I can put all my efforts into this, I can make it onto a world championship stage; this journal is a means of logging my endeavours in a more diligent manner, as opposed to sporadic eating and training sessions, which I don't think is conducive to success in bodybuilding. Hope you all enjoy!!! Any questions fire away...

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Night before the show: tanned up and ready to rock!!

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Onstage: posing routine

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12.11.2014: Chest

Was somewhat fatigued tonight but an ok/average workout. Flat barbell (rarely do this), flat dumbbell flye (actually picked up two different weight dumbbells on my final set and nearly had an accident lol), pec dec flye, one arm crossovers, incline hammer press, cable crossovers and machine press. Ok pump, but didn't feel 'in the zone' so to speak. Legs tomorrow.

Meals today have been bowl of shreddies, two protein shakes (1 with milk), pasta with chicken, 1 x beef patty with sweet potato fries and will drink a mass gain shake (1250 calories with water) before bed with 3 tbsp peanut butter. Not enough calories today!! It's my week off work so slept in therefore missed meals. Up early tomorrow for legs!!

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Taken today 12.11.2014.

Weight up to 85kg (187lbs) since the show (79kg)... This will increase more as I ramp up calories and continue to bulk.

Legs need filling out still as well as other areas.

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Note: THIS OFFSEASON JOURNAL MAY CONTAIN EVIDENCE OF ME CONSUMING REESE'S ON CHEAT DAYS AND EVEN NORMAL DIET DAYS....
HOWEVER MENTIONING OF REESES IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED IN PRE-CONTEST MODE! #reesesforthewin

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13.11.2014: Legs (quad focus)


Had a week off so training legs with workout partner. Didn't log the workout, but here's what we did. Usually do a lot more volume:

Squats x 5 sets
Leg Press x 8 sets