Countdown to my first comp

[jono]

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.

yeah i can just imagine putting on the tan would be the most anoying thing ever. you would need someone to help you of course which makes it even more anoying. i supose you can just have your girlfriend do it for you tho :nod:

[Pseudonym]

hehehe.. it's all relative Carma!

When I stood in front of a crowd of strangers, I was in the best condition I had ever been in.

Now, looking backwards, my "best condition" threshold is higher - the bar has been raised!

Growth - it was NFS' UltraDefinition I used.

Thurs: 2 tabs with breakfast, lunch, dinner

Fri: 2, 2, 3

Sat: 3, 3

And as I recall, I ended up looking drier on the Sunday, than the Saturday. :doh: Ah well, you live and learn...

[deegee]

Good work there, nice chest ...legs and arms need to come up a bit but I guess you know that, great abs. cant be unhappy with that as a first show/ Great base to build from. what weight will you be looking at competing at next time?

[Growth]

Just on the topic of diuretics, did anyone see that doco a while back called 'testosterone boys'? I think it was a brittish doco although it may have shown some americans too, and i recall one guys attempt at a 'diuretic' was to wrap himself in a big black rubbish bag and drive all the way to the comp with the windows up and the heater on full bore :shock:

[Pseudonym]

I think because of my height, deegee, I need to come in as heavy as my class allows - ie, 79.99kg.

Growth - don't get me started on "Testosterone Boys"... arrogant little shits! :roll:

(Although it did give a good overview of all aspects of contest prep)

[deegee]

So when is your next show ? It would be ggod to see day by day how you go on your journal

[Pseudonym]

Well, I was planning to do one at the end of this year... But I'm considering postponing it a year, since I still need a lot more mass.

Because of my height I think the only way I can compete in the 70-80kg class is to squeeze in at 79.99 - and even then that would need to be utterly shredded. I'm thinking of getting to a ripped 82/3-ish, then using dehydration to come in under 80. But as I'm currently only at a lean 85, a ripped 83 is still a long way off!

Besides, this year my energy's needed elsewhere - like getting this forum moving... Oh, and maybe getting a real job would be good, too.

[Growth]

The good thing about BB'ing is that you can still compete well into your later year, so no need to rush.

[jono]

hey man i was just reading over your log again..

was wondering how much strength did you drop over the course of the diet ? did you noticed more strength loss in different areas ? eg - did you loose mroe in legs than arms etc.

[Pseudonym]

Hard to say. I don't think I noticed much of a dropoff in strength until pretty near the end, when things got tighter.

Bear in mind that my diet kept significantly higher carbs overall than most people's would, so I would have had more energy than those doing hard-out depletion. Having said that, I tapered my carbs off before the workout so I was creating an energy deficit during exercise.

Also, as the contest draws nearer, the intensity goes up - so that may have helped too!

Anyway, I remember being pleasantly surprised at how little strength was lost.

[jono]

Hard to say. I don't think I noticed much of a dropoff in strength until pretty near the end, when things got tighter.

Bear in mind that my diet kept significantly higher carbs overall than most people's would, so I would have had more energy than those doing hard-out depletion. Having said that, I tapered my carbs off before the workout so I was creating an energy deficit during exercise.

Also, as the contest draws nearer, the intensity goes up - so that may have helped too!

Anyway, I remember being pleasantly surprised at how little strength was lost.

so how much did you loose ? just a few reps or some weight

[Pseudonym]

I just went and looked at my log from 11 - 6 week out... it definitely looks like my weights stayed much the same (there were fluctuations for various reasons, but mostly it was pretty consistent). In fact, some exercises even increased!

[2guns]

that was really good to read!

lol at the trophy post, yeah all that hard work for that huh :pfft:

[Evie]

Yeah I agree, that was a very interesting read! Always love an honest report on comp prep cause as we all know, you can put on a happy smile and keep your moods and mental up's and downs to a minimum - but we all have challenges and it effects us differently.

So what's next in the pipe line? since 2005 you must have made some fantastic gains!

[Pseudonym]

So what's next in the pipe line? since 2005 you must have made some fantastic gains!

Heh.. not entirely fantastic. I had made reallly good progress, but I eased up on my diet about 18 months ago (just because I was focusing on work and other priorities) and lost 12kg. I've been slowly clawing it back the last few months.

[Mike Zero]

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

Ewww we don't wanna hear about that :pfft: