Hey guys.

Once again, I want to say thank you to all of you that have shown such great support over these past 12 weeks as I get ready for this show. 

It's been a few days since I posted so I wanted to give you guys an idea what's up with things.

Well I am no carbing it on weekends right now, I get my energy sources from fats. Which compare nothing to carbs. By Monday I am refueled and ready to go with no problems. By the time Wed hits, I am dead again and you all  know what I mean if you compete.

Today is Saturday, we are 7 days out/ I got up and got in 45 mins of cardio upon waking then I immediately had 9 oz of fish and 1/2 cucumber.
My next meal will be high in fats and protein and that's how the rest of the day will go for me.
Drinking nothing but some black coffee, distilled water and occasional dandelion root tea to help with pushing out water.

 My supplements at a week out are as follows:
Protein: VPX SRO zero carb protein or Optimum 100% whey plus 100% casein. I'm also using bodybuilding.com and their new line of Protogen protein, the cookies and cream is really good.
Fat burners: Cellucor Super HD pre cardio and then Bodybuilding.com Inciner-8 pre workout.

Optimum opti-men multivitamin
Cinammon
Dandelion Root
CLA
Grape seed extract
Potassium

We have 4 training days left. Monday we will hit bis and tris.
Tuesday go after delts.
Wed will be back and we will have our last workout on Thursday afternoon and hit some chest.
No more ab work this close to the show.
Cardio will be decreased each day this week , Thursday will be out last cardio day which will be light, then nothing but posing practice to help push out the rest of the water.

Below is a video of us training this past Friday( 8 days out).

Thanks again for all the support and motivating words in which help keep me going day after day.

Steve Poynter
http://www.fitnesspoynters.com%20

Well as we get closer and closer to showtime, the prep is becoming easier and easier. I have had no bad cravings for at least 8 days. I am focused, I am driven and I am dedicated.
My workout intensity has increased, I am going as heavy as I can but still trying to hit the 8-12 rep range with most being 10-12.
My training split is still as follows:

Monday: Chest/ forearms/ calves/ abs
Tuesday: Back and abs
Wed: Bis/ Tris / Calves Abs
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Delts/ Traps forearms.
Sat and Sunday. Just some cardio and posing.

Changes are coming to my body day by day now and I love this look.
I have attached a link to a video I did on Monday Oct 8.

Thanks for all the support I have been getting, don't forget to add me on facebook if you are on there.
Full name: Steve Poynter

In my previous post about the contest prep and being 5 weeks out and how things were really getting hard.
This week took a drastic change for the better.  My energy levels picked back up, my training intensified, I dropped my cardio slightly since I am pretty lean at this point.

I had one day, which was Thursday in which I felt like pure hell, that hit me around 7pm and by 10pm I was in the bed and by Friday morning I was completely re-energized, got up , got my cardio in with no problem, got my delt/ trap / ab work in.
Got in 20 mins more cardio later that night.

Been kind of sluggish the weekend since we are going so low on carbs on non training days.

Just very happy that we are 4 weeks out now and all the fine tunings are about to start taking place and we can finally get on stage and rock things out.

Thanks for all your support.

Here is a clip of pec trashing at 4 weeks and 5 days out.

I am 5 weeks out from the 2012 Tricky Jackson Classic National qualifier show in Lexington Kentucky.

I started my prep at 12 weeks out and sitting in at 184 lbs.
I was quite lean when I started the prep, if you know me and keep up with me on here or on fb, you know I stay pretty lean year around.

Today at a day less than 5 weeks out, I am 177 lbs and 6.1% bodyfat. That seems very high to me but we did the 7 point test and most of my fat right now is in my mid and lower back. If we did a 3 or 5 point test, I would have come out to about 3.4% because I am holding no fat on my front half.

I got very frustrated over being 6.1% this far out but I started studying some things and realized that unless you are pro or on a national level, you probably truly wont enter a show at less than 5%. Once I read this, it took some stress off me but I still had a major stress issue.
Should I go for Welterweight which is a max weight of 165 1/4 lbs or should I go in as a middle weight. My weight has barely moved for over 5 weeks and I do multiple cardio sessions per day, keep my carbs low, healthy fats kind of high and have carb rotations to keep me full so we can gauge how I may look on the show date.

Show prepping is the hardest thing I have ever had to do with fitness, it doesn't matter how lean you are, how hard you train etc, there is always room for improvement and always another level you can take things to.
This is what I have done and as I stated, it's took a toll on me.
There are so many cravings that hit me through the day, I've never had that before in my life, I guess it's just the fact of knowing I can't have any of that stuff and it's completely off limits.

I give mad props to those of you who have competed in the past or now and you go through this grueling process to get to another level. 

I am taking things day by day, how by hour and minute by minute. I have found coffee to be a great friend through this and keep me sane by giving me energy and making me feel full longer.

The purpose of this was to just sort of share what this is like and to let people know where I stand at / at 5 weeks out.
I look forward to seeing how I can change over the next 4 weeks and I am very anxious to see how I will look the final week when I strip off the water weight and up the carbs.

I plan on making several vids from here on out of our training/ posing etc.
This is the 1st video I made, it starts off at 6.5 weeks out with clip of working tris, it leads into 5.5 weeks out working bis.
Our next vid will be chest day on Monday Sept 24, 2012.

I look forward to any positive feedback or any insight someone can give on staying focused and what you do for your cravings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6EWt9g9iRM

The attached pic is 5.5 weeks out, after cardio one morning. 

Thank you guys. 

Steve Poynter
http://www.fitnesspoynters.com  online training and meal planning.

I am putting together several video series on how to help others improve on training a body part.
This 1st one is designed to help out individuals with back training.

What's up guys, how did everyone's day go? If you haven't battled the
iron yet, get in the gym and destroy some things, be sure you walk out
of there knowing that you gave it all you possibly had.



Here we go :

Started the day off with 7 sets of squats, we hit a rep range of 1-6 , 1
of those was around 10 reps as we considered this a warm up.

We all tried for big numbers, Char even went for a 205 squat with purple
bands which has a tension of 100 lbs at the top of the move. She didn't
get that one but before that, she did get 185 for 2 with the purples.


We then hit up some weighted step ups going for 5-8 reps each leg and holding dbells.


After that we hit up some leg presses with orange bands attached. We
started off with 2 sets of high reps, hitting 10-12 then we moved on and
done a couple negative sets, taking the negative down by the count of
1,2,3. 3 was at the bottom of the move then you pressed it back up the
best you could but with a spot, cause all you focus on was the hard
negative.


Back to squats, we hit really wide stance squats, putting 185 lbs of chains on the bar and letting that be it.


We cooked the hams with high rep stiff leg dbell deadlifts, then finished up with 15-20 rep sets of seated leg curls.


Get in , get some...

Don't let the iron beat you down, you beat down the iron because it respects you for it.

Well today was our back day. This is how we did it:

Deadlifts: 6 sets: off 3" mats.

315*6
405*4
455*3
495*1

Pullups were move 2:
Bodyweight
BW* 25 * 10
BW*45 * 6
BW * 12

Bent over barbell rows using the cambered bar:
3 sets: Going up to 205*10 reps

Seated Cable rows:
3 sets: 12-15 reps

Straight Arm Pulldowns using bands: 3 sets of 25

Abs
Cardio: Tire flips and 10 mins on the treadmill.

We smashed some pecs today. Unleashed some hell up in Poynter's Iron Pit Gym.

Flat bench: Multiple sets: Maxed it out at 300 today.
Incline barbell for high reps: Up to 225
Hammer Strength machine press: High reps at 2 45 lb plates per side.
Cable crossovers of 4 sets of 25 reps each.

Hit a little bit of abs and as always on M, W,F, tore up the little calves.

I literally just finished battling the iron for the 1st time today.
Today was delt and trap day and I shredded them the best way I knew how..

Started off with sets of 30 for reverse pec dec fly's.
Then went to overhead dbell press working from 4-8 reps, pausing at the bottom for every rep.

After this came some v-bar upright rows on the cable machine for 20 rep sets

Next was seated side lateral raises for 15

Finished it off with shrugs for 8-10 and holding it at the top..

Now resting up and around 630 tonight, I am going to go after round 2 and do some quad work , squats only. 

Well today I smashed some back with bodyspace member Beautifulgrace.
She has to be one of the strongest ladies I have ever worked out with..

Here is what we did today for back:

Deadlifts: I used a 3" platform, went up to 455 for 2
She hit 205 on her final set, off the floor, 4 reps

Wide grip pullups: I attached a 35 to me, went to 8 reps for my sets:
She hit 8-10 reps for her sets: No weight attached

I did one arm tbar rows: 10 reps with 90 lbs for my sets: She used 2 arms: 90 lbs for 8-10 on her sets

We have Isolators and did 3 sets of pulldowns for 15-20 reps

Incline dbell rows: I went up to 70's for 10 reps>
Cant remember what she did for 10 reps

Finished off with straight arm pulldowns with the isolators: 15-20 reps each.

Looking forward to Fridays workout which is delts and forearms for me.

I am now finished with my 12 week transformation challenge.

I must say when I started this, I set out to just try to motivate myself to get back in condition like I had in 2009.
Not only did I find a focus and drive I had once lost. During this time, I found a whole new respect for everyone going through battles to overcome any issue they may have that requires them to change eating and training habits in order to get back to a healthy state.

This was one of the most grueling 12 weeks I have ever been through. It was a day in and out lifestyle that had to be followed to a T. There could be no cheating, there could be no slacking with training. Each day it was 110% or bust. If I had bust, I would not be writing this today.

Some of the key issues that helped me get through this and get to the level I am right now was just logging into this site daily, watching how all these people were changing their lives day by day. The focus of 99.9% of the inspirational people on bodyspace completely blows my mind.
I joined the bodygroup, went to it daily, waited for people to post before and after pics. Wow is all I can say about that, completely mind blowing how these individuals changed in 12 weeks time.

I had a few I watched very closely, these are people that I consider my "Team Members" . These guys joined up with me so we could put together all or nothing program to get them where they desired to be.|
If you checkout these profiles, you will easily see why I looked to them for desired motivation.
So here you have it, 5 motivational, inspirational and true machines, in and out of the gym.
Trelus Dyson(Tdyce) Really has a chance to do really well with this.
His Wife: Nikia Dyson(Ndyce): Amazing work. Sits at home incredibly lean to date.
Krystle Kirby(krystlekirby) A great friend and someone who has made incredible life changes over the past couple years.
And of course: Natasa Garland(G-tasha) She came to visit us for a week during this and her presence in the gym was like no other. Straight beast.

There were other things that helped me get through this, one of the other things was my Supplementation items. I only use the best so here you have it:
Protein: Optimum Nitro Core 24(Cinnamon Roll) . I use it day in and day out. Nothing better
BCAA: Optimum BCAA 5000(orange). Amazing stuff. I use this pre workout, during workout and just anytime I want to have someone that tastes great during the day.
Pre workout NO: Optimum Amino Energy: This is another great product I use more than one time a day. It tastes great plus it gives you a great spike in energy levels.
Pre workout NO: Cellucor NO Extreme and Cellucor C4:
What I would do here is combine the Amino Energy: 1 scoop with either the NO Extreme or C4 and take that in 15 mins before training.
Multi vitamin: Optimum Opti-men

I never took in less than one gallon of water per day, this is probably the most beneficial thing you can do, as this feeds those muscles of all the nutrients, it also pushes out toxins in the body as well as excess water in the body.

In order to get the leanest you possibly can, you have to eat the cleanest possible way. To me, I say eating makes up over 80% of any progress you make.
The way I did my program for eating was as follows:
For the 1st 4 weeks, I was lifting heavy, so during that time, I took in around 220-240 grams of protein per day and around 230-245 grams of carbohydrates. I also got my healthy fats in from olive, coconut oil, fish oil and flax seed.
My main protein sources during those weeks were:
Protein Powder: Egg Whites: Chicken breast, almonds ,Ezekiel bread, greek yogurt and kashi high protein cereal..
My carbs came from: Sweet potatoes, brown rice, berries, Ezekiel bread, bananas, oatmeal, greek yogurt and kashi cereal. Plus my post workout intake of gummy bears.

After the 1st 4 weeks, I started going lighter with weight, going up in reps, so at this time, I changed my intake of protein to around 280-300 per day and dropped my carbs to around 165-175.
Here I still used the sources as above, just not quite the same serving size in the carb area.
I stuck with that eating plan until 2 weeks out from my final date.

For my final 2 weeks, things drastically changed. I upped my protein intake to around 330-350 grams per day and I lowered my carb intake to 95-120 grams per day.
Protein sources: Chicken breast, Orange Roughy, Cod and shakes
Carbs: Sweet potato: and what was in my shakes, other than that, it was green beans, a few berries and bananas.

The final week, I took out all protein shakes and only ate whole food meals.
My protein: Chicken and Fish as above.
Carbs:Sweet potatoes, unsalted rice cakes, green vegetables, bananas, berries.

So as you see, I constantly changed the way I was eating so it would go with the style of training being done.

As you got from above, I changed my style of training quite a bit.
Weeks 1-2 called for heavy heavy lifting, low reps, 4 days training and 4 days cardio. I also hit abs 4 days a week.

Week 3 and 4 was calling for more heavy lifting but one final set of a really high set that completely shocked the muscle. 4 days cardio: 4 days abs.

Week 5 and 6: Things changed heavily here, I went to extremely high reps, very low rest time, 5 days cardio and 5 days abs. Plus working out 6 days a week vs the iron.

Week 7 and 8: This was very similar to week 5 and 6. I was still going very high in reps, changing the rep schemes, workout pattern, rest time etc. This was still 6 days a week of training, 6 days cardio, 5 days abs.

Week 9 and 10: This was a really fast paced workout, the entire resistance program took only 30 mins max to complete, there were no rest time between each set for that body part. After weight training, cardio was done for 30 - 45 mins per day: 6 days a week: 5 days ab training..

Final 2 weeks: 5 days of weight training, 6 days of cardio: The resistance was 4 moves back to back, no rest, and at 4 rounds each. This was very intense, very exhausting and really ripped some fat off the final 2 weeks.
Here abs were worked 6 days.
The final week, hours and hours of cardio, 5 days weight training, 6 days abs, sometimes double cardio sessions.

So, here you have it, the outline to how I have done what I did in this 12 week time period...
There is nothing I would change about how I did or approached each day, week, month.

Thank you to everyone who supports me in what I do, thank you all that provide such great motivation on this site.
Thanks to two supplement companies that bring the best products to the market.
Without you guys and your 100% guaranteed products, I am certain I couldn't have made the changes I did.

Everyone, keep your head up, keep your focus, keep the drive that doesn't go off track. Do all that and you will forever be on your way to amazing things.

Steve Poynter
Stevep78 Bodyspace

It's about time for my daily dose of iron. I plan on going back here and bending and twisting this shiut in all sorts of directions.
I am on a mission that I am not letting anyone break.

 I hope everyone finds this same drive I have found.
Let the fuel be your haters, those that tell you that you can't do this or that.
Let it be someone you despise.
Whatever it is that fuels you, take all your intensity and put it into your next workout.

"Pain is temporary, Quitting lasts forever"

Get Some!

I am having a very difficult time getting up and down today and even taking steps..
Why is this? Because I murdered my legs yesterday. Took training to another new level.

4 sets of giant sets for quads:
Squat: Leg press: Extensions and sissy squats.
After that I did 3 sets of walking lunges and 2 sets of one legged leg press.
Then hit 4 sets of really wide stance squats. Gotta get these hips activated haha.

Get in the gym, get you some , feel like hell the next day but like a million bucks a few days later.