IN PURSUIT OF VICTORY:

(WEEK  3)  Sunday,  9/07/2003:

170lbs.  Cardio:  11 sessions this week, 600 calories per session.  I've lost a pound this week.  My energy levels are fair, at best.  I'm beginning to feel a little bit drained, but hanging tough.  My nutrition stayed the same this week, and I've tightened up a pound.  I feel I'm close, but I've still got work to do.  3 weeks left to do it. 

     Nutrition:  protein, 300gms; carbs: h-300gms, l-60gms.  This week, I'll drop my low carb day by 20 grams, and add 1 or 2 more cardio sessions, because I'm still relatively "full".  As I flatten out, my body will suck that final bit of fat for fuel.

    Training:  I'll add a few more drop sets at the tail end of each bodypart, squeeze sets, to force the details into the muscles, but otherwise no change.  The weights continue to be heavy, strict form, squeeze all reps, focusing on the feel; avoiding injury continues to be a a priority at this point.  I'll resume my hard posing, 20 minutes each night, which will also help to bring out the details.  It's getting closer to show time!

(WEEK  2)  Sunday,  9/14/2003:

170lbs.  I'm getting leaner, but my weight has stabilized.  Even though I haven't dropped, I can see I'm tightening up.  I will continue on the same regimen this week, and see how my body responds after my next carb cycle.  I'll do 3 low days in a row, at this point:  Yesteday (sat, 9/13), today (sun. 9/14) and tomorrow (mon. 9/15) will be 3 good fat-burning days of 60 grams of carbs each day.  

     After yesterday's balls out leg workout (my last leg day until after the show), and an hour of boogie-boarding last night for cardio, my body feels pretty drained, and I am depleted looking already...I'll be careful (entering the red zone, where catabolism is knocking on the door); but I'll suck it up to achieve a leaner condition than the Team U.  As long as my "real job" as a nurse doesn't beat the crap out of me this week, I will be good to go with the stringent diet plan.  Gotta focus on resting as much as possible, when not in the gym or hitting the fat-burning mode.

Nutrition:  protein, 300gms; carbs: h-300gms, l-60gms.  I continue to cycle my carbs, high day will be Tuesday this week..  Then I will do another 3 low days.  I'll consult with Derik to get his opinion and guidance for these last critical days.  My last high day should be Saturday, which will be perfect, as I'll begin my final cycle as a depletion for the show. 

     Our last 2 leg workouts, by the way, have been killer!   With Derik setting the pace (he's dieting too, for a guest-posing soon) and Garrett coming back from his injury, and my carb level being where it has been, we all put on our game faces for our last Saturday morning sessions. 

     I know that much of this journal has become the story of my leg training, and it's not to say that we don't kick the crap out of everything else...but, there is definitely something special about our quad/hams blasting!  WORLD's gym, Pacific Beach ROCKS every Saturday morning - from 7:30 am till around 9:00, the energy in the air is so tangible, you could scoop it up and mix it in your protein drink!

Stay tuned!

(WEEK  1)  Saturday,  9/20/2003:

169-170lbs.  I'm still tightening up, slowly.  My energy has been pretty low.  The last 3 days, I've dropped my carbs to 30 grams per day, to tighten up that last little bit.  Today, I'll eat my last high carb day, and begin my depletion tomorrow. 

Nutrition:  Proten:  300grams; carbs: h - 300 grams, l - 30 grams. 

Training:  My normal rest day is sunday.  I'll stick to my usual pattern, taking sunday off from weight training, hitting instead my last cardio sessions.  For this show, unlike the Team U. when I did cardio until Tuesday, I will give my legs more rest to let them empty out and loosen up to improve their separation.   I'll continue to train my bodyparts as scheduled, chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, and then delts and traps on Wed. morning.  

Hard posing will take the place of cardio this week.  I'll do 2 sessions each day.

It's the last lap of the race!  Gotta nail it!

I've got a photo shoot this week, more on that soon!

Here we go!

(WEEK  0)  Monday,  9/22/2003:

171lbs.  I carbed up good on Saturday, 350 grams of carbs, sunday, began my depletion, dropping to 100 grams of carbs, before 3 days of 60 grams.  I stopped my cardio yesterday, to let my legs empty out for better separation.  Today, quads are beginning to loosen up.

     I am still feeling a bit run down.  I've got some junk in my sinuses, possibly from all the boogie boarding I've been doing lately.  Chalk it up to a long contest season.  I've been dieting since the Arnold!  Condition looks good.  I'm not flattening out yet, but I feel low carb already... this is going to be a rough couple of days!  I'll stick it out.  pounded through a good chest workout; a bit slow, but got a decent pump, then repped to burn out the glycogen.  We'll see how it goes!

(WEEK  0)  Thursday,  9/25/2003:

171lbs.  I made it through the depletion.  This morning, I'm flat, depleted looking.  I can barely get out of bed today; my head is aching, and my nose is runny - flu?  sinusitis?  or just run down from this long pre-contest?  My lats and traps ache.  Thank goodness I get carbs today!!  The mirror tells me I'm on track, though.

     My skin continues to thin out, and it's loose on my deflated muscles.   I begin my carb up today.  I'll go slowly, 50-60 grams per meal, and keep eating slowly, while I back my water down to 3/4 gallon.  I'll push the carbs in slowly but steadily, checking the mirror after each meal; I'll keep eating until my body holds the fullness between meals.

Check in tomorrow!

(WEEK  0)  Friday,  9/26/2003:

174lbs.  Pushed the carbs hard yesterday, no spill over.  I got in 520 grams by bed time, taking in 10 meals; protein dropped to 200 grams.  This morning, I'm hard and dry.  Legs are separated well.  Hams and glutes are tight.  Triceps are striated.  I'm full, muscles round.  Now, I've just got to hold onto these carbs, and continue to dry out. 

     I've got a photo shoot in L.A. today;  I'll see how bad I'll be sweating in the car on the long drive north, and adjust my water intake if I need to.  Also, if I'm posing a ton during the shoot, burning up carbs, I'll increase my carbs a bit also, to take into account the glycogen used up during the posing. 

     I'm heavy today, I'm not sure exactly why.  I don't look watery.  It might be the slight flu I've been fighting all week, causing me to hold.  Still feeling run down, with a stuffy nose, but, it's almost over; gotta hang in there. 

We'll see tomorrow!

Saturday,  9/27/2003: - NPC BORDER STATES

 Pete as a lightheavyweight!

SHOWTIME!! 

Crazy story!  I woke up, weighed myself on my own scale, I weighed 176lbs!  I gained another 3lbs since yesterday!? 

     Well, I ended up taking in about 400 grams of carbs yesterday.  I was still feeling run down today.  I drank about 1/4 gallon of water yesterday, most of it on the ride home from L.A. around 1pm - it was a hot afternoon, and the sun was cookin' on the freeway...I was sweatin' my last drop in the car.

     This morning, weighing 176lbs on my bathroom scale, I ate a very small breakfast at 6:30am.  3 oz of steak, and a few bites of white potato.  I figured, better to be safe than sorry, I could eat after making weight.  When I stepped on the scale at the show, I weighed 180lbs!  I was given a chance to reweigh, so I ran out to my car, turned up the heat, and sweat for about 45 minutes...I stepped back onto the scale at the last minute, "late check-in."  I had lost 2 1/2lbs, down to 177.5lbs, but it wasn't enough to make middleweights!

I would have to compete as a light-heavy!!!  I was going to be the smallest light-heavyweight in history!!

     It ended up turning out well.  The extra water I dropped did my physique a world of good.  I was tight, full and round - holding in my glutes, but not fat, just a little bit watery.  But, my upper body was very tight.  My condition and shape was good enough to carry me to 3rd place out of 13 competitors.  The judges worked us good during prejudging - I had a blast this show!

     This being a local show for me, there were a ton of people from my gym in the audience.  There were some of my co-workers, Andrea, my brother and his girl, and lots of people from the gym in attendance.  We all had a blast!

More pictures to follow! 

Sunday, 10/12/03

     OK, back into off-season  GROW-MODE!   After a week to rest, and regroup from a productive contest season, it's time to go back to the drawing board to plan the assault on next year's contests! 

     I took a few days to relax and cheat on my diet a bit - I maintained my eating schedule, with a few cheats worked in, through last week, answering my cravings as they called.  I've tried to keep my junk consumption under control; I've gained only about 10lbs post-contest this year, which is much better than I've done in the past. 

     This week, I'm back on schedule, continuing with an off-season version of my pre-contest carbohydrate cycle.  Protein will be a solid 350 grams per day; carbs will cycle between 180grams on low days, 320 on medium days, and 460-480 on high days.  Fats will continue to be incidental in the foods I eat.  I will methodically increase my nutrients to support intense training and growth; the goal is to rev up my metabolic furnace to allow extra nutritional intake.  I'll incorporate more beef into my diet at this point in the off-season.  At least 4 times per week, I'll try to add some red meat to my meals. 

I'll have an updated version of my current diet plan soon.

Stay tuned!    

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