Countdown to my first comp

[Pseudonym]

This is my journal counting down to the comp I did last year. I figured I may as well bring it over here so I had a backup copy, and it could be an interesting read for you guys too.

Weekly Index:

Week 12 - in which we discover a lack of progress

Week 11 - in which we take the first progress pics

Week 10 - in which we consider upping the stakes, and set a diet plan

Week 9 - in which we is be gettin reel fik an' stoopid

Week 8 - in which we decide this diet thing ain't so bad, after all...

Week 4 - in which we finally make a reappearance...

14 Days - in which we realise our countdown is now in days, not weeks... :shock:

6 Days - in which we realise that last week's horrors weren't even close to carb-depletion :cry:

2 Days - in which we thank God for Corn Thins and peanut butter - never before have they tasted so good!

And finally...

Body fat progressions:

[table]

[row]Date[col]21/5/2004[col]1/6/2004[col]4/6/2004[col]10/6/2004[col]17/6/2004[col]23/6/2004[col]27/6/2004[col]1/7/2004

[row]Weight[col]79.65[col]79.20[col]79.3[col]77.9[col]78.55*[col]77.9[col]77.9[col]75.8*

[row]Fat %[col]14.7%[col]11.3%[col]10.8%[col]9.2%[col]8.5%[col]8%[col]7.9%[col]-

[row]Fat Weight[col]11.7kg[col]8.9kg[col]8.6kg[col]7.1kg[col]6.6[col]6.2[col]6[col]-

[row]Lean body weight[col]67.95kg[col]70.3kg[col]70.7kg[col]70.8kg[col]71.95[col]71.7[col]71.9[col]-[/table]

=> NOTE: On this scale, a competitor would typically compete at around 8%

* The discrepancies on 17/6/2004 and 1/7/2004 were caused by increased water retention, and 3 days of carb depletion, respectively.

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Well, this is it - the countdown to my first competition. I'm sure I've already bored most of you to tears with details of it already, but just in case I've missed anyone...

The competition is just a little internal one held by my gym (as an indication of how little, last year's show had 2 contestants in my class!). So it's not tremendously prestigious or anything - the purpose of my doing this is really to find out how I respond to water manipulation, carb loading, etc, so that I have a little bit more experience when I come to do a "real" comp.

At least - that's what I'm telling myself. At the moment, I'm not feeling ready for any contest - not even a small, friendly one like this! - but I'm telling myself that dammit, I'm going to do it anyway, and do it well!

So here will be the log of my progress, hopefully with weekly pictures (at least, once I've found the power cable to my camera's battery charger). Feel free to add comments, tips, opinions, etc.

And now, without further ado...

WEEK 12

Not a good start, I'm afraid. I weighed myself at the end of week 13 to find I had virtually no weight gain over the last six weeks (if not longer). Which was a little disappointing, to say the least! Previously, I'd blamed the "stagnation" (good word, innit?! ) on a lowering body fat, but there's a limit to how long you can keep saying that's a cause. The thing is, I thought I was getting bigger. Lats and chest in particular. :? We'll just have to wait for pics, and you can make up you own minds.

I was initially planning on starting the diet this week, but the lack of progress is making me rethink... would it be better to go all out this week, and just gorge myself on as much protein (and moderate carbs) as I can cram down my throat? I don't know quite how effective this last-ditch effort will be at putting on size, but it can't hurt, can it? And if nothing else, perhaps it would speed up my metabolism a wee bit (although it's already pretty fast), making it easier to shed the fat when I do finally start to cut?

[Pseudonym]

Well, better late than never... I'll just write this in the present tense, and no-one will ever know!

Week 11

Well, workouts in the first half of the week were decidedly crappy. It was a bad combination of running out of time, and working those 'orrible overnight shifts (not for much longer though!! )

I did work each muscle, and I think I managed a pretty good range of motion - it's just the volume was a bit less than I was hoping for. :evil:

Saturday's leg workout more than made up for it, though! Here's what I did:

4 sets - Hack squats

4 sets - 45* leg press (1-legged)

4 sets - Leg extensions (1-legged)

4 sets - Lunges

... and that was just quads! :-) Needless to say, it's now Tuesday, and I'm still limping.

Also started the shaving on Saturday - and it only took me 1½ hours to do legs! It was fine for about twelve hours, but then the stubble started to grow in. The novelty of pulling on a pair of jeans to a rasping sound like ripping velcro wears off very quickly. :wink: I would STRONGLY suggest waxing as the preferred method of hair removal, unless your hair is ultra-fine.

Diet so far has consisted mainly of removing carbs from my pre-bedtime meal, and halving the amount at dinner. It's been working, but possibly not fast enough, so I've asked my local guru and Mentor to design me a better one.

I also started taking progress pics, which I'll post up here as soon as I get a chance.

- Andrew

[Pseudonym]

Week 10

Well, it's an interesting week so far...

I was speaking to a personal trainer at my gym about my up-coming competition. She is heavily involved with the NZ Federation of Bodybuilding, and told me that just a week after my gym's little comp, there's a regional NZFBB contest which is a qualifier for the nationals. She pointed out that if I was doing one competition, I may as well do two...

:shock: **GULP** :shock:

I'm not sure what to think about this... One the one hand, it makes sense - but on the other... a qualifier for the nationals?! I really don't feel ready for that!

I've started taking EAS' Thermo-DynamX fat burner. I was warned to expect a bit of a kick from it (especially since I don't even drink coffee), but to my disappointment, I haven't much at all. This could be due to the overshifts I'm working at the moment negating the stimulus Thermo-DynamX provides! However, I'll know next week, since this is my last overnight here - ever! (See above post about my resignation)

I'm taking it on a 4 days on, 3 days off basis - the 4 days (Sun - Wed) are my least active days.

My Mentor () has drawn up a diet plan for me... I was a little concerned when I saw that he'd dropped my protein levels from nearly 300g to just over 200g. But he said that there wasn't enough time left to do anything else. He did say the protein would go up again when I dropped the carbs further in a few weeks time. I'll post the diet plan here as soon as I've worked out how he calculated it.

[Pseudonym]

Week 9

In which we is be gettin reel fik an' stoopid

Well, the lower carbs and calories are certainly kicking in. So is the hunger! :cry: However, Mentor assures me that within a few days my body will have adjusted.

This is what I'm eating on a workout day:

[table][row] [col]PROTEIN[col]CARBS[col]FAT

[row]Meal 1[col]38.51g[col]18.32g[col]9.50g

[row]Meal 2[col]38.51g[col]18.32g[col]9.50g

[row]Meal 3[col]38.51g[col]3g[col]7.13g

[row]Meal 4

(Immediately after workout)[col]4g[col]20g[col]0g

[row]Meal 5

(1hr after workout for max fat burn)[col]55.76g[col]55.76g[col]7.13g

[row]Meal 6

(3hrs after workout)[col]55.76g[col]55.76g[col]9.56g

[row]TOTAL[col]231.05g[col]171.16g[col]42.78g[/table]

A non-workout day looks like this:

[table][row] [col]PROTEIN[col]CARBS[col]FAT

[row]6 meals of[col]38.51g[col]28.52[col]7.13g

[row]TOTAL[col]231.06g[col]171.16g[col]42.79g[/table]

Now, ok - perhaps working out the grams to 2 decimal places is just a teensy bit excessive, but why not be as accurate as possible?!

I even went out and bought some digital scales that measure up to 5kg, in 2g increments. I love 'em! Don't know how I survived without them.

There's a lot more I could say, but that's all I've got time for now. I'm working this afternoon, and wouldn't want to be late... it's my last day. YIPPEE!!

[Pseudonym]

Well, the body HAS adjusted to the lower calories, as predicted. I'm no longer hungry in between meals. In fact, now I'm wondering if the diet is restrictive enough! However, I'm confident Mentor knows what he's talking about...

Things not so hot on the training front, though. After a great leg workout on Saturday, I got out of bed on Sunday to find I could hardly move. My lower back had locked itself right up, and I could hardly bend enough to pull on my socks. I went to see the physio on Monday, and he prodded and twisted and clicked it, then said no more training for several days. That much was fairly obvious - I'd have had trouble putting the weights on the bar, let alone lifting it! In some ways it was good timing. I was to work biceps/triceps on Mon, Delts/Lower back on Tue, and rest on Wed. And all of those get secondary hits alter in the week anyway, so I figured it gave me a few days leeway. But today (Tuesday) I'm only mildly better, and am starting to feel anxious!

Since I couldn't workout yesterday, I got myself measured and tested instead. Here are the results...

Skinfolds

Chest: 9mm

Thigh: 19mm

Iliac crest: 6.5mm

Abs: 12mm

Tricep: 8.5mm

Subscapular: 8mm

Sadly, the chart they look up didn't say which formula it used to calculate the body fat percentage, but it put me at 9.3%. Obviously, I'll make sure they use the same test each time I get it taken.

Measurements

Chest - relaxed: 93.5cm

Biceps - flexed: 38cm

Stomach - relaxed: 80.5cm

Hip - relaxed: 83.5cm

Thigh - relaxed: 56.5cm

Calf - relaxed: 39.5cm

NOTE: all measurements were taken cold

[Pseudonym]

Week 8

In which we decide this diet thing ain't so bad, after all...

I don't want to say it too loudly, cos I know it's wrong, so I'll whisper it:

I'm quite enjoying my diet so far!

No really. I am. Once I got used to eating fewer meals, and the longer spaces in between, I was fine. Not noticing much of a drop in energy levels (although the ThermoDynamX could be helping with that a bit) and haven't seen a significant decrease in strength yet (well, bicep curls were down a wee bit, but that could have just been a bad day...)

And, most of all, I love the fact that I haven't had to cut the carbs too much! In fact, post-workout, I'm allowed the princely amount of 55g protein, 55g carbs, and 7g fat. Now it just so happens this can be made up perfectly by a protein shake, and strawberry jam on toast (wholegrain, of course) with butter. It puts me in a wonderful mood every day, thinking of the other poor sods all starving themselves... :twisted:

Well, I went to a Bodybuilding Club meeting on Saturday. The guest speaker was talking about the importance of posing, and as he's widely regarded one of the country's best posers, I thought it was a good idea to see what he had to say. It was well worth it, and I'm definitely going to book a few sessions with him. Here's a webpage, now out of date, but it has some nice photos here.

So then he and his wife (who also is an expert on posing) asked who was thinking of competing shortly. I raised my hand a very small amount.

Then they asked who had been practising posing in front of the bathroom mirror. I put up my hand a little bit further.

Then they asked who wanted to come up on stage and be a guinea pig. I shot my hand back down very fast, but it was too late! I was ushered up on stage and, shirtless and scared shitless, put through the mandatory poses. They demonstrated on me how the poses could be done better - it was probably the best preparation for a contest I could have done. And yes, the buzz from having done it was awesome! I can see why people put themselves through all this pain for competitions.

[Pseudonym]

Week 4

In which we finally make a reappearance...

Jeez, it's been a while since my last journal post... so much for the "weekly report" I was aiming for at the start...

Still, not much newsworthy anyway. Just carrying on making good progress, losing fat, while gaining muscle.

I made the first changes to my diet last week (that is, in Week 5). I pulled out all wheat products (nooooo!!! my toast!!!). Not because there's anything dreadfully wrong with them, but wheat does make you hold a bit of water, and I wanted a more accurate picture of where I was at. So, more for psychological reasons than anything else, wheat was removed.

Fortunately I can still have my jam.

So the protein/carb/fat ratio has changed slightly... But I've kept it at the same number of total calories as before:

Weeks 10 -> 5

[table][row]FOOD[col]PROTEIN[col]CARBS[col]FAT[col]CALS

[row]NFS whey iso[col]45[col]0[col]1[col]189

[row]3 slices Vogels wholegrain[col]10.2[col]40.5[col]6[col]256.8

[row]20mL strawberry jam[col]0[col]16[col]0[col]64

[row]1 tsp butter[col]0[col]0[col]4[col]36

[row]TOTAL[col]55.2[col]56.5[col]11[col]545.8[/table]

From Week 5

[table][row]FOOD[col]PROTEIN[col]CARBS[col]FAT[col]CALS

[row]NFS whey iso[col]45[col]0[col]1[col]189

[row]5x Corn thins[col]3[col]22.5[col]1[col]111

[row]24g Peanut butter[col]6.45[col]2.55[col]11.55[col]139.95

[row]20g Nutella[col]1.5[col]11.8[col]6.1[col]108.1

[row]TOTAL[col]55.95[col]36.85[col]19.65[col]548.05[/table]

As I said in my last post (ahem - the one four weeks ago :oops: ) I've been getting personal tuition on posing and routine. They've been taking my body fat % on quite a different scale than anyone else uses... It was a bit of a shock to be measured at 14% when everyone else put me at 9%!

Anyway, that's been dropping steadily, and my lean muscle mass has been going up, so overall weight's remained pretty much the same ~80kg, which is VERY nice. 8)

I'll start a table of my body fat progressions in the top post under the table of contents.

-----------------

Now, there is ONE thing newsworthy: As of yesterday, I started taking EAS' Methoxy Factor and Ecdy Max, both of which are lines apparently being pulled by EAS, and were severely discounted. Yay!

Methoxy Factor is a mix of Methoxyflavone (200mg/serve) and Ecdysterone (40mg/serve). The recommended dosage is 2-3 servings per day.

I'm going for the lower dose, partly because of finances, and partly because I'm also taking Ecdy Max (2 serves of 120mg ecdysterone per day).

I'm taking the Ecdy Max 12 hours apart, since it's designed to raise

testosterone levels and suppress estrogen throughout the day. The Methoxy Factor is taken with servings spaced in between, one post-workout.

It will be interesting to see how this affects things (I've been told not to be at all surprised if my overall weight actually increases, despite the body fat continuing to drop).

[Pseudonym]

Posted 3 weeks out:

Hmm... it may be that things have finally slowed to a halt.

It doesn't feel like I've gained any more definition over the last few days. And while I'm close, I'm certainly not as shredded as I want to be.

On the other hand, it might be that I'm just holding a wee bit more water than previously. I've finally started increasing my drinking - aiming for 3 to 4 litres per day. I haven't hit that yet, but I'm getting close.

We will see tomorrow, when I get another body fat test done.

[Pseudonym]

14 Days

In which we realise our countdown is now in days, not weeks... :shock:

Gahhh. I've finally stirred myself from my carb-depletion-induced lethargy and slothfullness to post an update. And once again, it's long overdue. So, backtracking to 14 days out:

Finally started early morning cardio, much to my dismay... 20mins cardio before breakfast, taking heartrate to 130bpm. Then breakfast consists of 10 eggs (2 whole, 8 whites) and two corn thins (like those polystyrene puffed rice biscuits, only far superior) at 4.5g carbs each, liberally spread with peanut butter.

For morning tea, we have the Pro4 protein shake, only now it's mixed in water because the milk had too many carbs. I may have a celery stick with peanut butter here, if I'm feeling peckish.

Lunch - just as before. Meat, with virtually no carbs.

Workout

Immediately post-workout - the glucose drink, same as before.

One hour later - The best meal of the day... Five corn thins, one with Marmite :?, two with peanut butter :wink:, and two with the Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread ;-)! Also a 50g whey protein isolate.

Finally - 200g steak, 200g assorted veges (but not potato or kumara)

I did feel slightly lethargic on this diet. Not too bad on the size or strength fronts though - obviously the muscles weren't properly glycogen-depleted yet...

At 10 days out, cardio was increased to 30 mins. :cry:

[Pseudonym]

6 Days

In which we realise that last week's horrors weren't even close to carb-depletion :cry:

OK - I stand corrected. Last week, although a pain in the butt, was definitely NOT carb-depletion. Nor did it make me lethargic or weak. At least, not in comparison to this week...

Mon, Tue, Wed

Still doing 30 mins of morning cardio. (yuk) And the diet has gone from bad to worse. I am now unable to eat:

- Wheat (water retention)

- Carbs (carb depletion)

- Salt (water retention again)

- Whey protein (contains salt)

And basically "No Salt" rules out most foods... nothing out of a packet or jar - nothing processed in any way... I'm even on distilled water! So my six meals a day have consisted of meat and assorted veges:

~Cardio before breakfast

1) 150g steak, 150g veges (still excluding potato and kumara).

2) 150g chicken, 150g veges

3) 150g steak, 150g veges

~Workout

4) Immediately post-workout, a 20g glucose drink (made out of the distilled water ration for the day).

5) 150g steak, 150g pumpkin

6) 150g chicken, 150g veges

So, Monday - feel like shit. Utterly no energy during the workout, which is basically the same routine as previously (although it's been compressed into a 3-day split so my last weights training is on Wednesday). Wonder why the hell I'm doing this to myself.

Tuesday - feel a little better. It's obviously the changing of the diet that my body doesn't like, not the diet itself. In fact, with a bit of imagination, meals can still be interesting - after all, I can still use spices, and who needs salt when you've got enough curry or ginger?! Decide that I'm glad I'm doing this comp - but I don't know that I could be bothered to do another one.

Wednesday - probably even less energy than the previous days, but am buoyed by my rapidly adapting cooking skills. Thoroughly enjoy my panfried chicken breast, stuffed with red capsicum, mushrooms, and parsley. Remind myself that tomorrow I can start eating filling food again!

[Pseudonym]

2 Days

In which we thank God for Corn Thins and peanut butter - never before have they tasted so good!

Right, now because I'm back on carbs and have plenty of energy again, I've decided to write down all the little details for the next few days that may otherwise never get a mention. I'll go back to a week before the comp...

SATURDAY

4 litres PureDew distilled water

Diet as explained in previous post

SUNDAY

4 litres PureDew distilled water

Diet as explained in previous post - this is the official start of "clean food"... no salt.

MONDAY

3 litres PureDew distilled water

Diet as explained in previous post - the dreaded carb depletion

Last legs training

TUESDAY

3 litres PureDew distilled water

Diet as explained in previous post - the dreaded carb depletion

WEDNESDAY

3 litres PureDew distilled water

Diet as explained in previous post - the dreaded carb depletion

Last weights training

THURSDAY

2 litres PureDew distilled water

Last day of morning cardio - EUREKA!!

Only training as such consists of abs, superset with posing.

Applied Pro-Tan this morning (and that was an experiance and a half!)

And joy of joys, we started the carb-up at midday - after the initial 4x corn thins with peanut butter, meals consist of:

1) 200g chicken, 100g kumara, 100g pumpkin

2) 150g steak, 10 almonds

3) 200g chicken with 200g veges, and 2 corn thins with peanut butter

This is repeated every 2-3 hours until bed.

FRIDAY

750ml PureDew distilled water

Same meal plan as Thursday, until 6pm, when it changes to:

6pm - Half a glass of red wine (dehydration and vascularity), 200mls vanilla icecream, and 10 almonds

7.30pm Half a can of creamed rice

9.30pm Half a glass of red wine (dehydration and vascularity), 200mls vanilla icecream, and 10 almonds

[Pseudonym]

And finally...

Well - I think this speaks for itself, really.

[Pseudonym]

Well - I think this speaks for itself, really.

Perhaps it DOES need a bit more of an explanation...

I took First in my class - Novice Men Over 70kg. (For the record I was 75.2 for the weigh-in)

Then I was awarded the Overall Best Male Poser (that's the above trophy)

[Pseudonym]

Prologue

(This is just a collection of various other posts made to various other comments.)

Actually, having been fairly rude about what I thought would be a pretty small and amateurish competition - I stand corrected. It was surprisingly professional - both in quality of athletes, and in organisation. I would even say it was on par with some of the Federation's qualifying competitions prior to the Nationals.

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I didn't feel like I got a decent pump going before stepping out on stage. I don't know how much visible difference it would have made to my size? What do you think the problem might have been?

It wasn't easy to know when to start preparing, since the backstage hands tended to disappear for long periods of time, then suddenly turn up and say "You're on now!" So maybe I just needed to spend longer pumping up, but I would have thought the time I spent was adequate.

I had been scoffing plenty of carbs, both sweet potato and sugar. Just before going out, I had a bit of sweetened whipped cream, as recommended by my trainer*. But still no real pump to speak of. Any suggestions?

* Thinking about it now, I don't know how sweetened whipped cream would work, anyway. I was told the fat and the sugar would all help me pump up, but wouldn't the fat actually inhibit the uptake of the sugar?!

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Thanks guys... although I'm looking at these now and thinking how small I looked. Post-comp I just grew and grew - I've got more size and definition in my quads now than I did at the comp, and chest and delts are bigger too. (I think/hope )

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What's next? Well, I was tempted to do another competition this weekend - a qualifier for the nationals. Since I had gone to all the trouble of getting myself to competition level, in some ways it seemed silly not to while I was still in condition.

However, in the end I decided not to. The only reason to compete in the comp this weekend would be to qualify for the nationals. If I qualified for the nationals as a Novice, my Novice status would only last for this year. Next year I'd have to compete as an Open competitor regardless of where I placed in the Nationals.

I also decided it was time to get my life back on track (find a job, for instance! ). And I really need more mass before seriously competing in the nationals.

So all up, it seemed better to spend the rest of this year focusing on more mass, and maybe look at doing the nationals at the end of next year.

At the moment, I'm taking some time off training (since I hadn't had a day off in 4-5 months) and enjoying eating what I want, when I want!

[jono]

pretty interesting, got any pics from the show ?

[Growth]

pretty interesting, got any pics from the show ?

:stupid:

[deegee]

Although I have never been interested in competing, that was a good read, interesting to see the way you were able to manipulate your diet. Good to see that even though you were cutting your were still gaining lean body mass right up to the last.

we will see you competing in the future I hope

[Pseudonym]

pretty interesting, got any pics from the show ?

Yes. But I haven't put them up because, uh... I'm afraid they'll frighten all the opposition away from my next comp. Yeah, that's it.... :shifty:

To be honest, as I think I said in another post, they make me wince at how small I was then. Size wasn't the reason I entered that comp - for me it was all about experience. That gives me a huge edge next time I compete (and I'm not sure whether that's going to be this year or not - we'll see how it goes). And this next time, I'll have the size as well - so I think you'll have to wait for pics then!

[jono]

pretty interesting, got any pics from the show ?

Yes. But I haven't put them up because, uh... I'm afraid they'll frighten all the opposition away from my next comp. Yeah, that's it.... :shifty:

To be honest, as I think I said in another post, they make me wince at how small I was then. Size wasn't the reason I entered that comp - for me it was all about experience. That gives me a huge edge next time I compete (and I'm not sure whether that's going to be this year or not - we'll see how it goes). And this next time, I'll have the size as well - so I think you'll have to wait for pics then!

its always good to see how far ppl have come man.

[Growth]

To be honest, as I think I said in another post, they make me wince at how small I was then.

Imagine how i feel at one stage you were 79.3kgs @ 10.8% BF. Im currently 80kgs @ %20 BF :shock:

Im with Jono, show the pics! :protest:

[Pseudonym]

*sigh*

I should've known I was asking for trouble by posting my competition log! Oh, alright, then...

[jono]

goodjob man. good even colour too. you actually look quite balanced there. all in proportion. how tall are you?

[Growth]

Nice abdominal definition. Your pre-comp cutting was obviously very successful. Did you use any supplemental diuretics in the last couple of days before the show?

If i HAD to critique you on one thing it would be leg definition.

Well done and congratulations

[Pseudonym]

Ah yes... legs! Before the comp, they'd never really worried me - they seemed relatively proportional to the rest of me, and I assumed the definition would come as I lost bodyfat. Unfortunately, as I got further into the dieting, they melted away to half their original size!

Still, at least I know where I store my bodyfat now... And my legs have taken a hammering ever since!

Seeing these pics again just reminded me... To all those who are thinking of competing, START STRETCHING NOW! It never occurred to me that flexibilty was an important part of competing, but it's abosolutely essential if you want to do your posing well. Look at my side shots. See how my shoulder is rotated forward? I simply wasn't flexible enough to bring it back any further. Now imagine if I had been - suddenly my chest appears twice the size. Illusion is everything in this game! :pfft:

Yep - I started taking a herbal diuretic a few days out, Growth. In fact, I'm amazed I missed that out of the journal. I'll see if I can dig up the details for you...

BTW, I'm 6" Jono - so unfortunately most of my weight is in height, not width.

That colour was 3 coats of ProTan (and jeez, that was a pain and a half) and 1 coat of DreamTan #2.

[carma]

Looking good.

I cant work out how you find it so hard to post up your pics for us to see when you stood up infront of a whole lot of people and let them look.

They say that in this sport we are too tough on ourselves and the way we look, but i spose thats what makes winners. Which i believe you were in that show!