Mmm, PCP!

Here's a short and sweet post-cheat posing video from 10 weeks out--gotta love that half-time carb-up!  I debated on whether or not I should even post this video--not because I don't look awesome, but because there's so many things going on in the background.  I especially hesitated because of those RIDICULOUS one-arm t-bar rows.  Honestly, I just didn't want to embarrass that poor guy on YouTube.  Hope it isn't too distracting, and no, t-bar rows should NEVER EVER be done like that.

Super 8

12 weeks out you guys!  Monthly recap, ready go!  And please pardon my brevity, I'm kind of running on empty here.

First Four: Recap

It goes without saying that the beginning of a diet is always going to be the easiest: you're not super hungry yet, results come faster since your metabolism is high, and your deficit is probably pretty mild.  The first four weeks of this prep were no exception.  I skated through them with a carb decrease of a mere few grams, no cardio, and yet still managed to make significant improvements.  Here's the recap!

Bodybuilding v. Physique

Female bodybuilding has long been an issue of contention within the bodybuilding community.  Public opinion has varied throughout the years, but in general, it's kind of a niche market.  Female bodybuilding peaked in popularity in the late 80's, and since then, division after division has been introduced in an effort to get us to tone it down and try something else.  So far, none of these new additions have worked.  At all.  Female bodybuilders are bigger, harder, and more determined than ever--but that shit doesn't put asses in the seats now does it?  The recent introduction of the Physique division is the latest attempt to shoehorn muscle girls into something smaller and more "appropriate."  Here's a breakdown of the two divisions and the drama that surrounds them.

Open Season

Well, it's 20 weeks until the Nevada State Championships and that means it's time to start my diet.  My most recent prep went really well overall, so I'm not going to change my approach in any drastic ways this time.  The primary alteration will be the duration of the diet--for my last show I only had 12 weeks by the time I decided to compete and it just wasn't long enough at the pace I was going.  An additional 8 weeks should be enough to really bring a dialed in package this time around. Here's my jumping off point for the first few weeks.

Back 2 Basics

For the last few weeks I've been trying something a little different with my training.  I've changed up my split a bit and I'm now using a five day rotation, where shoulders are trained with chest and biceps, hamstrings are trained with quadriceps, and triceps are trained with back.  This split also includes two full rest days, and the increased recovery between training sessions has really paid off.  This type of grouping in the split minimizes shoulder and elbow stress, as those bodyparts with overlapping stress zones have generally been grouped together, or on opposite ends of the rotation.  I'm also sort of going back to basics with this recent change, and really trying to perfect some of the more traditional compound movements that I've neglected in the past.  For example: decline bench, traditional squats, one-arm row, and even french press.  Time to dust off those old favorites!

Benchmark I

So far, this has been my best off-season by a long shot.  Hard instead of soft, ripple-y instead of smooth: it's fantastic!  But it's time to start thinking about my next competition, and when your cutting phase is going to be a grueling 5 month sojourn, it's important to start the building phase much, much earlier than that.

The plan:

From now until my prep starts in late February/early March, I will be following a primarily high fat-low protein-moderate carb approach.  I find this yields the best results in terms of both muscular hypertrophy and fat elimination.  My current intake (calculated based on my macro profile, not including trace amounts or random overages) is right around 1,900 calories.  When all is said and done, it is probably closer to 2,000.  And yes, I do get pretty hungry between meals--a planned weekly or every-ten-days cheat meal is normally included.  Some weeks, my training partner and I go out to breakfast, others it's as little as a few hundred extra calories.  At this point, whatever gives me the feeling of not being ultra-depleted from week to week is sufficient to keep me going.

Macro-nutrient profile: 25/15/15 (carbs/fat/protein respectively)

Current weight: 154

Following this, I will be doing a 20 week prep for the 2013 USA Championships in Las Vegas (late July).  You might be thinking, "Girl, you are not going to be competitive on a national stage that soon," and you might be right.  But if I can qualify for it in late spring, it's only another six or eight weeks to the USA's, and at that point, you might as well, amirite?

"Starting point" posing vid:

Posing for ME

I am having so much fun with this whole YouTube thing.

It's all zoomed out and stuff and my upper body is cold (Jordan!), but apparently Rick thinks I look great...and that I'm posing for him :)

I'm planning on qualifying for and competing at the USA's in Vegas in 64 weeks.  Thoughts?

Blueprints: Summer 2012

Starting in mid April or early May I'm changing everything up!  Time to hit 170 and get peeled :)  Here's my plan:

Up the intensity:

Remember that post I did about doing one crazy thing in each workout?  Well, turns out that doing that one thing doesn't work very well with my twice a week training style LOL.  So in a few weeks (like seven or eight), I'm going to drop the second workout, go back to a stricter HIT approach, and add the crazy stuff.  Since I will be training each bodypart only once per week, I will be able to apply progressive resistance more effectively and increase my poundages more frequently as well (hopefully).

Up the calories:

In order to increase my intensity as described above, I'm going to have to increase my caloric intake too.  I'm pretty much on cruise control right now and because I've been making improvements, I am going to stick with my current intake for another 7-8 weeks in order to drop a little more bodyfat before I start trying to grow again.  When I do start "bulking," my first move will be adding a few grams of protein and maybe 5 grams of fat to each meal.  As I've said many times, fat is more conducive to growth and fat burning than carbohydrates.  In my personal experience, adding carbs in the off season almost always results in unwanted fat gain.  Personally, the growth associated with massive carb overdose is not worth the fat gain that comes with it--you end up losing a lot of that "bonus" mass when you are forced to diet away the "bonus" fat.

Start doing aerobics:
I know what you're thinking: Jazzercise in neon spandex leotards and scrunch socks--I wish!  Unfortunately I'll probably just be grinding out 20 minutes on the elliptical machine or 20 minutes of jogging after work--dressed normally :(  Because of the simultaneous increase in calories, I should be able to do cardio without negative growth effects.  On the contrary, evidence showing cardiovascular exercise to be a significant influence on skeletal muscle growth is certainly out there.  The cardio should also help keep me it tight while I "bulk."

Start looking at comps:
The future of female bodybuilding is in no way secure.  Unfortunately, because of the general public's perception of female muscularity, new categories have been repeatedly introduced in attempts to feminize and "tone down" bodybuilding and more recently, replace it.  Don't get me started on figure and bikini :/  At any rate, female bodybuilding might not exist anymore by the time I want to compete again--at least not at the smaller events.  My perfect plan was to compete at the Nevada State in Reno in early June and continue my prep for another 8 weeks and compete at the USA National competition in Las Vegas in late July.  The Nevada State did not offer female bodybuilding this year, so I may have to find another qualifier.  But the general plan is still to hit a national stage in 2013.

Benchmark pics coming soon!