Hello everyone,

I'm in the process of preparing for my first contest... (4/3) sounds like most here are salty veterans of pre-contest prep.

I thought I might try to set up a pre-contest diary to let people know how I'm doing, but more importantly to keep myself accountable to you all. I'll post my caliper readings each time I get them taken (presently every couple weeks). Since I'll be posting the numbers, perhaps that'll give me greater motivation to stay clean, keep training, etc.

Here goes...

Date 12/10 1/12 1/23
Pec 4.5 4 3.5
Subscap. 16 12 12
Tri 9 9 7
Supral. 11 11 10
Abs 27.5 20 18
Quad 15 12 12

Subtotal 83 68 62.5

Calf 5 5 4
Kidney 24 17 14
Bi 3 3 3

Total 115 93 83.5

Weight 221 219 217

BF(%) 14.0 11.5 10.3

About 9.5 weeks to go. Not feeling too bad... my strength is dropping, but not drastically. Biggest change I'm noticing (besides tightening my belt) is that by 10:00pm I'm ready for bed, no ifs, ands or buts.

Thanks to Mark at Beverly for providing me a diet.

Tom

Tom,

Thats great progress, keep it up. Almost 4% drop and only lost 4lbs of total bodyweigth. You are definitely on the right track. Good luck and keep us posted for sure.

Jason Theobald

www.geocities.com/chezburger10/JASONTHEOBALDBIO.html

Good luck Tom! I'm always more concerned with appearance than any caliper readings - but they can show trends and progress if taken consistently.

As JT says - you are on the right track keep up the good work! If you can be where you want to be two weeks out that is ideal. Running down to the wire with trying to drop bf and/or weight the last week makes it tougher. If you are close to your desired weight and bf (mostly measured visually) at two weeks out you can concentrate on posing and the final weeks carb and water manipulation without the extra pressure of having to cut more. If your numbers are right you have been doing an excellent job of retaining lean body mass so far.

VA MadDog

Jason and VA MadDog,

Thanks for the positive feedback. I appreciate it. Regarding weight and caliper readings, I'm weighing myself on the same scale and having the same guy do the calipers each time, so my hope is that even if not totally accurate, they're consistent and thus the relative changes from week to week are pretty much correct.

MadDog, you're right, the appearance is what counts, and I'm still trying to get over my self-consciousness regarding posing in the mirror. Beverly gave me the Perfect Posing video, so I'm checking that out, and am beginning to add some posing to my weekly routine.

Thanks for the advice on being prepared a week or two prior to the show. It would be nice to be focusing on fewer things at crunch time. Mark is being helpful, and indicated that he'd alter my diet as needed, so hopefully that'll pan out.

Tom

Tom...I noticed that contest date, are you doing the Natural OH? I should be there as a spectator. Have you been to that show? It's a good one.

Keep up the good work!

Dwayne

Dwayne,

Thanks for the encouraging words. Yes, I'm doing the Natural OH in Lakewood on 4/3. I attended the show in October '03 where I saw you place in LHW. Got me motivated to get off my butt and get in shape!

I haven't gotten my NNN yet, so I haven't been able to check out your article. Lookin' forward to it. I do recall that you once posted a link to some pics that showed your "before" and "after." Pretty awesome.

One last thing... where can I find the post where you provided a link for video on pre-judging and pumping up techniques at the contest?

Tom

Hello everyone,

Got my updated measurements yesterday, and was not pleased. Seems to confirm what VA MadDog was saying about following progress in the mirror, and not worrying too much about the calipers. I dropped 3 pounds in weight, pants got a lot looser in the seat, and abs are coming in... but very little change in the calipers. What's up with that?

Anyways, here's the numbers from previous and the new ones.

Date 1/23 2/9
Pec 3.5 3.5
Subscap 12 11
Tricep 7 5
Suprail 10 10
Abs 18 18
Quads 12 11

subtotal 62.5 58.5

Calf 4 4
Kidney 14 12
Bicep 3 3

Total 83.5 77.5

Weight 217 214

BF% 10.3 9.7

Mark changed my diet to lower carbs with M/Th carb up meal for meal#6, and modified my supplements slightly. Still sticking with Ultra 40s, Mass Aminos and Synergy, and adding Lean Out, Energy Reserve and Mass BCAAs during workout.

A little frustrated, but keeping the faith.

Tom

Sounds like good progress to me! You sould be encouraged not dissatisfied. Adding in the leanout and energy reserve should help in fat utilization for energy. When I switch to LO and ER I normally use it with every meal, but that is only pre-contest towards the latter half of the prep period or during hardening weeks in a cyclical diet plan.

Appearance and how your clothes are fitting is a much better measure than calipers. Hang in there. If you remain dedicated to your nutrition plan your progress will continue. In a matter of weeks you can (and have) begun to see real changes, but it really takes a few months to see significant changes. It makes sense really. No one gets out of the shape they would prefer to be in in a matter of weeks - it is usually months or even years of mediocre eating and exercise habits that does that. Additionally it is EASY to gain extra weight (not muscle), your body is preprogrammed to do it - goes back to the early ages of scarce food and long periods of not eating - our bodies planned for that by storing extra food (body fat) so that when the table was bare we still survived.

Losing bf while retaining or gaining muscle is in many ways contradictory to our bodies natural processes so you really have to think about your plan and be dedicated to it. It is not difficult, but it is also not automatic like adding bf is. Makes the whole sport/fitness lifestyle more of a scientific experiment, manipulating the manner in which your body uses and stores nutritional intake plus creating an environment for adding muscle. It is all very interesting IMHO.

VA MadDog

VA MadDog,

Thanks for the encouragement. I appreciate it.

This will be my first time on the M/Th carb-up diet, so I'm interested to see how my body responds.

This process has been (and certainly will continue to be) a learning experience for me.

Tom

Hello everybody,

Got my measurements updated this morning, and am continuing to make progress... yeah! I'll be at 6 weeks out after this weekend.

Here's the details:

Date: 2/9 2/20
Pec 3.5 3
Subscapular 11 10
Tri 5 5
Suprailiac 10 9
Abdominals 18 14
Quads 11 10

Subtotal 58.5 51

Calf 4 4
Kidney 12 11
Bicep 3 2.5

Total 77.5 67.5

Weight: 214 210.5

BF% 9.7% 8.4%

The change in diet is helping, but it's not a cake-walk. I'm always amazed to read about a lot of you on these diets, and you all would say it was "tough." I think I'm getting a picture of what that means. With the reduced carbs I'm dragging at night... and sometimes a bit cranky.

I'm planning on attending the Bev. final week seminar on 2/28, so maybe I'll meet some of you there.

Tom

Keep up the good work Tom. Dropping almost 1 & 1/2% bf in 10 days is great progress. The hardest part is yet to come, but you will continue to make steady progress if you stay focused and dedicated to your plan. 6 weeks is still a reasonable amount of time for you to get to where you need to be.

VA MadDog

Hello everybody,

Update time for me. Two weeks have passed, and VA MadDog's words are ringing more and more true everyday. Progress is being made in the mirror, although the calipers "mock me."

Here's my updates:

Date: 2/20 3/5
pec 3 3
subscap 10 10
tri 5 5
suprail 9 8
abs 14 11
quads 10 10

subtot 51 47

calf 4 3.5
kidney 11 11
bicep 2.5 2

total 67.5 63.5

BF% 8.4% ????

weight 210.5 206

The mirror is where I'm seeing the most progress. Starting to get separation in the quads, shoulders, and abs. Top part of 6-pack is in, and am starting to see a little of the bottoms near the hip flexors.

Am swimming in my pants, and will gladly drop some $$$ for a smaller size. My wife says she can see the changes day-to-day... something to the effect of: "I haven't seen you this lean since our honeymoon!" (15 years ago). Music to my ears... regardless of how I do in this contest.

I'll be at 4 weeks out as of tomorrow. Still on the M/Th carb up diet. Have dropped my 6th meal on M/Th and am making the carb up meal my 5th meal on those days. Have added GH factor (6 caps, at morning and night).

Am adding cardio. With the low carbs, it puts me in a funk, like I'm walking through mud... but I can manage for another month.

Hope to see a few people at the Arnold!

Tom

Keep up the good work Tom! Thats two more pounds of fat loss for each of the last two weeks. Excellent progress. You will be pleased with how things continue to fall into place over the next four weeks. Now is the time to remain focused on your goal. Your diet is your tool to success - use it well.

VA MadDog

Tom,

Nice progress, keep at it, it will be well worth it. Good luck,

Jason

Jason Theobald

www.geocities.com/chezburger10/JASONTHEOBALDBIO.html

Tom E - How are things going? Do you have any progress pictures posted anywhere? Do you have a good posing coach? In the end conditioning and presentation (mostly posing) will make a huge difference. You want to be confident in your ability to hit each mandatory pose perfectly, that only comes from practice and competent feedback to help you make refinements. Good luck!

VA MadDog

VA MadDog,

Things are going well. Thanks for asking. I weighed myself this morning and came in at about 204, so I'm still steadily dropping weight. Still on the M/Th carb-up diet, and my body is responding. I'll probably communicate with Mark R. today and see if I should keep the diet the same or make changes. No caliper readings yet, may be I'll get them done at noon today (if so, I'll re-post, even though you don't give them much weight).

I don't have any pictures posted anywhere, but may be I can do so next week. I've got a family member with a digital camera, and may be I can take some pictures and post them (I think Yahoo has a free service, I'll look into it).

I have started posing with a "coach". He's competed several times before, so he's giving me some feedback on where I'm strong and weak. I'm presently working mostly on the relaxed poses and mandatories... and they're coming along. The definition is getting better (I've got to keep my head up; don't know why, but I tend to hold my chin down... it's kinda hard to appear confident and poised when staring down at the floor!) Abs are continuing to come in, lats seem uneven (nuts!), and lower back will likely be the last place the fat will come off. I guess everyone has their own problem areas.

I've got 3 more weeks to go, so I'm guessing I'll be at about 197-198 before water manipulation. This is about where I was hoping to be (I started at 221 at around Jan. 1).

When do you think I ought to begin shaving? Beverly recommended not waiting until the very end (just in case a few nicks, scrapes, etc.), but I wasn't sure if I ought to begin shaving this next week. What do you think?

By the way, I sure appreciate all the encouragement, it's been helpful.

Tom

Keep up the good work Tom. Yahoo does have a free and easy to use photo site. I think that this is the link to it: http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ You will have to register.

You may want to post pics of some of the mandatories, that way we can also provide you with some feedback. If your posing coach knows what he is doing you should be in good shape, unfortunately everyone who competes does not necessarily know how to pose correctly. Your lats being uneven may be posing, or can possibly be compensated for by posing. Work on your back poses with your coach watching and make the adjustments that you need to make.

As far as shaving goes what I do is use a haircut clipper without any attachment so it will get close but not like a razor. You probably want to do that now so you can better see the details that are coming in for practice posing. Then a week out or so you can go with a razor and there is much less to take off. Some guys never get any razor burn or rash and pretty much use a razor year round. I have sensitive skin so if I did that I'd be all rashy, especially if I shave and then wear snug clothes. I guess that if I was a nudist camp regular it might not be a problem - lol, but alas...I'm a bit too consevative for that scene. I actually will wait until the night before the contest to use the razor, or even the morning of, but like I said there is not too much to remove after using a clipper.

You have done well dropping weight since Jan 1 and are close to where you need to be three weeks out - excellent. Having to worry about dropping a lot of weight in the last few weeks is a bad scene. Now you can just focus on refining your level of conditioning and you will not have to make any huge nutritional changes. This puts you in a good position to retain muscle mass during the final three weeks.

Are you aiming for the top of the light-heavies? Sounds that way. Normally you will see a drop of several pounds the final week as you carb deplete and after you drop water on Friday night. If you are close to the weight limit on Friday and can weigh in at that point that may be the best, then you can carb load and add back in some water after weigh in and not worry about the added weight taking you over 198.25. Actually while we would all like to hit our peak 1/8 of a pound below the top of the weight class, in reality if you end up at 195 or 193 but are in better condition, (lean, dry, hard/full) you will look better than if you were at 197 or 198. It is your appearance and presentation that matters, not how much you weigh or for that matter what or how much you have been lifting. It is all about conditioning, symetry and presentation on show day. Focus on being in the best condition you can be in and that will give you your best shot. Keep us posted and good luck!

VA MadDog

Tom
I'd definitely start shaving at least a week or so out, just to give your skin time to heal in case you have minor cuts, nothing worse than putting ProTan over a cut, except if you're into that kind of burning sensation. Keep up the good work, good luck!

The Home Of Champions - www.dasgym.com

Hello everybody,

Here's my latest update. Weighed in this morning at about 202.5 lbs with the following caliper readings:

Chest: 2.5
Abs: 7
Quad: 8
Tri: 5
Bi: 2
Calve: 3.5
Subscap: 9
Kidney: 9
Suprail: 8

Total: 51
BF%: about 6.5%

VA MadDog and Rainer, thanks again for all the feedback. I think I'm going to get out the clippers and shave tonight. That'll feel pretty weird, I bet.

Sorry I haven't been able to post any photos, I'll try to do that this next week. I'm hoping to be at about 198 prior to water manipulation 2 weeks from now. If I drop several pounds of H20, then I'm guessing I'll be comfortably within the LHW range.

Thank goodness I've got only 2 more weeks... I'm tired. And I think the rest of my family is tired of me being tired!

I've heard several people say that Beverly condition is coming in less than 40 on the 9 site calipers... is that about right? If so, I've got my work cut out for me over the next two weeks.

Note the calipers indicate that I'm carrying my BF primarily in my back (also confirmed in the mirror). I'm not trying to do anything special, since everything I've heard is that there is no such thing as spot reduction. I'm hoping it'll melt off this next week or so. Any suggestions?

Tom

Way to go Tom!!! I apologize I didn't see that last question you had for me. Did you get information on the prejudging? Did you get information on pumping up?

Yeah, you want to be in the 40's for the 9 site.

Tom...Don't worry about the spot reduction, seriously, there's not a lot you can do. What I can say though is, expect some noticeable changes the last week. I hold everything in the abs, they didn't get real tight until Friday night, Saturday morning.

Way to go man, let's kick some butt!!!

Dwayne