First Bodybuilding Show. April 2012

Training
401

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
Any idea how high your cals will be in this gaining phase?[/quote]

Whatever they need to be.

I make adjustments every week or so based on two main things:

  1. Am I able to make progress in the gym?
  2. Is the scale going up?

#1 is the most important, obviously, if progress is an issue on a bulk than I am really messing up. Either I am under feeding if I can’t progress on barbell movements or I am getting fat if I start to struggle on bodyweight movements.

As long as #1 is in order, than I like to see 0.75 to 1.0 pound gain per week or so. If performance is good and the scale is constant, then I will bump up calories to try and get it nudging up.

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
What the macro breakdown will be?[/quote]

The macro breakdown will change because protein will be relatively constant, I figure you only need so much protein, after that base amount, increases in calories will come from fat and carbs.

I’m not scared of either, lol. I’ve taken both up pretty high like when I was on the tail end of my bulk I was over 200 grams of fat and nearly 600 grams of carbs.

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
Eating sytle any different by that i mean pulse feasting/IF or just normal meals?[/quote]

I like IF for two reasons:

  1. I believe it really helps with nutrient partitioning.
  2. Plus, I REALLY enjoy training on an empty stomach. I used to get nauseous from grueling squat workouts, but never since switching to IF.

That said, I do believe there is some efficacy to eating more meals for the sole purpose of being able to squeeze in more total calories for the day. Of course, you put that idea to shame with your ability to jam in 5k calories in like three hours!

So if I am having trouble putting on mass, I will consider eating breakfast to get in more total food. But for now, I’m sticking with IF.

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
You going to push your BW past your last high?[/quote]

We shall see, I think so, but I am also going to really watch my grocery bill. I don’t want to make my family go broke just so I can break past 202 (my previous high).

Plus, I may not need to go past 202 if I can maintain a decent level of leanness.

402

RAVENOUS HUNGER

In today’s Training Lab:

[quote]
John Schlecht: While I didn’t drive to Arby’s and eat 20 sandwiches, like someone we all know very well :slight_smile: I did house 12 rice cakes, a lot of cashew butter and a huge bowl of rice puffs with almond milk…probably around 150 carbs (was at 300 for the day heading into that meal)…so 450 for the day

Christian Thibaudeau: @ John… funny, I did the same thing yesterday… while I’m not contest dieting, I am training a lot more and turns out that I was underconsuming food and I just had a ‘‘survival eating fest’’ yesterday

John Schlecht: @CT—Yes. I have noticed more so than in the past training like this, that signal from the body to eat more. In the past it was a “survival” feeling, now it’s more like a “Performance Refuel” signal. No cravings for junk like in the past, just more of the performance foods I’m already eating. I first noticed this when taking Indigo the first time around. Those junk cravings haven’t come back at all. Pretty cool.

Christian Thibaudeau: @ John… yep, I noticed the same thing. It’s not the same as junk cravings (which I think is a combination of lowered serotonin, low blood glucose levels and psychological factors). And oddly enough when it happens and I do consume a ton of food I do not get a bloated or full feeling… normally when I had a cheat meal I would feel like I was 8 months pregnant[/quote]

I basically am have the exact same experience, combined with the POST CONTEST REBOUND, my body is RAVENOUS and handling tons of nutrients.

I posted yesterday that my diet breakdown was looking like this:

Calories, Fat, Carbs, Protein
3754, 111, 485, 204

An increase in roughly 1000 calories and 200g carbs from the week before the contest.

Well, I was so hungry the past few nights, that I decided to bump it up today.

Currently at:

Calories, Fat, Carbs, Protein
4091, 113, 558, 210

My weight as of this morning was still under my weight before I depleted (173 vs. 174), so it can’t hurt to bump it up right now. If the weight starts to come on to quick I can always dial it back.

But I figure, if I am training hard and my body is telling me to eat, I better give it fuel, and Post Contest is a great time to do it since my body’s primed to rebound right now.

ACTUAL PICTURES COMING

I am in the process of buying some pictures from the bodybuilding contest and will likely update with a couple actual JPEG’s since all I have been able to do at this point is post hyperlinks.

However, until then, if you haven’t checked out the pictures yet, then just check out this one, it’s my favorite

http://hotshotsimages.smugmug.com/ViewandPurchasePhotos/Upcoming-Event3/20102633_hrDV5T#!i=1809072048&k=RF6X69D&lb=1&s=X3

I will likely not be updating too much from here out since this was a contest thread and I probably won’t compete for a couple years.

But by all means, if anyone has questions, please post away, I will answer them.

403

HERE IS THE WINNER OF THE SHOW, REFLECTING ON PREJUDGING

He mentions me at 2:18 to 2:35 and at 3:28 to 3:49. I was his main threat due to my leanness.

He definitely had 20 pounds on me as he mentioned in the second clip which definitely made the difference in the show.

He was a nice guy and truly deserved the victory.

404

^ Thanks for posting that! Shows what sort of guy you are that you will happily post his video up too. It’s great to see how much mass natty freaks can maintain, inspirational for you going forward I’m sure, as well as many guys like me wanting to compete in the future.

405

[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
^ Thanks for posting that! Shows what sort of guy you are that you will happily post his video up too. It’s great to see how much mass natty freaks can maintain, inspirational for you going forward I’m sure, as well as many guys like me wanting to compete in the future. [/quote]

No problem, it’s partly selfish though, I thought it was cool that the only guy he was really worried about was me. : )

But the video does give readers of this thread an idea of what I was competing against. I was just happy to be up on stage and take second.

I won’t be happy with second next time though.

406

[quote]timmcbride00 wrote:
No problem, it partly selfish though, I thought it was cool that the only guy he was really worried about was me. : )

But the video does give readers of this thread an idea of what I was competing against. I was just happy to be up on stage and take second.

I won’t be happy with second next time though.[/quote]

Yeah it’s very cool, proves you really know what your doing that you were the best conditioned and took second… when I eventually compete I hope for a similar success story!

407

I like da pizza in the video. I hope he ate the whole thing. He sucks if he didnt lol

So you just have to pack on 20lbs and you come in the same condition and you will slay everyone.

I hope you keep this updated Tim very good thread here.

408

@ Jake

I have no doubt you will have similar success!

@ Ryan

I am pretty sure he pounded the whole thing. He was talking about it earlier in the day, I think he was looking forward to it, lol.

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
So you just have to pack on 20lbs and you come in the same condition and you will slay everyone.
[/quote]

You make it sound so simple. : )

But yes, that is indeed the plan. However, to get 20 pounds of quality mass, we are talking some serious weight. It may involve several cycles of bulking/cutting.

I may try to include some updates from time to time since there is an interest. Thanks Ryan.

409

So I am doing some searching for future shows, looking at either doing the same show (NANBF Natural Mr. Pittsburgh) in 2014 or the OCB Natural Steel Championships in Pittsburgh, PA around September 2014.

I wanted to see what past winners of the show looked like. The winner of the Open Middle Weight Class at the 2011 OCB show took 4th in the Men’s Open Tall at the show I competed in. It made me feel even better about my second place.

2011 OCB results (scroll down for Open Middle Weight):
http://www.thenaturalmusclenetwork.com/ocb/Contests/ResultsOCB20110917PA.html

Here he is taking 4th at the NANBF show:
http://hotshotsimages.smugmug.com/ViewandPurchasePhotos/Upcoming-Event/20102606_W257Hk#!i=1810497292&k=tNJJpcr&lb=1&s=X3

Bodyweight averaged just under 173 this week. Gotta step up the food intake…or be less active, but that’s so hard to do.

410

[quote]timmcbride00 wrote:
So I am doing some searching for future shows, looking at either doing the same show (NANBF Natural Mr. Pittsburgh) in 2014 or the OCB Natural Steel Championships in Pittsburgh, PA around September 2014.

I wanted to see what past winners of the show looked like. The winner of the Open Middle Weight Class at the 2011 OCB show took 4th in the Men’s Open Tall at the show I competed in. It made me feel even better about my second place.

2011 OCB results (scroll down for Open Middle Weight):
http://www.thenaturalmusclenetwork.com/ocb/Contests/ResultsOCB20110917PA.html

Here he is taking 4th at the NANBF show:
http://hotshotsimages.smugmug.com/ViewandPurchasePhotos/Upcoming-Event/20102606_W257Hk#!i=1810497292&k=tNJJpcr&lb=1&s=X3

Bodyweight averaged just under 173 this week. Gotta step up the food intake…or be less active, but that’s so hard to do. [/quote]

Lots of those guys like 8 weeks out compared to you at your show… You were just SLICED at your show

411

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Lots of those guys like 8 weeks out compared to you at your show… You were just SLICED at your show[/quote]

Thanks Lonnie, I thought the same thing. I will check the results again this year, if the caliber is similar than I will rule that out as a potential show. I do not want to take a step backward next show in terms of the competition I will face.

Worked 2 midnight shifts recently (in 3 days on top of my day job), haven’t let it get in the way of my workouts though. But man, will I be ready to go to bed early tonight!

412

More food dont cut activity lol

413

Whats your main carb sources when you are eating 500 grams per day?

414

@ Ryan

I don’t want to cut activity, but I am considering an experiment where I keep my diet exactly the same and just do my barbell sessions. I am curious if I could start to gain if I did that, of course, that would change the partitioning of nutrients and I am not sure if I would like how I gain the weight.

So I might just stick with how things are for now, it’s not a sprint to be huge, definitely more of a marathon, so no rush.

I must say, it is pretty crazy what CT’s newer methods do for metabolism. During my mock contest prep, I finished my diet right around 2000 calories and I was able to start my bulk at just under 3000 calories.

However, this time around I was still losing weight on 3000 calories and I had to start my bulk at 4000 calories, (and my weight is holding steady), so where will it end? I was up to 6000 before, will I hit 7000?

I am not sure if I am prepared to do that, both in terms of my stomach and my wallet, which is why I am considering reducing activity, even though I believe in g-flux to the max.

@ Audiogarden

Mostly brown rice

340g brown rice
60g dextrose in the periworkout shake
50g white rice (starting to add it into my diet because it is cheaper, but I prefer the flavor of brown rice)
37g raisins

Small amounts of carbs from eggs, whey, peanuts, milk and veggies.

415

Tear it down Theory of muscle building VS. Send the proper signal

This is from early March 2012

[quote]timmcbride00 wrote:
In the LiveSpill the other day, CT wrote this:

Christian Thibaudeau: @ Jud… what I found is that the theory of training stating that you tear the body appart so that it is forced to rebuild itself stronger is erroneous. Inm reality, training is used to send a signal to the body which then initiate changes at the cellular level which lead to body comp modification. Tearing your body can accomplish this to some degree but you then spend so much energy just repairing the damage that progress is hard to accomplish. The REAL key is to send the proper signal

My thoughts

I thought what CT wrote was awesome. My own thoughts on what I am actually accomplishing with a training session began to shift once he introduced the HFS concept. I began to look at training as a chance to nutrient repartition. No need to completely destroy yourself, just give your body the signal to properly handle the nutrients you are taking in.
[/quote]

On this topic, I found this study (highlights are my own):

Skeletal muscle is a dynamic tissue that responds adaptively to both the nature and intensity of muscle use. This phenotypic plasticity ensures that muscle structure is linked to patterns of muscle use throughout the lifetime of an animal. The cascade of events that result in muscle restructuring - for example, in response to resistance exercise training - is often thought to be initiated by muscle damage. We designed this study to test the hypothesis that symptomatic (i.e. detectable) damage is a necessary precursor for muscle remodeling. Subjects were divided into two experimental populations: pre-trained (PT) and naive (NA). Demonstrable muscle damage was avoided in the PT group by a three-week gradual ‘ramp-up’ protocol. By contrast, the NA group was subjected to an initial damaging bout of exercise. Both groups participated in an eight-week high-force eccentric-cycle ergometry program (20 min, three times per week) designed to equate the total work done during training between the groups.

The NA group experienced signs of damage, absent in the PT group, as indicated by greater than five times higher levels of plasma creatine kinase (CK) and self-reporting of initial perceived soreness and exertion, yet muscle size and strength gains were not different for the two groups. RT-PCR analysis revealed similar increases in levels of the growth factor IGF-1Ea mRNA in both groups. Likewise, the significant (P<0.01) increases in mean cross-sectional area (and total muscle volume) were equal in both groups. Finally, strength increases were identical for both groups (PT=25% and NA=26% improvement).

The results of this study suggest that muscle rebuilding - for example, hypertrophy - can be initiated independent of any discernible damage to the muscle.

416

Progress not linear?

It has been 19 days since my contest. Here is how the first 16 days went:
Bodyweight ranging from 170 to 175

Average: 172.9

Here is the last 3 days:
Bodyweight was 177, 179, 178

Average: 178

No changes in my diet or training. I just started weighing in heavier. Well, I did make small increases in carbs/calories, but nothing huge compared to the huge initial jump I made the day following the show.

I wasn’t totally surprised by my weight being so stable post show. I expected my metabolism to rocket upward when I started consuming more carbs/calories. This was confirmed in an old spill by John Meadow’s

http://www.T-Nation.com/strength-training-topics/1393

But what about the sudden increase in weight?

CT in the spill from Tuesday:

http://www.T-Nation.com/strength-training-topics/1800

I don’t know what to think, it was practically overnight. I feel like I am a pretty objective observer of my appearance and I feel confident saying I am still crisp and still have glute detail at nearly an identical level to what I sported at my contest. So it’s not like I suddenly bloated up with water, a 5 pound increase overnight (if bloat) would be fairly visible.

Keep in mind, I am not complaining, I don’t mind if the scale weight shoots up as long as I am not blowing up like a whale. Thus, I do not plan on changing anything at this time, i.e. I am not going to suddenly decrease carbs out of fear that I am getting fat. Training and diet will remain the same unless I see obvious signs of too much fat being gained.

I love this sport and Iearning how the body works, and thus, I am really curious why I so suddenly started to weigh in heavier. Hopefully, my body is finally “catching up” to the previous 2 weeks of eating and training and I am getting a nice anabolic rebound from the contest diet, just a few weeks later than would be expected.

417

Finally got some pictures, this one is probably my favorite. It is from my night show.

418

Novice Prejudging - Rear Relaxed

419

Night Show - Rear Lat Spread

420

Before I post anymore, can anyone tell me if these are working?

All I see when I post the pictures is the T-Nation logo.