New Lifting Straps?

I am going to be in need of new lifting straps. Right now, I am using Harbinger padded straps, but the pads don't allow me to lock-in on the bar, and I don't get as good of a grip.

I got the padded ones because the regular cloth ones I had been using were digging into my wrists and leaving red marks (plus they shredded on me, so I needed to get new ones). I am not linking them, even though I have had them for about a year. I don't use them that often, just on my heaviest deadlifts, heaviest shrugs, low cable rows, pull-downs, and chins. So I think I am ok with putting up with the red marks on my wrists so that I can get straps that I feel more confident with.

I was thinking of getting leather straps, but I was listening to Heavy Muscle Radio, and they mentioned Versa Grip straps. When I looked these up, I found them very interesting, and am looking to find out if anyone has an opinion on them, since I have never used that type of grip/strap before. I'm wondering if there is too much padding on these, and that I would run into the same issue.

Has anyone experienced the same problem I have? Good solutions?

Another Meal - Cod with Green Beans and Broccoli

This week I made cod with green beans and broccoli. As in the chili, I was not afraid to add spice to my food to keep it from coming off as bland.

Have chosen cod for a couple of reasons: it is cheaper that salmon, offers a more mild flavor, and it doesn't smell as fishy when I eat at work.

Let's go through how I put this together:
Cod - I cook my cod on a non-stick griddle. Since the cod tends to flake easily, this is the easiest way for me cook it and not loose it on the grill in the back yard. I sprinkle some seasoning salt on the fish as it cooks to add a little more flavor, I guess you could call this "adding to taste" (so in my case, just a light sprinkle). I cook this through, and the cod will start to flake as it nears completion. Keep this in mind, as we may use the cod in the future to do fish tacos for a cheat meal.

Green Beans & Broccoli - this is when I feel fancy, adding seasoning, jalapeno peppers, and creating all the aromas. I grabbed the organic veggies at Costco (my favorite place to grab groceries) but the wonderful peppers I got fresh from my aunt, who grew them in her garden. I love getting fresh veggies, and am thinking about growing my own small garden next spring/summer to supply some of my favs during the summer months.

In the pan I start with some peanut oil, you could use olive, mac nut, whatever you like. This helps me get some good fats in as well as to help keep the greens from sticking in the pan. I then add the broccoli, then the beans, start stirring on low heat, and then let it go for a little while while I finely chop the peppers. I don't like bell peppers, but if you do you can substitute or add those in as well.

I then add the chopped jalapeno peppers to the broccoli and beans, then add some garlic salt, celery salt, hot sauce (I used habanero sauce this time), some soy sauce, some garlic salt, and some cayenne pepper.

I let this cook for a while, until the color is good. Then I let everything cool down, I dish up my five storage containers, and put them in the fridge. This way I can grab one and put it in my cooler with a shaker full of protein and a package of almonds, and I am good for the work day.

Please let me know of any of your favorites, or if you have any twists to what I just did.

Chili

Recipe number one for the blog: CHILI

I love chili, and eat lots of during the winter, in part because it is very easy to prep, and each week I can make it differently.

This is for 5 meals for me, lunch Monday to Friday.
Hamburger: 3 pounds
(you can also use chicken, or if you feel like chili can only be made the way cowboys did, steak)

1 bottle of Spicy V8
depending on how thick you like your stew, you can use less

1 jar tomatoes. My grandparents have a large garden and can tomatoes every summer, so I get a few cans and like to use one for each batch. This can be added if you like.

Peppers: I use a combination of 2-3 jelepenos, 3-4 bananna peppers, and ocasionaly 1-2 habeneros. I like spicy food, so if you don't feel free to use less, or onions and green peppers. I have friends who do this because they don't like the hot peppers.

1 carton of sliced mushrooms

2 cans chili beans
2 cans black beans
1 can red beans

Seasoning - bear with me, because I do this differently every time.
sprinkle of garlic
sprinckle of onion salt
cyane pepper to taste
red pepper flakes (my brother-in-law grew his own habeneros and jelepenoes and dried them, and gave me a supply, and this is what I use. If anyone else does this and wants me to try them, I'm a willing giny-pig!)

And depending on what I used for hot peppers, I might add some hot sauce, if I'm feeling frisky, I use Blair's "After Death" or if I'm less inclined, I use one of the many in the fridge that are not as painful.

Well, that cover's one meal, I'll post more as we go.

The before and after

Finally putting up my photos for my show. November of 2009, I was 242 pounds, pretty much a fat ass. I got on stage May 22, 2010, at 181 pounds.
Looking back, I needed more than 16 weeks to get my act together.

November 2009

February 2010

May 2010

Day of Show

The new diet

Off-season diet time! In order to keep the fat down, and hopefully leading to better results for my next show, here is the new diet. My goal for my next show is to be around the same weight (maybe a couple of pounds more) of 181, 185 would be great, but be much harder and better conditioned. Which means getting to a much leaner 200-205 for the next six months, then doing a 16 week diet with hopefully less cardio.

So here is what I will be eating and taking supplement-wise, and if anything changes, I'll update.

Breakfast: 4 whole eggs, 1oz turkey, 1/4 cup spinach omelet, sprinkled with cheese. I will also take my multivitamin, msm+glucosamine, and vitamin D.

Lunch will be 8-10oz of hamburger, chicken, or fish. I'll rotate these to keep things fresh, and in the fall/winter, this will change to chili, because it is easy for me to cook up the full week's food. I will also have 2 cups of sauteed veggies.
Mid-day will be 1 scoop of whey protein, and 1-2oz of peanuts/almonds/mixed nuts.
Pre-workout right now I am finishing off my Universal Nutrition STORM, then I will go back to ALRI's WTF, as I have an unopened tub waiting for me.
Post-workout, right now I will be taking two scoops of ALRI's Chained Out. I am finishing off this bottle, then I will probably go back to taking 2 scoops of whey. Hopefully the budget will allow for me to try ALRI's Humapro in the near future.
Dinner will be 10-12oz of beef or chicken with a large salad.
Last meal will be 4 oz of turkey or roast beef, and 4 slices of cheese with it.

I am doing my best to use whole foods in the off-season as well as contest prep.

A couple of notes for this, I don't have any relationship with Bulk Nutrition, I just seem to find the best prices there on what I use for the most part. Sames goes for Lockout, they have great prices, and the last time I ordered, you could still use "rxmuscle" as the discount code and get 5% off.

Finally, now that I write this out, I think I will post up the recipe's I use in a later post, and maybe some videos of my food prep. I don't know about you guys, but I find the food prep to be one of the most interesting parts of a bodybuilder's life.

In the Gym

Been back at it for the last couple of weeks, getting into the gym that is. Taking it somewhat easy, lighter weights, higher reps, getting the blood moving. Next week I will be back going hard, working to get all my strength back, or what little I had, back.

I  also have the photos from the show, and I will put those up next week with my starting photos. I have owed everyone that since the start of this thing.

Next is getting my diet back on track. I have been pretty much just eating what I want for the past six weeks, and I am paying for it.

All said and done...

Well, I made it.
Took 5th out of 9 competitors in the Novice Medium-Tall (I'm the second from the right) class Saturday at the Mr. Natural MN show.
I'm happy with that for my first show. I will get some video and photos this weekend from friends and family to show what I looked like in November at 242, January to start the diet at 232, and on stage at 181.
I really learned a lot about my body, and how it reacts. For starters, I only need 24-36 hours to carb up, 48 hours is way too long for me.
I do think I will do the same show next year, but I think I will work with someone during my prep and try to get really dry on stage.

I want to thank all of the competitors, they were really helpful and great guys. And to the board members at RX Muscle, who were very supportive through the process.

Now I have given myself a week to eat and rest, then it will be starting to get back into it slowly, get the off-season diet squared away, as I do not want to get fat again to give myself the best chance at being in top shape for next year.

I will keep this up, talking about my diet, training, supplements, and so on, so I hope to get more readers and get some commentary going on as well.

The final day

Tomorrow is the big day. Novice medium-tall class.
Today I am drying out and carbing up, hoping it works. I am only drinking one liter of tea today, and should have it done by about 5pm. Then tomorrow is just sips of water as needed. No sodium today as well. I get my spray tan tonight, and touched up tomorrow morning.
I think I am going to have eat my morning meal very early tomorrow to keep from having any bloat effect on stage.
Today I way 182lbs, I have dropped exactly 50lbs over the last 16 weeks. Yes, that does mean I was really fat! Hopefully, this will help me make better gains in the off-season, and make dieting for my next show a better process.

Final Countdown

5 More Days!
Yup, coming to the end, I will be showing up on stage Saturday morning. How will I look? Well, at least better than I looked 15 weeks ago. My biggest worry is probably the most common: at the bottom of my abs, and my lower back/rear hip area. I think that is affecting my back poses, and I am hoping that drawing out the water will help out.
So what am I doing this final week? Here we go:
morning - cardio for 60-90 minutes
first meal - brochilli, spinach, asparagus mixture with some sodium and spices to get the blood moving
I am taking in three gallons of water from Saturday until Wednesday, when I will cut to one gallon, Thursday will be 1/2 gallon, and Friday will be 1 liter. Starting Wednesday my water will actually be tea, it has been recommended to me and will help draw out the water.
second meal - cod with another serving of the above veggie mix
post workout is two scoops of Chain'd Out
fourth meal is chicken breast with hot sauce and a salad
fifth meal is another salad
My calories are pretty low right now trying to get that last bit of fat off...

Thursday I will start loading my carbs, I have brown rice and some plain rice cakes that I will eat with meal.
My supps are:
Zero Stim twice a day
Hyperdrive twice a day
Now Nutrition's Water Out three times a day
Chain'd Out once a day

Also, I am working on posing every night, trying to get myself as comfortable as possible, since I will probably be a bit freaked out my first time on stage.

Proof I suck at blogging

wow oh wow
It has been a long time.
Some updates:
I am down to 190 pounds, and am two weeks away from the big day.
My lower abs and upper thighs are still holding some fat, so I will continue to hit the cardio every day. These past few weeks I have really noticed the strength loss, and it is DEPRESSING!
Right now I am eating 200g of protein from fish, chicken beef, and 1 cup of spinach, to large salads every day.
For supps I am taking fiber every day, 2 scoops of ALRI Chain'd Out, ALRI Zero-Stim twice a day, and ALRI Hyperdrive twice a day, to go along with my joint, multi vitamin, vit-d every day.
I cut out the WTF, as I found out it was causing major distress to my system, and I spent too much time in the restroom about 5 hours after taking it.
Also, today I started sprinkling some ground cayenne pepper into my water (I use a little bit of Crystal Light in my water during the day for some flavor) to see if I can get some more themo effect during the day.

I also picked up some of Now Nutritions Water Out pills, and will take those for the last six days.

I am following the Palumbo precontest plan:
Sunday thru Thursday evening will be zero carbs, I will try to get 3 gallons of water per day, and keep my sodium fairly high.
Starting Thursday night I will have I cup of brown rice with my meals, and Friday afternoon I will cut water and sodium.

Keep your fingers crossed everyone!

Update huh?

Wow, it is official, I suck at blogging. I do not update nearly as often as I should.
Anywho....
Update: tomorrow makes it three weeks out. I still have fat to burn, mostly around the bottom of my abs, and the upper area of my quads. So I am going to be doing more cardio right into the show.

I am currently 195, from my starting weight of 232, I have lost A LOT from my waist, I didn't realize just how fat I had gotten. I think I am going to use MHP's Xpel to dry out the last two days as I carb load.

I have come to accept that I am not going look fantastic, but I hope to not embarrass myself, and I have learned a lot about my body for another competition.

This weekend I am going to pick out my music, order my suit, and continue to work on my posing (help to look like I know a little bit of what I am doing).

Back from Mexico

And....oh boy.
Went to MX for a friend's wedding. It was a great time and beautiful, but not conducive to getting ready for a show. going to have to hit the weights extra hard, as that was a big issue. I feel like I am really stringy right now. And it was harder to get food than I originally thought it would be, so I defiantly did not eat enough.
So as we move forward, it will be 1.5 hours of cardio in the morning (glad it is finally warmer out and no snow!) to go along with my weight training.

11 Weeks Out

And I have done a crap job of updating.
Workouts have been going well, getting up at 5am for cardio, ugh. That has been the hardest part of this whole thing.
I started my diet at 232, right now I am 218.

One funny thing, even though I am constantly hungry, there are a lot of times when I start eating, and I feel full so fast that I have a hard time finishing my food (and I am not eating much, compared to before the diet).

I'm thinking I might have to make my meals even smaller, and eat a couple more times a day. It is probably going to go from seeming like I am constantly eating to actually constantly be eating.

Also, I think my Shock Therapy is leading to the red dots I am getting on my face after leg and back days, so I am switching out to ALRI's WTF (once it arrives).

Also, I am going to take their Zero-Stim as my afternoon fat burner.

In my next post, I will go over my current diet and supplement regimin.

Thanks!

pressure dots

So, I am getting these little red dots on my face and neck after workouts when I dead-lift or squat heavy (well, heavy for me).

I tried to do a search for it, and I think it may be burst capillaries...possibly similar to what power lifters get. It has taken a while, but I think I get them worse when I am using Shock Therapy as my pre-workout supplement. Kind of a bummer, because I like the product, but I think I may have to switch off of it.

Has anyone else had similar situations?

So what are you eating?

Finishing up the second week of the diet, and I will be having my first cheat meal tomorrow. So what exactly has my diet been?
Here we go....

Meal 1 - 6 whole eggs
this is when I take my daily multi, joint formula, and vitamin D

Meal 2 - 10oz Salmon, 1 cup brochilli

Meal 3 - 2 scoops whey (48g protein)

Meal 4 - post workout shake (2 scoops whey, and Universal's Storm...on a side note, I take a scoop of Universal's Shock Therapy about 20 minutes before I train)

Meal 5 - 12 steak, large salad

Meal 6 - 6 slices deli turkey (30g protein) and fiber

Updates...

Wow, I am not doing a good a job of this. Ok, some updating:
Workouts have been going really well, still strong (it has only been a week). And even better, so far not any craving to stray from the diet. I did however, have a weird dream that I cheated and was eating mac n cheese. Weird. In my dream I was even thinking, "I don't really like this, why am I eating it?" And then "Oh CRAP! I can't eat that!"
It woke me up and I just had to laugh at myself.

And I have been bad at the photos, I will get those up (haven't even updated RX Muscle with em yet). I have ones from about a month ago, and ones from the first day of my diet, and I will take more this weekend at 14 weeks out.

I will also start posting my workouts in a section (I'll keep em to the highlights on the blog) and will update my diet and share that with you.

The hardest part so far has been getting up and doing cardio. I am by no means a morning person, and it has been absolutely miserable in MN this week, cold, and now we are in day two of a 3-day snow.

About This Blog

I’m a pretty big bodybuilding fan, and really love the sport, even though I don’t have the genetics for it. Anyway, like I have noted, I will be doing the Mr. Natural MN competition in May 2010. Since this is my first show, I will compete in the novice division. I train on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Because of school, my wife’s job, and my daughters’ activities, this works out best for me. We’ll see how it goes…
This blog is kinda just fun for me, and a way to keep track of everything, hopefully share some information, and hopefully to get some information as well. I will also be updating my training journal on RXMuscle.com.
If you need some background info, here we go:
30 years old (yikes!)
currently 232 pounds
internet marketer (yup, desk job) and finishing my MBA
athletically, I played football, basketball, and track in high school, and track in college (DIII)
I started what could be called bodybuilding style training about 10 years ago, but I keep learning, and my training is pretty different now.
Well, thank you for stopping by, and please, leave comments!

The Start...

Day one. Well day two. I meant to get to this yesterday, but the wife and I had a nice little Saturday. Got my meals in, my training in, and feeling good so far. My my beginning progress photos today, I’ll put those up soon. Yes, I am fat…this is going to be very interesting.
So as we start:
30 year old male
232 pounds
not measuring body fat during this
I will be doing the Mr. Natural MN competition in May, competing in the novice division, since this is my first time on stage and I have horrendous genetics.
Short first post, but they will get better, I’ll put up my photos, workouts, all that fun stuff later on.
Thanks for reading!