RICH'S FIRST PRECONTEST JOURNAL

Why Compete?

A year and half ago I needed to get ripped for Cancun. How? Crash diet? Excessive cardio? NO! I decided to try a bodybuilding-style cutting phase for 12 weeks. I had been weightlifting for 10 years and consistently the last 4 years, but I had never truly led a bodybuilding lifestyle.

For sake of brevity, the 12-week period of time was enlightening and I went leaned out from 168 lbs (bodyfat unknown) to 155 lbs at 5.4% bodyfat. If I could handle it for 12 weeks, why not try competing. I am all or nothing kind of guy, so I decided that I would give it a try, but I would have to stack on more muscle before ever stepping on stage.

So, I began clean bulking in March of 2004 and managed to get up to185 lbs at 8.3% bodyfat, after adding 23 lbs of muscle over the past 15 months. I had NEVER consistently eaten 3000+ calories in my life or effectively periodized my training.

While I am not exactly where I want to be, I do feel confident enough to make a decent run at some local and state level natural shows. I will be competing in the ONBF Mr. Natural Ohio Bodybuilding Competition on October 22 and I am tentatively planning to compete in the INBF Ohio Cardinal Classic Bodybuilding Competition on October 15, depending on the number of entrants for this first-time show.

This puts me nearly 4 months out and thus begins my precontest preparation!

Stats

I began dieting 10 days ago, so these stats are as of June 4.

Age: 25 (beginning June 19)
Height: 5'8.5"
Weight: 185 lbs
Bodyfat: 8.3% (per 9-point caliper)
Lean Mass: 169.6 lbs
Bodyfat: 15.4 lbs

Arms: 15.5" flexed
Forearms: 11.5"
Chest/Back: 44.5"
Legs: 23.75"
Calves: 15.5"

Sounds great bro. That's awesome that you're prepping for a contest. Lookin forward to checkin your journal out. Near contest time some pics would be sweet.

Good luck, Rich. All of your logs have been very interesting and I will definatly be checking in a lot here. Get some pics up!

I've decided to begin my preparation 16 weeks out b/c I want to be shredded and if I come in nice in slow I can retain all my muscle and maybe even make some gains in the beginning. Plus it is my first time, so I may need some room for error!!!

Diet

The most important aspect of my precontest preparation is diet and thus I've pursued the services of Beverly International to assist me with my prep. The service is free with the use of their product (which are great anyway) and they've helped many athletes in the midwest do very well in their respective competitions.

I am working w/ Jeremiah Forster of Beverly who has much experience having place 6th at NPC Nationals in 2000 in a class that included Troy Alves, Victor Martinez and Chris Cook. Had it not been for a severly torn pec, this man would be probably be gracing the IFBB stages.

The following diet consists of 3600 calories (25% carb / 55% protein / 20% fat). Non-workout days I nix the pre and postworkout meals dropping me down to 2800 calories. This is a 1000 calorie cut on my workout days, so I will keep my cardio to once per week and no lipotropics/fatburners are needed.

This is still very high and I used to consume around 3500 cals to 3800 cals for clean bulking, but Beverly has ramped them up really high the past few months to give me more room to cut.

Meal 1
3/4 c oatmeal
6 egg whites + 1 whole egg
5 oz chicken
1 t flax oil

Meal 2
6 egg whites + 1 whole egg
5 oz chicken
1 c strawberries/blueberries
1 t flax oil

Meal 3
6 oz sweet potato or 1 c cooked brown/basmati rice
5 oz 95% lean beef
5 oz tuna
2 c veggies
1 t flax oil

Meal 4
6 oz sweet potato or 1 c cooked brown/basmati rice
8 oz sirloin or 10 oz chicken
2 c veggies
1 t flax oil

Meal 5 - Preworkout
1 scoop Muscle Provider
3 scoops Mass Maker

Meal 6 - Postworkout
1 scoop Muscle Provider
3 scoops Mass Maker

Meal 7
3 scoops Ultra Size

I'm taking some pics this weekend. There will be plenty of pics as I will use how I look to really determine my progress. I'll post a pic of me a year and a half ago (pre-bulk) too.

Supplements

This will obviously change/increase as the contest approaches, but here is the list so far:

1 Superpak am
10 g BCAA powder during workouts
4 Ultra 40 / meal
4 Mass Aminos / meal
R-ALA am, pre, postworkout
Joint Care postworkout
Vitamin E postworkout
Clout am and preworkout (Thanks again J-Rod!)
Caffeine and L-Tyrosine preworkout
ZMA before bed
Flax Oil, Mass Maker, Ultra Size and Muscle Provider per diet protocol

Damn, I like the looks of that diet. Eggs and hamburger are like an orgasm in my mouth.

Training

Cardio
Now I am doing just 20 minutes per weeks of moderately paced jogging outside in the heat. I will switch to HIIT as the contest nears adding cardio as appropriate. I don't imagine I'll need to run more than 3 x's per week though.

Weight Training
I am currently training in the 8-10 rep range. I'll spend 5 weeks doing 8-10, then 5 weeks doing 6-8 rep training and the last 5 weeks doing 4-6 rep training. This will keep me strong, plus my joints really needed a break after training in the 4-6 rep range for a while. This is subject to change as I feel necessary. I will change up my exercise during each phase.

Training Split

Day 1: Legs, Calves
Day 2: Arms, Abs
Day 3: Cardio
Day 4: Back, Calves
Day 5: Chest, Shoulders, Abs
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Repeat

Legs
Box Squats 3 x 8-10 (To really focus on depth!)
Hack Squats 3 x 8-10
Leg Curls 3 x 8-10
Seated Calve Raises 3 x 8-10
Dorsi-Flexions 3 x 8-10

Arms
Barbell Curls 3 x 8-10
Lying Triceps EZ Bar Extensions 3 x 8-10
Reverse EZ Bar Curls 3 x 8-10
Close-Grip Bench Presses 3 x 8-10
Incline Hammer Curls 3 x 8-10 (drop set)
Cable Pushdowns 3 x 8-10 (drop set)

Back & Calves
Low Rack Deadlifts 3 x 8-10 (to isolate back and not hit legs)
Close Grip Weighted Chins 3 x 8-10
T-Bar Rows 3 x 8-10
Hammer Strength Low Rows 3 x 8-10
Seated Dumbell Shrugs 3 x 8-10
Reverse Incline Rear Lateral Raises 3 x 8-10
Donkey Calve Machine 3 x 8-10
1-Leg Smith Machine Calve Raises 3 x 8-10

Chest & Shoulders
Flat Dumbell Presses 3 x 8-10 (needed a break from flat benchpresses)
Decline Bench Press 3 x 8-10
Incline Flys 3 x 8-10
Military Press 3 x 8-10
Dumbell Lateral Raises 3 x 8-10

Abs
I mix my abs up alot, but I do 6 total sets w/ 2-3 exercises. Weighted ab work and a little oblique work here in there, not weighted!

Weighted Crunches
Rope Pulldown Crunches
Hanging Weighted Leg Raises
Reverse Crunches
Twisting Crunches
Barbell Rollouts


I'll begin posting my workouts on Friday.

17 WEEKS OUT

I've doing the workout below (8-10 reps) for about 3 weeks now and will continue for roughly 2 more weeks. I will be going to Put-N-Bay for the 4th of July weekend for one last hurah w/ booze! I'll take 4 days off from the gym and that will put me a little over 12 weeks out

Training

6/11- Box Squats 395-395-385, Hack Squats 400-410-410, Leg Curls 135-140-140, Seated Calves 145-150-150, Dorsi-Flexions 31.25-32.5-32.5
6/12- Bar Curls 3x100, Lying EZ Bar Ext 3x110, Reverse Curls 3x80, Close-Grip Bench 3x185, Incline Hammer Curls (DS) 37.5-32.5-30, Cable Pushdowns (DS) 115-105-95+, Rope Pulldown Crunch 105-100-100, Hanging Leg Raises 3x15
6/13- 20 minutes jogging at moderate pace
6/14- Rack Deadlifts 395-405-405, Weighted Close Chins 3x10, T-Bar Rows 135-135-125, Hammer Low Rows 3x210, Seated Dumb Shrugs 100-105-105, Rev Inc Rear Lat Raises 26.25-26.25-25
6/16- Flat Dumb Press 95-100-100, Decline Bench 3x225, Inc Flys 3x65, Military Press 165-170-170, Dumb Lat Raises 3x40, Donkey Calve Mach 3x360, 1-Leg Smith Calve Raises 2x75
6/17- Off

Diet Variations
I was in Cleveland for training for work, so I cheated a bit. I chose to eat the healthy options such as grilled chicken, asparagus, egg whites, cream of wheat, etc. But that crap is all cooked in butter. I had 6 drinks while doing some schmoozing too. I cut my evening carbs out tonight to make up. A little cheating keeps you sane. I packed some Ultra Size pudding for meal replacements w/ mashed sweet potatoes. I also had some cold chicken breasts and steak I was pounding in between meals. People were giving me strange looks. I was thinking "Eat another piece of cheesecake, tubby"

Progress
I've definitely leaned out a bit during the first week. I weighed myself at 183.5 lbs on 6/16 (down 1.5 lbs). Yeah! I'm staying strong and I even got stronger on some exercises. The Clout is probably helping out.

16 WEEKS OUT

The week went well in the weight room as I made a some progress strength wise. I dropped a 1/2 pound (to 183 lbs) in the past 6 days despite quite a few cheats caused by my b-day weekend. I just took some pics and should have them up in a few days. I haven't seen pics of myself in a long while, so hopefully they look decent.

Training

6/17- Box Squats 395-395-385, Hack Squats 3x410, Leg Curls 3x140, Seated Calves 3x150
6/18- Bar Curls 100-105-105, Lying EZ Bar Ext 3x110, Reverse EZ Bar Curls 80-85-85, Close Grip Bench 3x185, Weighted Crunches 3x50, Reverse Crunches & Twisting Crunches
6/19- 20 minutes moderate jogging in am
6/20- Rack Deadlifts 405-415-415, Weighted Chins 10-12.5-12.5, T-Bar Rows 3x135, Hammer Low Rows 210-220-220, Seat Dumb Shrugs 3x105, Rev Inc Rear Lat Raises 3x26.25
6/21- Flat Dumb Press 3x100, Dec Bench 3x225, Inc Flys 65-67.5-67.5, Military Press 3x170, Dumb Lat Raise 3x40, Donkey Calve Raises 360-370-370
6/22- Off tomorrow

Diet Variations-
I had like 6 drinks on Friday night boozing it up and pounded a Nitrotech bar while out. Saturday I had a glass of wine and a crab cake and some tort soup. Sunday I had bbq chicken, a cheeseburger, potato salad, ice cream cake and about 6 beers!!! It was my b-day on Sunday. After that feast I cut out my pm carbs and replaced them w/ veggies. I ALWAYS tend to eat 1-2 total fewer meals across the weekend b/c of sleeping in and longer time between meals. As a result of my feasting this weekend, I am going to take it easy this week on the cheating and boozing.

Progress
I do not feel much leaner if at all despite losing a 1/2 pound. I do feel slightly more muscular in my bi's, shoulders and chest. Can't see my back.

Pics are on the way!!

nice journal so far. any pics going up?

Here are some before pictures of me a year and a half ago (11/03) at 168 lbs.

Back before pic...

6/21/05 Standing Relaxed Front

6/21/05 Standing Relaxed Back

6/21/05 Front Double Bi

6/21/05 Front Lat Spread

6/21/05 Abs & Thighs - Not too pretty...yet

6/21/05 Side Chest