Results-06 Natural Northern USA

Muscle Musings
I did my bodybuilding show this weekend-06 Natural Northern USA. It went great, this show was huge-120 contestants, and I took 2nd place as a heavyweight! Contest day I was 233lbs with pretty good definition-could have been a bit dryer... I'm pleased with how I was able to dial in my phisique-if I could have been about 3 lbs dryer I might have had a shot at 1st. But, still-big improvement from the past two competitions. It was a well run show, props to D. Liberman and his crew for running it so well. I'll post a link in a few weeks when they post pictures.

Slight change-06 Natural Northern USA

Muscle Musings
Slight change of plans. I'm still competing on the 7th. Unfortunately the clowns that were putting on the 2006 Southern States Natural canceled the show! Yeah, and only gave me a week week notice. It was put on by the INBA so be warry when competing in any natural shows sponsored by these guys, they have done this on more than one occasion.

Luckly, there is another natural show the same day in Ohio. So I'm moving forward and making the 9hr trip north to the 06 Natural Northern USA contest.

With one week to go, I'm weighing in at 245-1 day into my pre-show 4 day carb sodium depletion cycle. Counting the days!

Muscle Addict

2006 Southern States Natural

It's been a while since my last update. I'm still training for the 2006 Southern States Natural show scheduled for Oct. 7. I started contest prep 8 weeks ago- 6'2, 260. At 3 weeks out I'm down to 250. Pretty much on target with my goals. This show, I've put a lot of treadmill time in and the definition is really improved over the past two year's competitions. Looking forward to seeing how I do on stage.

Train hard,
Muscleaddict.com

Muscle Musings

Muscle MusingsI'm going to try a contest in a few months, I was thinking about visiting a buddy in AZ and doing a show there, but I just found one in Georgia (Southern States Natural-Oct 7) a few weeks later so that's the one I'm aiming for.
That's about 10 weeks out. I'm at about 6% bodyfat, 260lbs, so my goal is to loose 1lb of bodyfat a week.

Muscle Musings

Muscle Musings

Some days, I think that heading out to the gym, is the only thing that keeps me from drop-kicking my computer monitor through the wall. Workouts have been great these past few weeks. I've been trying to superset everything I do. So instead of resting 1-2 minutes between sets, I go do a set to work a different muscle group. Back and fourth like that the entire workout. The only rest is the time it takes to walk to the next exercise or change weights.

It is supposed to have two benifits. It keeps your heart rate up, so it's like doing cardio. So that kind of kills two birds with one stone. The other benifit is that by stimulating more muscle groups simultaneously-your body is forced to boost your testosterone level. . . at least that's the theory.

Seems to be working. Bodyfat is down, bodyweight is up. It took a few weeks to ease in to being able to handle a full workout of supersets, but now I can make it through. . . just barely.

Muscle Musings

Muscle Musings
Leg sticking points? I don't know what you are currently doing, but usually the basics produce pretty good results. I've put on almost 2 inches to my thighs these past 6 months. I ripped a pair of shorts and pants along the way too. . . (see prior entry). The main thing I've added to my leg routine recently is barbell and dumbell dead lifts. Mostly straight leg with a nice deep stretch at the bottom of each rep. That and lunges are my leg favorites.

you do legs 2x a week, try focusing on quads one workout and hams the other workout. I've read a lot of articles advocating that type of approach. On your quad day instead of regular squats, front squats are better for quad isolation. Dumbell sissy squats are also good quad isolators.

Deadlifts and lunges on hamstring day is a good combo too.

Muscle Musings: Muscle Musings

Muscle Musings: Muscle Musings
The holidays were fun, but it's nice to be back home and back into my usual routine. It was tough trying to get workouts in during the holidays. When I was visiting the fam. with no gym access, I would go jog to a nearby school playground and do my workouts there. Pull-ups, dips, and I used the portable bleachers to do shrugs and deadlifts. Luckily, school was out on Christmas vacation or I'd probably have been arrested...

I'm about to amp up with creatine so I can do some heavy lifting for the next 2 months. I hope to go up from 265 to at least 270. Then I'll probably try do do another natural bodybuilding contest if everything looks good.