| Monday, July 30, 2001
The countdown begins! There
are 14 weeks to go until the Natural Olympia competition
to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii. I was psyched up to get
to the gym today after checking out the photos from the
NPC USA Championships on the IRONMAN Magazine website (www.ironmanmagazine.com).
As usual, the competitors in this event were in awesome
shape and that inspired me even more to get to the gym and
get going.
Unfortunately, today was
not a good day. I trained my legs pretty heavy last Thursday
with full Squats and Hack Squats. My legs were super sore
yesterday when I was getting ready to go to the gym and
I ended up pulling or straining my upper-inner thigh (right
by the hamstring). I went to the gym anyways but I didn't
get too far into my back workout before pulling it again.
I limped out of the gym and was planning on going to the
gym again today. The thigh was still pulled so I decided
to play it smart and stay out of the gym one more day.
I went to a massage therapist
today to help with the recuperation process and loosen up
these tight muscles of mine. The massage therapist I went
to today, Suzi, really concentrated on my problem areas,
especially the inner thigh muscle that I pulled yesterday.
She also worked pretty hard on my lower back, glutes and
mid-back. Suzi said the tendons in my left shoulder were
tight so she beat the hell out of this area! Believe it
or not, I did feel better after the massage was over though.
I kept the calories sort
of low today since I wasn't able to engage in any type of
workout. I ate my normal diet of 6 meals, eating approximately
every 3 hours in order to keep feeding the muscles with
the protein and calories it needs to prevent muscle catabolism.
Here is what is ate today:
Meal 1 - 1
egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup oatmeal, 3/4 cup blueberries, 1/2
cup pineapple juice.
Meal 2 - Protein
Drink (2 cups water, 2 servings Profusion protein
powder, 120 grams banana, 1 T. flaxseed oil).
Meal 3 - 4
oz. extra lean turkey breast, 3/4 cup brown rice, 4 T. salsa,
1 cup Health Valley 14 garden vegetable soup.
Meal 4 - Protein
Drink (2 cups water, Muscle Meals meal replacement,
110 grams banana), 1/2 cup oat bran, 3/4 cup blueberries.
Meal 5 - Protein
Drink (2 cups water, 2 serving Profusion protein
powder, 120 grams banana).
Meal 6 - 6
oz. salmon, 3 T. salsa, 40 grams whole wheat pasta, 1 teaspoon
Butterbuds, vegetable salad, 2 T. Italian Lite dressing.
This diet comes out to 2819
calories, 271 grams of protein, 302.5 grams of carbs and
62 grams of fat. The breakdown for today is 38% protein,
43% carbs and 20% fat. As the contest gets closer, my protein
and carb percentages will be very close to being equal as
I increase the protein and slightly decrease the carbs.
My bodyweight at this time
is about 228 pounds. I have been dieting for 6 weeks now
and I've lost about 12 pounds from my beginning weight of
240 pounds. I gained lots of bodyfat during my layoff that
I was forced to take after having surgery to reattach my
bicep tendon last fall. I decided to start my pre-contest
diet 20 weeks out from the contest this year instead of
my normal 16 weeks of dieting. I knew I would need the extra
4 weeks to get rid of all this excess bodyfat.
Hopefully, I'll be able to
get back to my normal training routine again tomorrow. I'm
chomping at the bit to get back into the groove so I can
develop the physique I know I'm capable of.
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