sbogard08’s BodyBlog

Today I managed to get it my two cardio sessions, athough it was not easy.  I worked 30 straight hourse,so whe I arrived home my body wanted nothing more than to collapse wherever there eas something to catch me.  I did AM session during small break that I had this morning.  Did treadmill at 18% incline fro 3.8 - 4.0 MPH x 45 minutes with weighted vest.  Tried to push through my heels to keep my hams working as hard as possible.  I worked up a really good sweat and kept my heartrate at 60-70%.  It’s always hard for me to do low intensity because for so long I have bought into he misguided belief that intense cardio is best for burning fat.  But I’m trying to not burn too much leg musle, so when not doing HIIT, I want to focus on burning the fat, but maintaining as much muscleas I can.  After AM cardio, I went back to work to see patient s in the clinic for the morning.

In an attempt to halfway listen to my body, I decided to not go directly back to the gym afetr clininc, but to come home and take a short nap to energize myself.  I took a short catnap , but ultinately talked myself into getting up getting in to the gym.  Checked the mail on my way out…..the new issue of Oxygen magazine was in the box.  Just what I needed to get me motivated.  I love my Oxygen mag!  Quickly skimmed through and found some new ab moves to use.  I ended up doing my abs routine, followed by straight leg dead lifts, single leg curls, and glute machine (moderate wt/high rep), and then ended with my cardio, 25 minutes on revolving stairs with weighted vest (alternated side and backward steps to really get a good burn all around).

Tomorrow I am going to meet with  a posing instructor.  Really want to perfect my posing for this show.  If I can nail myback pose, I will be very happy.  Can’t figure out if I just donot have enough lat development, or if i’m just simply not doin gthe pose correclty.  Hopefully, I will figure that out tomorrow.  

The sun will be out tomorrow….yyaaaahhhhhh!  You know what that means?!?  Running the stairs and doing sprints until I can’t feel my legs any longer.  Gotta get those hams to show.

Well, I’m off to bed.

So I am now in the home stretch for my second competition.  This Saturday will be the 4 week ou point.  Overall, I feel confident.  I have gained a small amount of size over the past few months.  I think that I will increase my calories (clean, of course) the next go around.  I am anxious to see how things will look after I finish leaning out.  I was looking back at the pictures that I took 4 weeks out before the first show.  Comparing them to the 5-week out pics that I took this past weekend, I am much leaner now.  My current weight is the same as my competition-day weight (122#), although I am smaller now, which tells me that I have more muscle.  I’m still waiting to see the quads, but I am getting more definition each day.  I definitely have to change the way that I approach training my legs for the next show.  Size, size, size will be the goal.  Because the summer is just around the corner I will be able to get more days out running the stairs and doing sprints. 

Although I did everything myself the first time around, I recently started worikng with someone to do my diet and now my training for these last few weeks.  Things have been going pretty well, so I think that I am definitely going to continue working with him.  He has taught me so much in the few weeks that I have been working with him.  It’s been a struggle for me to learn to trust his judgment, but I am slowly relaxing and sticking to the plan exactly as he lays it out.  The most important thing that he has taught me is the importance of REST.  I rarely took a day off from the gym before, but now I look forward to my day to relax without feeling guilty.  And I actually feel that I am stronger for it. Of course I will be doing daily cardio for the next 4 weeks in preparation for the stage, but after that, I will have regularly scheduled time out of the gym.

Well, I will be posting regular update photos, along with my daily training schedule as I prepare for the stage .   Check back and feel free to leave comments (good and constructive).  Give me your honest opinion because the judges will definitely do so.