IFBBPROFouad's BodyBlog

Monday, July 20, 2009

IFBBPROFouad — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:56:44 +0000

Monday, July 20, 2009

3 Weeks Out

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It has finally happened, the OCD of dieting is in full effect. Here is a sample of a some of things I’m talking about. I cook my meal the same, eat with the same plate (after washed of course), eat with the same fork, sit in the same place and position when eating and to top it off I can’t start eating if there is a commercial on TV. Whatever program I am watching has to have started for me to start eating…wtf? I don’t know what happens to me four weeks out from a show but things turn very strange for me, whatever it works I guess. On the positive side of the OCD, there isn’t a dish in the sink, everything is dusted and laundry gets done before it has a chance to pile up. I guess you take the good with the bad…lol.
This week my calories were dropped a little, the steak was pulled from the diet and switched for fish and some of the carb meals were tapered a little. Funny thing is these minor changes to the diet allowed me to drop five pounds last week and I am just about ready now to hit the stage. I hate being ready early, I think to be freaky I have a couple more pounds to go but I know it could come off in a matter of a couple days if need be. So now its just a waiting game. I am comfortably waiting for the show now at 254lbs and should be able to hit the stage around the high 240’s. Its not much more weight than last year but it will be a deeper more complete package than the last time I stepped on stage.
Aside from the food and the craziness my training has been absolutely insane. I am having a very hard time understanding why I am still able to lift the way I am with the intensity I have at the three week mark. Normally by this time I am lifting 60% of what I normally do and energy in the gym is really low. This time around, energy is low but only outside the gym or sometimes during cardio. When I am lifting I am on fire and still breaking some of my old records, I really don’t get it but I’m not complaining. For example on Friday training hamstrings after already doing eight sets of two other exercises me and my training partner started stiff leg deads. My max on that exercise in the past and in the offseason was 405lbs for 10reps. On Friday I did 455lbs for 10 reps and although its not a big jump from the norm the most significant thing is that I am doing this three weeks out.
I am hoping that this prolonged strength and gain in strength are going to mean a fuller harder appearance on stage. I find when I lift too light or use too many supersets and things like that my body really flattens out and becomes stringy. In the training area I could not be happier with how things are going right now.
My legs have been a sticking point for me this year and I have really been hammering away to make them catch up to my upper body. I think I have done relatively well creating more balance but usually the diet and the cardio wreaks havoc on my brain when I am looking in the mirror every morning. My legs would tend to flatten out like crazy in years past from the diet and the cardio, this year they are a little flat which sucks but the heavy lifting is really keeping them up which is helping me mentally get through.
On the career end of things I am also looking forward to some new developments that happened this week. I received a call from a very prominent bodybuilding magazine and I won’t mention anymore about it until it comes through but it was a good phone call, lets just leave it at that for now but I’ll fill you in when it comes together. I also nailed down my first guest posing appearance in the US and am really looking forward to it, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Sept 19th, come out watch me bring the house down!!
I also did Pro Bodybuilding Weekly (radio show) this past week which is always fun. Dan and Bob the hosts kept on trying to get me to make predictions about the show but that is something I have always been against. Trash talk is fun but I don’t think I am ready for it yet so I’ll hold back for now. Canadian Bodybuilding Radio also had an interview with me that I believe airs this week, those guys over there were great and I was honored to be their first guest.

All in all things are looking up and I am visualizing great things happening. Its amazing what your mind can visualize when you want something bad enough. I have such vivid imaginings that I can see the trophy in my mind and what it looks like to the very detail. Some of the great sports personalities always said you have to be able to see it and visualize it deep inside of yourslef if its ever going to happen…..lets hope they were right!

Sacrifice Without Regret,
Fouad ‘Hoss’ Abiad

June 23, 2009

IFBBPROFouad — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:27:24 +0000

June 23, 2009

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Well, I was dreading this day and it has come. For some reason the cravings that weren’t there at all over the last eight weeks have all of a sudden just shown up all at once. Last night I didn’t care about food and it was pretty much the last thing on my mind. Until today winning the show has overcome all other thoughts. Today, thoughts about pizza, doughnuts, and chocolate ice cream all broke into my mind and wouldn’t leave as much as I tried. I think I know the reason and it happened all at once.
Somebody please explain to me why people feel the need to watch the food channel while they do cardio. I always do my cardio on an empty stomach in the morning. My cardio of choice is the stepmill (the moving stairs) and I trained legs yesterday so it wasn’t feeling very good anyway. To top it off there are about five T.V’s in front of the stepmills at my gym and three of them were on food channels! What is wrong with people?! Why would watching chefs making delicious food on t.v make you want to train harder or make cardio any easier? I do forty minutes in the morning and today it felt like four hours because I had to watch people make gourmet pizza and some other stuff that I don’t even know what it was but it looked so damn good…lol.
So I finish up and leave the gym and for some reason I couldn’t get the food out of my head. It was like all the fast food signs were brighter, more colourful and actually were the only signs I could see..lol. Then I get home and I had mail, so I thought. In my mail was a Pizza Pizza flyer, a KFC flyer and a McDonlald’s coupon book. Man when it rains it pours.
Well I am happy to say that the warrior in me was able to eventually (after burning my mail) get my head on straight and block any negative thoughts about food or anything else. There is only thing on my mind right now and that is winning this show coming up and I don’t want to give anyone an easy road by messing up my diet and looking like ****.
People always ask me if I feel lucky because I don’t have a normal nine to five job? I am always very grateful for my career choice and that I was able to follow my dream but today I actually felt like I worked eight hours in a factory. I barely got out of bed this morning, for some reason after a great leg workout my body needs lots more sleep. When I finally did get out of bed and made my way to the stepmill at the gym, it was a chore with every step since my quads were already burning after the first three minutes in. After coming home to eat I was out to the grocery store to stock the fridge and then cook more food. By the time that was done I was back at the gym for a forty set training session of chest and tris and before I could leave I did another cardio session. When I got home I sweaty and gross and I swear I felt like I did when I was eighteen and I was working in a factory. Just getting home exhausted and sweaty, getting into the shower all recalled those memories of real blue collar work.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you what we bodybuilders do is easy, even if it looks that way from the outside looking in. When its done properly and pushed to the very limits it can be one of the hardest jobs on earth. All that being said I wouldn’t trade it for the world! My dad was a blue collar man and if anything when I work this hard it makes me feel like him. That makes me proud…

Sacrifice Without Regret,
Fouad ‘Hoss’ Abiad

9 Weeks Out

IFBBPROFouad — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:55:10 +0000

The show is getting closer and closer and even though things have been hard I am getting more and more excited by the week. Some bodybuilders think its easy to stay in offseason mode, just eating whatever you want and training but for me it gets tiring. There comes a point after four or so months when I just get sick of the offseason and being chubby and really look forward to getting down to business.
This past week brought some challenges but also gave me some hope. In the last blog I spoke about some of the injuries I have had and was a bit discouraged. I have had a hamstring problem for the last few weeks and my therapist has been working on it to no avail. My therapist mentioned it might be my back, as he named some of the symptoms that go with low back pain and disc problems. I really began to identify with it and told him that those were the symptoms I was feeling. This week he began working on my low back on the traction table and also making daily back adjustments. Its only been a week of these treatments and I am already starting to feel better and am able to train pain free! I think a couple more weeks with him working on my back and I will be 100% again feelin good.
This small injury has really taught me to have some variation in my training. For example my back training this week was mostly machine work to keep my low back stable. For legs I had to make other small changes, instead of hack squats which were too much for my low back I had to do reverse hacks which still gave me a burn without slowing the healing process. I guess what I am trying to get across to you all is sometimes when you are training bad things can happen. Instead of throwing in the towel you have to find new ways and have an open mind about how you can really make the muscle work.
I am still growing as the weeks go by, I am at 275lbs and getting leaner. It feels really strange because I am accustomed to the scale dropping and that ends up meaning I am looking better. This time the scale isn’t budging, in fact it is going up but I am looking better week by week. I can also tell that the diet is really starting to work because I am getting very hungry in between meals. I am still eating what I was eating two weeks ago but my metabolism has really kicked into high gear. Some of you have emailed me about specifics. Daily I am eating three red meat meals, two fish meals and one chicken making up all six meals with no shakes. This is also the first time I have ever eaten six meals a day without shakes. I think I like it but it does get expensive. Carbs are simple, oatmeal, yams, brown rice and the occasional salad just for some flavor.
Usually as I start to get excited about a show I begin to visualize the stage and how I am going to do. Its not something I do consciously but most of you know how it is when you are doing cardio or in between sets on the gym floor, sometimes your mind just wanders. This is the first pro show I am entering in my IFBB career that I really feel like I have a chance at winning. I can see the callouts and I can see the battle, everyday it looks a little more clear in my mind.
I don’t know if its this visualization that has given me the strength in the gym but this week I resumed lifting some of the weight that I haven’t lifted in a long time. Leg press - 18 plates a side, incline press - 405lbs for ten reps. I know there are bodybuilders out there that are much stronger than me but for me putting those numbers up while in the middle of a diet is very rare indeed.
Before I let you guys go this week there is one more thing I know of that has given me strength and I have thought of it everyday in and out of the gym. A very good friend of mine told me on Sunday that her daughter was diagnosed with cancer. After hearing something like that it makes all your aches and pains, personal problems and financial issues all seem so insignificant. It made me realize that I have my strength, my family, my friends and I should be grateful for everyday with them. My friend called the other night to tell me about how strong her daughter has been in the hospital and how she hasn’t even cried through all the poking, prodding and surgeries. I found a lot of inspiration in that young women’s strength and decided that I will dedicate the Tampa Bay Pro show to her for giving me the strength to get through it all and be my best.
The show is getting closer and I am fighting harder and harder, my time is now and I have to break out at this show. I am shooting for the veterans and trying to make my mark, this is the show and this is my year!

Fouad ‘Hoss’ Abiad
Sacrifice Without Regret!