Greetings!
This year will see my first bodybuilding competition (8 August 2015) organised by the HK Bodybuilding & Physique Sports Federation (http://www.hkbpsf.org). As important as the results are (which is of course the whole raison d'être) I've come to realise it's also the journey that counts as well - that's why the idea to blog this comes about. I hope you won't find this boring :-)
Here are some stats to start off with (this is March 2015 reading, at my heaviest):
Height: 178cm
Weight: 93kg
BodyFat: 11-12%? (I have no access to those wacky InnoBody machines so this is guess work)
The original target is to cut down to 80kg as I thought: hey that's about right for a good lean cut at my height surely? But unless I've underestimated BF or I'm to lose a great deal of muscle, this just doesn't cut arithmetically: to slash about 8% to reach 4-5% BF (i.e. 8% of 93kg to shed = 7.4kg) would still leave me at around 86kg. And it goes without saying that it won't make any sense to undercut muscle if at all possible for sure.
So here goes the target of (maybe) competing in a lower category (sub-80). It's probably not that bad after all as there is none of those make-myself-to-a-lower-weight-category protocol that I have to follow.
So how does one go about starting it off?
Diet
It is said that 80% of bodybuilding success comes from a properly controlled diet, and this statement cannot be more true.
When it comes to competing, it's all about the diet. Temptations abound, especially in Hong Kong where no one escapes the smell of the street-side vendors selling fishballs and the like. Fortunately I've long ceased to be the type nibbling street food / confectioneries, but I'm still out and about a great deal of time so keeping the diet without straying away too much is extremely important.
Judging from the wise history of what was followed by other bodybuilders, I have come to the target that a good muscle-keeping fat-losing diet should consist of proportioning one's daily intake of protein/carbs/fat with a proportion of 5:3:2. The details of this are listed as follows.
My diet started in May, 3 months away from the competition. What is it like (well, mostly)?
Breakfast (7.30am): 10 egg whites 1-2 egg yolks, 1 orange, 1 banana, 1 cup of coffee
Mid-morning snack (11am): A veg sandwich
Lunch (1pm): (I eat out for this) Rice (1.5 bowls - HK is always generous providing carbs!) with two sides, a coffee
Mid-day meal (4pm): Own prepared chicken breast (150g) and broccoli*
Early evening meal before gym (6pm): Chicken breast and broccoli or 1 can of Ayam Tuna in Water* (185g)
Gym would be between 7-9pm
After gym (9pm): Protein shake*
Before bed: Chicken breasts or protein shake* and 15-20 almonds.
(*) = a protein-rich meal which can be any of the following according to convenience: chicken breast (150g), tuna (185g), protein shake. Each should provide at least 35g of protein.
It is difficult to maintain this diet every single day. If you asked me whether I cheated occasionally in my meals I would be lying rather badly if I said 'no'. I do socialise, go out with friends, and very occasionally have something awfully bad (my indulgence is dark chocolate: 100kCal for 3 small pieces!). But what I do realise is that, if we stick to too rigid a diet, a person such as myself would probably give up before it's most needed (i.e. 4-6 weeks out).
As the big day approaches, I will gradually cut more and more carbs/fat and have mostly protein for my caloric intake. This is going to take lots of effort - watch this space to see how I'm doing.
To chart the macronutrients I use the app 'MyFitnessPal', an enormous food database detailing all these macros so one will know exactly how much (or too much) fat/carbs/protein one is taking. It's an extremely useful and versatile app which I would heartily recommend. (I'm sure most of you would wish to have a great body in the summer as well, don't you? ;-)
Carbohydrates / Fats
One would see that I've put most carbs at/before lunch. This surely is strategic as carbs fires up metabolism and keeps me kicking for the rest of the day, but which is something that one shouldn't take in too much - in fact it is suggested that one should take in less than 1g/lb of body weight (i.e. less than 200g for me) which would go down to 0.5g/lb or even 0.25g/lb at a latter stage. But one just cannot do this without consequences: feeling lethargic and getting overly knackered - and hence reduced metabolism - before all the work that needs to be done has been done. Except in the last couple of weeks (where the last bits of fat are to be trimmed off) this would not be a good idea. Hence the carbs in the meal should be cut gradually over time, with the midday veg sandwich and the almonds at the end of the day (to replenish omega-3 oils for better joint repair) cut in the last 3-4 weeks or so.
Proteins
Proteins on the other hand have to be kept high (1-1.5g/lb) throughout: for as long as there is work out and micro-tear in muscle fibres, a great deal of amino acid will be needed to repair the muscle, and in the very least in the absence of carbs not allow muscular glycogen to break down too much into energy. Hence protein intake must be kept fairly high but not too much as to create a great strain on the liver (that breaks food down into amino acid).
Weight-resistance Workout
Workout is now non-heavy: those 400lb squats are sadly not do-able nowadays. The primary target is fat loss and as such short intervals of moderate-high intensity (aka HIIT) reps are now called for. This means I'm doing moves rather much like a beginner: 10/15/20lb dumbbells, first 3-5 notches for the machines, etc. But what didn't make up in weight does make it back up in quantity - I'd have to make sure I'm doing quite enough reps for those. In fact a good way my gym partner suggested (which I think is working rather well in exhausting my muscles) is to do a 50+40+30+20+10 set: firstly use a very light weight to do 50 reps; then grab the next one up and do 40 reps; and so on. By the fifth set I should feel the burn even doing the 10-rep set, and that's telling me I'm hitting it correctly.
One doesn't need a great deal of variations for each muscle group at this time - probably around 3-4 vars would do. That probably takes a good 30-45 minutes already. As my routine normally encompasses one big and one small muscle group (e.g. pecs+triceps+abs / back+biceps+abs / legs+abs) I would normally finish off with the arms. As my gym custom goes I always throw in a 5x20 abs in the form of leg raises.
Cardio
There is nothing much really about running/stair-stepping/cycling except to say: don't give up! It's boring. It's repetitive. It's exhausting. But it also helps greatly the tapping of energy from fat stored in adipose tissues when glycogen levels significantly dropped after weight-training. I must constantly tell myself at the 20-minute mark: surely you can do 30? At the 30-minute mark I'd tell myself (with a bit less determination): surely you can do 40? Or even an hour? As with weight training in general this is a great test of determination: are you determined to look good? In fact not just good... Lean and muscularly fabulous! It helps to think of your favourite bodybuilder at this point (I want to be him.... I would die to want to be him!.......), and if there are TVs in front of you as you do the cardio (as most gyms do), choose the Sports Channel or something similar to further fuel your visual up with active men and women working their arses off, just like what you're about to do as well..
Rest
7-8 hours of sleep is important to recuperate from all the day's stresses - if possible, a 15-minute nap during lunchtime would greatly help refresh oneself for the afternoon. I strive to cut all the Facebook/TV habits and sleep at the very latest 11.30pm. This is not easy! But that's just another sacrifice amongst all others and yet another test of determination.
So here's quite a mouthful of introduction on what I'm doing / what I'm about to do to prep for this comp. As the days go by I will (try to) blog every day of my thoughts / chores / inspirations (this is what this blog is about!) of me preparing this competition. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
And, last but certainly not least, wish me luck! :-)
PS: For those of you who would like to come and support me on the big day (8-Aug-2015 1.30pm-6pm): firstly a big THANK-YOU!! I really can't do all this without the help, encouragement and support from all of you guys! As far as I know tickets should be selling soon: please refer to the organiser's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/hkbpsf) for those details. If you can't get it, do drop me a note and I'd help you! Thank you ^.^
Here are some stats to start off with (this is March 2015 reading, at my heaviest):
Height: 178cm
Weight: 93kg
BodyFat: 11-12%? (I have no access to those wacky InnoBody machines so this is guess work)
The original target is to cut down to 80kg as I thought: hey that's about right for a good lean cut at my height surely? But unless I've underestimated BF or I'm to lose a great deal of muscle, this just doesn't cut arithmetically: to slash about 8% to reach 4-5% BF (i.e. 8% of 93kg to shed = 7.4kg) would still leave me at around 86kg. And it goes without saying that it won't make any sense to undercut muscle if at all possible for sure.
 |
| March 2015 |
So how does one go about starting it off?
Diet
It is said that 80% of bodybuilding success comes from a properly controlled diet, and this statement cannot be more true.
When it comes to competing, it's all about the diet. Temptations abound, especially in Hong Kong where no one escapes the smell of the street-side vendors selling fishballs and the like. Fortunately I've long ceased to be the type nibbling street food / confectioneries, but I'm still out and about a great deal of time so keeping the diet without straying away too much is extremely important.
Judging from the wise history of what was followed by other bodybuilders, I have come to the target that a good muscle-keeping fat-losing diet should consist of proportioning one's daily intake of protein/carbs/fat with a proportion of 5:3:2. The details of this are listed as follows.
My diet started in May, 3 months away from the competition. What is it like (well, mostly)?
Breakfast (7.30am): 10 egg whites 1-2 egg yolks, 1 orange, 1 banana, 1 cup of coffee
Mid-morning snack (11am): A veg sandwich
Lunch (1pm): (I eat out for this) Rice (1.5 bowls - HK is always generous providing carbs!) with two sides, a coffee
Mid-day meal (4pm): Own prepared chicken breast (150g) and broccoli*
Early evening meal before gym (6pm): Chicken breast and broccoli or 1 can of Ayam Tuna in Water* (185g)
Gym would be between 7-9pm
After gym (9pm): Protein shake*
Before bed: Chicken breasts or protein shake* and 15-20 almonds.
(*) = a protein-rich meal which can be any of the following according to convenience: chicken breast (150g), tuna (185g), protein shake. Each should provide at least 35g of protein.
It is difficult to maintain this diet every single day. If you asked me whether I cheated occasionally in my meals I would be lying rather badly if I said 'no'. I do socialise, go out with friends, and very occasionally have something awfully bad (my indulgence is dark chocolate: 100kCal for 3 small pieces!). But what I do realise is that, if we stick to too rigid a diet, a person such as myself would probably give up before it's most needed (i.e. 4-6 weeks out).
As the big day approaches, I will gradually cut more and more carbs/fat and have mostly protein for my caloric intake. This is going to take lots of effort - watch this space to see how I'm doing.
To chart the macronutrients I use the app 'MyFitnessPal', an enormous food database detailing all these macros so one will know exactly how much (or too much) fat/carbs/protein one is taking. It's an extremely useful and versatile app which I would heartily recommend. (I'm sure most of you would wish to have a great body in the summer as well, don't you? ;-)Carbohydrates / Fats
One would see that I've put most carbs at/before lunch. This surely is strategic as carbs fires up metabolism and keeps me kicking for the rest of the day, but which is something that one shouldn't take in too much - in fact it is suggested that one should take in less than 1g/lb of body weight (i.e. less than 200g for me) which would go down to 0.5g/lb or even 0.25g/lb at a latter stage. But one just cannot do this without consequences: feeling lethargic and getting overly knackered - and hence reduced metabolism - before all the work that needs to be done has been done. Except in the last couple of weeks (where the last bits of fat are to be trimmed off) this would not be a good idea. Hence the carbs in the meal should be cut gradually over time, with the midday veg sandwich and the almonds at the end of the day (to replenish omega-3 oils for better joint repair) cut in the last 3-4 weeks or so.
Proteins
Proteins on the other hand have to be kept high (1-1.5g/lb) throughout: for as long as there is work out and micro-tear in muscle fibres, a great deal of amino acid will be needed to repair the muscle, and in the very least in the absence of carbs not allow muscular glycogen to break down too much into energy. Hence protein intake must be kept fairly high but not too much as to create a great strain on the liver (that breaks food down into amino acid).
Weight-resistance Workout
Workout is now non-heavy: those 400lb squats are sadly not do-able nowadays. The primary target is fat loss and as such short intervals of moderate-high intensity (aka HIIT) reps are now called for. This means I'm doing moves rather much like a beginner: 10/15/20lb dumbbells, first 3-5 notches for the machines, etc. But what didn't make up in weight does make it back up in quantity - I'd have to make sure I'm doing quite enough reps for those. In fact a good way my gym partner suggested (which I think is working rather well in exhausting my muscles) is to do a 50+40+30+20+10 set: firstly use a very light weight to do 50 reps; then grab the next one up and do 40 reps; and so on. By the fifth set I should feel the burn even doing the 10-rep set, and that's telling me I'm hitting it correctly.
One doesn't need a great deal of variations for each muscle group at this time - probably around 3-4 vars would do. That probably takes a good 30-45 minutes already. As my routine normally encompasses one big and one small muscle group (e.g. pecs+triceps+abs / back+biceps+abs / legs+abs) I would normally finish off with the arms. As my gym custom goes I always throw in a 5x20 abs in the form of leg raises.
Cardio
There is nothing much really about running/stair-stepping/cycling except to say: don't give up! It's boring. It's repetitive. It's exhausting. But it also helps greatly the tapping of energy from fat stored in adipose tissues when glycogen levels significantly dropped after weight-training. I must constantly tell myself at the 20-minute mark: surely you can do 30? At the 30-minute mark I'd tell myself (with a bit less determination): surely you can do 40? Or even an hour? As with weight training in general this is a great test of determination: are you determined to look good? In fact not just good... Lean and muscularly fabulous! It helps to think of your favourite bodybuilder at this point (I want to be him.... I would die to want to be him!.......), and if there are TVs in front of you as you do the cardio (as most gyms do), choose the Sports Channel or something similar to further fuel your visual up with active men and women working their arses off, just like what you're about to do as well..
Rest
7-8 hours of sleep is important to recuperate from all the day's stresses - if possible, a 15-minute nap during lunchtime would greatly help refresh oneself for the afternoon. I strive to cut all the Facebook/TV habits and sleep at the very latest 11.30pm. This is not easy! But that's just another sacrifice amongst all others and yet another test of determination.
So here's quite a mouthful of introduction on what I'm doing / what I'm about to do to prep for this comp. As the days go by I will (try to) blog every day of my thoughts / chores / inspirations (this is what this blog is about!) of me preparing this competition. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
And, last but certainly not least, wish me luck! :-)
PS: For those of you who would like to come and support me on the big day (8-Aug-2015 1.30pm-6pm): firstly a big THANK-YOU!! I really can't do all this without the help, encouragement and support from all of you guys! As far as I know tickets should be selling soon: please refer to the organiser's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/hkbpsf) for those details. If you can't get it, do drop me a note and I'd help you! Thank you ^.^
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