jgregg512’s BodyBlog

I am sooo glad that the season is now over with as I am now unrestricted on food.  It felt so good getting back in the gym hitting the weights.  I haven’t been since my carb load for the show.  I was fresh and energized but I didn’t over do it.  I’ll probably be at full swing either next week or the week after.  This year I am going to try something different for my nutrition.  Last year I was consuming way too many protein drinks on a daily consumption.  Someone had to tell me that protein is only a supplement not a meal and he was right.  I will be more conscious of my diet as I plan to eat more whole meals of redmeat, chicken or turkey with simple carbs like white potatoes or complex carbs like sweet potatoes.  The protein drink will be utilized only after workouts and casein at night.  I am looking to gain in the neighborhood of 15 lbs of lean solid muscle by next year and I think that is a very attainable goal.  My focus areas are to slightly increase the mass in my left arm (slightly imbalanced), more hamstrings, more striated glutes, and improve my lower rectus abdominis.

I’ve finally reached the finish line!  My last two competitions went fairly well as I placed 2nd in the All South and 3rd at the Lackland.  Up until this point I have never competed at back to back events and I have learned a lot from it.  To me it was very difficult but I knew that I had to keep pushing.  My trip to St. Augustine was truly awesome!  The weather was pleasant and the scenery was so beautiful there.  Perhaps I may build a 2nd home there if all goes well with my career.  The NPC All South was a great show with some awesome participants of whom I befriended with.

This year’s NPC Lackland Classic’s turnout was amazing!  105 die-hard competitors from fitness, figure, bikini, and bodybuilding came from all over to get on stage for the final show in Texas for the year.  The energy from this show was unprecedented from the shows in the past.  The open middleweight class was a very competitive class, thankfully I was able to place third.  I must add the first place winner in my class was amazing by all means, this guy has the ability to do some major damage on the national stage.  Now its time for me to step up my "A" game, relax a little then start pounding the weights again so next time I will be the one winning shows!

As of right now I am 7 days out from the NPC All South Championships.  I am very excited about this do to being my first trip to Florida!  My trainer Will Crosley has been giving me a greater insight on my posing and my dieting and with that I am truly grateful.  My appearance as of right now is very full and vascular so hopefully after the carb deplete/ load stage I will come in hard and conditioned.  My diet as of late has been:

Meal 1 48G egg whites, oatmeal

Meal 2 60G Whey shake, Sweet potato -post workout
Meal 3 42G Chicken breast, Sweet potato
Meal 4 42G Chicken breast, brown rice, greens, spinach

Meal 5 42G Chicken breast, greens, spinach

Meal 6 60G Casein

I can tell you one thing I have been busting my behind doing cardio every morning on an empty stomach while keeping my heart rate around 115-130BPM.  It sucks, but hey somebody gotta do it!

Here I am face to face with destiny again looking forward toward my next mission.  Currently I am 198 lbs looking to slim down somewhere in the neighborhood of 174.  In these 2 months since my last competition I feel that I re-accumulated all of my weight prior to that show with some new added muscle!  I know this will pale in comparison of what it will be like in the off season after this upcoming show.  I have decided to go ahead and enter the Lackland Classic in San Antonio, however the show is the following week after the St. Augustine show.  I have no idea how I will feel because I felt so drained and so sluggish during the last days of the Capital of Texas Roundup.  Win, loose or draw I will still see these times as a learning experience.

Lately I have been going through a metamorphosis, not just a change in the body but a change in the mind regarding in my views of bodybuilding.  I have been reading many books and speaking to many people in their trials, experiences, and achievements.  I will always be a student to the subject of bodybuilding as keeping an open mind to "think outside of the box" when it comes to your diet, training or overall philosophical view.

I have been going to the gym between 3 and 4 times a week focusing on overall size.  If I had to grade myself on my intensity level/ training I would give myself an 85. Some days I feel like I can take the weight of the world on my shoulders like Atlas and then there are those days where you feel like the laws of gravity increased tenfold.  What it all comes down to is the ability to focus, if you can conjure up a way to amp up your mind/ muscle connection you will be unstoppable.  I’ve been watching some training videos with pro Kai Greene and some of the exercises he was doing really wowed me.  There is this one particular exercise, the Jefferson Squat, that I will begin to utilize in my leg training.  As of right now I am 10 weeks out from my next show hovering around 8 percent body fat.  I am still debating on whether to do 2 shows back to back with 1 week between the two.

Today was the first time that I have hit the gym in about 9 days.  My body felt so relieved during this time off I didn’t even want to return (joke)! Its always good to take a break every now and then so you can allow your body to reevaluate, re-access, and recuperate from those taxing and strenuous workouts.  I focused on my quads as  I was so full of energy performing sets of:

5x Leg Extensions
4X Squats

4X Leg Press

4X Lunges

4X Leg Extensions

I totally felt the burn all throughout my thighs and I know I will be feeling it tomorrow.  I brought up my legs from last year but they still need a lot of work as well as my upper back.  Pictures of your physique can tell you a lot of what you need to bring up in lagging areas as long as you are  HONEST with YOURSELF.  Turn your weaknesses into your strengths!

1st place and Overall Novice Division Champion…wow I am so elated and humbled by recieving this placing on my 2nd show.  That goes to show that it is proof if you can committ to your goals and stay focused on the prize you will persevere!  It was a well ran show that had a great turnout in both competitors and onlookers that were in attendance.  I made a lot of new friends as I was so inspired on thier positive attitudes and excelent physiques.  This was one show that I really wanted to do since I was unable to participate in the Texas Shredder, to compete in my own backyard and bring it home.  Every time I compete I learn something new about myself, my flaws and my weaknesses.  There will always be something to build on since this will be a on going process as long as I continue to work on my physique.  Thanks to all of my family and friends (Nichole) for all of the support (physical & mental) because I needed every ounce of it. Hopefully this will be the first of many to come but only time will tell!  Next stop…Florida!

Here I am getting ready for my 2nd show, I can say this time I am a lot more prepared versus my first show.  I have learned sooo much about my body that I never knew was possible.  My first show I went into it straight raw…no sodium loading/ depleting, no carb depleting/ loading, no long term dieting, nothing.  I came out pretty decent then but I am a lot more prepared this go round and that still comes with much needed improvement that I have yet to tap into.  Currently, I am 4 days out from showtime as I am watching my diet under a microscope.  My conditioning is flat/ bloated but still striated due to the high sodium low carb diet.  Only time will tell on the outcome.

Well it is 2009…out with the old and in with the new.  I’ve been working out consistently about 4-5 times a week with my main focus on attaining size as so far I am somewhat satisfied however I know I can do better .  Unfortunately my workouts have been hampered by a nagging knee injury (patellar tendinitis) so I’m just trying to work around it.  I am currently unable to preform heavy squats due this injury so I am now currently concentrating on 4 sets between 15-20 reps with 225lbs to achieve a good pump.  I plan to start practicing my posing in about a week or two so I can be more "fluid" when I get onstage.

Well I must say that it has been a pretty good week.  I am starting to feel progressively stronger with my lifts as I am able to eat more of a "unrestricted" diet since the contest.  Right now I am concentrating more on a powerlifting routine vs. the regular bodybuilding one.  I am still trying to figure out my body so I decided to look at it from a different approach for a couple of weeks.  Trial and error is the best way to learn right?   Aside from that I have some goals that must be attained- adding more size and cuts in my quads, hams, and glutes; more work on my posing, bring out more definition of my lower abdominals, increase muscularity thickness in my middle/ lower back, and figure out better timing when dieting down for the show.  I had a great Thanksgiving holiday with my family and friends and wouldn’t have it any other way.  Since turkeyday is now over with, it is back to pumpin iron in the morning!