27 Days of Bodybuilding.com!

I’ve been away from this blog for a bit and maybe it is in part to my new addiction to Chef Jay’s Protein Puffs. Seriously, have you tried these things yet? I’m a huge fan of crunchy, salty snacks like chips. I have had to hide these Nacho Cheese puffs from myself. They come in a pretty good sized bag that if you’re like me and eat the whole bag you won’t be hungry.

Okay enough of drooling over the protein puffs. Chicago was tough when it came to sticking to this plan but I made it through. I had to seclude myself at times from the breakfast buffet and in the evening the smell of burgers and pizza. I nearly gnawed my arm off on Saturday night as I couldn’t stand any more bars. Thanks to the good peeps at MetRx who had some awesome bars at the expo otherwise I may have gone completely batty. Almonds helped curve my appetite and drinking more water as well.

Lesson for the week - supplements are intended to be exactly that. Supplements to your diet and not intended to be your diet. I’m ready for real food, warm food and yes I have been eating egg whites and protein pancakes but I mean a nice meal. Like a juicy steak or a grilled burger with a cold beer. The end is near and I am so looking forward to this ending. I’ve enjoyed finding a number of new products that bodybuilding.com carries and will most definitely be enjoying them for months to come.

If there is anything you’d like to know or supplement questions before this ends, please email me here or post in the comments field.

Cheers

I nearly broke today. It was the closest I’ve come to caving in on this 27 Days of Bodybuilding.com Challenge. I had been out running errands before leaving for NPC JR Nationals and didn’t think to bring any thing to eat with me. I was at Target and was craving food from my local Wendy’s. MMMM chicken breast, baked potato and a Diet Coke. I was close to hitting the drive up and getting it but talked myself out of it and came home, ate a MetRx bar and some Chef Jay Protein Puffs. I also drank a ton of water and was all good.

Tomorrow I head to Chicago for NPC Jr. Nationals. It will be a huge event and the promoter Pam Betz puts on a great show. I will need to plan accordingly and pack lots of my shakes, bars and other snacks for the weekend. Check out the Pro/Am blog over the weekend for my contest coverage.

I’ve been taking MuscleTech’s NaNO Vapor BEFORE my workouts over the course of the last week and I’m impressed. I can definitely tell an increase in energy, pump and as a result I am getting kick ass workouts. I’ve been mixing two scoops with 10-12 ounces of water and find it works for me. Combine that with some new tunes and I’ve been in the zone. This has become my favorite MuscleTech product thus far. The taste is good and it definitely kicks off my workout. I workout first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. I have taken it before a workout in the afternoon as well and haven’t noticed any difference in effectiveness. As a result of getting better workouts I’m sore as hell so I’ve made sure to take in my glutamine and it has definitely helped.

Many people ask me if I’m paid to talk about the products I mention in this blog and the answer is no. I have not received any money from any company to endorse their products. I have received a few emails from a variety of companies asking for my input on products though. I’m happy to try any supplement company’s product out if it is available on bodybuilding.com. I’ll give you my honest feedback and let you know what I think. If someone would like to bring me on board as their walking billboard and throw some mad money at me, feel free to email me at isaac@liftstudios.com - I’ll have my people call your people.

This isn’t so bad, just boring after awhile. Which is a reminder that this is not something I would ever recommend doing long term. I cannot wait to go back to eating chicken and rice and a few supplements mixed in there. I must be nuts if I am craving chicken and rice instead of pizza or something like that.

The big test is in a few days when I head to Chicago for Jr Nationals. If you’re at the show and you see me aimless wondering around hide your pizza and say hello.

I get tons of spam emails every day as I’m sure many of you do. I had to share this little gem with all of you.  It asks, "Remember this meal?" Funny you should ask Mr. or Mrs. Spammer - NO! I don’t remember that meal. In fact that is one of the most disgusting "meals" I’ve ever seen. It’s actually quite hilarious. The ad tells me I can flush up to 20lbs with a colon cleanse? Um ya, I’m going to have to pass on that one but thanks anyways. LOL!

A “meal” I never want to remember.

Clearly this marketer hasn’t stopped by this blog.

I haven’t been diligent about my blogging and I apologize to all the peeps following this. There are a number of you who have emailed me regarding this. Most continue to think I am crazy. That’s cool but at least I know you’re reading this. The biggest thing I’ve learned and continue to learn through this process is the variety of products bodybuilding.com carries. I’ve been a part of this site for the last 6 years in some capacity and seen it grow in more ways than one. Last night while I was cruising the bodybuilding.com store I ran across Sugar Free Syrup. How cool is that? If you’re one of those people who like to have their starbucks coffee and find yourself ordering an Mondo iced carmel latte. I know, I know it’s grande but my point is you can have your coffee and make your own little healthy version at home and actually save yourself a few bucks.

The biggest question I get is how much is this costing me. People think that this endeavour will end up costing way too much. I beg to differ but I can’t say for certain. If I were to add up what I spend on the total 28 days I’d venture to guess it would be less than what I spent last month for 28 days or what I spend next month for 28 days on food. I would typically drop $7-$12 on one meal just for lunch. That’s a healthy meal too which would usually consist of white chicken, extra chicken, brown rice and black beans. That’s the staple of my usual diet. I honestly can’t wait to go back to eating it because I like the way it tastes. It is however not cheaper than buying a big container of protein powder and using that for a month. You have to break down what it would cost you per serving - which bodybuilding.com does in its store. When you look at it like that vs the initial cost upfront you’re most likely saving money. It’s like going to Costco or Sam’s Club and buying in bulk.

I have two weeks down and it isn’t bad but it is getting to be boring for me. Maybe it’s the A.D.D. Last night I was on the hunt for food and thankfully I didn’t have anything in my refrigerator. I ended up eating a handful of almonds and drank more water. My weight loss tapered off over the last couple of days and most likely because I’ve been eating a few too many fat free beef stix which have sodium in it and will cause you to hold water.

My biggest challenge will come this weekend when I visit Chicago for the NPC Jr. Nationals. I’ll have to prepare to be around others and after the show skip out on a slice of Chicago pizza. It’s alright though I will plan accordingly and since it’s a bodybuilding/fitness show I will be around other nutty people as well as a number of products sold on bodybuilding.com. If I find myself grazing for food it’ll be aight as it will most likely be a bar that you could find here on the store.

Some thought I lost my mind a long time ago, others jumped on that wagon when I started this challenge. If you need more fodder for signs I might be a lil nuts, read on… Today I woke up and hit the gym. Knocked out shoulders and did an hour of cardio. I was motivated by listening to some new tunes. It is amazing what a little music can do for a workout. I had a MuscleTech Nano Vapor drink about 1/2 hour before I worked out and it definitely helped in my energy levels while working out. The sign I feel like I am going nuts is when I returned from training and running errands. I had a MuscleMilk Mocca Chocolate shake after working out and it was AWESOME. When I got home I was craving breakfast food (about 1 1/2 hours after I had the shake). So I made egg whites and MetRx protein pancakes. Normal enough until I REALLY wanted some turkey bacon or sausage. Well, I went for the next best thing and sliced up a Ostrim Beef stick. WAHLA! The perfect solution for my missing meat in the breakfast meal. It actually wasn’t bad, in fact it was pretty good. The fact that I am saying cooking up a beef stick for breakfast is good might be a sign I am loosing my mind.

I’m drinking more water and feel much better when I do. Glutamine is also helping with my soreness and energy lvels.

Checking in on the progress with my 27 Days of Bodybuilding.com. It’s progressively gotten easier when I am working and don’t leave my house. I work from a home office and doing something like this is less difficult for me than it is for many others who may work in an office environment. I do however, contrary to some popular belief, leave my home from time to time. Shocking yes, I know. I’ve had a string of bad luck with electronics. My video camera would not eject the tape so $550 later (a minimum still waiting on the "official word") I am still waiting on it to be repaired. Sweet. No, no, not really. Last week I did a photoshoot with IFBB Pro Chris Faildo at Armbrust Pro Gym. As we were shooting my camera kept erroring out. I hadn’t seen this before and after checking with my peeps at WOLF Camera, sure enough something was jacked up. Ah no problem right, I can rent a lense and have it repaired fairly quickly. Ah no, not so much. Turns out it is wedding season and all the wedding photographers who don’t own their own gear are renting out equipment. Gotta love that. THEN I went to use a smaller lense and WTF it’s all blurry on one side. Note to self - send in camera equipment once a year to have serviced and cleaned. So I was lenseless and unable to rent a lense. I had to cancel a shoot and damn it I had to cover the Ring of Fire MMA event. Well, I ended up buying a lense which proved to be a blessing in disguise because this little bad boy is sweet. It won’t do the job I need to do next weekend at Jr. Nationals but it is still a great lense. What’s the point of this rambling post? You never know what curve ball you may be thrown next, so be flexible and plan for change.

I’ve been doing this bodybuilding.com eating thing-a-ma-bob for 12 days now. Last night was BRUTAL. The Ring of Fire event is sponsored by Brother’s BBQ and the event smelled like a giant cookout. I was drooling on myself as I photographed the event. Good thing I had a shake before I left, packed a few beef sticks, bars and a redline or I would have gnawed my arm off. I’ve made it this far and honestly it kinda sucks. Not because the products aren’t good but because it’s getting old not having a nice fat steak or a juicy breast, the chicken kind. I’m finding the more fats I take in and the more water I drink the easier it is to not be hungry throughout the day and the more focused I am.

I’m currently weighing 205.5 which is 9.5lbs lighter than when I started. Not too shabby for 12 days and missing a few days in the gym. It’s time to get back at it in the gym as I will be leaving for Chicago on Thursday to cover the NPC Jr. Nationals.

My top 5 products thus far:
• UDO’s Choice 3-6-9 Oil Blend
• SciVation Xtend - Apple Flavor
• Met-Rx Protein Pancakes
• SciFit Fat Free Beef Stix (original flavor)
• MuscleMilk Chocolate RTD

Yes that is what shows like Top Chef and The Next Food Network Star have become for me… food porn. I reminded of how much I love to cook, specifically grilling out and making a meal. The supplements are good and there is a lot of variety in supplements today but nothing beats preparing a meal. I am finishing day 10 and it’s not difficult for me until I venture out and catch random exhibitions of food. What the hell is wrong with this guy? I know right?! While most people are admiring physiques and looks of others I’m guilty of checking out their food. Who knew that I’d miss cooked food so much. I’m craving a burger. A big fat juicy burger with swiss cheese and mushrooms and throw on some fat cut fries and a beer. Last night I met up with some friends in downtown Denver and the sight of a cheese pizza wasn’t appealing to me until I saw my friends pulling the cheese from their mouths. WTF - enough with the teasing. We then went to another establishment where some of them indulged in Mexican food which is always one of my favs - chicken enchiladas, rice and black beans look sooooooo good with a Margarita. BAH!

The thing I learned a long time ago was that when dieting it is best to eat BEFORE you go out. I had a shake and 1/2 a protein bar along with water. The more water I drink the less hungry I am. Also by eating and arriving at your event with a full belly you’ll be less tempted to eat. One thing I also do is bring a package or two of Emergen-C and add to your water. There is nothing more annoying than people seeing you’re drinking water and asking why. It’s not that I have a problem with their curiousity but I like to avoid repeating myself and it tastes good. When you’re drinking what looks like a mixed drink to those around you the conversation tends to be less about you and why you’re not consuming alcohol and more about something a bit more interesting in the world.

Today I received a call from a friend of my who ran across what I was doing. I don’t go out of my way to tell people what I am doing and say HEY LOOK AT ME, well at least not all the time. I hadn’t told him about this so he was busting my balls and laughing about some of the comments that are being posted on the various message boards. His fiancée is a doctor and she was concerned that I wasn’t taking in any vegetables. I assured them I would be fine. My body has adapted to things.

I have taken a liking to the MetRX pancakes and eggwhites in the morning as it is the one meal that I have been eating warm and cooked. I’ve taken a liking to the Cytosport products as well. I’m reminded of where I came from - a small town in South Dakota where I grew up on meat and potatoes. I am soooo looking forward to having a grill out. As I write this there is a commercial from Quiznos saying, shouldn’t you eat more meat? Ya big voice guy I should but it will have to wait a few more days.

I’ve also noticed that by taking in UDOs oils throughout the day as well as a few almonds my body responds better and I have more energy. I’ve also upped my glutamine to 10-20 grams a day. I didn’t try anything new today but breakfast was still the best. I may need to eat eggwhites and pancakes a couple times a day. I did 45 minutes of cardio this morning on the gauntlet and it really gets my heart rate up.

I’ve made it a week and my body is adapting to the change. It was brutal walking up my stairs smelling the neighbors grilling up hamburgers on the grill. Today I have still been a little out of it, trying to refocus and get back on track with things after the loss of Amanda Earhart-Savell. I hit the gym this morning and trained chest and then did 45 minutes of cardio. I’ve had two METRX bars, 2 beef sticks, 1 package of protein chips and 1/2 a redline. Before I worked out I had a MuscleTech NaNo Vapor drink, which helps get me a good pump. I am taking in 10-15 grams of glutamine a day. I have to remember to take in more water and currently drinking a 1/2 gallon with some Apple Extend Scivation. I am currently weighing 206lbs which one week ago I was 215lbs. Admittedly I haven’t been eating as much as I should because my mind has been on other things.

I will be posting my videos and photos from last week. It’s mind over matter when it comes to eating.

I didn’t blog yesterday as I was at the NPC Mile High Colorado show. Chris Faildo was the guest poser and a class act. Mad props to the way Chris conducts himself and he was in amazing condition.

We did a photo shoot at Heather and Dylan Armbrust gym, Armbrust Pro Gym. The two are very gracious hosts and where I will be doing the majority of my gym shots in Colorado. The lighting is great and they are very supportive of the bodybuilding community. If you’re in the Denver area or visiting looking for a bodybuilder friendly gym stop by their gym. While I was there shooting Chris, IRONMAN PRO champ Phil Heat showed up for his workout. He’s looking big as a house and told us he weighed about 255-256 at the time. It looked like it. Winner of her class in the NPC Northern, Rachel Cammon also showed up for some cardio and a shoulder workout as she prepares for the NPC Colorado State. She is a beautiful woman who has a bright future ahead of her in modeling and contests should she choose to go that route. You might remember some of the photos we got back in April. Mark my words - she is one to watch. Chris Faildo agreed and he’s been competing for over 25 years.

Friday night I went to check-in for the NPC show and since I was on the road most of the day I had to prepare for it. I packed a couple bars and RTDs for the trip. Good thing I did because by the end of the night I was starving. I managed to make it through the day without any problems and it wasn’t that big of a deal not to be eating anything but is on the bodybuilding.com store.

Saturday morning I woke up early and headed to the prejudging. The figure competition was great and lots of talent in Colorado that will be hitting the National level shows this year. Colorado is becoming a hotbed for national and pro level competitors. Keep your eyes out for a number of Mile High competitors in a couple weeks at The NPC JR Nationals. I made it through Saturday without much trouble, that was until I went to a local bar to catch the UFC fights. I had a glass a water and drank an energy drink that I had brought with me. Peeps don’t like it too much when you’re not drinking or eating at a bar but I made sure to tip the guy when I left. The fights were great and Matt Hughes went down hard in the main event. I’ll be venturing to Broomfield on Friday to photograph the Ring Of Fire event and it should be a good time. I had a number of people asking me about the Amanda Savell situation as well as telling me how crazy I am for doing this little challenge. Doenker King who won the Colorado State Fitness and Figure is getting ready for Jr Nationals and was taunting me with a bag of Peanut M&Ms. It really is mind over matter when it comes to things like this. My body has adjusted from the first couple of day eating change. I haven’t been to the gym in 3 days but will be hitting it hard today.

The biggest lesson I was reminded of this past week is no matter how much you plan or have a schedule, life will throw you a curve-ball and it’s up to you how you deal with it. I didn’t deal with losing a friend very well. I ate next to nothing, didn’t sleep and didn’t make it to the gym. It’s okay to grieve and it’s okay to not make it into the gym EVERY day but life has to go on and you have to still go on about your day. It is easier said then done but I was reminded of it.

Today I’ve had a chocolate Muscle Milk shake and my multi-vitamins and 1/2 a redline. I’m headed to the bookstore to get my read on then hit the gym. I’ll be working on getting caught up from being out of it last week. Thanks for following along and watching how this unfolds. It should be interesting to see what transpires. After my one day of eating sodium filled snacks my body doesn’t crave it and eating a beef stick now isn’t all the rewarding. I’ll be going back to eating more eggwhites and today I have to try those MetRx pancakes. I’ll let ya know how they taste.

Cheers!

Isaac

It’s now Friday and I missed blogging my day four. It was the roughest day I’ve had in recent memory. Not because of some crazy diet or muscle soreness. No, the ache I felt and continue to feel is from the loss of a dear friend, Amanda Jo Savell. While I hadn’t seen her in person for some time we kept in touch regularly through email or text. I learned of the news early in the morning from a friend of mine and her manager, JM Manion. I knew something had to be up when I was getting a call so early in the morning and when I went to listen to the message I noticed I had four other missed called from other people in the industry. The news was devastating - Amanda had been shot and killed.

She was a beautiful woman with a tremendous heart. She texted me on Monday to give me crap about doing this “27 Days of Bodybuilding.com”. We were joking about a colon blow from eating too much protein. The last thing I will ever get from Amanda was a text that read, “Ha holy shit rolling laughing on that one ya I have done that before ha”. My last words to her were, “ha gotta love that shit”. That’s the kinda woman she was we could be talking about something serious one minute and the next we’re talking about poo. LOL! I’m going to miss her. Check out some of her photos here on bodybuilding.com as well as videos.

I haven’t been able to sleep yet and my mind has been on Amanda and her loved ones. I decided to hunt through my thousands of photos over the years to see what I could dig up from the various shows. I found quite a few of Miss Amanda and as you can see she lit up the camera with her smile. This was tough for me to put together as it brought back so many memories and a reminder that I’ll never see her again. It brings tears to my eyes to write this and watch it again but in some strange way it begins to make this all a bit more real for me.

Here is the video I put together this morning:

I guess I made up for eating all the crap food yesterday by being totally distracted. Today I took in:

4 Tribistan tablets
1 multi-vitamin
2,000mg of Vitamin C
3 hydroxycut pills
1 Chocolate Chip Clif Bar
1 Beef Stick
1 Mypolex Lite Chocolate RTD
1 Muscle Milk RTD
1 Red Line Triple Berry Extreme
6 scoops of Scivation Apple Extend

I wasn’t in the mood to eat but when I look at it was so bad I guess. It’s time for bed as I’ve been up for 22.5 hours straight and it’s starting to hit me. I have a photo shoot with last year’s team universe champ, Chris Faildo today so I gotta get some rest so I can get a great shoot in with him.

What’s up readers? I survived the day but it wasn’t with out some interesting twists. I hit the gym for some morning cardio with my workout pal Sara Hurrle. Hurrle was in a good mood and it might have something to do with her new found happiness in her personal life. Before we got our sweat on the gauntlet, Hurrle turned the camera on me and took some "Before" photos and a video interview. When I looked at the photos on my camera I was mortified. It’s time to set it off! It fired my workout to go from my usual five on the gauntlet to 8. That was great and I sweated my fat ass off. I mistakenly didn’t grab anything to eat before I headed off to a meeting with one of my other clients. I didn’t have time and was running late, well I should say I didn’t make time. I headed to Cherry Creek North to meet with the new Marketing Director at the hottest new club in Denver, Pura Vida Fitness & Spa. We chatted it up about their web site and by the end of the meeting I was starving. I ended up finding a couple Clif Bars. One thing I should mention I don’t have to purchase the food only on bodybuilding.com but it has to be sold on bodybuilding.com. I had noticed there was the carrot cake flavor in the store. I hadn’t tried it before but it sounded good. I also nabbed a couple Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter ones. I like the texture and moistness to these bars. I tore into the Carrot Cake and sweet mutha! Those things are the bomb. I’ll definitely be snacking on their tasty goodness again. Since I was an idiot and didn’t eat my eggwhites right after working out and 2-3 hours had passed I was starving so I ate another Clif Bar. NOTE TO SELF - LIMIT TO ONE BAR AT A TIME. My gut had a bomb dropped on it with bar number two but the REALLY dumb thing was since they are so small and I am 215lb lug I went for a bite of a third one. It as when I went to go into bite number #2 of bar #3 that it hit. Like stepping on a mind field in my gut there was an explosion going down. As DMX sings, “LORD GIVE ME SIGN”. Someone gave me a sign - PUT THE BARS DOWN FOOL.

I was doing some investigating something for a second meet up with a beautiful and totally awesome woman. Some might call it a “date”. She’s an amazing woman who is a competitor so she “gets” the whole eating healthy lifestyle and I may have found some one as funny as me. Here I am driving around like a blind bat looking for a store that I remember going into 4 years ago in the Lowry area of Denver. Well all be damned if the place hasn’t been built up quite a bit since then and I found myself in the middle of what looked like a movie set with fake looking trees and all too perfect lawns, all the while World War III is taking place in my gut. Quite the adventure but I’m happy to report I found the place (closed of course because they don’t open until 11am). Any whoo, I’ll meet up with her tomorrow night and it will be awesome to see her again. I doubt either of us will be snacking on any bars tomorrow night but never say never.

I returned to a pile of work and a number of things I needed to get done. Big Will and I are headed out to Vegas again to cover a UFC fight so I rented a mondo lense and checked into flights. My video camera is broke AGAIN. It’s an expensive SONY HD 1080i camera that I shot the entire Phil Heath DVD in but the damn thing won’t eject the tape AGAIN. Second time this has happened to the camera only this time it isn’t under warranty and will set me back 500 bones. WTF!?! I also continued to fuel the fire over on HARDBODY.com for the women’s fitness event set to take place a the Houston Pro. During this time I talked to my best friend of the last 13/14 years who returned from France. He asked what I was up to I filled him in on my 27 day adventure. I’ve been known to do some baffling things in the past and this was another one of those times. He stated, “DON’T DO IT, DON’T DO IT, DON’T DO IT, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” hahaha. Later in the day I talked with one of the coolest peeps on the WEIDER/FLEX team, Allan Donnelly, and he encouraged me to continue. We ran down a few projects and photos that will be in an upcoming issue of FLEX as well as a few things going up on FLEXONLINE.com for the women. Hey, if Allan says it’s a good idea that’s good enough for me.

Later in the afternoon I checked with my condo front office to see if Santa aka FEDEX had arrived and it HAD! SWEET. I stared at FIVE boxes with the bodybuilding.com logo on it. The office people think I am nuts to begin with and always intrigued by all the bodybuilding.com things showing up at the office. I had to make two trips up my three flights of stairs to my pad on the top floor. Holy balls that was a workout in and of itself. Another reminder that I need to watch what I am eating and get back into condition. I’ll be posting up some video of the boxes and me tearing into them like a kid on Christmas morning. My eyes lit up at the site of all the goodies I now had at my disposal.

Since I’ve already written a novel I will wind this bad boy down. I guess a better holiday to compare today to would be Halloween. It was like returning home from trick or treating and eating a bit of everything you had just begged for. I proceeded to tear into three of the SciFit fat free beef snacks and make my first batch of Scivation Extend Apple Flavor. Mad props to Editor in Chief for this site, Kris Gethin (who is preparing to compete himself soon) for the recommendation. The extended mixes easily with water and tastes AWESOME. Seriously give this stuff a taste it good stuff and one of the more impressive products I’ve tasted ever. I ended up eating a Chef Jay Brownie bar which is insanely look, there is no way this thing can be healthy as good as it tastes. I also proceeded to eat two bags of Kay’s Natural Protein Chipsthroughout the day followed by yet another beef stick.

As you can tell from the load of things I’ve eaten today there is a reason why I feel like a 300lb Gorilla right now. Many of these things have sodium as well as a lot of sugar alcohols. I don’t intend on making this mistake again. I don’t feel terrible and feel much better than yesterday but I can definitely feel the water retention and look like a bloated balloon.

Daily Bodybuilding.com Product intake:
3 Scifit Beef Snacks
1 Ostrim Beef Snack
2 servings of Scivation Extend Apple Flavor
2 Bags of Kay’s Natural Protein Chips
3 Clif Bars
1/2 serving of Dymatize Elite Oats ‘N More - Brown Sugar Cinnamon (I tried it and tastes good but my body was telling me to stop eating)
3 Hydroxycut pills before I worked out
1 Multi-Vitamin
2,000mg of Vitamin C

Tomorrow I will definitely be doing things differently or I’ll end up putting on 20lbs instead of loosing it.

I woke up at 4:30am this morning, while I feel rested now I’m sure it will be nap time about 1-2pm. The Lean Dreams from ALRi definitely help knock me out and provide a solid night’s sleep. This morning I will be headed to Greenwood Athletic Club and get my sweat on. I’ll join the unpredictable Sara Hurrle for a workout. I never know what Hurrle I will get. I don’t say that mean spirited but when you hang around competitors prepping for a show the moods can go from happy as a mo fro to look at me and die bastard. LOL! It’s all good, I don’t take things personal and I know it ain’t my issue. Now yesterday when I was 60% out of it - that was my issue. I can tell already in two days that my body is starting to adapt. Beginning at 215lbs my goal by the June 29th will be below 200lbs. The biggest challenge will come on June 20-21, 2008 when I am in Chicago for the NPC JR NATIONALS. I’ll have to load my luggage up with bodybuilding.com goodies to avoid the temptation of the tasty Chicago Deep Dish pizza. MMMMMMM. Pizza. Does anyone have a pizza flavored product? Maybe some of those protein chips in a pizza flavor - now that would be something.

A little reminder to be appreciative of what you have and enjoy it compliments of the John Butler Trio

Some of the lyrics…
All I know is sometimes things can be hard
But you should know by now
They come and they go
So why, oh why
Do I look to the other side
‘Cos I know the grass is greener but
Just as hard to mow

Life’s not about what’s better than.

All you want is
What you can’t have
And if you just look around man
You see you got magic
So just sit back relax
Enjoy it while you still have it
Don’t look back on life man and only see tragic

Because you could be better than that
Don’t let it get the better of you
What could be better than now
Life’s not about what’s better than
You can be better than that
Don’t let it get the better of you
What could be better than now
Life’s not about what’s better

A reminder that I shouldn’t take myself too serious and throughout the next few weeks I will need a little comic relief. Check out this commercial for Cadbury. How do you not smile at this?

Day Two comes to an end and I am quite happy about the find on the store which I had totally forgotten about… NOW ALMONDS! Sweet nutty goodness these saved me. I had a handful of almonds, another MuscleTech protein shake, a Clif Bar and a SPIKE energy drink.

Today was rough. I was mentally out of it for most of the day and it was brutal. Once I took in some fats with the almonds and drank a bit more water I felt much, much better. It was a challenging day to make it through. Did I mention it was tough? I am delirious and repeating myself. I was craving some real food today but I was able to combat the urge. Mind over Matter, at least that is what I keep telling myself. I found myself on the crapper less today which was an added bonus.

Tomorrow I’ll have more supplements arriving and it should help mix it up. I’m looking forward to having some of the METRX protein pancakes and adding glutamine into my routines. The training has been balls out and I’m sore as hell. The glutamine should help with the soreness and recovery. I’ll be taking photos tomorrow morning and posting those up to monitor my progress. Tonight before bed I will take 3 ALRi’s Venom Lean Dreams. This helps with my sleep and I get a better night’s sleep when I take these. GREAT PRODUCT!

Gym time tomorrow bright and early at 6:15am.