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 Hello
everyone and welcome to the Muscle-Link Pre-Contest Training
Diary or, as I'm calling it this year, "2001: The Comeback
Odyssey". My name is John Hansen and, as some of you may have
read, I am coming back to bodybuilding competition this year
after suffering a potentially career-ending bicep tendon rupture
last year.
The purpose of this Training Diary is to inform you and, hopefully,
inspire you in your own personal training and nutrition programs.
I will detail everything I do during a typical day as I prepare
to enter the Natural Olympia Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii
on November 3, 2001. You will read about my training routine,
I will detail my diet and supplements that I take and you
will even get to witness physique photos as I evaluate my
body during the countdown to the show.
Many bodybuilders out there have never competed in a bodybuilding
show and they wonder exactly what the preparation process
is like. Others may have no intention of ever competing in
a bodybuilding contest but they may be interested in the type
of diet to follow to lose bodyfat and obtain that coveted
"ripped" physique. Still others may be curious on how to design
a training program that will add inches of thickness and size
to their physiques without having to resort to using anabolic
steroids or other performance enhancing drugs.
One thing I can promise as I detail my Training Diary on a
daily basis is that I will be brutally honest! I will tell
you exactly what I eat each day including how many calories,
how many grams of protein, carbs and fat, and the different
supplements I consume. I will also tell you what exercises
I am using, how many sets I am doing and how much weight I
am using each set.
You may be surprised at how much or how little cardio it takes
to get ripped. You may be shocked at the amount of meals you
need to eat while losing as much subcutaneous bodyfat as possible.
You will also probably cringe at the dramatic photos of me
training all-out to look my best come competition time. Everything
detailed in this Training Diary is going to 100% accurate
and you will witness every week what it takes to compete on
a bodybuilding stage.
This is a special year for me because it is my comeback year.
I am out to prove to everyone, including myself, that I have
what it takes to come back from a serious injury. I tore my
bicep tendon off the bone in a freak accident at work last
year ONE WEEK before I was scheduled to compete in the Natural
Mr. Universe contest in Las Vegas. I had trained for that
show (as well as the Natural Olympia) for 10 months and had
dieted for the previous 16 weeks when the injury occured.
It was a very long recovery process after I had the surgery
to reattach the torn tendon. I had my arm in a cast for 6
weeks and I really didn't begin training with any substantial
weight until almost 5 months from the initial accident. I
had never taken a layoff from my training for this long and
I obviously lost some valuable muscle tissue while simultaneously
gaining bodyfat after it was all over.
I was less than 220 pounds when I finally was able to go back
to the gym. After a few months of heavy-duty training, I was
up to 240 pounds. Realizing I would need the extra time to
lose the excess bodyfat I had acquired, I decided to diet
for a full 20 weeks before my competition. What you will witness
is my preparation for the big event during the last 15 weeks.
You will see a dramatic change to my physique as I lose bodyfat
and sharpen up my muscles for the battle onstage.
My last bodybuilding contest was in 1998 when I won the Natural
Olympia in Greece. I weighed a very ripped 204 pounds that
evening and I am looking to duplicate that appearance this
year. I imagine that I will compete between 205-210 pounds
this year but the judges don't really care what I weigh and
neither do I. My goal is to comeback this year in Grand Style
the same way Kevin Levrone came back from a pec tear to win
the Arnold Classic in 1994.
I will be aiming to step onstage on November 3rd with a physique
that is ripped but still full and thick. Everything I do in
my training and diet will be done with those goals in mind.
I will lose the bodyfat very slowly and deliberately while
still training heavy and hard and working the muscles through
their full range of motion.
I hope you'll join me for the journey as I work toward getting
back to the physique I had last year. Follow me on my "Comeback
Odyssey" and enjoy the ride!!
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