Iplan's Peak Week thread ~~~ It's Peak Week!

Training
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So… yesterday I was 15 days out from my contest, OCB’s Carolina Classic on August 2nd. Unfortunately today, it was confirmed that the contest has been cancelled, and my only option is to compete a week earlier (as we’re headed to the Hamptons August 3rd) than scheduled.

So, as of tonight, I’ve got my work cut out for me, as I’m now just 7 days out from my contest date.

Background: I’ll be 47 years old in September. After my first contest experience last year, I hired a coach.

I’ve been using Allen Cress ~ and it has gone well. In the off season, I bulked to 213 lbs, and I have cut back down to 190 (as of this morning) ~ a painless cut under Allen’s guidance BTW.

As to weight, 190 lbs is 8 lbs more I weighed at the weigh in for my contest last year (for which I was not lean enough). When the week is over, I hope that with this year’s muscle growth, and professional Peak Week Prep, I’ll be able to come into the contest offering a better package than last year ~ even though I am competing under circumstances that are less than ideal.

Allen did not make any promises as to whether I would be ready a week ahead of schedule or not… he just said, “It’ll be close. We’ll do everything we can.”

I figured I’d start a log, and put up some (last year vs. this year pics to give you an idea for my off season progress), and to document what will be my first “coached up” Peak Week. If it turns out that I’m not ready, I guess I can pass on the contest, and just treat it as a “dry run” ~ and begin preparing for next season.

Regarding Peak Week: One thing I already know I missed out on last year was the water…I wasn’t drinking nearly enough. Tomorrow I begin taking in 2.5 gallons per day on Allen’s orders. That’s 20 lbs of water per day!!!

I’ve been working on my posing a little bit, but not as much as I should have been (thinking I had an additional week to get things dialed in). Pics to follow later.

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Sorry for the poor lighting ~ this is from tonight…

I go back and forth with the “chest high” vs. “abs tight” version of this pose…

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And this was 7/17/13 (366 days from last night)…Progress has been made! I actually can NOT wait for this off season.

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Same pose ~ a year later…

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Definitely made some nice gains since your last contestan! To be honest though, I wouldn’t be expecting anything too fancy or any miracles from the peak week. You aren’t at the level of leanness where any type of manipulation or depletion/carb load will have a dramatic difference. My guess is that Allen will just keep dieting you all week and then a refeed on Friday.

Don’t let the cancellation of your originally scheduled show affect you mentally; you would’ve been in about the same boat even with another week before peak week. You would’ve needed another 6-8 weeks at least in my opinion if your goal was to bring true contest ready conditioning. That being said, don’t even consider dropping out of the show after all the hard work you’ve done to get to this point.

That would be a huge mistake. It’s all about bringing a better package to the stage each time you compete, and there’s no doubt you’ll be beating last year’s version of yourself

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You’ve clearly made some great progress, well done

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[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
Definitely made some nice gains since your last contestan! To be honest though, I wouldn’t be expecting anything too fancy or any miracles from the peak week. You aren’t at the level of leanness where any type of manipulation or depletion/carb load will have a dramatic difference. My guess is that Allen will just keep dieting you all week and then a refeed on Friday.

Don’t let the cancellation of your originally scheduled show affect you mentally; you would’ve been in about the same boat even with another week before peak week. You would’ve needed another 6-8 weeks at least in my opinion if your goal was to bring true contest ready conditioning. That being said, don’t even consider dropping out of the show after all the hard work you’ve done to get to this point.

That would be a huge mistake. It’s all about bringing a better package to the stage each time you compete, and there’s no doubt you’ll be beating last year’s version of yourself[/quote]

I think where I got behind was my update pictures… the pictures were taken at night, and the lighting in the garage was poor, and was demonstrating and illusion of fitness that wasn’t there…

Then I finally took a set of pics during the day, and knew I was in trouble ~ as the next post was “5 days of cardio 50 min per day!” ~~~ lol

I’ve gotta say that it’s all a learning process, and you learn through the mistakes ~ as in everything else.

The toughest part of the prep for me last year was the diet, and that is a non issue. The diet is working like a charm, and I lose 2 lbs per week like clockwork. I just needed a recomp period around January or I should have started the diet clock sooner ~ but it was “growing season” so it was a difficult decision to make.

So the strategy for this Satuday: Allen has me doing a “carb count down” approach

  • Tues- 125g
  • Wed- 100g
  • Thurs- 100g
  • Friday- 75g
  • Saturday- 25g per meal

Other fronts ~ the original contest (next Saturday, 2 August) may indeed go forward. If it does, I’ll compete (assuming my wife didn’t adjust my airline ticket to leave for vacation a day sooner).

Last item: In my posing pics from this morning, there looks to be (on very close inspection) the faintest beginning of a Christmas Tree on the rear lat spread. I hope to see that on my own back one day.

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[quote]lemony2j wrote:
You’ve clearly made some great progress, well done[/quote]

Thanks lemony2j!

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So, the contest in my home town is back “on!” ~~~~

This being the case, I am not doing the contest this weekend in Macon, GA. So this is NOT Peak Week afterall.

The cost of competing in the out of town contest was going to be $250 with the hotel reservations ~ not to mention the gas money for the 7 hour round trip drive. So, the plan is to pass on the opportunity to compete this weekend, and stay local next weekend. This gives me another week to get into better condition, and put the $250 in my pocket…

My weight continues to drift down (188 this morning).

As to workouts: My back was really stiff yesterday (Tuesday), and it was Back Day ~~~~ I thought about doing something… anything, but the back was just not ‘right’ ~ ) if you’ve ever had disk problems you know what I’m referring to). so I just did my low intensity cardio (walking), and practiced posing a little bit.

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Nice little surprise, and I hear you on the costs of traveling to a contest. I competed out of state a bunch of times when I started out, and the added costs of transportation, hotels, gotta take care of tickets for anyone who comes along… it just really adds up quickly.

Also, I would think that if the show was almost cancelled, there’s probably a lower turnout, so that always has its advantages too. Smaller shows have much less of an intimidating feel, where newer competitors can get overwhelmed and just lost in the shuffle.

Careful with the back. I used to get a little tweaky when I was really lean. My DPT brother figrued it always went back to an old Strongman injury, and when the added ‘padding’ dieted away, I would become more succeptible to aches and pains in the area.

You’re looking much much better this time out, so a little intelligent backing off (low intensity cardio if you’re not up to anything more difficult) isn’t a bad thing.

Best of luck.

S