13 Weeks Out
Hello! Happy 2016!
I had a great holiday season. I got to spend some quality time with my family in Albuquerque, and it was one of my best holidays yet. It just feels so nice to be "home" with loved ones. :)
Currently 13 weeks out from my 1st NPC show of the season, and 15 weeks out from my WNBF pro debut. It's been 3 weeks since I started prep, and things are going well.
Training is set at 5 days/week. This is a happy frequency in the gym for me as it allows me to feel fully recovered without feeling bored to death on my rest days. My 2 rest days are completely off -- no training and no cardio -- and I plan on keeping it this way as long as I comfortably can. (Meaning as long as I don't find myself with too much cardio to comfortably do on any one single "on" day.)
My cardio has been variable since starting prep. I did none during my improvement season, 450 cals during the 1st week of prep, 0 cals during the 2nd week of prep (as I was visiting my family and enjoying life), and 500 cals last week. Somewhere in there is a happy medium. I have yet to feel like I'm overwhelmed or dreading it. I've been keeping my sessions short and sweet, around 100-200 cal burn, which takes me about 20-30 minutes. I've been doing a lot of circuits and barbell complexes, and have yet to do a "formal" cardio session like on a piece of cardio equipment. I'd like to see how long I can keep this up. ;) I also want to mention that this is all steady state cardio. I do love a good rush from HIIT, but it absolutely wipes me out, and I'm experimenting to see if my recovery (and therefore performance) is better optimized with moderate to lower intensity cardio.
As I mentioned previously, one of the reasons why I had started prep a bit earlier was to experiment with a cyclical dieting approach. I'm currently doing 2 high calorie days, 3 medium calorie days, and 2 low calorie days (on my rest days). So far I am loving this approach.
Starting prep, my weight was around 113 lbs, with a scale high of 114 lbs. I'm currently around 110 lbs, with a scale low of 109.6 lbs yesterday. Reflecting on last year's prep, I'm ahead of schedule, mentally stronger, and physically stronger. I can tell I'm getting very excited as my thoughts keep drifting to things like suit colors and stage makeup. :)
Cheers to another week being able to do what feeds my soul. :)
I had a great holiday season. I got to spend some quality time with my family in Albuquerque, and it was one of my best holidays yet. It just feels so nice to be "home" with loved ones. :)
Currently 13 weeks out from my 1st NPC show of the season, and 15 weeks out from my WNBF pro debut. It's been 3 weeks since I started prep, and things are going well.
Training is set at 5 days/week. This is a happy frequency in the gym for me as it allows me to feel fully recovered without feeling bored to death on my rest days. My 2 rest days are completely off -- no training and no cardio -- and I plan on keeping it this way as long as I comfortably can. (Meaning as long as I don't find myself with too much cardio to comfortably do on any one single "on" day.)
My cardio has been variable since starting prep. I did none during my improvement season, 450 cals during the 1st week of prep, 0 cals during the 2nd week of prep (as I was visiting my family and enjoying life), and 500 cals last week. Somewhere in there is a happy medium. I have yet to feel like I'm overwhelmed or dreading it. I've been keeping my sessions short and sweet, around 100-200 cal burn, which takes me about 20-30 minutes. I've been doing a lot of circuits and barbell complexes, and have yet to do a "formal" cardio session like on a piece of cardio equipment. I'd like to see how long I can keep this up. ;) I also want to mention that this is all steady state cardio. I do love a good rush from HIIT, but it absolutely wipes me out, and I'm experimenting to see if my recovery (and therefore performance) is better optimized with moderate to lower intensity cardio.
As I mentioned previously, one of the reasons why I had started prep a bit earlier was to experiment with a cyclical dieting approach. I'm currently doing 2 high calorie days, 3 medium calorie days, and 2 low calorie days (on my rest days). So far I am loving this approach.
Starting prep, my weight was around 113 lbs, with a scale high of 114 lbs. I'm currently around 110 lbs, with a scale low of 109.6 lbs yesterday. Reflecting on last year's prep, I'm ahead of schedule, mentally stronger, and physically stronger. I can tell I'm getting very excited as my thoughts keep drifting to things like suit colors and stage makeup. :)
Cheers to another week being able to do what feeds my soul. :)
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