this is kind of a personal photo…probably for SAMA but you can see her obliques, she has a hell of a vacuum pose, she digs old school stuff
this is kind of a personal photo…probably for SAMA but you can see her obliques, she has a hell of a vacuum pose, she digs old school stuff
last one i promise…shows are one from the back…her lat spread blocks out the sun…game over. sad she has wider clavicles than my narrow ass!! wide back + tiny waist = win
SORRY FOR JAMMING UP YOUR AWESOME THREAD STU… WOULDN’T HAVE DONE SO W/OUT YOUR PERMISSION
think of it as an intermission to your thread, think it needed some women pics anyways 
thanks for the input T-Nation…as you can likely tell, i’m wicked proud of her, in fact upon/around show time i an going to propose after our brief 12yr courtship!!!
[quote]cyruseven75 wrote:
NOT HIJACKING STU"S SHIT** actually if it is an issue please anyone reading PM me w/ comments/answers/ideas/links, can post here but would like Stu’s approval.
- color- she is bone white, see through white, ghost white. cannot base tan, she will be in the hospital. that said we are going to use jan tana via the advice of Pauline Nordin, she is following an outline of her diet as well w/ modifications.
when to start coating, how many coats…my guess based on other friends use is at least 8 coats!!! coat shower coat shower coat shower day three cut showers. a few face coats? coat then hairdryer? day of show no coat just touch ups, fresh coats cover details yes/no? sponge brush legs upward? and or rubber gloves use hands to pat on too? [/quote]
My usual approach is 3 coats of ProTan before Saturday, and then 1 coat of DreamTan before the prejudging. Assuming that the Jan Tana is similar to the Protan, and that it actually dyes your skin a bit, darkening as it remains on, you might not need so many applications. It all depends on the showering aspect. As I keep all my base coats done on one day (Friday), I avoid showering (never really understood why people did this), and basically dedicate the whole day to the procedure (while carbing up). My last shower/full body shave is done Thursday night, always making use of a Loofa (laugh all you want -lol) and exfoliating scrub to improve the tan ‘taking’ to my skin, and hopefully avoid any irritation or break outs.
I’ve heard of people using a hair dryer as well, but with the alcohol in the different products, it does dry pretty quickly (keep a window open,… trust me!). As far as actually applying it, I’ll say that the usual sponge/brush included doesn’t do a great job. Better choices would be a larger kitchen sink sponge, or even just using a sock. Be very attentive to streaking though, it’s always better to get a lighter EVEN coating than a darker streaky one. You’ll be going over it multiple times anyway.
If you make use of Dreamtan the day of the show, note that it never fully dries. I know, pretty nasty stuff, but looks good under very bright stage lights. For that you’ll want rubber gloves because you have to ‘slap’ it on. If you try rubbing it, it looks like finger paint, just horrible. It’s always damn funny backstage at a show to hear all the slapping going on.
[quote]
she is very sensitive to foods/reactive GI…means to diminish bloat the day of the show? e.g. and additionally carb up when in relationship to going on stage, what about during the day of the show, first show i do not want her passing out/falling over but do what her to be at her best. [/quote]
To avoid bloat, I always completely cut out my fibrous veggies a few days out. As I’m already carb depleting that weak, it’s basically emptying me out pretty good. If you choose a similar approach, then mon-thurs shouldn’t be a problem. As far as her carb up, it’s all about keeping simple sugars coming in. When I start my carb up (Friday), I always use fruit for the first couple of feedings. Once my liver glycogen is filled, I can start on my muscles inflating… rice, sweet potatoes, candy (heavy sugar candy, not a fan of fat which will slow things down in digestion), Finibars (ParagonA eats about 15-20 of 'em when he carbs up! - lol)
I don’t go crazy with salt. I think it’s just asking for problems. Firstly, you need salt for muscle contractions, so cutting it out early is just stupid and will negatively affect your training. As I use a decent amount of sodium containing condiments to spice up my bland diet foods (as well as sugar free gum and diet soda), I just ensure that I drop them out 2-3 days before the show. Nothing crazy.
Sounds good.
I tried a band myself once, but snapped the damn thing and almost took my eye out. Just bring a pair of light dumbells. Seriously, I have a pair of 10 pounders. I know, it sounds ridiculously light, but that’s really all you need to get some blood going. Besides, you know how much of a pain in the ass having two 10 lb DBs in your gym bag is?!
[quote]
she is cycling carbs currently, bumping up a bit during day or days of the week depending on how she looks. she is a vegetarian who eats eggs so proteins are coming from whey, egg whites (tons), and Quorn a veggie patty which is a bacteria based protein w/ whey and egg. as the show gets nearer it will be hard to cut whey because of the variables previously mentioned but does it have to go? [/quote]
I know a lot of people talk about dropping out shakes because of the thermic effect of whole food, or about gas from too much whey in the gut. Obviously you have to play with the variables you’ve got. If you think they Whey will be an issue, then just stick with the eggs.
Some people have suggested that eggs have a high sodium content (I never actually checked this myself), but I actually have scrambled egg whites as my protein source with the majority of my meals the day before a show. At that point, my stomach has basically shrunk, and the last thing I really care about it eating protein, so the easy digestibility of the eggs just sits well with me.
Cool, cool, good luck! Hope my answers were helpful.
S
Stu, thank you for being so kind and straight forward with your answers. we have a team of folks who will be “helping” w/ little details, but primarily we are doing it on our own, so THANK YOU.
I’ll check back in on your thread and hope your prep continues to flow smoothly. I read through the thread + the lion’s share of your others previously and again. inspirational and very informative.
Keep that elbow and forearm in good working order, stay blessed brother! i’m down from 220 to 208lbs but just basking in all this contest prep stuff makes me feel tubby stepping on stage, dieting down, restriction…it’s a whole different animal.
OKay,… I know I haven’t been to good with the weekly pics this time around. I’ve been counting on my brother to come out each week and take our progress pics together, and things just keep getting in the way (damn ‘real’ life). Anyway, I picked up a Flip-Camera this past weekend, and had a chance to try it out tonight. Stupidly, after dinner, as I was getting ready to jump in a shower, I caught my reflection in the mirror and thought I looked pretty thick (after a nice bloating dinner of lots of green veggies and diet soda, I noticed the stomach on myself after I filmed it), so I busted out the new toy. As per my usual approach of sharing it all during a prep,… here you go… bloody vultures -lol.
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
My usual approach is 3 coats of ProTan before Saturday, and then 1 coat of DreamTan before the prejudging. Assuming that the Jan Tana is similar to the Protan, and that it actually dyes your skin a bit, darkening as it remains on, you might not need so many applications. It all depends on the showering aspect. As I keep all my base coats done on one day (Friday), I avoid showering (never really understood why people did this), and basically dedicate the whole day to the procedure (while carbing up). My last shower/full body shave is done Thursday night, always making use of a Loofa (laugh all you want -lol) and exfoliating scrub to improve the tan ‘taking’ to my skin, and hopefully avoid any irritation or break outs.
S[/quote]
Stu, if you’re applying base coats and carbing up on Friday, do you usually take that day off from work before the comp?
Yeah, it’s really been the only way I can decompress mentally while allowing my body to soak up carbs. A stressed body (whether mental, or even too much eccentric exercise) will not make the best of the super compensation effect when carbs are reintroduced following a glycogen depletion (that’s why you limit negative work that last week!) Also, it’s much easier to sit around wearing nothing but a single sock (you can figure it out) in between sessions of my girl painting me with pro-tan
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Yeah, it’s really been the only way I can decompress mentally while allowing my body to soak up carbs. A stressed body (whether mental, or even too much eccentric exercise) will not make the best of the super compensation effect when carbs are reintroduced following a glycogen depletion (that’s why you limit negative work that last week!) Also, it’s much easier to sit around wearing nothing but a single sock (you can figure it out) in between sessions of my girl painting me with pro-tan
S[/quote]
Hey, if it’s just you and your girl, why wear the sock? lol
Lmao, hey bro, when standing around in your birthday suit, constantly being painted with an alcohol based liquid, you get pretty cold pretty quickly!
S
Damn, my weight’s been all over the place this week! From last Saturday it’s been like this:
186.6, 185.5, 190, 187, and then this morning back at 186.8 lbs.
Damn water, sodium, glycogen and fiber messing with my head! -lol This is probably the most difficult part of a prep, the mental games your body plays with you.
S
You’re looking seriously impressive already in that video Stu, don’t let your head get to you! 
Stu as you know I’m working on a contest where I need to put together the full package and am trying to figure out my carb up/water manipulation. Assuming I need to take photos in the afternoon on this coming Wednesday, I was thinking of something like this:
Fruit for my first meal, higher carb/lower fat meals throughout the day totaling up to around 300g carbs. Water intake cut off at around 5 PM or so. This would be around 24-25 hours until I take some pictures and would have a meal or two on Wednesday with carbs being based on how I’m looking. Vegetable glycerine doing the same way you suggested earlier and probably an epsom salt bath on Tuesday night.
Think this would work well or should I delay the stoppage of water intake later on so it’s more of around 18 hours or so without water?
[quote]LiquidMercury wrote:
Think this would work well or should I delay the stoppage of water intake later on so it’s more of around 18 hours or so without water?[/quote]
Oh geez man, that would seriously dehydrate you to the point of headaches and dizziness. Remember that your body will ‘catch on’ after a while and you’ll lose the temporary effect of dropping water in the first place. I usually drop mine around 5pm the day before an 11:00 am prejudging, and then afterwards, I’ll actually take a few sips here and there (or chew gum) to keep myself conscious -lol. Once your body readjusts, water will come from your muscles (which are made of a lot more water than most people realize!) to spread around to the rest of your now very thirsty body, leaving you very flat. This is why most competitors will do it for the prejudging, but then have small amounts througout the day as they need.
If you’re not taking pics until the afternoon on Wednesday, you could probably get away with pounding as much water as you can get down right up until you go to bed Tuesday night.
S
Okay! 8 Weeks from today -lol. Weighed in this morning at 184.8, so things are moving along despite my mental frustrations with scale numbers. I trained at a different gym today, so I felt a little ‘off’ trying to get my usual exercises in (had to switch things up a bit), but still positive overall.
My brother has been having some fairly bad shoulder issues the last couple of days. He had actually torn both labrums over a year ago, and had the ‘worse’ one repaired last Spring (I’d been supervising his training and nutrition since, and the size he’s put on considering is very impressive), and knew that he’d eventually have to go in for the other. We’re not sure if he tore through the scarring that had built up, or what, but he got an MRI done last night, and is in a sling for the weekend. We’ve already had our little ‘pow-wow’ to replan his split, and see what we can do to train around a bum shoulder for the next 5 weeks (remember, he’s in a diff show than I am). Obviously we’re both confident in getting him across the finish line, he’s got enough size, and the conditioning is slowly coming in, so this should be lots of fun.
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Oh geez man, that would seriously dehydrate you to the point of headaches and dizziness. Remember that your body will ‘catch on’ after a while and you’ll lose the temporary effect of dropping water in the first place. I usually drop mine around 5pm the day before an 11:00 am prejudging, and then afterwards, I’ll actually take a few sips here and there (or chew gum) to keep myself conscious -lol. Once your body readjusts, water will come from your muscles (which are made of a lot more water than most people realize!) to spread around to the rest of your now very thirsty body, leaving you very flat. This is why most competitors will do it for the prejudging, but then have small amounts througout the day as they need.
If you’re not taking pics until the afternoon on Wednesday, you could probably get away with pounding as much water as you can get down right up until you go to bed Tuesday night.
S[/quote]
Thanks! Since I’ll be delaying cutting water out until the day of i.e. wednesday would you recommend I start my carb up also wednesday morning instead of the day before? Thanks again for all the input.
You could start Tuesday afternoon, and take things as they come. People will try to plan their carb ups down to the gram, but towards the end, it really is an hour by hour assessment for some.
S
Ok thanks again Stu. You can also disregard my PM.
Ah,… based on the PM, you won’t start snapping pics till around 6:30/7:00 or so (pm), so just try to get a good two carb feedings in Tuesday night, and play Wednesday by ear every few hours. The fact that you’ll have a lot of water still coming in when you get your first carb-load meals will help with the uptake
S
Just a cameraphone pic a friend of mine snapped the other night at the gym as I was hitting delts (and you can also see another buddy in the BG hitting his own shot to counter mine -lol)
S
Cool pic, Stu! Triceps look pretty impressive in this pose, round and full.
Hey by the way, after almost 5800 posts, 9 years of T-Nation “membership”, a won pro card and a couple of highly valuable and informative threads with tons of information, one can really say: you are one passionate fellow bodybuilder! A true paragon of your sport and life style. Hey, I’d gladly pass you my nickname, think you’d deserve it much more
Cheers and thank you for sharing! PA