FireMike

With the start of my contest season diet on the horizon, ive been waging a all out war with food the past few days. I have had no regard for health when it comes to my nutrition the last few days, you name it and i’ve probabally consumed it already. Example, well tonight at work so far ive eaten a large bbq chicken pizza, order of garlic bread, a huge chix and steak burrito, and lets not forget the 2 protein shakes. All that in the past 8 hours, well this has pretty much been my last few days. I haven’t eaten to be full in a long ass time, but right now im trying to stay full all the time. I know some people like to reward themselves w cheat days periodically even on a contest prep diet. I however can not do that, if I allow myself a cheat day it will lead to that whole thought process of well just one bit wont hurt, then the next thing you know I ate the whole damm thing. Therefore im just getting it all in now. I feel like such an umpa loompa tho, its not even funny. However i am diligent in all that I do, so I will gaurantee that I will continue to stuff my face until the strike of midnight saturday night. STRENGTH & HONOR

Im officially one week away from beginning my contest prep dieting, and I am on a eating war path. The easy part of bodybuilding is the lifting. Everyone can go a push weight, not necessarily correctly or w the intensity required but everyone can go to the gym and grab a DB or BB. The dieting tho, this is what casues so many to crack and so many to never wanna attempt competing. I admit as it approaches I have become more worried than ever before. Two years ago I cracked 7 weeks into it. It was a mixture of the hours I was working and being in the middle of a divorce. Last year I folded again this time 8 weeks in. I was head over heels in love and cruising thru my diet, then she broke my heart and I just didn’t want it bad enough I now know, bc I allowed someone to stop me. This year is about redemption. Not redemption to anyone, but to myself. It is about showing those who I allowed to defeat me in years past to see they did nothing more than add fuel to my fire and bc of the pain they caused me I trained like a crazed, raged mad man. Everytime I pick’d up a weight this past year I thought of these people. I saw their faces, I heard their voices and I remember the promises broken. I never make a promise anymore, bc I never wanna be a promise broken for someone, however I have promised myself I will step on stage as I am now promising anyone who reads this. My shoulders are square, my head is up and eyes are zero’d in on the prize. Next week my journey begins, so keep a eye on me as I post weekly pics, let me know what you think. Strong points, weak points and indifferent opinions. Next week i’ll begin transitional training which is always difficult for me bc I love to move heavy poundages, i’ve never been one to care for higher rep ranges. High rep ranges is what I intend to do tho, really high 15-25 reps every set, every move, every workout. The countdown has begun and next Sunday the first photo will be taken, Day 1… STRENGTH & HONOR

So I got up this morning, had a fantastic breakfast and new I had to get to the gym by 9am because the gym I wanted to train at today was only open until 11am. So im jacked, got the workout planned and im ready to go do some damage…then I pull in and i’ve never seen so many cars in the parking lot in my life, oh wait yea I have on Jan 2. For those of us who TRAIN, not workout, there are these certain days when the gym should be limited to us only. Like today, I only had a 3 hour window in which the gym was open and could train. Now did I get my training in, yes, but it was difficult to get into my groove bc every member who holds a membership was in there tying up equipment and thinking they were gonna make a difference to their bodies in one day. Its crazy, you all know the people im talking about. You see them all on Jan 2 bc of new years resolution shit, by Jan 9 a quarter of them remain and by Jan 16 all that remains are the familiar faces you were acustomed to seeing last year. Then a holliday rolls around in which time is limited to train, and BAM you see all these people again. Why should my workout be slowed down, or thrown off track because of these people? Im not trying to sound like a dick here, but seriously now to us this is what each day leads too or begins with, and the last thing I want is someone tying up equipment I need when this his 2nd day in the gym for the year. I have no problem with beginners but to me a beginner is someone who is gonna show some discipline and make the difference their looking for, not come in one day so they can eat 10lbs of food today and not feel like a slob. Its funny yet irritating, oh well I guess I don’t have to worry about this until Jan 2 again. STRENGTH & HONOR

Lately Ive been spending more time than usual thinking about the shows I will be competing in this season. All the hard work put in to this point. "will it be good enough?" I’ve always told people that when I could step on stage and win, I would compete and I feel like I am capable of that now. I guess im putting added pressure on myself right now bc my competing will be my catalast. This is more than a competition to me. This is the single goal I have set for myself since the start of 2007 and the time to achieve that goal is approaching. My mind has been focused on this one thing only for 11 months now, the easy part is about done, and that long rough road to competition is fastly approaching me. I have gone out and told everyone I know, everyone I meet what exactly I intend to do. As said the pressure is mounting, not of will I be able to do this, but more of will my efforts be enough to do what I want….WIN? Yes it will. STRENGTH & HONOR

Today I didnt weight train and was suppose to take a off day but I took the opportunity to do some cardio, im gonna be preping for comp beginning in Dec so i need to ween myself back into cardio life. Now cardio isn’t my thing, not even the least bit but hey we do what we gotta do. However today was a little different, as I got going things became clear. What I mean by that is, every aspect of my life and what I need to do to accomplish the things I want came into sight. I left the gym just generally feeling good. Not because i had a kick ass workout or because I did a new best, just good, like perfect day type of good. I dont know it was just strange. This is why I love this sport, it takes everything you have and forces you to bring it out in ways no other can. Its great. STRENGTH & HONOR

To those of us who take the time to educate ourselves on becoming a competitive bodybuilder, powerlifter, or just wanna attain a lean strong physique, we understand that its a process and there is no magic pill or easy way to achieve this overnight. It takes countless hours of hard work and dedication. In my personal life I have been going thru a complete downfall, that just really hit rock bottom yesterday. Throughout this process leading to the bottom of the pit I have always thought, "im a good person, I work hard, things will work there way out" Well they didn’t and still haven’t. Then it all kinda made sense to me this morning. I have questioned why all this bad stuff keeps happening to me, often wondering what god was trying to tell me or why he was choosing to test me like this. BOOM I figured it out, and it was plain as day. I pour every ounce that I can into my training, im intense, im deligent and I know there is not immediate gratification in the gym, you have to do your time. In life I’ve had too much instant gratification and haven’t ever had to step my game up a few notches. Ive been sitting at idle for over a year and its time to accelerate a little. I relize there are many sacrafices I will have to make to overcome, but these sacrafices will be worth it in the end when I get these things back. Im not one who rolls over and plays dead, so know I prepare for an even greater battle than I’ve ever had before, while continuing my training, bc I’ve worked to damm hard to stop this mission. The point of the matter is never allow yourself to go into "idle" in any aspect of your life, treat life like your training work hard, then work harder, and when you think your there, your not and you gotta bump it up another notch. STRENGTH & HONOR

Everyone knows the saying, "when it rains, it pours" but how many have truly experienced a test so great life that this saying fits it perfectly? Iam living this exact statement right now and have been since mid July. Hell this whole damm year has been most difficult. In the latest development of this horror story I call my life, I found myself curled up in a corner w a few tears building in my eyes. "Why has god choosen to test me like this? Is there even a god?" these were my thoughts in that moment. Everything my life once was has been stripped away, left w only pain, stress, and fear. Where do you find the will to over come and strive on to make your dreams, your goals a reality? How do you continue to believe in something greater, when nothing good is coming of that belief? For me my outlet has and will remain my training, and I realize now that my past attempts to go on stage that have led to failure was bc I just didn’t want it bad enough. I allowed small meaningless shit to detour me. Now in a time, a moment when it would be easy to fold up and say im done, I can’t go train, Im going to train. Im going to train harder than ever before. Im gonna train without mercy or regard for others. im gonna inflict such great physical pain on myself that it drowns out the emotional pain I have inside. Call this what you will, I call it my therapy. I don’t know how much more could possibly pile up on me, but I now welcome it bc the pain that it causes me inside, leds to my greater development outside.

Today was chest day and with the thoughts of begining my diet early in order to compete in a show earlier in 08 than initially plan’d, I figured i’d better start transitioning. Instead of doing my bb work on inclines and flats, I did db work on the incline then flat bb. I forgot how much the incline db’s wear me down, nothing tears my chest up more. I also began incorporating more strict / concetrated cable work, I was really feeling the low to high cross overs. The pump was superb, felt great. Also, I haven’t seriously supplemented in over a year, and that’s about to change. Placed a order yesterday for a good size stack that i’ve seen great results w in the past, so w me being more dedicated than ever, im very eager to see what exactly supplementing will do for me now. Later today when I hit legs im gonna break away from the 400 plus lb squats and 1000 plus lb presses. I feel like my legs are up to par now, and I need to focus on my sweep now. I have naturally wide hips (thanks mom) so in order to have a great taper im gonna need to have a great sweep. So I guess I can officially say im in contest prep training now. FYI im still doing a power event in December, and have no doubt i’ll win the 220 raw division. STRENGTH & HONOR

ok so im at that point in the bulk up phase were im looking at myself and im not seeing anything that seperates me from the average joe. Sure im bigger, but definition is going away along w the addition of some flab around the waist line, not too bad tho. So here I sit, still w 8 weeks to go in my planned bulking phase but recently I’ve been compelled to compete in a show in early March, 7 weeks earlier than I initially planned too. What to do, what to do… do I run the course as planed, or do I deviate and change it all up???? Im very undecided at the moment, if im gonna do the earlier show, i’ll need to start dieting in 8 days. Im leaning more towards doing the earlier show and bypassing a local show I was gonna do as a warm up, but still I question am I big enough to be competitive in my class? Difficult question, I feel confident I can come in to show at 176 w 18" arms, 26" quads, 48" chest and 30" waist, but only time will tell if these numbers are a reality for me. Im in a place mentally where im ready to put up and shut mf’s up, but I don’t wanna rush it just bc of the feelings im having. Im gonna take the next few days and really figure this out and make a decision based on what I think my performance level will be if I do an earlier show. I’ll get it figured out, I think… STRENGTH & HONOR

I’ve been practicing posing like crazy despite shows being more than 30 weeks out, the problem is I have yet to find a song to do my compulse round too and im looking for suggestions. Ideally I want something that starts slow, so I can mimic some old school posing like Zane and Corney, but finishes hard and strong, so I can bang out most muscular pose and shit too. Anyone w any suggestions, let me know so I can check it out. I’ll say this, I love music i don’t watch tv at home, i listen to music so I need suggestions I wouldn’t have heard already. I know that doesn’t really narrow it down, sorry. Thanks for any help anyone can offer. STRENGTH & HONOR