 |
| Image 1: Adelfo's trip to Vegas did not end up just as bad, but it still had some CSI-ish elements ;-) |
"The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly"
If you’ve ever seen the movie, that’s pretty much how I you could sum up the events in Vegas. As wild, and fun as it was, it also got pretty ugly towards the end. Someone broke into our hotel room early Sunday morning while everyone was still out and ... no, not training, but partying ;-) And when we finally came back to the hotel at around 7 am, we were so intoxicated that we didn't even realize that we got robbed. Only after we all got some shut eye, and woke up a couple hours later as we started packing our stuff to check out, one of my boys realized that someone must have had opened his bag and after had taken his iPod.
 |
| Image 2: Would you steal a Laptop from this guy? |
I could care less about my laptop, materialistic things can be replaced, but there was a lot "in" that laptop that had a lot of sentimental value to me… well, I guess this is a case of "another one of life’s lessons learned". And if there is anything that I have learned since my spinal cord injury, it is that you can't cry too long over spilled milk. You got to stop thinking about problems and begin to work on solutions. In my case this does unfortunately mean that I have to start all over again, while trying to recover as much information as I can from the last backup I have (about 50% of the data), Facebook, personal and professional email transactions and obviously my blog, here at the SuppVersity. If I am lucky I will thusly be able to recover 75% of what I have lost... and most importantly: I able to find was the "before pictures" I took, when I first started my prep...
Vodka, Tequilla and only 8 weeks to go!
A pros pos prep! Just 8 more weeks to go to the big day. My big day at the Wheelchair Nationals in Palm Beach, Florida, and I know what you are thinking now: "8 weeks out and this idiot heads to Vegas and gets so hammered that he doesn't even realize he has been robbed? What kind of bodybuilder is that?" I guess the best answer I can give you would be: "One who is passionate about training, but does not live to train, but trains to live!" And, at least judged by my latest pictures, the weekend with Vodka and Tequila Sunrise instead of protein shakes does not seem to have hampered my progress at all - wouldn't you agree (and remember contrary to political elections, bodybuilding contests are not won by the guy with wit the nicest smile ;-).?
 |
| Image 3: The Monday after… Not bad for someone whose diet consisted mostly of Vodka and tequila sunrise cocktails during his feeding hours! And since I have a brand new laptop now too. The picture resolution is a lot better ;-) |
Getting back from Vegas and back on track
The Monday after I decided to go on a strict veggies and protein only diet for the next couple of days. I pounded a lot of water, to rid whatever excess water I may have retained during the weekend (although I honestly did not see any) and then reintroduced my post workout carbs on Wednesday night after the workout. It didn’t really hit me how close my show is and that 8 weeks is not that long, so I started playing with my caloric intake and macros again while trying to update everything on my new laptop. When I was reasoning about the macronutrient ratios, I realized how much of a difference the reintroduction of carbohydrates had made in terms of the way I looked and the intensity with which I trained.
When you are getting into the single-digit body-fat realm, small dietary (or supplement) changes often make a big difference.
For me the ~100g of carbs make me feel much fuller and tighter. The increase in glycogen content goes hand in hand with an increase in vascularity and my muscles look overall much grainer. At the same time, I know I have to keep gradually dropping my calories to lean out, if I want to be beyond shredded by show time. I will therefore start to cycle my calories between 1500 kcal to 1200 kcal - with the higher, 1500 kcal intake on workout days, and the lower 1200 kcal on non-training days.
 |
| Table 1: Energy intake and macronutrient composition on workout days; * trace carbs, # starchy carbs & fruit. |
65g of starch carbs is all it takes to let make muscle pop
"Only 65g of starchy carbs?" Is probably something the carboholics out there are just asking themselves!? For me it is plenty to get me full and satisfied. The cucumbers and zucchinis will then do their share to fill up my tummy, while the carbs from the potatoes find their way right into the bellies of my muscle, so that I can even feel the muscle contractions pop, when I flex! An unexpected yet very appreciated side effect, by the way, is that along with increased vascularity, even the excess skin that I can pull in my lower abs magically disappears when the muscle beneath it gets its share of the glucose that is floating through my veins.
 |
| Table 2: Energy intake and macronutrient composition on non-training days. |
 |
| Image 4: Vince Gironda, the Iron Guru |
When adaptation occurs, stagnation begins
Obviously, my training will have to complement what I am doing diet-wise and thusly I have revisited the results from the 5x5 routine I have been following as of late and decided that it may be about time to switch to a higher volume / rep range program for some time. Aside from the higher rep ranges I have been using on a few auxiliary exercises, I stuck to the 5-6 rep range for the whole contest prep. And although it has worked fine for now, I start to notice that both the escalating density training (EDT, cf. "Things Begin to Escalate"), as well as the 5x5 training don't feel as intense or tiring as they used to. I have gotten stronger, my stamina has increased and my body has adapted... and while adaptation means progress, it will entail stagnation, whenever you fail to provide new stimuli to which your body will have to adapt. For me, an increase in training volume will hopefully do just that. I will yet still have to figure out how I can make sure that the intensity of my training sessions does not suffer from that. So, in essence, I will try to lift as heavy as I can, but with 8-12, instead of 5-6 reps. The exact training schedule is yet still in the works, but I will have it nailed down before next week.
Just wanted to let everyone know: My Facebook page is always open to anyone who has questions or needs pointers or advice on anything! Don't be shy, I won't charge you ;-)
So, with all my pictures and recipes being on the laptop that was stolen from my room in Vegas, the promise that I will address my revised higher rep, higher volume training regimen in next week's installment of my weekly contest prep blog, here at the SuppVersity, is the only thing I have in store for you this week.