Saturday will mark 6 weeks out for me and I'm feeling terrible. I'm tired all day, even after 8-10 hours of sleep, and it's a chore to keep my eyes open after 7PM. I'm lethargic at work and barely have any energy to train when I get home. I've been finding it harder and harder to go to the gym and even harder to complete my workout once I'm there. My mind is working at about 50% and my memory is completely shot (lots of blank stares and 'huhs?').

My current Beverly diet has me on no starchy carbs except my twice weekly carb up meal, and calorically, I'm taking in around 1850 calories. My current weight is around 170 lbs and I'm guessing my bf to be around 7-8%. My cardio is 4 mornings a week for 20-30 minutes.

I'm VERY VERY happy with my progress and think I look as good, if not better, at 6 weeks out than I did on the stage for my last competition. I just don't know how I'll get through the next 6 weeks. I'm not worried about the diet (even though I know it will get worse), I'm worried about not being able to get up and go to the gym. I have no energy to work on my posing or my routine and it's only going to get worse.

Any advice/experiences from you veterans out there? I can't believe anyone can go through this more than once a year!

Thanks!

Congrats on the great progress and attaining better conditioning at six weeks out than the previous year! For me that is what this sport is all about - improving from one year to the next.

What is your exact daily carb intake? Everyone needs some carbs, even if it is only 50g a day. No or near zero carbs for an extended period of time will tend to make you lethargic. Lets see what your current plan looks like. You may need to address that with your BI advisor.

Now having said that - if you are not miserable, tired and hungry at six weeks out you are not going to be lean enough come contest day. So it sounds like you are on track to attain a very good level of conditioning.

A few things that might help: Start taking extra BCAA's and glutamine between every meal. I mix mine in a BI shaker with crushed ice and water, one or two scoops of glutamine select plus another 5-10g of bulk BCAA powder. That between meal drink seems to take the edge off and gives me a little lift all day long.

Are you taking lean out and energy reserve yet? If not when you start with those they will also help boost your energy levels a little. Another good "tool" is black coffee. I probably drink three times as much coffee in the last 6 weeks before a show as I do the rest of the year. Don't go overboard with it, but three or four 8 oz cups a day spread out will not harm you and will give you another boost also revving up your metabolism a bit. If you are not a black cofee drinker it may take a few days to adjust to the taste, but you will.

In many regards this become mind over matter. When you feel lethargic and not in the mood to get in a solid workout think about what the other competitors are doing that day. Are they sitting in thier easy chair or are they hitting it hard? You know what the answer is for the people who will place high in the contest.

The motivation to keep going even when you don't feel like it comes from your willingness to be persistent and committed to meeting your personal goals. You will survive - we all do. If you keep on keepin on you will feel great about the effort that you put forth. If you slack off, you will kick yourself later for not hanging in there and doing your best.

And to add a personal note, I don't buy into the fact that some competitors will slack off on what I call thier daily chores around the house. This might not apply to you, but if it does I would encourage you to also meet your obligations in that area. Not doing so leads to criticism (rightfully so) from friends or family members. The way I see it if you are tough enough to be a BBer you are certainly tough enough to handle your other daily routine.

It is not easy, but it is so worth it when in the end you can honestly tell yourself that you did your best to be your best. Not enough people do that in this world anymore.

Again, congratulations on your accomplishments thus far - it sounds like you are going to do very well at your competition. Don't worry too much about posing practice until the last three or four weeks and especially the final two weeks. Get some expert advice in that area if you can - good posing can and does make a big difference in how you will place.

Keep slugging away Cree and listen to the MadDog he's got good advice
Gregg

Thanks for the motivating words. I'm really hoping that I can keep it together for the next six weeks so that I can step on stage in the best possible shape.

quote:

What is your exact daily carb intake? Everyone needs some carbs, even if it is only 50g a day. No or near zero carbs for an extended period of time will tend to make you lethargic. Lets see what your current plan looks like. You may need to address that with your BI advisor.

The only carbs I'm consuming on a daily basis are 1 whole grapfruit in the morning (~27 grams carbs) and about 2 cups of brocooli spread out throughout the day. Up until 2 weeks ago, I was eating 1/2 cup oats in the morning and 2/3 cup of rice in the afternoon (around 60 grams of carbs total) and felt great.

quote:

Are you taking lean out and energy reserve yet? If not when you start with those they will also help boost your energy levels a little. Another good "tool" is black coffee. I probably drink three times as much coffee in the last 6 weeks before a show as I do the rest of the year. Don't go overboard with it, but three or four 8 oz cups a day spread out will not harm you and will give you another boost also revving up your metabolism a bit. If you are not a black cofee drinker it may take a few days to adjust to the taste, but you will.

I'm taking 2 Lean Out with each meal, but I haven't started the Lean Out/Energy Reserve combo yet. That will probably be coming this week. As for coffee -- I'm drinking it in the morning and will probably try drinking it later in the day. Your Glutamine Select/BCAA powder idea sounds interesting.

quote:

And to add a personal note, I don't buy into the fact that some competitors will slack off on what I call thier daily chores around the house. This might not apply to you, but if it does I would encourage you to also meet your obligations in that area. Not doing so leads to criticism (rightfully so) from friends or family members. The way I see it if you are tough enough to be a BBer you are certainly tough enough to handle your other daily routine.

I haven't been slacking on my chores -- my mind is so shot that Idon't even realize that it's trash day or that it's my turn to buy toilet paper! Fortunately, my roommates are forgiving.

I would suggest talking to your BI advisor, let them know that you are really feeling the low carbs mentally. At six weeks out you should be able to add the 1/2 cup oatmeal back in for meal #1 and not have it negatively impact your fat loss very much. A small amount of carbs early in the day is mostly used as energy during the day. You may need to cut them back out at the 3 week point, but it would be a good experiment for you to see if adding them back in makes a difference for you mentally. You could also split up the grapefruit into 1/2 for two meals spreading those carbs out a little bit if you are eating the whole thing at one meal now. That won't impact your diet but might level out your insulin and blood glucose levels just a bit.

Good luck and post some pics when you have the opportunity. A good comparison might be you at your last show, you now and then you six weeks from now.

Cree how are you doing? Give us an update? YOu are about 4 weeks out now - hope everything is going well!!!!

Gregg

Cree, I can give you a little advice on this one. I have been competing for over 11 years and if there is one thing I've been known for is my conditioning and the fact i'm allways shredded. I can look back on all my shows and tell you I've pretty much felt the same way even worse. That to me is the seceret, having the self discapline to overcome that weakness. Stay extremely focused and dig down deep. I consider each contest prep. a war, fight it hard that is the differance between a champion and an average bodybuilder. Good luck, hope this helped a little.