cjk302’s BodyBlog

A lot has happened since my last post.  Moving, applying to grad school, job hunting, new injuries, the list goes on and on…. I have managed to keep from going over 120lbs like I did after my 2008 season.  I was 111 at my last show in July and I’m currently a soft 116.  Not to bad but not where I want to be either considering I should have been about 107 at my show….

Injuries- something is wrong with my right ankle and my right knee and I am still experiencing chronic lower back pain but all of that takes a backseat to my most challenging injury= my aching shoulder.  I hurt it back in April and I adjust my routine to deal with it but now its time to actually fix it.  I will know after next week if I am having surgery.  If so, no upper body exercises for 3 months! 

That being said, I have to figure out how to get lean with only my diet.  I figure these 3 months will be a good time to rehab my ankle and knee as well so I can come back completely healthy.  We will just pray for my back

Any suggestions for non-contest diet eating to get lean and stay that way?  I know "don’t eat crap" and I won’t be eating any processed food or dairy.  What else?

Due to lack of funds I am unable to properly prepare for NPC Nationals/Team U this year …I have recently regained employment so I’m looking for another show to do sometime in October.  Right now its looking like it will either be Southeastern USA’s in Orlando on Oct 17 or the Ft Lauderdale cup Oct 10.  Which one should I do?  I don’t want to be the only fitness competitor there.  Anyone know anything about these shows?

…in the brief interim where I didn’t think I was doing another NPC show this year I went ahead and set a date for my first powerlifting meet.  Oct 3 I will be competing in my first RAW powerlifting meet here in Tampa in hopes of qualifying for the Raw unity meet in january.  I should be able to do that in this meet but I am going to take this as a learning experience (being that I have never actually SEEN a meet lol).  Wish me luck

So I had about a week since I started my contest prep where I didn’t think I was competing.  As such, my diet went to crap (relatively speaking of course.  it was still better than most of america lol).  As of today I’m going back into contest prep as if I’m competing.  At the moment, I’m not sure that I will be financially able to do so but if something opens up in the next few weeks at least I will be ready

Today I did versa climber (60seconds) and jump rope (30seconds) intervals for 10 rounds.  Then lat pulldowns, 1 leg squats, and bench press with 3 sets of abs mixed in for 2 rounds (my endurance needs work).  I finished with a mile run, something I am going to try to end all of my workouts with.  Feeling pretty good.  My abs are visible, my legs are still defined, just need to tighten up and slim down.

Now about that routine….

I took 2 weeks "off" after Vegas and Jr Nationals to let my body heal a little bit.  My hamstring is still tight but o well, I have another one …So I only gained 4-5 lbs since Chicago (yea i’m shocked too, with all the crap i ate in Vegas LOL) …Hopefully this means I can get even smaller and tighter over the next 7 weeks than I was in Chicago.  I did roughly 6 weeks of contest prep starting at 122lbs before Chicago.  This time I’m starting at ~114lbs and I’m 7 weeks out from New York. 

This morning I ran bleachers.  Short workout, warm up lap, 10 minutes of drills, 15 minutes of sprints on the bleachers, cool down lap.  I felt every step of it.  I’m out of shape …I’m excited tho.  If I can stay healthy and afford to eat healthy then I should place much higher in the physique round this time.  Happy saturday to you!!

So i’m finally back and settled in from my last show.  I learned a lot as far as diet for this show.  I had NPC Jr Nationals about 3 weeks prior to Vegas so I was about where I wanted to be as far as physique, just had to maintain and try to not look bloated or full of water onstage.  I only carb depleted for about a day and a half for this show which worked well.

Results:

obstacle course - 52.65 (not my best, i got stuck on the wall and lost a good 3 seconds)

shuttle run - 35.6 (a new personal best, in spite of falling completely on my butt and "giving birth to a bean bag" as Willie put it lol)

Box jumps - 41.54 no comment

Bench press - 50 reps (60% of my bodyweight = 65lbs)  

Overall placings - 

Grace and Physique - 12th

Fitness Skills - 8th

Obstacle Course - 4th

Fitness Routine - 6th :’-(

Dual Fitness (OC & Skills) - 3rd

Dual Optional (OC, Skills, & GP) - 3rd

TRI-FITNESS - 2nd!!!

I know what I need to work on for next year so overall it was a good weekend.  Can’t wait to see everyone in the fall. 

P.S.  Congratulations to Chrisie and Willie for their outstanding performances and overall titles!!!  Florida was in the bldg!!

…be on the lookout for contest prep on my next show: NPC National Fitness Championships this September

After Jr Nationals I pigged out (duh) lol.  When I left for Chicago I was 109lbs, when I came back I was 119!!! LOL, i figure most of that was water from my body kinda going into shock from pizza and ice cream.  I really only ate bad for 24 hours but then I had 3 days where I didn’t workout and wasn’t on any particular eating regimen.

Since then (5 days ago i weighed 119), I have dropped down to 111.4lbs!  Cardio has become my best friend again and I started sprinting again in prep for fitness skills in Vegas.  I’m not as confident as I was this time last year just because I haven’t been focused on this show (due to Jr Nationals) as much.  I will be doing some testing this week to see where I stand.  I think my bench press and box jumps will be fine.  I’m not sure about the shuttle run and the obstacle course tho.  We’ll see  

I finished 6th in fitness class A  (2nd place in routines and 9th in physique).  I’m very pleased with my routine placing since that was my focus for this show.  Obviously I’m not so excited about my physique score but its not a surprise.  The immediate feedback I received was that I was "too muscular" or "blocky" …I guess I am ok with that considering I had about 6 weeks of contest prep.  My next NPC show will be National Fitness Championships (Team U) September 18-19 in New York.   I will focus on getting smaller in the 8 weeks after my WTF show.

 But in the meantime I have 2 weeks to get ready for Women’s Tri-Fitness World Challenge in Vegas!!!  This by far is my favorite show of the year.  I love the obstacle course and fitness skills.  I am a little nervous because my preparation has not been focused on this since I had Jr Nationals first.  But I will hit it full force the next 14 days to try and fine tune.  7am sprints, lets go!!!!

I will be in Chicago in less than 48 hours preparing to compete at Jr Nationals.  I’ve trained, I’ve dieted, i’ve done all the small things (nails, tanning, posing practice, etc)… Still, right now i’m not excited about competing.  Not nervous… not… anything.  my home was broken into last night so that definitely sucked all the emotion out of this week… Right now I just want to get it over with…

Yesterday I had my weak body part wednesday workout which consisted of a 40minute tire workout (flipping, rowing, hammer, 200m jog times 4 rounds) followed by a hamstring workout.  

Romanian deadlifts - 4 sets of 6 with 185lbs. 

Single stiff leg deadlifts - 6 each leg with 40lb dumbbell

-superset with-

seated leg curls - 20 with 90lbs

-3 sets  

…my hamstrings are so pitiful, this will be my wednesday workout through Fitness Nationals in September. 

So I’m decarbing now… less than 60g of carbs/day (excluding brocoli, lettuce, and tomato) and only tilapia and egg whites.  I believe this is day 3… I’ll keep that going thru next Tuesday if I can get under 110lbs.  If not I will do it through next Wednesday as well.  Then I’ll start adding carbs back in.

I made it through all of my routine skills today without grimacing from my hamstring injury.  However, the lack of carbs is making it impossible to go through the entire routine.  I will keep practicing individual skills and short sequences then on Sunday I will have to find someway to force myself through the entire routine twice.  After that its only walk throughs and stretching until the show.

-hanging in there