I cannot stress enough just how important it is to know why you do things. Especially those that require daily habits and actions. Why? Because, if you do not know why you are doing something that requires daily actions, you won’t do it for long.When it comes to fitness and health, we all know how key consistency is to achieving what we want.
So my question to you is why are you careful with your nutrition,why do you train, why do you even want the body you want? It is an important question, and one many of us haven’t considered.
Once you have your why you have great power. You have the power to demolish your workouts every day. You have the power not to miss a session. You have the power to eat well and be consistent with your nutrition. This is because anytime you find yourself swaying, or motivation is lacking, you can come back to your why.
During my contest prep I continually questioned WHY? Why am I putting myself through hours of horrible cardio. Why do I want to take my body to unhealthily low body fat levels. There were times I was unbelievably hungry, tired and just wanted to give up. Imagine if I didn’t know why I even wanted to compete, I wouldn’t get very far would I? I found my why and it drives me, day in, day out and will continue to do so.
What’s my why?
On my blog I wrote about how I got into fitness and health, and how an interest developed into a passion, this can be viewed here.
In short, I know what it is like to be lost, unhappy with your body, confused about how to train, how to eat, demotivated, actually depressed. What begun as a pursuit to give myself confidence developed into a passion, a passion of discovery. I find the human body and its ability to adapt simply amazing. I have seen my body go from near death, and then built up and developed a strong and muscular physique.
My own development is almost like an experiment. I use my own nutrition and training to learn about the human body, so that I can take these experiences, along with the scientific literature, to help others who are frustrated or unhappy with where they are currently. My goal and why I do what I do is to help others achieve their goals, and so they too can revive stronger.
Recently my dad recommended I read the book Who Moved my Cheese? He said it really opened his eyes, and thought I would benefit from it. So having just read the book, it did really make me think, and now I want to share it with you.
Imagine something you love, hold onto and cherish, this is your cheese. You work hard for this thing you care for so dearly, and feel you deserve it because of this.
Now imagine a situation in which the cheese is no longer there. No more cheese. It isn’t coming back, you can’t work harder to bring it back. It has gone, vanished, poof no more cheese.
What do you do? – this is the killer question.
I’m going to make it super easy and give you the answer right here: search out new cheese, life moves on and so should we. Sure we love our old cheese, it brought happiness.
Finding new cheese will be scary, but this is short lived. Trust me, the longer you leave hoping your cheese will return, the harder and scarier it will become. So act sooner rather than later. Once you move past fear, you’ll feel free and will enjoy yourself much more.
Plus you can make this process much easier on yourself. You can keep smelling your cheese, reassessing the situation as you go. By being proactive you will make finding new cheese dead easy. You will be ahead of the pack, and find better cheese.
Embrace change, just think change brings the potential of better things. Think you have it good now, you love that cheese, but think of a better cheese. By imagining yourself with new, better cheese, you will lead yourself to it.
Think about being productive, not just active. Sure consistency is brilliant, but if you consistently do something that is bringing no results, your simply being active for the sake of being active. However, if you change your ways, and make all your activity move you closer to new cheese, you’re being productive.
So who the hell cares who moved the cheese? Because, living in the past will not bring it back. Finding out who moved the cheese won’t bring it back. The cheese has gone. Search out new cheese, because life moves on and so should we.
I will tell you something, having someone to guide you to your new cheese can help a lot. Imagine the cheese is the body you always wanted, no doubt every time you reach that killer bod, you want more. A coach can lead you to that new cheese much faster, and will make sure you are proactive and productive in all your actions.
Right so you want to squat like a boss, deadlift like yoda and bench press better than anyone else, you want to master these lifts. I do to, and so do my clients, so you are not alone and I am going to share with you how to progress over closer to lifting mastery.
Key to Masterhood
To become a master we must first know what is required, we must find the best and most efficient form for our anatomy. For some this might be ass to grass when squatting or maybe it’s just to parallel, just like you may be better suited for a sumo deadlift rather than conventional. So find out what form works best for your body. I am going to assume you have already addressed any mobility issues, if not, you cannot become a master.
Everyone is different, therefore one persons technique mastery may look starkly different to someone else’s. This is the principle of Individuality, and it springs up all the time when considering exercise and nutrition. Now we know this, I can take you through some steps to becoming a master mover.
Step 1 – Grease the groove
First things first, you need to get in some work. We all know the common saying ‘practice makes perfect’ and well it is completely true. And this is what I mean by grease the groove, if you want to improve your form at something, you need to practice practice practice. So don’t expect to master the squat by doing it once a month, by increasing the frequency you do the lift the better chance you have at ironing out any inefficiencies.
I like to think about this in terms of travelling down a stream into the ocean, at first there is not much room to manoeuvre, however as you keep going you eventually enter out into the ocean, making getting around easy. Just like any movement, at first it feels wrong, and is uncomfortable, but as you work at it, it gets easier and easier. So you want to become a master? Increase the frequency you perform the lift.
Step 2 – Know how much you can take
Next up we must be recovered if we are going to do any exercise properly. Think of it like a machine, if it is not well oiled and in good nick you wouldn’t expect it to work efficiently. So we must take care of our recovery if we are to master movements.
Therefore, we must know our training level, if you are new to the gym then you will not be able to recover as fast as someone who’s been lifting years. So the less time you have been training the less total volume of work you can get in effectively. You can learn more about this in a previous article I wrote Picking your training volume.
Further to this you must also get your nutrition and other lifestyle factors nailed. Get in sufficient protein to recover with, and carbs to fuel your workouts, but also make sure to get enough sleep. So you want to become a master? Nail your nutrition, get enough sleep and manage your training volume according to your training experience.
Step 3 – Consistency, consistency, consistency
The final step is made pretty clear, be consistent. People who are over achievers are because they get it right over and over again. So make sure if you decide to pursue mastery, do it for a decent stint of time, and keep at it. Don’t expect it to come from random weeks of dedication.
Furthermore, you need to be damn disciplined. You cannot let your form diminish, you need to perform the lift as if your coach is there watching you every-time. So you want to become a master? Do not let your form slack.
I have written about mastery before in my article 4 Steps to Learn Anything, and consistency is damn important.
Great technique allows strength to be expressed effectively. As I said before, not everyones technique will be the same, individual body dimensions, leverages, strengths and weaknesses will dictate what technique is most effective for you.
So now you know how to become a master, go get it and #REVIVESTRONGER
So in Part 1 you got to see how the day went and some key lessons I learnt; make a plan, know the process and stay composed. I am going to touch on each of these in more detail to help the new powerlifter out.
First things first, I want you to have a plan of what numbers you are going to attempt for each lift. The only numbers set in stone are the openers, all the others can change on the day, but we will have a plan for that too. Using the below you will a guide that will get you a 100% success rate and give you the best chance of doing well in your meet.
What Weight?
Right, so you have been training with a meet in mind for many weeks or months. All the hard work you have put in is being put to the test on this one day. Hopefully you have been increasing your intensity slowly and have built up a good amount of volume prior to the meet. The last few weeks should have got you pretty well prepared for shifting heavy weights.
In the video below you can see how I recorded my main lifts and noted down how each set was feeling, information and footage like this is very helpful when picking your lifts.
Using your training notes you can look over the sort of weights you were achieving for a given number of reps, you can use these to look at what you estimated 1 rep maxes might look like. This will give you a good idea of what you 1 rep max on the day might be.
This gives you your starting point, you have your estimated 1 rep maxes. They give you a range to work from, you can set yourself a minimum and maximum for each lift. That way you know if you’re feeling crummy on the day you have a minimum you can hit and if you’re feeling super you have a maximum to aim for.
Picking Your Opener
The way I see it is that your opener is just an extension of your warm up. So this should definitely be something sub-maximal and shouldn’t take away from your next attempts. This is the only lift you have to hand in before you start, so you cannot judge how your warm up is going to give you an indication of how this lift might go. Therefore, it makes even more sense to pick something you can hit any day of the week come rain or shine.
This should be a weight you could hit hungover wearing the clothes you had on during your night out. That means no belt, no lifting shoes, no chalk, you get the picture; no chance of failure. Furthermore, because it will be easy it will give you confidence for your next lifts going forward.
So because everyone likes rules of thumb;
Your opener should be 80% of your final attempt (1 Rep Maximum).
A piece of pie, whether hungover or not.
Picking Your Second Attempt
So after killing your first opener you’re ready for your second attempt. Again, we are going in with the mindset of hitting every single lift. Because, a missed attempt is as good as wiping your ass with cling film. Messy, uncomfortable, embarrassing and an all round epic fail. So 9/9 is our aim, therefore the second attempt is again something we are confident about hitting.
However, you have the first attempt to help guide you here. My advise is to have a couple of options before you get to your meet, have a feeling shitty option and a feeling good option. If your opener felt a bit slow, then opt for the feeling shitty second attempt, if it felt like it should, easy, then go for the feeling good option. Too many options will only leave you second guessing, if things are going to plan, you should be feeling good, it will be pretty clear if things aren’t.
Either way this lift again should be a no-brainer, not dead easy but not hard either. Something you could hit for a 2-3 rep max on a good day and hit for a single when you feel like utter crap.
Right so how do you go about picking these two?
Feeling shitty 85% of your final attempt (1 Rep Maximum).
Feeling good 90% of your final attempt (1 Rep Maximum).
Something you could hit for a triple on a good day.
Picking Your Final Attempt
Right so now you are in a great position, whether you’re feeling good or not, you will have so far succeeded in getting every attempt, 6/6, good job! So using the 1 rep max calculator and your lifting history you have an idea of what you should be able to hit. Again I suggest having a feeling crummy attempt and a feeling good number.
As a rule of thumb set your final attempt at:
100 – 102.5% of your estimated 1RM.
Remember, we are going for 9/9, and especially because this is written for the powerlifting newb we are assuming a lack of meet experience. Therefore, you do not know whether you bloom under the competitive environment or crumble. It’s like those kids who know all the answers to the questions in lessons, and do well on their course work, but when it comes to exam conditions they suck. We therefore have little meet history to go off, so we are going to be conservative. As said before, a missed lift is useless, so we don’t want any second guessing.
The Take Home Message
If it wasn’t clear by now the take home from the above is that you want to avoid missing lifts. As someone new to powerlifting you want to be especially conservative, and learn from the process. Having a plan allows you to have better focus on the day, plus by having a minimum and a maximum you have a great way of selecting weights on the day, because who knows how you might be feeling.
In the parts to follow I will talk more about each lift, nutrition, weighing in and all the details of the meet day.
So 4 months after competing in a Natural Bodybuilding contest I decided to try my hand at Powerlifting. Why not? They both require you to be strong, and can really compliment one another. In short, bigger muscles are stronger, and by focussing on strength you are continually progressively overloading your muscles, key for growing.
In this following series ‘The Powerlifting Newb’ I am going to take you step by step through my transition form Natural Bodybuilding to the meet. However, in a Star Wars esq. fashion I am going to start with the ending first and tell you how I got on in my meet.
Night before Worries
So the night before the meet me and my girlfriend had a long discussion about my lifts and what weight I would attempt. There was me stressing about the fact my first and second attempts were a walk in the park and wasn’t sure about my third attempt. Going back and fourth about what if you miss that or if that makes you tired later etc. It was stressful and very unproductive. I stuck with the programme and forgot about the debate. This was a very good idea and I will go into depth about weight selection in another part.
Lucky for me I didn’t have to worry about my weight, as I have been sitting around 77-79kg consistently for about a month. Not a chance I would be over the 83kg limit. For those close to it, there is the potential to manipulate things…again, this part is about me and my lifts on the day, that will be covered later.
Day of Meet
Typically I eat a late breakfast, normally around midday. However, I wanted to make sure to get in sufficient fuel before the lifts. Breakfast therefore was a bit random and I went for a protein shake, banana and cookie, easy on the stomach and energy dense. I weighed myself at home after this and I was still well under 80kg, so all good. We then set off for the meet, the drive would take around 2 hours.
Once arriving we signed in and got in the queue for a kit check and to weigh in. This was my first newb moment as I had one of my Revive T Shirts to wear, for a meet you’re only allowed blank T’s or logos affiliated with powerlifting e.g. SBD. All my kit was fine, and then I weighed in, they checked out my briefs (which you must wear) and I selected my openers.
Now we weren’t due to lift until 2pm, so I had a good couple of hours to kill. I ate a tuna sandwich and had a drink, from there I just hung out with my girlfriend and kept an eye on who was lifting. Then at 1:15pm we got called up to select rack heights for the squat, after which we began warming up.
Some people had started warming up an hour before lifting, in my mind that is overkill, who warms up for an hour? No one. So with half an hour to warm up I was happy, people were all really nice and shared the racks. To say it was cramped is being kind, there were only 2 racks, really not enough for the number of lifters. So I probably had my worst warm up ever, but hey, I was under the same pressures as everyone else.
The Squat
For the squat my plan was:
165kg opener
180kg second attempt
190-195kg third attempt
My first and second attempts went really well. However, on both I only got 2 white lights. These lights are bit like those in X-Factor, except it’s not whether they like the performance of not, the three meet judges decide whether or not the lift met the required rules. So my first two attempts may have been slightly lacking in depth, according to one judge anyway. This put me off, and so I decided to just go for 190kg on my third attempt.
This final lift was my best, a grinder but it was deeper than the last two. It looked good, it felt good, it was a 10kg PR, but it didn’t count. Steve the newb powerlifter racked the weight before he was told, bad Steve, no lift.
The Bench Press
For the bench my plan was:
90kg opener
100kg second attempt
110-112.5kg third attempt
The bench was something I was really confident on, not because I was strong, in fact it is my worst lift, but in terms of my plan. I actually think I can hit 115kg, but I went conservative, and for bench, this is a good idea, that I will touch on in a later part when I go over weight selection.
So 90kg is around my 8RM, or 80% of my 1RM, so it was easy. However, I felt like an idiot when I failed this lift. Not because I couldn’t lift it, but because I wasn’t aware of the first call ‘Start’. I thought once I had said ‘My Bar’ I was good to go, but no. Yet, for my second lift I went onward with 100kg, because I knew it was easy. As thought, I got it comfortably.
Then I was in two minds whether or not to go for 115kg, but I played it safe, it was my first meet, so I went with 112.5kg a 2.5kg PR. Again, the lift felt good, a slight grind, and as I normally would in the gym, I hit the rep and racked it. Error number 2, I racked too soon, I forgot to wait for the call, no lift.
The Deadlift
For the deadlift my plan was:
185kg opener
205kg second attempt
225-230kg third attempt
Right, so by now you are getting a pretty clear picture of how things were not going to plan. With a total of 280kg I needed 332.5kg to qualify for nationals, which was my intentions. Sadly if my 190kg and 112.5kg lifts counted I would only need 210, which I had hit for an easy triple a couple of weeks back. So as you can imagine my opener and second lifts went up easy. So on my final attempt I went for a very unrealistic 232.5kg, which would be a lifetime PR, let alone this bodyweight. As expect I didn’t get it, and to be honest I went into lift it with the wrong mindset.
Lessons Learnt
So as you can see on paper I didn’t do very well at all, however I still came 7th out of 15 lifters and for my first meet, that isn’t terrible. Annoyingly, if I had hit all my planned lifts I would have qualified easily and come third. But hey ho, you live and you learn. I now will have the confidence I know what is required for my next meets. Furthermore, my clients will know what to expect when preparing for a meet. In future I would practice lifting under mock conditions more regularly, and I would get my clients to do the same.
Key Lessons:
Go in with a plan, trust the plan and be confident.
Know the calls and meet expectations, train like this prior to the meet.
Keep composed, especially when benching and squatting.
Those are just some of the lessons I have learnt. In future parts I will go over training running up to the meet, nutrition, warming up, lift selection, mind set and much more! So stay tuned.
You know what I am disappointed but I will #ReviveStronger watch this space.
This was inspired by one of my online clients, we have been working together for 2 months. She was new to counting macronutrients and dieting flexibly. So initially as expected there was a break-in period before she was getting within her programmed macro ranges. However, even with this she should have still been in a calorie deficit, given her activity and overall intake. But, she was not losing weight. Sound familiar? Frustrating right?
Even with small manipulations downwards of her overall intake and incremental additions of cardio, her weight still didn’t budge. Of course weight is not always entirely accurate, but her waist wasn’t moving much and she expressed that her body had not changed in composition. We had no reason to believe her metabolism was low, she didn’t have a history of excess exercise in comparison to total calories. So building her metabolic rate up (like I have had to do for many female clients) didn’t seem like the answer.
So logic was clearly failing me as a coach, she was tracking her macro intake, she was completing her exercise and these two things should have resulted in positive changes to her body composition. And this ladies and gentlemen is where I am going to let you in on the ONE SHOCKING reason she was not losing weight. It is so simple but so so very essential to a successful diet. So what did I do, well I asked a few of my fellow coaches, told them about the above situation. We had lengthy discussions and came to the conclusion that she may beunderreporting her food intake. But, how do you really assess such a thing? I couldn’t accuse my client of not tracking everything, as she certainly thought she was. So I asked for access to her myfitnesspal, and this is where I found my answer.
She was underreporting, but not on purpose. How do you underreport by accident? Well the below video by one of my favourite fitness pros, Leigh Peele, shows you how here. Watched it? Did you really watch it? Good because I think it is a good reminder for everyone. If you didn’t watch it I am going to recap it here anyway, because it is really so darn simple but an easy trap to fall into.
Instead of using a scale to measure out her oats, vegetables and sauces, she was using cups, and spoon measures. These are MUCH less accurate, especially for someone who is new to tracking their macros. If you watched the video you can see how the inaccuracies can really add up and in this case stop you losing fat. However, if you were using them to maintain weight, they could easily lead to fat gain. On top of this my client was also using very generic measures, such as half a banana, think about that for a second. How big is this banana? They can really vary in length, and so to be really precise we are better off weighing this out.
Think, a 200 calorie discrepancy in a day could lead to 1400 calories not accounted for by the end of the week, and over a month that is 5600 calories. If that individual was trying to maintain weight, and we assume 3500 calories is equal to a pound of fat, they would gain just over 1 and a half pounds of fat. Over the course of the year, this could lead to close to 20 pounds of extra weight gained. Told you it was shocking, not just the fact it is such a simple mistake, but how easily it adds up!
You might now be thinking, ‘does this mean I have to weigh every little thing!?!…that isn’t very flexible’ and well you’d be right, you do and although flexible in food choice, you do need to be precise about things. However, there is part of the learning curve, at first you are a newb, you don’t know what 100g of oats looks like, or what 150g of apple looks like. But soon enough, after weighing these things out, you will get to know, and here is where the real flexibility and lifestyle change comes. You graduate to guestimation, this may take some people a few weeks, for others it might take months. But you’ll get there. I will note there are times when you probably shouldn’t guestimate, but that is a small % of the population, those trying to get to extreme levels of conditioning. For those just looking to drop some extra fat, you’ll be able to guestimate, and it becomes a life skill.
So if you track your macros, or even just your calories and have never used a scale for everything, you might want to try it out, it may well SHOCK you into losing fat 😉 #REVIVESTRONGER
To autoregulate your training you essentially go to the gym and do ‘what feels good’. That might mean your legs are feeling strong, and you want to work in a low rep range for some squats. Or maybe you did a lot of walking during the day, so you’re better off hitting your upper body, but you don’t feel like going heavy, so you go for some higher rep pulls and presses. You get the picture, you let your body decide on the day how to hit the weights.
A problem with the above approach is that there is no structure, and what if you just decide not to train your lower body during the week, that’s just not on. So we need to create a programme as without an idea of what needs to be done we won’t progress. Therefore, better is to have at least an idea that you are going to squat, bench and deadlift heavy and for reps at some point in the week, but then choose when you do each. The amount of structure you provide can vary, there are whole training programmes such as Mike Tuchscherer’s Reactive Training Systems.
A problem with that approach is that if you are new to training you might not really know what weights you should be using for each of these. Or maybe by not having knowing when you are meant to be hitting it hard and taking it easy, you never actually hit it all that hard. That also might lead you to not progressing. If you are a more advanced lifter you might actually be able to select a weight to hit an appropriate Rate of Perceived Exertion (to learn more about the RPE scale click here). You know how certain weights feel, so if you are warming up you can identify whether you should shoot for that PR or hold back and just go through the movement with a lighter weight.
My suggestion? if you are completely new to training I think you would be better suited to stick to a programme, using %’s based off your estimated 1 rep maxes. This is because you lack the experience with the weights to autoregulate and we want you to be progressing each week. I often will guide my clients alongside with an RPE, but they know the weight they are aiming for.
However, if you are a seasoned lifter, and are progressing at a monthly or more basis then I think a combination of RPE and % may be a better suited. What might this mean in practice? Say you know you are squatting today, it is a heavy day. You want to do 5 reps for a given number of sets. I suggest looking at what %’s of your 1 rep max you would like to achieve. For this case, lets say it is 75%, I would then create a range, say 5% above and 5% below this. Then you can work up to this range and then depending how you feel on the day, autoregulate the weight from this range. You’d do this during your warm up sets, if they feel slow you know to go lower within the range, if they are springy and smooth then push for higher. That is one approach I have seen to be very successful with my clients and it gives another reason why warming up is required. DO NOT JUST GO AND START ON YOUR WORKING WEIGHTS, that is reckless and could easily lead to an injury.
There are many other approaches that are definitely worth trying, such as using %’s for the main lifts and then hitting RPE’s for the assistance lifts. Or going for a rep max for the day and then backing off until you hit a certain RPE. The way you eventually choose to programme will be very individual. This is just a brief look into autoregulation and there is a lot more to be said about it, but lets leave that for another time.
Hope this helps you and your training #REVIVESTRONGER
You may be wondering, what in heck is he on about? Process orientated…goal orientated…what are these concepts? So I guess it would be best to clarify what I mean by each:
Goal Orientated– you focus on the end product, this might be a certain body weight, an amount to be lifted or even a promotion. This is your key driver, it gets you out of bed each day.
Process Orientated– instead of looking at the end product you hope for, you focus on what needs to be done to get there. If you want to hit a certain bodyweight, you make sure to eat and exercise each day in a way that would take you there. If you want a promotion by the end of the year, each day you nail your work and go the extra mile. You look at what needs to be done to get you to your goal, this is your focus each day.
As you can see there is one KEY DIFFERENCE; one focusses on the END PRODUCT and the other on what NEEDS TO BE DONE TO GET THERE.
So what’s wrong about looking at the end goal all the time? I mean it’s good to set goals and have them drive us throughout life? Well yes, setting goals is brilliant, and they need to be there to give us purpose and direction. However, the problem with thinking about the end product all the time is that you want it now. Or if something goes a bit skew whiff one day you get very frustrated.
Take Bob, he wants to get to 165lbs for a natural bodybuilding competition. Now Bob has given himself 20 weeks to get there, which should be plenty of time as he is only weighing in at 185lbs. So Bob knows that if on average he loses a pound per week he will hit his goal. Bob isn’t an idiot and knows that at first he can expect weight to come off faster and it will gradually slow.
Each day Bob wakes up and weighs himself, always with the focus on the end weight. So he is setting himself up for disappointment every single day, because he is not yet at his goal weight. Imagine a situation where he is 10 weeks out, and his weight stalls, he loses nothing for a week, or even gains a pound. Bob being Bob is thinking that he will not hit his goal weight at this rate, he gets very anxious and decides to add cardio and drop his calorie intake.
Bob then loses a lot of weight the next week, and once the 20 weeks are up he is actually 5lbs lighter than his goal.
Now take Fred, he is going for the same show, so he also needs to get down to 165lbs. Like Bob, he is a smart guy, he knows how to get there. However, unlike Bob, Fred focusses on these processes, he looks at what macros and exercise needs to be done each day, and is satisfied each day as he gets this done. Fred’s weight also stalls one week, however, being process orientated Fred knows he has done everything right and cannot do anything more. So he sticks to his guns, and when the 20 weeks finish, he manages to also reach his goal, but is 5lbs heavier than Bob.
So whats the difference? Both Bob and Fred were able to get to their goal, but Bob actually overshot and lost more weight than he needed and aimed for. In this situation it meant that he actually lost lean muscle mass by making drastic changes to his diet and exercise. He therefore placed lower than Fred, who being process focussed, didn’t lose his head, and therefore kept a higher amount of lean mass.
This is just one example of how being too focussed on the end product can worsen the outcome. Life is not linear, we get peaks and troughs of good luck and bad luck. However, if you focus on what you are doing to get to your goal, rather than goal in question, you will be in a better place to consistently do what needs to be done. You won’t get disheartened along the way, and do something non-productive.
Be process orientated, not goal orientated, you’ll be surprised how much more you enjoy the each day and probably hit your goal sooner!
Having a coach really helps keep you focussed on the processes, they give you your training and nutrition, all you need to do is do it. Therefore, it directs your focus on the process, they can keep the goal in mind. Like the sound of that? Check out my success stories and if you think my coaching might suit you check out my services.
The following was written 1 week out from the UKDFBA in 2014…
Sorry if you expected something a little more perverse than this, but I have to confess I am addicted to food porn. Or better I am obsessed with food in general, if you asked me what I was thinking about or doing it would be food, hence this newsletter being on the subject!
So why am I so food focussed right now? Well you might have guessed it, it’s because I am dieting. As you transition to lower and lower calories every item of food you put in your mouth gets a higher value put onto it. Not only do you need to be more concerned about it’s quality, you get concerned about how it tastes, how fulfilling it is, because you know if you make a bad choice you will feel it later. Just have a look at my instagram if you don’t believe me.
Pretty #foodgasmic wouldn’t you say? In a recent paper by Eric Helms, Alan Aragon and Peter Fitschen they look into the psychological impacts of long term dieting, specifically for contest prep. Did you know it’s been found almost half male drug free competitive bodybuilders binge post competition. One third reported anxiety, short tempers or anger when preparing for competition and more than 80% suffered with a preoccupation with food. People who know me might be thinking…that explains a lot..haha well hopefully not. Although I have survived one post competition binge I definitely have a preoccupation with food. The physical effects of semi-starvation is much like the signs and symptoms seen with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. As you can see, my food porn obsession isn’t so out of the ordinary.
This is why I wanted to make this post, because I am aware of the dangers of getting extremely lean. And being aware is part of the solution of straying from the potential consequences. As open and frequent communication about these topics can really help. Further to this, I have a coach, he is amazing and there for me when I am concerned. Personally, I recommend everyone looking to get into contest level shape get a coach, particularly if it is your first contest. This is why I also think it is essential that your coach has competed themselves, because it is impossible to relate if they haven’t. The mental and psychological side to contest prep is what separates it from just fat loss, and trust me when I say it is a major part that can make or break a successful prep.
I am now 1 week out from the UK Drug Free Bodybuilding Association (UKDFBA). So hopefully my obsession will start dying down and I can get back to a having a healthy relationship with food. I certainly intend to enjoy a ‘free meal’ post contest, but I am not going to binge. My fantastic girlfriend has actually booked us in for a meal at Duck and Waffle in London, its got some posh nosh and I intend to enjoy the hell out of it.Thanks to everyone for the continued support throughout my contest prep. It has been an experience I will remember forever and it has made me grow stronger as a person. If anyone is interested in competing and have questions, please contact me as I would be happy to help, and together we can Revive Stronger.
First off I apologise for the lack of a newsletter last week, those of you who follow me on the social media know I competed in my First Natural Bodybuilding show. This was through the NPA and was the South East Championships. As I said it was my first show, I actually never planned to do it but I am so glad I did, because I learnt LOADS!
The Game Plan
Shave body hair and apply tan, to best show off muscle detail.
Eat/drink enough to achieve fullness but so not to ‘spill over’ and look less defined, and maintain this look.
Ensure to come under the upper cut off limit for the lightweight novices weigh in.
Pose to best demonstrate symmetry, size and definition to the judges.
The above is the basic elements to what I was trying to achieve on the day, essentially to best represent my physique to the judges and meet their criteria. However, being my first show, not everything went to plan, so let me take you through the reality.
The Reality
So I had been shaving my body hair for the past month. I thought that was fine. However, for some reason I didn’t consider my underarm or forearm hair. This counted against me and the judges picked up on it. Lesson learnt, get rid of ALL body hair (facial hair is OK). Second, my tan, this was a bit less certain, the night before my girlfriend kindly applied a layer of pro tan. The next day you’re advised to shower it off, I did so and it looked very weak. So we did another layer, this was an error as the showering off process is very important to its proper application. Back stage we had the finisher by pro tan, and were applying this, it wasn’t going on so well due to adding the extra layer of tan in the morning. But we felt we had gotten a dark enough tan, and from some pictures you’d think we did. However, we were wrong, I looked washed out on stage. The lights were VERY bright. The judges commented that it looked like I didn’t have a tan, and looked washed out. Again, counting against me. They stated that I may well have placed higher if I had amended the above two points. Yes I am very disappointed in myself, but I will not make these errors again!
My coach had provided some guideline macros and meal timings to eat. These were quite wide and he said it would really depend on how I was responding on the day. But I have been dieting for over 30 weeks, tracking my macros with precision. So I definitely have a pre-occupation with hitting numbers and so was too focussed on tracking then I was on the impact on my body. This led me to not achieve a pump or fill out, I was flat and didn’t look my best.
This one was hit. Weighed in after my breakfast well below the cut off and then just sipped on water till the final weigh in. It was at 11am, so obviously you had to be careful about how much you consumed beforehand. However, I expected digital scales, but they had old fashioned ones, and so I question the degree of accuracy.
I have been practicing my posing each week for months. However, not spending much time on it and when into the final months you’re pretty exhausted all the time. So my willingness to practice was very low, plus I personally don’t have any good areas in my home to pose. So looking back, I would practice more early on, and then make it a habit to pose every single week, and film it. However, my posing on the day was OK, but I didn’t angle myself to the judges. This was key error on my part, and you will notice it in the videos (youtube link below), it makes a massive difference. Also I held my legs too close on some poses, purposefully done, but looking back, it was an error, making the sought for X frame hard to come by.
So there you have it, I messed up a little. However, learnt a great deal and the mistakes made are pretty easy to fix and work on. It wasn’t like I was told I was top heavy, or wasn’t lean enough. So it was a very positive experience. My main show is now in 2 weeks time, below is what I am going to do to improve upon my performance and do myself justice :).
Actions
In comes Veet, to rid the under arm and forearm hair! And to get a perfect tan I have booked a professional tan on the day, it was expensive, but I think worth the investment. I will not get these two things wrong!
Stop being such an obsessive tracker. I do not need to be precise with macros on the day, I just need to eat carbs and fats to achieve the look I desire. Pizza post weigh in and plenty of food, that is not tracked, only tracked by how I am looking.
So for this show the cut off is even lower, so since my first show I am continuing to lose weight. I have been consistently under 75kg for the past few weeks, but of course weigh in is not first thing, so I need some leeway.
Continue to practice my posing up until the show and be sure to angle myself towards the judges during the competition.
Overall the show was an AMAZING experience. People there to show off their hard work and share their journeys with one another. Some had lost huge amounts of weight to be there, and that in itself is commendable. I won’t lie, it was stressful, and I am a stressful person, so that didn’t help.
For my next show I am going to almost sit back, relax and just do my best, no point stressing because overall it is just about getting on the stage and enjoying myself. For me the journey getting here has been the reward, trophies or placings are nice, but mean little in reality. I have learnt SO much getting to such low bodyfat levels, and will use this not only to help others but it has given me confidence that I can achieve anything.
I vlogged the whole thing, to check it out visit HERE.
Even with small manipulations downwards of her overall intake and incremental additions of cardio, her weight still didn’t budge. Of course weight is not always entirely accurate, but her waist wasn’t moving much and she expressed that her body had not changed in composition. We had no reason to believe her metabolism was low, she didn’t have a history of excess exercise in comparison to total calories. So building her metabolic rate up (like I have had to do for many female clients) didn’t seem like the answer.
So what did I do, well I asked a few of my fellow coaches, told them about the above situation. We had lengthy discussions and came to the conclusion that she may beunderreporting her food intake. But, how do you really assess such a thing? I couldn’t accuse my client of not tracking everything, as she certainly thought she was. So I asked for access to her myfitnesspal, and this is where I found my answer.
stephenhallrevive.wordpress.com 