It was a great experience and it was my first time competing. I was lucky enough to be able to take Nancy’s posing classes leading up to the NE and she is just a wonderful lady with tons of knowledge. It was also great because you get to know some of the competitors before the show. It was awesome taking part in such a big show and I am very glad I did it. It seemed a little disorganized at times, but considering how much stuff was going on it is understandable. During my novice prejudging they really worked us and kept us out there for a while. I got the signal from friends in the audience that my tan had run all over my stomach and was making the abs blurry and to wipe it off and looked like a goon for a few brief moments. I’m following the NE up with Fulton’s in Ct on the 9th and I feel much more sure of the process and got to work all the bugs out.
Looks like you had a good experience Stu, a victory in itself. Looking forward to updates and pics of the show!
Don’t be a tease like I was, lol!
How’d it go?
You look great, Stu!
That little dude in the photo with you has an upper chest reminiscent of Franco!
I just got all the results…I will let Stu reveal his though! some pictures are up already, the prejudging and stuff will be on the site below once they get put up.
I haven’t gotten to see any of the pro pics from the show, but from what I saw from friends and family’s cameras, I was definitely outsized. Not merely in terms of muscle, but this show really reenforced for me my actual structure. One of my brothers pointed out that some of the Lightweight Pros were the same height as I am, which is something I wouldn’t really think about.
It’s not that I was a short heavyweight, but my frame can only carry so much muscle, especially (and this may seem odd to some), due to the dense nature of my physique. You will see other competitors weighing the same as I do, and yet they will take up much more space. Certainly someone with a more science-y background can explain the nature of this, but I’ve always just heard about how ‘dense’ my physique looks, which is something I never really gave any thought to.
I knew going out onstage that the outcome wasn’t going to be good, but ending up at the very far end of the stage, where I had heard all morning about the poor lighting, really gave me a bad feeling. The top four were definite standouts, but I still held slight hopes of maybe inching past a few of the other guys based on sheer conditioning. I had been told all morning how tight and dry I looked backstage (very different lighting I might add), which was my general goal, knowing I’d end up in the heavy class.
Once out there though, me and from what I’ve been told the guys on the other end of the lineup weren’t moved. Obviously I knew this was a sign that I wasn’t in the running for a position (expected), but to be honest, and I’m not whining, or complaining or anything with this, I would have liked at least a chance to be viewed under the lights at the other end of the stage, or even next to the other guys at the lower half of the class.
After the prejudging, a few different people told me I was possibly 5th if they awarded conditioning, but we all know that you can never count on the judges to agree with anyone in the audience -lol. Despite my obvious let down at feeling like I worked for 20 weeks and didn’t even get acknowledged by the judging panel, I honestly feel pretty damn good.
I always looked at Lee Labrada as the consummate pro BBer. In an old interview, he said that once he realized that he would never beat Haney due to structural issues, he decided to focus solely on improving himself each year. I know full well that I won’t be able to pack on another 10-15 lbs of muscle during my Pro competitive career. However, I do think that I can continue adding 2-3 lbs on the scale each year as I have been doing, while also improving my conditioning, and hopefully improving my proportions.
If anything, this show has really fired me up. Usually people resume eating normally right after a contest, feeling like they’ve “earned it”. Their weight jumps 10-15 lbs over the weekend, eventually settling a bit, but always a negative effect. I enjoyed myself Saturday and Sunday, but was back in the gym last night. This morning, I weighed a mere 180 lbs. I’m sure that a good amount of that is still water and glycogen.
My plan is to stick to a strict diet, with a cheat or two each week (usually on weekends) for social meals with friends and family. I have also retooled my training split to focus on a few areas that while I have made improvements the last few years, definitely need stepping up. I’ll get more into my alterations in another post.
Without a doubt I stepped up my game from 2011. I had cuts in my upper quads and striations in my lower back much further out than ever before, and I know I can be even better. Lots of work left to do. Let’s go!
S
“Let’s go”
“Fired me up”
I am loving your positive outlook. I will enjoy continuing to follow your offseason. I know you will continue to make improvements.
Hell yeah Stu, thats what I’m talking about. From the couple of pictures I saw the competition was quite fierce, and I believe you have the right outlook of competing against yourself every year. 2-3 poounds of muscle, half a pound less of fat… wash, rinse, and repeat.
Cant wait to see the photos if you think this comp was your best one yet.
Are you still planning on doing the show later this year?
and finally a stage shot,… not the best angle to see my torso, but you can see (I hope!) how dry my legs looked under the right lighting.
Great work Stu- Looked amazing and really enjoyed the write ups. I think I speak for a ton of guys here when I say it’s extremely inspiring the standard of these guys (including yourself!). I’m glad your planning to carry on competing and improving for the foreseeable future!
Great write up stu.
Any epic food on those two days?
As usual, I’m going to try to throw every option, or consideration out there as I go through my recomp phase here (not a full blown bulk, but not trying to stay contest lean either).
I’ve mentioned before that Cat n I will be getting married this August 4th. After which, we’re talking about a nice 10-14 day honeymoon, hopefully in Hawaii if we can swing it. This translates into:
8 weeks (until wedding)
2 weeks (wedding and honeymoon, training? Maybe?! Diet?! not likely)
10 weeks (until the 2012 WNBF World Championships in Atlantic City)
Cat’s been handling all of the wedding planning, and with some ‘real life’ issues getting in the way, she’s barely been training at all. Last night, she jokingly suggested how we could both do “2 a days” throughout July, her getting in shape for the wedding, and me, making sure I’m in the best possible condition before possibly taking off 2 weeks.
If this turns out to be a serious option, it would be the first time I’ve ever just committed myself to making quality gains in every way possible for a month straight. I’d have to retool my diet, locking down twice daily peri-workout supps and nutrition, as well as minimizing fat gain in the process. Obviously I wouldn’t be doing any cardio during this time, but I doubt I would need any if everything else falls into place.
Just throwing that out. I’ll outline more of what I’ve got planned split wise, and a few new ideas I’m throwing into the mix when I’ve got a bit more time (typing quick as I run to teach a class!)
Should be an interesting ride (it always it -lol)
S
Now THIS is going to be fun.
Make the week before the honey moon hellish and then come back BETTER than before. Classic over reaching technique.
Very interested to see how you set up your two a day split. Please share when you have time
Yeah, that’s going to be interesting. What I’m presently doing won’t simply allow me to double up with the same rotation due to hitting certain muscles too frequently.
Currently, I’ve got a 6 day rotation, with 2 days focusing on chest (specifically lower), and 2 days focusing on legs (specifically quads). Additionally, I’m going to try and thicken my abs, which have always been a bit shallow, although I tried to avoid them getting too bulking for fear of making my waist look even blockier than it naturally is.
The present split looks like this:
Chest I + Gastrocnemius
Back + Biceps
Legs I + Abs
Chest II + Soleus
Delts + Traps + Triceps
Legs II + Abs
If I need a day off for my sanity, of to take care of ‘real life’ issues, I won’t sweat it. When it comes to the actual exercises, I realize that doubling the frequency of chest and leg days can open up the door to the many past injuries I’ve dealt with. I’ve preplanned what I’d like to do, although I can’t guarantee that it’s what will always happen (aches and pains, and overcrowded gyms may throw a few monkey wrenches).
The plans for chest and leg work will specifically try to not aggravate my past left elbow issues which stemmed from excessive heavy pressing, as well as taking into consideration my past lower back injury, by not squatting twice each rotation.
Chest Day I:
Low Decline DB Flyes (focusing on bottom 2/3 ROM to target outer, lower pecs)
Low Decline DB Presses
Flat DB Presses
Low Incline DB Presses
+Straight leg calf work
Chest Day II:
Low Decline DB Flyes (focusing on bottom 2/3 ROM to target outer, lower pecs)
Cable Crossovers
Incline Cable Crossovers
Incline BB Presses
+Seated calf work
Leg Day I:
Extensions
Walking DB Lunges
Hack Squats (focus on outer sweep)
DB Stiff Leg Deads
Seated Leg Curls
+Weighted ab work
Leg Day II:
Front Squats (low rep, narrow stance)
Back Squats (high rep, wider stance)
Single Leg Hamstring Curls
Seated Leg Curls
+Weighted ab work
Everything else (back, delts, arms) is going to be back to basics, changing the usual over analytical, targeted, often pre-exhaust approach that I’ve adopted in recent years (which admittedly has served me very well as a ‘sculptor’ onstage).
S
So the feedback I received from the judges via email amounted to ‘You looked really good, but it was just a very tough class. More size and more conditioning to place higher.’
Certainly nothing I wasn’t surprised to hear, but in looking at the pics, I realize that it’s not that I was lacking in the size or conditioning dept as a whole, but that I am lacking size in certain areas to myself.
When viewed next to better structured (and better developed) athletes, this makes the areas of my physique that are unbalanced seem more so. My lower chest still suffers in the front relaxed pose (which is the first impression the judges get of each competitor), and my hip bones were without a doubt, the widest onstage.
My quads wouldn’t look bad compared to a few of the other Pros if I had narrower hips either.
This realization actually sits pretty well with me. I’ve suffered the mental knowledge of my weak areas for a while now, doing my best to improve each year. Now, I find myself at the WNBF pro level, where the continual line is to ‘improve upon yourself each successive year’. Well, this does make it a lot easier now. I’m not chasing other Pros so much as I’m truly, despite already saying this many times since I’ve stepped onstage, chasing myself.
My buddy Dave tried to snap pics throughout the day, and while a lot of them came out blurry, the few that weren’t too bad actually look a hell of a lot better than the discolored shots taken by the shows’ hired Photographer (most shots taken in transitions between poses, some have my arm cut off at the edge of the image, really just amateurish stuff).
Here’s a few of the ones that weren’t too blurry. Hopefully they give some idea of the size and conditioning I had on Game Day. For the record (again), I honestly believe that I’ve improved since '11, and I plan on stepping it up again this November as well!
(I was under the squat bar this morning at 8am for my 2nd leg workout in 4 days. All the while chanting “it’ll go down differently next time!”)
S
