Nicole Snell’s Training Blog

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!