Nicole Snell’s Training Blog

Saturday I had a freak attack.  I had been so excited at my progress and seeing changes that I was SURE that the scale would register some awesome number chronicling my weight loss.  Um…no.  That damn scale says I weighed exactly the same as last week and the week before: 142.  How is that possible?  Down to the ounce?  Huh?

So I texted my trainer/brother asking WTF was wrong and what I should do.  My bro is so supportive! He told me that I’m basicallyl just holding weight in my legs and that the weight will come off it will just take time but that if I’m worried about not coming in on time I could up my cardio intensity, eliminate my weekly cheat meal and lower my cals on non-deplete days by 100.  So, I’m all over it!  I refuse to come into my show and look like I didn’t properly train and condition myself.  My lower body is the bane of my prep.

Now that I’ve got to wrap my head around all this, I feel a bit better knowing I can take control.  I also like seeing the changes in the mirror that continue to surprise me. For instance, my size 3 jeans fit comfortably now and aren’t muffin topping like they were a few months ago.  My lower abdominal cuts slanting down my hips (you know, on men they call it the "penis pointer") are getting deeper and are visible 24/7 and my face is starting to get angular from the fat I’m losing there too.  All the signs point to the fact that I’m losing bodyfat, so I’m going to stop worrying about the damn scale.  I know my diet is spot on.  I know my training is spot on.  That’s all I can do.

The main reason I wanted to keep a weekly/bi weekly blog during this contest prep was so that I could log the changes in my body when I see them so I know what to expect the next time around and I know at what time frame out from a show that my body will look like.

On Tuesday, I was freaking out because it  honestly looked like my body was going in reverse.  Sure, I had just come off of 2 deplete days and I was flat and smooth, but still.

Then I wake up on Wednesday and by mid afternoon my body looked my fat burning engine kicked into overdrive.  I was dry.  My chest muscles were showing a cut down the middle and my arms were really vasacular.  Wowzers!  It’s like it happened overnight!  And everything felt harder.

Let’s fast forward to today, Thursday, February 19th.  More changes!  My abs have completely come in and the oblique cut toward the hip bone is deep and prominent.  Everything is more vascular and I STILL look pretty damn dry.  Cutting is so weird.  You go days at a virtual plateau and then BAM things start happening.

Now I’m going to log all the changes I now notice at the end of my 6th week out from show: My arms are vascular pretty much 24/7 now with my lovely right bicep juicy vein popping out , my abs have all come in and my obliques have a nice cut all the way down the front/side of the hip bone as well as the connection to my upper rib cage.  My ziphoid process is visible all the time now (that’s how I know my bf is getting really low), my quads have a deep cut on both legs all the way up the leg, my hips are slimmer, my front quad cuts are noticeable without me having to flex really hard, my ham/glute tie in is tightening up, my size 5 pants are fitting nice and loose, my face is getting angular, my shoulders are already striated, my shoulder cap is cut in already, my biceps have visible striations on the inner arm,  and my chest has the separation down the middle with some striations becoming visible.  I’m so excited!  Hopefully if I keep progressing like this I’ll be able to eat into the show which is my hope/goal.  But I’m ready to deplete all the way to the show date if it means I’ll look my best and bring the best pacakge .

I can’t wait to take progress pics on Saturday!

I feel like I’m at a stand still with my body.  My brother says that he can see my legs getting smaller/leaner, but I don’t see it yet.  I deplete like I’m supposed to, I eat clean ( no processed crap and everything is weighted) and I push myself in the gym and in my cardio sessions and yet the weight is just stubborn as hell and won’t come off.  I have 6 weeks left and I have 8lbs to lose.  I should have been at the point where I only have 4-5lbs to lose by this stage in the game. I’m already doing 7 sessions of cardio a week.  And I weighed in on Saturday at 142 which is EXACTLY where I was the week before.  What the hell?  I’m getting really frustrated here.  I mean, dishearteningly, frustrated.  What the hell is going on with my body!?

Ok, so I’m coming to the end of Week 7 from my show.  That gives me 6 full more weeks to cut.  And you know what?  It’s going to be more than enough time.  I was in my kettlebell class this morning and my quad cuts were in full effect when I was bending and swinging and hopping around.  It was great!  I love seeing my legs come in!  My size 5 jeans are fitting looser now and I’m able to pull my "cutting clothes" out from the back of my closet and wear them with pride.  Don’t laugh!  I know all you figure competitors have a "cutting" wardrobe and a "bulking" wardrobe.  You just have to!  I can’t wait to get to 8%BF again so I can rock these awesome white short shorts.  I’m busting them out at the club, and I can only wear them (well I could wear them other times, but I don’t feel comfortable or confident) when I’m pre-contest so I’m gonna milk it for all it’s worth! LOL!

All in all, I’m extremely pleased with my progress.  Yesterday’s DD cardio was a bitch because I was still depleted from earlier in the week, but that’s to be expected.  If it wasn’t hard, I’d think I was doing something wrong.  I’m so excited to weigh in on Saturday and take the next series of pics.  My next goal is to get my posing down.  I’m just having a tough time getting my medial delts to pop.  It’s just gonna take some practice.  Until next time!

Now I am 7 weeks out from my show.  I have 7 whole weeks to drop about 8 more pounds which I know is totally doable.  I’m already seeing great results: clothes fitting loser, body feeling tighter, cuts becoming visible in my quads.  So why do I feel so blah this week?  It’s only Tuesday and I feel completely drained and exhausted.  I get enough sleep, so I don’t know what my problem is other than the fact that I want to stuff my face full of a trough full of oatmeal and whey.  Yep, that’s all I want to eat right now.  Just bowl after bowl of oats and whey.  But alas, I can’t.

This will pass, it always does.  But I also feel like my body is looking very flat which isn’t how I felt last week.  Maybe its all in my head.  Maybe I got so excited with how I looked last week that I thought I’d morph into 8% bodyfat over the weekend due to my excitement and dedication.  It takes longer than that, girl, you know that!

So here I sit.  Hungry.  Tired. Anxious for more dramatic changes.  And craving oatmeal.  Yes, you can say it…I’m weird.

I don’t know about any of your other figures competitors out there, but the off season is hell.  I hate seeing myself gain weight, muscle or not.  I struggle with finding a weight that I am comfortable with in the off season even for maintenance because I keep expecting that I can walk around ripped to hell year round.  It was really tough this off season.  As brutal as my cut is, I prefer this and seeing myself losing weight.  I prefer this to eating more food and watching my pants fit tighter.

Today I decided to give myself a reality check.  I’ve been on my official cut for 5 weeks now.  I weigh between 140-144. My arms are pretty cut already and I’m fairly vascular.  My hips and legs have slimmed down, my pants are fitting looser and I’ve had 3 tanning sessions and I’m already happy with my color (I have more to go for the purpose of stage color and water elimination but that’s besides the point).  I looked in the mirror today and I realized that I am happy with this body.  If I come out of my contest this year and maintain at THIS body I would be perfectly happy.  It took me 5 weeks, 3 tanning sessions, and 5x a week cardio at 45min plus intense lifting sessions 4x a week and a calorie/carb deplete cycle.    This is maintainable.  I need to remember how I felt today as I was checking myself out in the mirror at the tanning salon and realize that there is nothing wrong with how I look today and that when I get to 8% bodyfat that it is perfectly ok to gain a healthy amount of weight back to get to where I am right now.

Of course when I see myself in 4 weeks I’m going to want to maintain there…but we all know that won’t be realistic or healthy.

This is my reality check to myself when I start freaking out after my show about gaining weight.  I will look back on this and realize that my sense of my body might be distorted coming right out of a show and that I need to remember how I felt right now.  I’m happy and healthy and A-ok.  Now let’s get down to 8% for the show!

I had a KILLER workout with my bro yesterday. He hasn’t seen me in about 2 weeks and he commented on how hard I looked and that I was definitely bigger muscle wise than I was for my last show. He said that my shoulders and traps have some good size on them. And with 8 weeks to go he said I’ll be looking great for my show and that I have plenty of time to prepare.

I was confident going into the gym to train because now my legs are lean enough to wear these cute, short, red nike training/bike shorts that I got so I could strut around and show off my hard work a bit. Plus my shoulders were looking swole while we were training and I was pushing some major weight and my bro was totally impressed at how hard I was working.  I practiced posing in the mirror and I must say that all my work is paying off because my body is coming in tight and hard.  I’m so excited!

So we did our shoulders and it was great. We talked about my program and I’m supposed to add 2 cardio sessions to my training starting this week. So Wed and Sat will once again be double duty cardio days. But it’s all good. I can do this.  He also wants me to stop training quads. He says they’re big enough as it is and they’ll just keep overpowering my legs. So I’m supposed to do SLDL, wide stance squats, wide stance leg press, ham curls and lunges. No more quad extensions.

My diet can stay the same which is a relief because normally Chris is the bad news bear of taking away even more food from me. But I can keep my cheat meals in (yippee!) and my mid week sushi carb up (oh happy day!). I’ve got the diet down pat. It’s tough, but he wants me to starve out now so that I can eat into the show, which is what it looks like I’ll be able to do.

I also need to be more consistent with my supps. I haven’t been taking my glutamine and BCAAs as regularly as I should, so now I’m really going to be aware of that and make sure I get them in when I’m supposed to. Plus I’m going to start taking calcium, and my multivitamin twice a day.  So, after yesterday, I am totally excited to keep trucking along on my program. Sure the scale doesn’t like to move and teh pics I take on my camera don’t show quite how well I’m doing, but the proof is there when I look in the mirror or put on clothes. Let’s do this!