kinkoshinkai’s BodyBlog

Well, tomorrow is travel, weigh in, go to my hotel, last shave and tan, dry, tan, dry, tan, sleep.

I’ve reviewed my carb deplete/carb load plan 95000 times in the last 24 hours.  So much conflicting advice, all influenced by timing, condition, etc.  Nobody’s training me or present to evaluate me except for me, so since it’s my first show, it’s all guess-work until I gain actual experience. 

At first I was going to continue carb depletion all the way until Saturday morning, as per one set of advice and based on what I thought I looked like.  A couple of BodySpace friends  recommended loading sooner, like starting today, but I didn’t think I’d cut enough and saw still carrying a couple extra pounds of bodyfat.  Another friend recommended loading to start no later than tomorrow morning, but since I’ll be fairly sedentary driving for 5 hours, I want to keep the fat burning metabolism going without carbing for just a bit longer.  Then I checked another article on carb cycling that recommended carb loading by starting 30 grams every two hours starting at 8 pm the night before the pre-judging. 

Sooooo, I found a middle ground, I think.  I’ve had 150 grams of carbs for the last 3 weeks, 125 Monday, 100 Tuesday, 75 yesterday, and 50 grams today.  I took my water from 2 gallons for the last 3 weeks to 1 1/2 gallons Monday, 5 quarts Tuesday, 1 gallon yesterday, 3 quarts today, and after taking my supplements and vitamins tomorrow, water will be out.  Only sucking on the occasional ice chip, and sipping on egg white-protein shakes until after the show. 

As to the decision on carb loading, I’m having 28 grams in the morning in and Xience bar - mostly raw oats for carbs in the bar - and then rather than carb load all day, or wait until 8 p.m., I’m going no carbs until I get to Salt Lake and weigh in, so by about 4 pm, 30-35 grams every 2 hours until bedtime.  That should get me dry enough and depleted enough that the carbs will go straight into my muscle tissue.  I hope. 

Either way, by Saturday I’ll know, won’t I?  And whatever happens then, I’ll be that much more prepared next time.

One thing I’ve definitely found in preparing for this Saturday is that there are as many approaches to competition preparation as there are competitors.  Whether to sodium load or not, carb cycling, carb loading and depletion, diuretic or not, when and how to cardio, how hard or heavy to work out pre-contest.  There is little or no agreement accross the board.  So while there is no shortage of information, there is also not a complete concensus either.  Leaving one (me) to pick, choose, adjust, and, well, in a lot of cases, guess.

My latest bit of conflicting advice is on tanning.  Some say start applying the tan Monday before the show.  The "Perfect Posing" DVD says don’t waste your time, it’ll all wash off before the show, so just wait until the night before and do multiple coats of tanner, blow drying between applications.  I’ve opted to begin early, one coat per day.  The reason is simply to accustom myself to applying the tan and not have to worry at the last minute if I’m doing it well, evenly, or effectively.  It gives me time to learn to do it well and cover any mistakes along the way.  Additionally, I get a glimpse or notion of how the color change affects the look of my body while posing.  Yes, I have to deal with them mess on my clothes, protect my sheets, etc.  But I planned ahead for that all along, so the benefit of not guessing at the last minute outweigh the mess, and I bought a couple extra bottles, so as not to run out.

Speaking of "Perfect Posing", the DVD, in the symmetry or relaxed round instruction, they are specific about the profile position staying perfectly profile, with no rear arm inward or torso twisting.  Cicherillo’s instruction recommends the twist, and EVERY SINGLE CONTEST video I’ve downloaded or previewed, from the Brit-Show (thanks John and Baz) to photos of contest results show the twist.  More conflicting instruction, leaving me to choose my own path.

Bottom line, do what you need to do to present your best package.  Keep track of what you’re doing - record it - so that if it works, you can repeat it, and if it doesn’t, you can adjust for the next time by choosing another method from the hundreds of conflicting recommendations, from posing to tanning to suits to carbs to proteins to sodium………………

Only 10 days to go.  Motivation to train is flagging.  Today is legs, and really the last leg day before the show, so I’ve got to really hit it without overdoing it.

I took some pictures Monday, as planned, in each of the mandatory poses.  I found out that posing in front of a mirror is not the same as hitting the automatic 10 second timer on my tripod-set camera and then hitting the pose correctly without the mirror in the allotted 10 seconds.  In other words, most of my posing looked crappy, pitiful, and not worthy of posting, much less entering a competition.  So, I had my friend who’s won a state title (Idaho, I think) a few years back, competes in power-lifting now and judges some, come over and take a look.  He gave me some great pointers, so I’m going to try again today or tomorrow.  I don’t want to do them right after my leg work-out, because they’ll flatten out a bit.

I got my liquid egg whites yesterday, which should help with evening out my protein absorption while water cutting next week.  (I don’t even want to mix my protein drinks in water, just to control my intake a bit more precisely.) 

So, the remainder of this week is pretty status quo.  Fats almost exclusively from flax oil.  300 gms protein, 150 carbs, 45 or less fat (54, 28, 18% calories ratio).    Cardio is lighter intesity but longer duration, about an hour.  I’m relying more on diet for cutting, and only adding cardio as needed at this point so as not to deplete muscle size too much.  Arms worked out tomorrow, and shoulders Friday. 

Yesterday’s caliper measurement, bumming me out as it did, just cannot possibly be right.  I don’t trust that thing, even though I took nine different location readings, did the math twice, and followed all the instructions to a "t".  The only thing I can figure is that the resistance for the little notch to click into place is worn out.  I haven’t really used the caliper all that much, but that’s all I can figure.  I mean it’s just a piece of plastic, for pity sakes.  The instructions for using calipers all rely on the little notch clicking into place, but what do you do if that notch resistance is so low that it clicks in without the requisite amount of pressure?  I’m blaming my assumed level of body-fat on failed equipment.  I can see my abs, so I MUST be under 10%.  I can see vascularity in my extremities, so I MUST be under 8%. While I’m not striated or "ripped" yet, I can see the separationg of the major muscles.   I’m giving up on this body-fat calculation and going strictly by how I look, dammit!!!!

OK, sadly, I just used my fat calipers, and I don’t like the outcome!  Provided I did it right, it says my bodyfat is around 17%!!  I’ve already signed up for the show, and have only 2 weeks until show time.  This is supremely discouraging.  Crunching numbers, and getting extreme, with waterweight loss, and hoping to maintain what muscle I have, I might get down to 7 or 8%.  I don’t think that’s going to cut it.  That’s with a caloric intake of 2200 calories (a BMR caloric deficit of 1200 calories or 1 pound lost every 3 days) and counting 45 minutes of cardio twice a day (700 calories burned per day, equalling another 1 ound every 5 days), plus the weight training (8 more sessions at 450 calories per sesssion, which equates to one pound total lost in the next 2 weeks) brings us to 9 pounds, plus waterweight loss (hopefully), I may, just MAY, make it to 192 or 193 lbs.  Provided I haven’t lost any significant amount of muscle, that still leaves me at  over 8%!!!  Is that going to "cut" it, (pun intended)?  I don’t think so.  But it’s all I can do.  If my workout this week and next builds even a little more muscle, which given my carb depletion seems unlikely,  that would help immensely. 

So….  I’ve dived in.  The big lesson learned?  Do my math sooner, and start my road to competition sooner.  But like I said from the outset, I really was planning on having more time to bulk, and the contest date caught me off guard.  Thus, I’m in the pickle I’m in.

OK, a combination of leg day, low carbs, and posing work have me wiped out.  Energy is flagging.  As soon as I finish my cardio hour and meal in the morning, then get the kids off to school, I am dead and have to get a nap for an hour or so.  Now, I love naps anyway.  Nap is my favorite word.  But they are feeling ESSENTIAL right now.

Depillatory day today also.  I wanted to be sure to get hairless early so as to avoid ingrown hairs, rashes, or any last minute skin complications that might show up on contest day.  A perfunctory maintanence shave every couple of days, as long as I’m careful, will give my skin time to adapt to hairlessness.  I had ordered Pro Tan’s Hair away, which is effective and mild, but it was back-ordered, so I substituted with a different product.  Started with the other last night, and it was very strong, but much more harsh on my skin than the Pro Tan had been.  So, this morning, my wife leaves a container of Pro Tan Hair Away on my sink.  I had given it to her last year for general usage, and apparently she never did, and had the whole fresh container still.  That was much better to finish up with today.

Off to get a couple CD-RW to burn copies of my posing music, should I be fortunate to qualify in the top 5 for the evening show, and some flip-flops to wear back stage, keeping the heat from escaping through my soles and stealing my pre-pose-pump. (Thanks Frank Roberson and the Fit Show for that tip!)

Finally finalized my posing routine!!!  Yeah!!  I’m pretty happy with it.  It fits the music and I feel pretty good with the transitions.  My ProTan arrived today.  Got two posing suits in the drawer.  Now the hard part - keep getting more ripped!

OK, finished the RIPPED system and saw some decent progress.  The 4 day per week workout split by upper and lower body, and heavy-load/medium load split was a new approach for me.  The focus seemed to be on cardio, with 2 sessions a day (morning and post-training) on training days, and high intesity interval cardio on non-training days.  The diet plan was high protein and fats on training days, and carb load on non-training days.  I felt like a lot of effort, primarily because it was a totally new approach, but it seemed to yield decent results.

This last 3 weeks, I’m using the MuscleTech Shredded stack (Gakic, Leukic, and Hydroxicut), and following the prescribed program that comes with it.  Calories are down another 400 a day to 2200, but more consistent without the ratio rotation.  And the 5 day split on the workout, 1 body part per day, is more familiar.  I’m keeping up the cardio pre-breakfast, and throwing in bonus cardio after training, too.  Water is still 2 gallons per day this week. 

I have my posing music now (should I manage to place in the top 5, which will put me in the evening show), and my routine is shaping up.  I’ve been working on the mandatory posing, but will now ad that and drilling my routing to the daily regimen.  I expect my hair remover and tanning stuff, as well as an extra suit, from FedEx today (a week late, due to Bodybuilding.com back-order and FedEx laziness in southern Utah - don’t get me started), but that should be everything.  I have a pair of training bands for the pump-up room back stage, so I think I’m ready.  The rest is in the shredding and drying out. 

OK, y conditioning is coming in, I think, but it’s hard to tell if it’s just the tan helping it show, or if it’s for real.  It’s not as much progress as I’d hoped for at this point.  3 weeks to go. 

My calories have been 2600-2800 with carb/protein/fat ratios depending on whether it was a training day or not. 

For the last 3 weeks I’ll be at 2200 calories in the following proportions: 350 grams protein, 150 carbs, 45 fats.  That’s 54% protein calories, 27% carbs, and 18% fats.  The last 3 days pre-contest, I’ll taper the carbs down (100, 75, 50).  I’ll cut water back during the last week from 2 gallons, down to about a quart, and on contest day, 2 cups/1 pint.

I hoped to be hair free this weekend, but some back-order problems with ProTan Hair Away at Bodybuilding.com have that delayed.  So I picked an alternative product which should be here next week.

Work-outs will go from 4 days to 5, with cardio 1/2 hour each morning, and another half hour right after training this week.  The next week I’ll add another 1/2 hour each night, and the final week, bump to 45 min on my morning cardio. 

With the weather warming up, I’ll get the photo updates this Monday, hopefully.

Wish me luck.