6:30am woke up this morning, Sunday April 25, 2010, knowing in one week’s time that I will be competing in the 2010 Jay Cutler Classic, a comeback after completing last year, where I took 6th out of 16. It was my first time competing since 1992
Looking back at some of my blogs, I wrote that if you look great 2 weeks out, don’t change a thing, and you will look great competition day and possibly even better. For some reason the longer you keep yourself in this condition, the better you look each week. What I mean by better: harder, dryer, fuller, not over trained looking or drawn down. Your body (if fed and trained correctly) will adapt and grow into shape, looking healthier and stronger the longer you do it
Isn’t that what it’s all about? Our bodies? Protecting them, becoming bigger and stronger because we put the demand on them? Just like how the sun causes our body to tan, our skin would burn without melanin, our body’s natural defense is to protect and if giving the right tools with the right environment anything is possible
Preparing for completion is just like that. I am forcing my body to shed its fat (and we all know that’s not what it wants to do), forcing it to fill the muscles up with glycogen storage (carbohydrate) so that they are full and big, but not too full where they lose their definition. Pulling out the last bit of water by dropping that sodium down, all by food and exercise
This time around I deiced to go back to the basics and just get myself in shape by training intensely (as always) and eating my carbs and protein with every meal and not play the water game with my carbs.
I look at it this way… carbohydrates are energy; they give me the energy to train hard, which in turn burns fat. The protein is used to rebuild the muscle I used to train hard to burn fat. Carbohydrates, by eating them with every protein meal, I’m insuring the protein is being used to rebuild the muscle, not for energy because I have no carbohydrates in me. (Your body will not use fat as energy, it will be stored first, and it will use protein before it uses fats) So why would I eat without eating carbohydrates and protein together… I wouldn’t...
I started dieting 10 weeks out, eating 50 grams of protein and 25 grams of carbohydrates every 2.5 hours for 6 meals, sodium was around 1000 milligrams a day, Lifting 4 days a weeks with 30 minutes on the stairs to end each workout
6 weeks out, I moved my carbohydrates to 50 grams every meal, because my fat was just about gone and I didn’t want to lose any muscle, so I increased my carbohydrates for added calories and glycogen storage for added muscle size and to see how much carbohydrates would be “too much” for me and would cause me to smooth out, sodium is now below 500 milligrams a day
2. 5 weeks out and everything is the same except I stopped the 30 minutes on the stairs after each workout. I was lean enough and didn’t want to lose all the leg muscle I put on in the last year. Legs don’t need that many repetitions as you would get on the stairs
1 week out and I’m eating 50 grams protein, 50 grams carbohydrates every 2.5 hours, my sodium is under 300 milligrams a day and I’m in great shape, the best I’ve ever seen
This final week, keeping everything the same, I will lower sodium to less than 100 milligrams and I will go onto the stage with only one thing on my mind… Move me to the MIDDLE!
Time for a protein drink
Can't wait to see you the next round!
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