triguyColorado’s Bodyspace Bl

I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I posted here. Obviously a lot of water under the bridge. I had a terrible show in the spring. I was 5th out of 5 guys in masters 45-49 and in the open lw class. I probably should not have done it. I was being diagnosed for a pituatary tumor, which turns out I (probably) don’t have. Anyway, just thinking about something like that will mess with you.

 I came into the 2009 Colorado state show at 140 lbs and around 7% bf. That is cool. I am about 9 lbs heavier than last year and definitely had my best show. Not only did I win the bantam weight open class, but I looked and felt my best of the five shows that I have now done.

Phil Heath was the guest poser yesterday. He is genuinely one of the nicest human beings I have met. He was backstage and I mentioned that my wife and I are planning on being at the Olympia and wished him the best. He seemed flattered that i would be there (either that or he is a really good liar, but I don’t think that is the case).

I am going to take a few months off from the weight training and actually I think I will enter a sprint distance triathlon in September. I think my next goal is master’s nationals in Pittsburg of 2010. Next summer is also my 30 year high school reunion so I would like to look good for that also

I am looking at a spring 2009 competition. I am at 140 lbs now. I would love to get to 150 by Dec 31. That would probably put me back here at 140, but with five or six additional pounds of muscle, for the show. That would be ten pounds heavier than the state show.

I have been working with BJ twice per week for the last couple of weeks. Oh, My, God. I thougth I was training. BJ has taken me to a new level of intensity (and pain). I had never really had a pump in my legs until last week. That’s a feeling, but to get there, I don’t think I can do that on my own. About when I would want to quit we do five more full reps plus ten more half reps. Talk about a burn. I have kept my PRO intake high. So I have definitely changed up the routine and now I expect fantasic results.

Ok. I didn’t really follow my trainer’s advice. He told me to rest the week following the comp. Well, I didn’t lift any weights, but I did swim, bike and run. I had previously signed up for Boulder Peak Triathlon and could not get my money back. So I went ahead and did it. I knew it was not going to be a personal best kind of day. The couple of runs I did prior to the event told me it was going to be difficult! This bike course has a nasty climb called Old Stage and it slows everyone down. I was 2:28 last year and 13 out of about 105 in my a/g. I figured I would be between 2:30 and 2:45 this year. As it turns out I was 1 minute slower on the swim, 4 slower on the bike and run and another minute slower in transition. So my time was 2:40. I think I was 34th out of 100, so not a bad showing all things considered. Did I mention it was hot, especially on the run? I had a few people comment on my physique, "muscle boy" etc. That was cool.

Anyway, my trainer keeps telling me I have to decide if I want to body build or triathlon. I have set my sights on masters nationals (body building) next year in Pittsburgh! That will give me enough time to develop my quads and win some hardware.

I don’t care what you do. Set a goal and give it your all.

This post is about the results from show #2 (or show #1 as BJ, my trainer, would say) the Colorado State Cytomax show, July 12, 2008. This was the largest show in Colorado history. 

Here is the awesome news: I came away with three trophies! 3rd in Bantam open, 2nd in Novice Lightweight and 3rd in masters 45-49. BJ said this is huge. I am no longer a novice with my 3rd Bantam open plan. BJ said some guys go to six or seven shows before they place.

The reality check is this. There were only three guys in bantam weight, two in novice lightweight and four in masters. So, I did beat one guy. In talking with the other competitors and reviewing my photos, even though I have great abs and upper body back, I don’t tend to show my body well in the front double abs and front lat spread poses. The judges were looking for classic shapes. For the men, the classic V-upper body was priced most. I need to work on developing more of a v pose from the front. Some of it will be muscle, but some of it will be learning to display better. My other glaring weakness is my quads. I have recently developed some small separation in my quads, but I was not able to regularly pose with my quads contracted. I need some more muscle development here as well as to practice this part of the posing more.

Tomorrow is show #2 for me. I am vastly more prepared for this show than show #1. BJ at Elite Physique has trained me and taught me how to pose. I still need to tan this afternoon and get over to checkin by 7:00. I have been low carb, no sugar for the last two weeks or so. Drinking a gallon plus till today. I feel better with some carbs in me now, but I do find that I get used to the feeling low carb feeling after a while. The water is coming out of me now…

I am going full speed into my second competition on July 12.

I have been working with a trainer who I met at the first comp. He has been helping me with all phases of my preparation. Right now I am in a big carb depletion mode, but I have maintained and even gained some weight from the competion back in March. Three months ago I weighed 131 and could only get down to 7% body fat. Today I am at 135.5 and am at 7.5% body fat. My trainer said the goal for the comp was to get me to 3%. I have never been lower than about 5.5% so actually, I think that would be a good goal especially if I can maintain my weight to at least 134 lbs. I think this comp has a bantam weight class with a limit of 143, so I should be at least competitive with other guys in this class.

I am already way more prepared from a posing perspective than comp #1. I am going to go with a spray tan. I tried the light and it isn’t nearly dark enough. This friday I am going to go with the dark. I am going to be a black man!

It is done and I learned a lot. I was very green going into this. I had never even seen a competition before yesterday. I did not know that I had to bring music. (One of the other competitors had an extra and let me use that. That was cool of him.) I enjoyed the experience and will do it again, but probably not until after this year’s triathlon season ends. At that point I may try to focus on body building for a couple of years and really see what I can do with a focused effort. This outcome was only based on a decision that I made just about three months ago.

So what did I learn? Now I understand why people here practice their posing. I am sure I was as stiff as a board. I also had no idea what was meant by tanning. I had a light spray on tan, but the competitors there were literally painting themselves black. (Personally, I think this is really excessive, but then again I am not making the rules.) I was in the wrong category. I was considering novice and I was actually in masters. I should have been in open/light weight. The lesson learned is that I should compete with guys my weight and not 40 to 50 pounds heavier than me regardless of how old they are or I am. I thought everyone was very supportive. I talked with the event organizer after my appearance and he said I had a good first showing and that I had a lot of raw potential. I agree with his assessment. I met a couple of trainers that I will seek out when I am ready to get really serious about this.

Thanks to everyone here for their support also. Train on.

So, I have ripped down to 131 and 6.5% body fat, at least as of this morning. I am not really sure what to expect tomorrow. There is a pre event meeting tomorrow at 3:00pm, and at 4:30 is pre-judging with the show at 7:00. Being my first time, I am not sure when the best time to "pump" up is. Would the event likely have some equipment or do I have to supply this on my own? I think tomorrow is going to be more of a learning experience than I would like.

I am pretty happy with my upper body, but my legs are like twigs. Actually my legs have some muscle, but little definition. Maybe the lights will help. I can only hope!

I have finished my build phase. I am going to take the next two weeks as rip down diet weeks. I was pretty pleased with my build phase. While I weighed myself at 136 yesterday, I had weighed up to 139 earlier in the week (that is the most I have ever weighted in my life). A little over a week ago I dropped off of creatine as it was bothering my sleep too much. My arms tend to "fall asleep" and go numb, not good. So, I expected to loose a bit of water weight and I think I have done that. I gained around five pounds, maybe three as muscle during this recent six week build phase. My body fat slowly creeped up to 10%. During the next two weeks, I wanted to get down to 6% body fat. According to the math, that would mean I would drop down to about 130 lbs. That’s a fair bit of weight to lose even with Hydroxycut and CLA. I am also taking HMB to try to preserve the muscle. I plan on fasting for three days starting next Friday. It isn’t exactly fun doing that, but I have lost a lot of weight in the past while fasting.

Here are my totals for January:

Weight lifting: 18 sessions, 17.75 hours

Running: 14 sessions, 13.5 hours, 94.5 miles

Cycling: 6 sessions, 7.5 hours, 95 miles

Swiming 3 sessions, 2 hours 10 minutes, 5500 meters (I had not swam for three months so this was hard.)

40 hours 45 minutes total.

 I hope to up the weight time a little this month to 20 hours

Anyway I finally got my superpump. I started with one scoop on Saturday. It did not have a big impact on my workout. I did not feel very different during the day on Saturday, though I did wake up with a headache this morning. I’ll give it another go tomorrow. I did a nice bench press on Saturday. 195 x 6 though I felt like I tweaked my shoulder a bit. This next cycle through the body I think I’ll move back up to the 8 to 10 rep range to give the shoulder a bit of a break.

Train on!

 I almost forgot the most imporatant thing. I also had four rest days.