femalemuscle’s BodyBlog

Lots of people ask me what I do to "stay in shape" and how I get my body to look the way it does. I have to apologize to everyone, because I have been holding out on you. There is, in fact, a magic pill for dieting and weight loss. I was always hesitant to share this secret because I knew no one would believe me. But it’s true and it works.

You won’t find it any grocery store, specialty shop, farmer’s market, health food store or infomercial website. You can’t get it from your doctor either, and unfortunately you can’t bring it back illegally from Mexico or Canada.

You take it every morning as soon as you wake up. It’s painless, tasteless and has NO side effects with the exception of maybe an elevated heart rate. When taken consistently the results speak for themselves.

What are the results, you might ask? Well, once you begin taking this miracle pill you will lose weight, feel better about yourself, firm up your body by building healthy muscle and you will be able to make healthy food choices by watching your portions and eating foods that consist of the right amounts of protein, carbs and fats.

This magic pill doesn’t suppress your appetite and there is no ephedra in it. It is 100% LEGAL and you don’t need a prescription. Oh, and those pesky folks at the FDA won’t hound you for having this either.

I know that the suspense is killing you. But you’ve been anxiously waiting for the day when this miracle weight loss pill was designed that would help you lose body fat. Well here it is.

The magic pill I take EVERY SINGLE MORNING is called MOTIVATION. That’s right, kids. Every morning I take my motivation pill with a big glass of determination and THAT is what drives me to make healthy choices and to exercise to keep my body in tip top shape. It’s as simple as that. If you were to start taking your motivation pill in the morning, you too would be able to get the results you wanted.

Taking the pill is simple, but I do have to give this disclaimer: you WILL have to work at your body. But that’s the beauty of the motivation pill…it helps to get you to whatever activity it is you need to do in order to change your body. You’ll enjoy hitting the gym, or a group class, or a trail or a training session because the motivation pill helps you see past today and on to the healthy body in your future. You’ll enjoy every complex healthy meal you eat because it’s fueling your body. And if you don’t enjoy knowing that you are making healthy choices and you don’t enjoy putting in the time and work to achieve your goals, and yet you STILL want to lose weight and look great, then the motivation pill isn’t for you. Just keep taking the one you’ve been taking….you know, the EXCUSES pill. Because if you do what you always do, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten (source: Laurie )

The EXCUSES pill causes weight gain, lethargy, bloating, depression, more excuses, laziness, lack of motivation, poor eating choices and other serious side effects. However, upon IMMEDIATE discontinuance of this harmful pill, all side effects virtually disappear!

When you wake up tomorrow what pill are you going to take?

By: Nicole Snell

I wrote this during my hellacious cutting cycle.  It got me through many a tough day.

Chant of a Champion

When I think of quitting I will think of who will be standing next to me on stage.
Will I be able to say that I worked harder than her?
When I stand on Stage will I be able to say that I pushed myself harder, that I kept going when I felt like stopping, and that I gave that extra effort when I felt like collapsing?
It’s that last burst of commitment that separates the champions from 2nd place.

I will train when others go out with their friends.
I will train when others are eating out at their favorite restaurant.
I will train when others are taking an off day
I will train when others are hanging out with their boyfriends.
I will train when others are sleeping.

Every moment is a victory:
Each step on the treadmill.
Each set.
Each rep.
Each bite of food.
Each and every thing I do has a purpose.

The food nourishes my body.
The training invigorates my spirit.
The weights stimulate my muscles.
The supplements support my health.
The rest gives me a chance to rebuild.

Never stop.
Never give up.
Never say can’t.  Never say won’t.

A champion must first challenge the self before they can challenge others.
I am my competition.  Failure is not an option.

My journey began on May 26th after attending a body building show, the Excalibur, with my older brother.  Seeing the figures ladies sparked in me the drive to reach that goal for myself.  I was 126 of pretty much skin and bone with a little tone but I knew that I had the potential to build some major muscle in order to compete.

I picked a date that seemed realistic- December 1st, 2007 and my training began the very next day.  Through the major support of my brother and sister and my friends in the online community of MMX and then Fitness Board.net, I learned the ins and outs of what it takes to body build.  I had a million questions, but soon I was able to wade through the information and take what I needed in order to begin my bulking phase.

From June-October I bulked.  I ate around 2300 calories a day and took creatine PWO to ensure my muscles would get the nutrients they needed to grow.  I lifted weights 5x a week but only did cardio 3x a week because during a bulk you can’t sacrifice any muscle.  I gained minimal body fat, and at the end of my bulking phase and beginning of my cut I weighed 140.2.

My cut began on Oct 1st, which gave me 2 months to get as much body fat off without losing too much of my muscle.  The creatine was eliminated and replaced with L-Glutamine, along with a Calcium supplement.  Wheat and dairy was elimated from my diet, and I made sure that all I was eating was whole, unprocessed foods with complex carbs and lots of protein.  My calories went from 2300 a day to 1800 a day. My cardio increased to 7 sessions a week split into 5 days with double duty cardio on my 2 off-weight training days (Wednesdays and Saturdays).

After my first 2 weeks I noticed my body was changing, but the scale wasn’t moving.  My brother dropped my calories down to 1600 a day and then the next week we did a dramatic cut to 1250.  The strategy here was to starve out now, so that I would be able to eat into the show.

My upper body tends to lose weight quickly and therefore was already showing major definition.  However, my legs weren’t leaning out fast enough, so my brother had me drop down to 1000 calories a day for the next week.  After 4 days of carrots and celery I thought I was losing my mind.  Not only was I constantly hungry but I was constantly tired.  I couldn’t focus.  I was moody and lethargic.  Every moment of the day I wanted to sleep so that I wouldn’t have to feel the hunger pains and I was in such despair that I wanted to cry.  It felt like my body was destroying itself.  I explained this to my brother and he decided that I could increase my cals a bit for the next couple of days.  What a difference 300 calories makes!  I felt MUCH better the next day.

This began my carb and calorie cycling.  He would deplete me in the beginning of the week, carb me up in the middle and do a slight deplete at the end.  This is the strategy we are using now for my peak week so that I look my fullest and best on Saturday.

During my last 2 weeks of cutting I increased my cardio to 45min sessions vs. 30min sessions.  I noticed a dramatic difference in my legs as my quads and ham/glute tie in cuts became deeper and more pronounced.

I never had to eliminate my cheat treat, and that apple fritter on Sunday mornings and nights really helped get me through my weeks…it was a treat I could look forward to!

A phrase I adopted to help get me through all my training was this:  "Where am I now?"   This helped me focus because instead of worrying about the cardio session later in the day, or my weight training the next night, I would focus on the RIGHT NOW.  Where am I now??  Oh, I’m here in the weight room doing crazy lifts for my shoulders.  Nothing else matters.  What I do tomorrow morning doesn’t matter right now because tomorrow will come without me having to dwell on it.  I would focus solely on what I was doing in the moment because that’s all I had control over at any time…that’s all ANYONE has control over at any one time.

Another strategy I used was to imagine myself on stage standing next to the other ladies.  I didn’t want to get up there and look at another competitor and think to myself "geez, if I had only pushed a little harder in my cardio or lifted a little heavier, I could look like her".  I want to have ZERO regrets.  I want to get on that stage and know I worked my absolute hardest, that I didn’t cheat myself on any workouts or on my diet and that I won’t have to wish that I had trained harder.  I pushed myself 24/7.  I ate, drank, trained, worked, and slept my training.  The hour or two spent in the gym is only a fraction of the training…the rest is all mental and you must live with yourself 24 hours a day.  Not a lot of people can handle that challenge.

Today is now Thursday and I am 2 days away from my very first competition.  I finished my final 45min cardio session for my pre-contest training this morning and I will be doing a full body circuit tonight with my brother.  Then tomorrow is complete rest, applying my tanner and getting some good posing practice in.  My body is dialed in.  My brain is dialed in.  I am ready for this.  Whether or not I win a trophy or win the Excalibur sword, I have already won.  I have set forth on an 8 month journey and I didn’t stop.  I didn’t quit when I was tired.  I didn’t stop when I was hungry.  I didn’t give in to food temptations.  I disciplined my mind and body to be dedicated 110% to my goals.  When my friends were out partying and drinking I was at home sleeping to prepare for my run the following morning.  Sure, lots of friends stopped staying in touch with me and almost none of them understand or showed any interest in understanding how difficult this has been, but that hasn’t stopped me either.  Just as a triathlete or an Olympic hopeful must train hard to reach their goals, so must I.  Just because this competition is all about how the body looks and how the muscles have developed doesn’t make it any less of a sport and shouldn’t be dismissed just because we don’t have to run a mile in under 4minutes or throw a shot put the farthest.

I set out on this journey to see if I could do it.  To see if I had what it takes to get my body to 8% bodyfat with my entire physique shredded to the point where every muscle is visible and cut.  I am here.  I have made it.  When I walk on that stage on Saturday it will be icing on the cake.  I have made it and I couldn’t be happier.  This is by far the HARDEST thing I have EVER done and that is what makes this day so rewarding.

I have attached a slideshow below that shows my progress pics from start to finish.  I hope you enjoy the transformation!

http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a339/nsnell19/?action=view&current=18653b62.pbw

So I started Week 6 of my cut on Monday and I’ve gotten into the groove of things.  Sun-Tues is a deplete (1000cals/day) with only oats in the AM and only veggie carbs the rest of the day.  Wednesday is a carb up day of 1500 cals w/ sucrose added in there somewhere (I put 1tbsp honey in my oats), Thursday is a moderate carb day at 1300 cals and Fri-Sat is a slow deplete again with 1250 cals/day.  I feel like crap on Wednesday AM from the 3 days of depletion, but after I get that big bowl of oats and whey in I feel great!

And the proof is in the pudding so to speak because it’s working.  The body fat is melting off of me, my size 5 pants that were getting tight during my bulk are practically falling off my ass, my legs are really becoming shredded when I flex and my entire upper body is already ripped…I don’t even have to flex.  My shoulder cap is very defined, my chest and shoulders are striated and I have a great horseshoe to my triceps.  I have 3 more weeks to go with the last week being peak week and I’m there.  Plus, I’ll have depleted my water so I should be even MORE shredded.  I’m so excited!

As I write this I feel completely overwhelmed.  I know I only have 4 more weeks until Peak week and 5 weeks to my show, but my cutting diet continues to get stricter and stricter.  I feel out of control…like everything I love and enjoy is being ripped away from me, and I’m not seeing results fast enough to really feel it’s worth it.  i know it is worth it, but I just feel a cloud of despair washing over me.

Here’s what the next week of cutting will bring me:

-1000 calories/day
-Oatmeal in the AM only
-Veggie carbs ONLY for the rest of the day
-Increased cardio time from 30min to 40min.
-Keep lifts the same.

So, you can see where I am afraid.  During week 4 I went from eating 1600 calories a day to eating 1250/day and that worked out ok for me, but cutting down to 1000 is really worrying me.  I’ve seen some definite weight loss over the last week, my muscles have become more compact and my upper body is becoming much more ripped and vascular.  It’s no wonder that the lower body is just taking longer, but I do see the quad cuts and ham/glute tie in coming along even though these cuts aren’t being captured by my camera…damn flash!

So i just have to stick with this for a bit longer and really dig deep into myself and  carry this out til the last.  I know I can do this…its all mental.  The body only does what the mind tells it to do.  I cannot fail.  So I will work my hardest and do my best as I do in every aspect of my life.  This is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done as it takes 100% of my time, focus, energy and is 24 hours a day.  Your love, prayers and thoughts are needed now more than ever!

Week 3 of cutting is over and I have a harder & tighter physique, new muscle, and strength gains.  Today I noticed a leanness to my legs that I haven’t noticed before, and my quad cuts are becoming more noticeable.  My traps and my chest are also becoming more striated and the vascularity in my arms has also increased. The scale hasn’t moved, though and so next week begins the next phase of my cut.

Week 4 will drop my cals down as close to 1250/day as I am able without passing out in the middle of the day.  The training will stay the same, and I start Jet Fuel fat burner.  Since it’s taken about 3 weeks for my body to begin changing from the time I started cutting, this week I should see some DEFINITE changes.  Everything is getting ramped up so that I can eat into the contest instead of starving into it.

Eye of the Tiger, baby! 5 weeks to peak week and 6 weeks to show!

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden

What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail?
Robert Schuller

I’m so incredibly happy right now!  I just got back from the gym doing my shoulder workout:

Friday, October 19, 2007-SHOULDERS
10min treadmill warmup

Shoulder Press Machine #1 (the machine I like had someone on it)
1 x 12 x 40 (warm up set)
1 x 10 x 50
Shoulder Press Machine #2 (my regular one to finish)
2 x 8 x 55 (each side)
DB Shoulder Press
1 x 10 x 35
2 x 8 x 35
IsoLateral Shoulder Press
3 x 10 x 35
Shrugs
3 x 12 x 250
Cable Upright Row
3 x 10 x 57.5
Rear Delts
1 x 10 x 90
2 x 8 x 95

And guess what?  2 guys asked me if I was a professional athlete because they said I looked totally cut up and vascular, and the chick at the front desk said it looked like I was slimming down. This is such great news because I am on Week 3 of cutting, my trainer just dropped my cals to 1600 a day and I still haven’t been feeling like I’m losing any bodyfat.  But to have 3 completely unbiased observers make comments on my physique improvements means that my body is changing and I’m just not seeing it.

PLUS…while working out in the weight room I checked myself out in the mirror as I was walking to the fountain and noticed the cuts in the tops of my quads…and I’ve NEVER noticed that before!  Usually I can only see my cuts when I’m flexing hard, but to see them just while walking is awesome!  Plus my back seems to be coming in VERY nicely.

My trouble seems to be my Side Poses, mainly my Right side pose.  For some reason I just can’t seem to get it right.  Hopefully after watching the show tomorrow I’ll get some pointers and be able to perfect it in time for my show.

I meet with my trainer/brother tomorrow to evaluate my progress at the end of Week 3 of cutting and see what else he wants me to do in order to be ready in time for my show.  I’m just visualizing getting up on that stage and having the best body and being the most prepared.  I don’t want to stand next to a gal and think, "wow if I had just done a little more cardio I could have looked like her".  I want to think, "damn, I worked my ass off and I look better than her because I put my nose to the grindstone and sucked it up and trained my ass off to look like this".  If I lose I want it to be because someone else just happens to look better in their body than I look in mine, not because my body isn’t the 100% best it can be for me.  As long as I know I did my best and I come into the show as lean and muscular as I can, then that’s all that matters.

This is the greatest experience of m life!

It’s amazing, but I seem to be gaining strength as I’m cutting.  My cals are down to 1600/day and my cardio is up to 7x a week and yet I am able to lift more when I’m at the gym.  I wonder if this is normal or if I’m just weird.  I look at myself and don’t look like I’m losing any weight and yet my sister looks at me and thinks that I’m looking "harder and more compact".  Maybe I’m gaining mass still…while losing body fat.  That would explain why the scale weight hasn’t gone down.  I can’t complain that I’m getting stronger…I just want the bodyfat to come down.  And it’s mostly in my glutes and thighs that need to slim down (isn’t that always the case with us women?)

My back pose is looking freaking awesome, but I"m still struggling with my side "model turn" pose.  I’ve got to kick my hip out just enough but still have enough bend/flex in the front leg to pop out the quads.  I’m just gonna keep working on it.  I

I am 6wks out from my first competition and I’m so frustrated. For the last week, the scale hasn’t moved….not even 1 freaking ounce. My diet is spot on, I don’t cheat and I hit the weights heavy and hard 5 days a week and I complete 7 30min cardio sessions religiously.

Sometimes I look in the mirror and I feel that I am gaining definition and that I am harder than before, but other times I feel like I’m not making any progress at all. I don’t want to lose my muscle and look emaciated, but I HAVE to get my Body Fat down to 10% or so. How much less can I eat and how much more cardio can I do without risking catabolizing my muscle?

Another thing that has been pissing me off is that my Body Fat scale is VERY inaccurate. I need to get the caliber testing or hydrostatic weighing so that I can get an accurate measure. It’s just extremely disheartening to be working so hard and to not see the results that I am striving for.

I’m going to keep training like a champ, eating like a champ and running like a champ. I can do this. I didn’t train this hard for this long to give up now.

EYE OF THE TIGER!!!

Wow- I like to run
Current mood: ecstatic
Category:  Blogging

I was never a runner. Sure, I ran track as a sprinter, but that’s different than running 6miles straight. A year ago, heck 6 months ago, you couldn’t have paid me to run. I hated to run. I could walk for miles no problem but don’t you dare ask me to run.

I’m not sure what happened. Maybe once I got past a certain threshold my body switched modes and said, hey we actually like to run. Maybe I just got over my own inhibitions about running. Maybe I liked it all along and just talked myself out of liking it. Whatever the reason is, I’m a total running junkie now. Just call me a Road Whore, a Pavement Pounder, a Street Sprinter, a Lane Lunger. I LOVE to RUN!

I’m doing Cardio 5 days a week now as I train for my show and on Wednesdays and Saturdays I have to do 30min of cardio in the AM and PM. But you won’t catch me on the treadmill in the gym or on a stair machine. You’ll see me on the street with my tennies, my shuffle and my dri-fit just running. I used to have a set path that I would run, but now I just run where I want. I have to go for 30min low intensity so I just run randomly, turning down one street, backtracking to another and I just go indiscriminately with no set plan of where I’ll turn next. It’s freeing and exhilarating and so zen-like. I go into a zone and I don’t come out until my time is up.

There’s nothing quite like waking up, throwing on my running clothes, strapping on my heartrate watch, plugging into my shuffle, stepping outside my door and feeling the cool air hit my face as I set my pace and slip into running mode. The smell of the fresh breeze, the feeling of cool air filling my lungs as I take each deep breath, the sound of my shoes on the pavement, the crisp chill that covers my arms and face as the warm sweat I’m generating turns into steam that rises ghostlike from my body with the rising sun filling my pores with life….

Yes, I do enjoy running.  Maybe after my show I’ll do a marathon next.