Unfortunate News...

Hello my blogging friends. This Saturday the 24th of August should be my 7 week mark until the New York Grand Prix bodybuilding contest. I hate to inform you but I will not be competing in this event. After looking into getting everything together that I would need for the competition, it would not be a financially smart decision for me to enter. As weird as that sounds, it would cost me A LOT of money for this one day event. This is not to to say that I will not compete because I will and and I cannot wait for that day to come. It will be in the year 2014 however. 

In the bodybuilding/physique/figure competition there are different organizations that hold the event. The organization that is holding the New York Grand Prix is the NPC. This stands for the National Physique Committee. The NPC is a very large and very well know organization and is a great place to start a bodybuilding career. I knew that there was a "card" I would have to possess in order to compete in a NPC event. I knew that it was going to cost me $100 to obtain this card. What I did not know is that it is only good for the current year. So in a nut shell, I would be paying $100 for the card, the fees to compete in the actual show itself, money for my posing suit, money for my tanning or services for tanning if I go that route, as well as the expense of gas to get to the venue which is about 2 1/2 hours away. This is a lot of money for a one time event for the year 2013. I am going to wait until the 2014 year to obtain a card that way I can compete in multiple shows and get my bang for my buck. 

This really frustrates me that I am pulling out of the show because I somewhat feel like I have let a lot of people around me down. I was on a good schedule for training, my diet was in line and I could see the changes in my body from it. I am trying to stay positive about the situation and not feel like a quitter because I will be stepping on stage, just not until next year. 

I sort of went on a mini food binge and my body really reaped the effects of it. I felt bloated, looked bloated, felt guilty about what I had just consumed and it really sucks because I was just enjoying the moment and not focusing on the effect it would have in the future. I am not one to say eat clean 100% of the time because it is good for you mentally to have that ice cream or go out and have some pizza and wings. I have to just learn to control how much of it I take in at one time because it will always be there. 

I will still continue to train hard and eat "clean" but be more open on what I can and cannot have I guess you could say. If my wife and I want to go out to dinner one night during the week, I am not going to beat myself up because of ordering something full of carbs on the menu. I am going to learn to enjoy these times until I have to go back on a competition style diet. Life is too short to feel guilty about things like this and I believe in the end I will be more happy. 

Enough negative ranting on the topic, so that is the unfortunate news in my life at the moment. I will stay positive, keep training hard and come 2014 I will be stepping on stage and I cannot wait for that day! 

8 Weeks Out

Here we are another week down and only 8 left until I step on stage. Ahhh!!! There is still so much to do but I feel more confident than ever about stepping on stage after today. Reason being is that I had a killer gym session with my buddy and had him take some progress pictures for me. I only did a couple poses for now but it really shed light on where I am. 

The first picture taken was called a back double bi. This one I am very proud of as far as progress goes. I am really getting a lot of detail to come out but still need thickness in my overall back. 

The second one is called a lat spread. This is a hard pose to hit and do correctly to show off the width of your back with your lats. I will be working hard to perfect this over the next 8 weeks. 

On a side note, if you are wondering what the mark is on the center of my back, it's a bruise/mark from the barbell while I was squatting last week. 

Will continue on my journey to perfect my body to be stage ready with solid consistent dieting and cardio. More progress pictures will be added to show where I am with future posts. Take care until next week blogging friends! 

Raspberry Cheesecake Protein Shake

Hello blogging friends! I bring to you another recipe that I just came up with while going through some videos on YouTube. I love to make protein shakes and there are a lot of different combinations that you can add to your shake to change the taste and make them more fun, yet keep them healthy. One of the videos I was watching, a guy used a fat free sugar free cheesecake instant jello mix to his and I thought this was genius for whatever reason. I remembered that I had some of that very jello mix and thought well why not try it. I decided to keep my shake simple because I wanted to use it as a pre work out shake/meal and not go overboard with the ingredients. I give to you my Raspberry Cheesecake Protein Shake!! Now you can use whatever berries you would like or even a different kind of fruit if you prefer. Here is the recipe and I hope you enjoy it if you decide to make it :) 

Ingredients: 
1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
1/2 cup frozen raspberries 
1 scoop Cellucor Cor-Performance Whey (Whipped Vanilla Flavor)
2 tablespoons Sugar Free Fat Free Instant Jello Mix Cheesecake Flavor
1/4 cup Old Fashion Oats 
1 packet Truvia 
3 Large ice cubes 

Directions:
Put all ingredients in blender and blend for 30 seconds. 

Macro-nutrients:
Calories: 272 calories
Protein: 30 grams
Carbs: 33 grams
Fat: 6 grams

9 weeks out

Whats up my blogging friends?! I am 9 weeks out and it has been a great week as far as training and keeping on track with my diet. My workouts have been killer (in a good way) and my dreaded cardio is on point. My training is going to get harder as the weeks count down and I start to alter my diet which is going to mean less energy (boo!) BUT I have a secret weapon to combat that. Just recently, my good friend recently moved back into the area and joined the gym I train at. This is exciting news for a couple reasons. First thing, he brings the intensity to make anyone train hardcore when your in the gym with him. We flip a switch and go into total beast mode making the weights our prisoners! Second, he helps to keep pushing me when I want to give up and get out a couple more reps. I train with music and usually have my heavy metal blasting through my ears but I can still hear him talking in my ear saying "lets go!! 10 weeks! Stage is waiting!'" This just makes me dig deep and push my training to a level that I need.

As I write this, I am getting ready to hit the gym with him and we are doing my final workout of week 10....Legs. Now I know there are crazy people out there who say they love to train legs but I will be the first to tell you, I HATE training legs. I will be blunt and don't care what you think of me but it sucks! It hurts, they are sore for days and you feel like a baby horse trying to walk for a first time when you have a good leg session. So why do I continue every week to hit my legs and make my body feel this way you may ask? Well its because I like to pride myself in being called a bodybuilder and you are not a bodybuilder unless you train your ENTIRE body and that includes legs. Over my years of training, I feel I have developed a descent set of legs or "wheels" as we sometimes like to call them in the bodybuilding world. I may not be able to squat as much as some other guys but I go in and I still do my work and they are still continuing to grow and get bigger and that's all I can ask for!

The weeks are getting shorter and the journey is one I am enjoying. I will keep you guys updated mid week and also post a new recipe :) Take care and keep positive! 

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Protein Cookies

I follow a lot of fitness related people and subjects through my Facebook, Instagram and on Youtube. I am always looking to learn a new recipe or a new workout tip and incorporate it into my daily routines. I of course love love love to cook and bake and try and make healthy recipes that are tasty. Well one of the people that I follow on Facebook is a guy named Chad "JackednStacked" Coles. For one thing, this guy is freaking HUGE! His nickname is 100% right! He posted up a quick simple oatmeal cookie recipe a couple weeks ago and I knew I had to try them. It takes literally five minutes to mix up the ingredients, throw it on a cookie sheet and then into the oven. I tweaked the recipe by using a casein protein powder instead of a whey protein powder and I personally feel they are better! Give them a try and I promise you wont be disappointed!!

Ingredients: Yields 6 cookies

1/2 cup oatmeal

2 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon creamy natural pb 

1 scoop vanilla protein 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl to form a batter. If you use a whey protein, the batter should be at the right consistency with the above ingredients. If using casein protein, a little bit of water is going to be needed to make more of a batter consistency. It should be a little bit sticky and not to runny. Take a spoon and place batter onto sprayed cookie sheet. Put in oven set a 350 degrees. If using whey protein powder, try 10 minutes but keep an eye on them and make sure they don't over cook other wise they will turn "rubbery". If using casein, 15 minutes should be the right amount of time. 

6 cookies                                                          1 cookie

Calories: 421                                                   Calories: 70

Protein: 43 grams                                          Protein: 7 grams

Carbs: 73 grams                                              Carbs: 12 grams

Fat: 12 grams                                                    Fat: 2 grams

Follow Chad "JackednStacked" Coles on Facebook for great motivational posts, healthy recipes and helping you become the best you! 

10 Weeks Out

Ohhh boy my last double digit is here for my weeks out until the NY Grand Prix! I am getting really excited and nervous now when I think about how close it is getting. This week has been a rough week in my eyes as far as keeping on track with my workouts and most definitely with eating right. Let's talk about eating right for a minute here.

I will be the first to admit that I have an "inner fat kid" in me and as horrible as that sounds, its true. I know that I have come such a long long way from when I started and I am more proud of that than I usually show. I do have a small obsession with food and especially the food we in the healthy/fitness world deem "bad". For example, I like to call myself an ice cream expert. If you were to go out with me and get ice cream I could probably tell you all about the flavor if you didn't know about it or what was in it. Candy is another product that I feel I am pretty knowledgeable on and can tell you all about. When I go out and get froyo (frozen yogurt) with my wife and friends, I usually load up on all sorts of candy for my toppings like chocolate peanut butter cups, bits of Oreos, Reeses pieces, M&M's etc. Clearly I have an obsession with the goodies and it can be bad at times where I will binge on it. The last couple of days have seemed to be this way unfortunately. My clean eating has been worked in between all of the bad food choices but I still feel slightly guilty AFTER I eat it. The whole point of a "cheat meal" is to help you mentally and you are not supposed to feel bad other wise it's pointless to do. With that being said, 10 weeks out I know that my eating will be at 110% on track and any "cheat meal" I do decide to throw in will be carefully scheduled and done in a proper way. Not an all out food frenzy.

10 weeks out is still a lot of time to prepare for my show and I know for sure that I can prepare to change my body to what it needs to look like and be stage ready. I usually spend all my time on the computer doing one of two things and they are either looking up food recipes that I can enjoy that are clean because I love to cook or it spent looking up information on bodybuilding. You can never know to much in the bodybuilding world and you are always learning new things. That is one thing I love about this sport. I have done my research and have a game plan on how my diet is going to be setup as far as my macro-nutrients are going to be for every meal.

Let the grind begin and my emotional roller coaster begin for that matter as well. I will have my days where I am feeling great and on point and I know I am going to have my days where I want to give up and ask why I am I doing this. In the end, it will all be worth it!