Gun Chief’s BodyBlog

Well my training partner is back and although she can’t lift just yet it is a huge motivator knowing she is there and holding me accountable to the goal of getting on stage.  We worked on both mando posing and the routine (graceful I ain’t).  It was a lot easier to have another set of eyes seeing the form and making corrections, then trying to do it yourself and guessing if it looked good.  Changed the music as it just wasn’t flowing with the original (it didn’t feel right and she pointed it out that the poses didn’t have enough energy).  Sounds strange to say but I really can’t wait to get on stage and do this!  I know I’m not large enough to compete with the big boys (even though I’ll be in the heavy weight class) but I hope to correct that by next spring and put on 15lbs or so.  Mostly need to fill out my shoulders and keep leaning out my lower back/waist and abs.  My upper back is thick but can be wider and my legs should be thicker.  So I figure 15lbs should cover all that.  The last thing I want to do is get bulky and then repeat the cutting diet, I would much rather try and maintain the leanness and just add the bulk 1-2lbs at a time while keeping BF in single digits.  Not sure if that’s totally possible but what the heck, I’ve already been told that on my current diet I can’t lean out and I’ve done just that.  So maybe listening to my body and focusing on what it needs and when it needs it, is a lot more important then following some generic diet plan in a book.  Won’t say I’ve got it licked but it seems to be working right now.  It’s really the last two weeks that I’m more nervous about as I don’t want to drop anymore weight or BF during that time but instead just tighten the skin as much as possible.       

YEAH!!!  My Partner is back from travel a day early!!!  I can’t wait to begin our workouts together (even though she may not be able to start right away just having her there to help push me on is an immense motivator!  Especially when she uses my physcology techinques on me (I guess turn about is fair play).  Hopefully we can nail down my posing routine and make it flow as well.  I’ve been hitting the mandos but I need to start holding each pose longer (currently about 10secs each going to bump it to 15-20).  Gawd I can’t wait for this week to begin.  I’m so pumped to lift right now it’s ridiculous!  Oh well Have to suffer through without today so I can blast it tomorrow!   Back to the Olympics!  GO USA!!

Wow!  Only 4 weeks left before I get on stage.  Feel good about where I am at (actually feel like I’ve achieved more then I thought I would) and I don’t think I’m going to embarass myself up there.  Have to work more on posing (hard without my training partner to make the corrections I don’t see) and my routine (much harder then I thought).  I’m doing my high carb day today and then tomorrow next to no carbs to see what happens so as I get closer to the final week I have a better idea of just what to do.  I’ve also cut my overall calories by 300 to keep leaning out without dropping muscle (it’s worked so far so we’ll see).  I wish I was a little more solid and less fluffy feeling around the middle (esp. the lower back/hip area) but with cutting the calories and increasing the cardio I hope that will go down a little more.  Every day I see just a little more cuts in my legs and on my torso, it doesn’t help that I’m white as a friggin ghost I’m sure that if I was darker it would even be better (I can’t get a tan without spray paint LOL!!).  Well I’m off to do shoulders, and calves then cardio (and watch some of the Olympics).  

In only 5 weeks I will be stepping up on a stage to be judged by others on how I big I am, how lean I am, how muscular I am, and how well I pose!  Not an easy concept to grasp in my mind.  I’m more of the compete where the goal is your physical (or mental) ability determines the outcome, not what someone (or rather someones) opinions determine the outcome.  Am I ready…..not yet.  But I’m close and that’s what is important, staying with the plan!  Of course not having my training partner with me these past couple weeks sucks and is very hard to keep up the intensity in the workouts (she’s on travel and hopefully due back soon!!).  It makes a difference in my workouts and my days when she is here.  It really shitty right now as I have no way to even communicate with her and I don’t know when I will again (it’ll be this week just don’t know when!).  Losing touch with someone that important to me is akin to missing a workout!  Your just not the same and you can’t go back and get a redo!  You have to take what’s done is done, not worry about it and press forward!  While I have a lot of questions about the final week leading into the contest, most of them I can figure out when (and if) I take the time to sit down and study what works and what doesn’t for me.  Catching more grief from home but it flips around so much that it makes my head spin - one minute I’m a self-conceited bastard, and the next the hottie on the block.  More the latter then the former!  Of course having people throw your hard work into your face sucks and then have them grill you off and on all day about what you eat and "how come your not hungry" "you look like your starving yourself" "how can I do that" and my favorite "it must be nice to be able to workout all day long and not have a real job!"  Now I know they’re haters and haters usually drive me to have them hate me some more.  I don’t mind the fight sometimes I downright enjoy it but hearing a nice word once in a while would be a welcome change instead of sarcasm and snide comments about "touching my measured food".  Anyone who embarks on the journey to get on stage and go through these issues I tip my proverbial hat off to ya.  Will I do it again, lets just get through the first one before we go that far but chances are yes I will.  But I will be bigger next time!   

It’s been almost a year since I started this journey!  Since then I’ve accomplished much more then I ever thought possible.  I’ve competed in 2 Powerlifting events (taking several 1st places) as well as setting new personal best in several lifts.  I’m currently training for a BB competition which will occur in 5 weeks.  I’ve come so far since doing this space and while it may not seem like I’ve been on here much in the past couple of months, I have not forgotten what got me started.  I used to be a solo/isolated kinda guy but since taking that first step on this journey, I gained a training partner, and a very close friend!  Without her assistance and her pushing me when I didn’t want to I probably wouldn’t be where I am now.  I won’t say it’s always one sided as I push and encourage her just as hard and she is enroute to even greater things (more then I could ever accomplish) in the near future and I’m extremely proud of her and incredibly grateful for her friendship (despite the grief I get over it from home).   We have a lot in common and it’s good to be able to talk to someone about stuff that most wouldn’t understand anything about.  She has been my anchor and has been there to say the right things when they needed to be said.   Between her and this site my life has been changed and I feel like I’m becoming more me then the shell of what everyone expected me to be.  The two don’t always mesh well and I was losing me.  I am forever grateful for having her enter my life, befriend me and helping me to be me.  This place was the catalyst of it all and I’m going to be coming back on here to assist others work on their journey.  Can’t say it will all be fun and at times the home life isn’t.   But having friends and someone whom you care about and cares about you definitely makes the journey worth it.  I can’t thank her enuff!!