Nicole Snell’s Training Blog

I went to my first tanning session today in prep for my show at the end of March.  Since I’m already pretty tan being of mixed ethnicities, I figured I could skip out on the tanning bed sessions, but my bro reminded me that the tanning bed isnt’ just for color.  It’s for getting the water out from under your skin and helping to dry you out.  So today was my first tanning session and it brought back memories!  I don’t tan at a salon for any other reason or at any other times…just for competitions.  Standing in that tanning bed with the music blasting through the speakers and the 360 degree lamps igniting my skin felt so damn good.  I’m going in 2-3 times a week up until the week before my show.  This is just one more step on the road to Max Muscle Naturals and I’m loving every minute of my journey!  Bring it on!

So, I was all stressed out about going out on a location shoot in Tampa and having it fall on 2 deplete (carb/cal) days. But you know what? It worked out ok. We had a talent trailer with a fridge and microwave and my hotel had a microwave and I stopped to get veggies and cottage cheese before I checked in and I brought lots of stuff from home. I made all my meals and brought them to set with me and ate every 3hrs and it went great. The only problem was that it sucks having to think and be on your toes when your brain is foggy from being carb depleted. That wasn’t fun. And working a 14hr day after training in the morning and depleting to 1000 cals for the day isn’t fun either.

Anyhoo…I tweaked my training schedule so I got the same amount of cardio and lifting in but made it fit my schedule better. On Sunday before our shoot I went for a 6mile run on Bayshore Dr (the longest sidewalk in the nation I was told) which was near my hotel, and our hotel had a pretty decent gym so I was able to get my shoulder/calf workout in on Monday morning before the shoot too. It was awesome!
The shoot went great, but most importantly I stuck to my diet, my training and the only think that lacked was my sleep. That’s why on Tuesday (yesterday) when I got back I didn’t do anything but sleep and unpack so I can get up fresh tomorrow and run, then lift at night. It throws my weekly schedule off a bit, but I’ll still get all my sessions in. I think that’s the most important thing, right? Rest is just as important as training and diet.

When I woke up this morning wasn’t I surprised to see that my body was dry and my quad cuts were more noticable than they’ve been the past few weeks.  Plus, I’m noticing my clothes fitting looser which is a great sign that the bodyfat is coming off.  I’m right smack in the middle of Week 9 so I am confident I’ll peak right on schedule.    Tomorrow is a carb up day which means SUSHI!  Oh happy day!

Yesterday and today were carb up days.  Boy how I love these.  Sushi never tasted so damn good!

Needless to say, my workout freakin rocked.  I blasted through kettlebells this morning and then hit legs this evening.  I worked ‘em hard too.  I feel so energized.  AND today was the first time in like 8 months that I worked out in just my sports bra (I wore shorts of course!).  My arms are coming in and my abs are looking more defined (even though I keep my abs year round, it’s my legs that come in last during contest prep) so I decided to show off a bit.  It was great!  I can’t wait until my legs get leaner and I can rock out these new shorts I got SPECIFICALLY for when I was in contest prep.  Rep by rep and bite by bite its coming along!

This week I’ve been feeling as if my progress has plateaued. Obviously, I know it’s impossible to see changes every day or to magically wake up to a loss of 5% bodyfat, and yet I still feel as if I’m not seeing any changes.  I feel strong even through my deplete days so far this week.  I weighed in at 144.2 on Saturday which is over  2lb loss in 1 week.  I’m hoping that the scale will keep moving even though I feel like my body isn’t changing.

I have to remind myself that this is the way it is.  It’s the same thing that happened during my last prep; the scale didn’t budge for the first 3 weeks, then my body looked exactly the same (to me) from week 5-7 and in week 7 my legs started to cut up.  I can only imagine that I’ll have the same thing to look forward to this time around.  Besides, I have 10 weeks to go, so it’s unrealistic for me to think that I can get shredded in the first 3 weeks.  I’m just going to keep trucking along regardless of if I see results in the mirror or not…I know that my body is changing and the the results I seek will be there.  I just have to keep my eyes on the end goal and not worry so much about the day to day changes that may or may not be there.

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged here, but my goal for this next contest is to keep a day by day log of how I’m feeling and what my body is going through as I cut.  I’ve been updating my training journal on fitnessboard.net and on myspace, but I want to update here too!

I am currently cutting for the Max Muscle Naturals show on March 28th, 2009 where I will be competing in the Figures category.
My cut officially started on Dec. 29th and I am 11 weeks out from my contest this week.  My brother is training me again so I know I’ll be ready in time.  On Saturday, January 10th I weighed in at 146.8 which means I have approximately 11lbs of fat to lose to enter my contest at 135lbs prior to the water drop.  That’s 5lbs heavier than I was in my last show.  So, 11 weeks to lose 11 pounds?  Yeah I think I can manage that, LOL!

My diet consists of a deplete in the beginning of the week and carb up in the middle which means Monday-Wednesday I feel like absolute shit.  The first 2 weeks of the cut weren’t so bad, but this week was killer.  I literally felt like a walking zombie.  But I powered through it and it’s amazing what a few carbs can do!  I started my carb up yesterday and I woke up this morning for kettlebells ready to destroy them.  Then when class was over I was like, "are you kidding, we’re done already?"  I love having energy.  Today is sushi day so I couldn’t be happier and that means tomorrow I’ll feel even better!
I’m already seeing changes in my body.  My body type is such that my upper body and face will lose weight first and then my legs lose last.  My legs were the last to come in during my 2007 show, so I know what to expect for this competition too.  But already my shoulder caps are coming in, I’m more vascular and I’m harder.  I love seeing the physical changes because it keeps me motivated to keep going.

My training program right now is 5x week of cardio (3x at 45minutes and 2x at 60minutes) and 4x week lifting.  In February I’ll double up on some cardio sessions and depending on how my body is responding we’ll adjust my diet accordingly.  So far so good, and I’m really looking forward to the transformation yet again!  Until tomorrow or until I have some new and exciting news to report!

I also want to take a moment to thank everyone who has written to me about how my poem "Chant of a Champion" has motivated and inspired them.  It means a lot to me that you all appreciate it and I’m so happy I am able to help those of you who are in need of motivation and that extra push to keep going.  I have "Chant of a Champion" posted up in my office and around my house and I recite it to myself on runs and when I’m feeling drained from depleting.

We all get only what we put in, so that’s why I train hard and push my body to it’s limits.  And seriously, if training was easy would it really be worth it?