Fitness Progress Report #7: 17 Days Remaining Until WBFF

Only 17 days remaining until the WBFF competition on June 23, 2012 in Vancouver, BC!  I've been very consistent these last two weeks, since my last Fitness Progress Report, and things are coming along well.  I've been lowering carb intake slowly, as instructed by my coach, and have been starting to tighten up a bit more.  It's a very fine line between getting really lean, without losing much of my size.  But I've noticed these last two weeks that I've gotten smaller after taking my measurements.

I recently just bought my speedo swim trunks for my competition and have been starting to practice posing a bit more.  It's an area I don't know much about, but am just trying to practice and learn as much as I can from watching videos on YouTube.  I've also begun visualizing myself competing more and more, to give myself that sense of certainty and comfort.  There's a book that I picked up called Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz that I was recommended by a friend who competed before, which I'll be reading over the next two weeks.

Previous Fitness Progress Reports

If you want to see comparisons of my progress on a bi-weekly basis, check out the links below:

February 18, 2012 – My Journey To The WBFF Fitness Modelling Competition
March 5, 2012 – Fitness Progress Report #1: Putting On Size
March 19, 2012 – Fitness Progress Report #2: Gaining Muscle Mass
March 26, 2012 – Bill Phillips Transformation Spring Forward Challenge
April 11, 2012 – Fitness Progress Report #3: Getting Bigger While Staying Lean
April 24, 2012 – Fitness Progress Report #4: Final Stages Of Mass Gain
May 9, 2012 – Fitness Progress Report #5: Beginning Fat-Loss Phase
May 23, 2012 – Fitness Progress Report #6: 4 Weeks To WBFF Competition

Progress Report: June 6, 2012

(Click here to see my pictures from two weeks ago – May 23, 2012)

WEIGHT: 148.6 lbs. (– 2.0 lbs.)
BODYFAT: 11.9% (+/- 0%)
FAT-MASS: 17.41 (– 0.4 lbs.)
FAT-FREE MUSCLE: 129.21 (– 1.8 lbs.)

NECK:  14″ (– 0.25″)
CHEST:  36″  (– 1.0″)
SHOULDERS:  44″  (– 1.0″)
RIGHT ARM:  12.5″  (+/- 0″)
HIPS:  31″  (+/- 0″)
WAIST:  28″  (– 0.75″)
RIGHT CALF:  13.25″  (+/- 0″)
RIGHT THIGH:  20.5″ (– 0.5″)

NOTE: Body Fat, Fat-Mass, and Fat-Free muscle is measured on a body composition scale and isn’t 100% accurate. I may be using Body Fat calipers in the future, but for now it’s good to use the same form of measurement for consistency.

In the last two weeks I lost approximately two pounds.  It's funny how inaccurate the body composition scale is at my gym, as it continues to say I'm 11.9% body fat which is so inaccurate.  I'm not sure why I still measure myself on it, I guess it's a habit.  But I really don't pay any attention to it whatsoever.  An interesting stat is seeing how my chest, shoulders, and legs are getting smaller.  That most likely is due to less water and glycogen storage based on cutting calories and carbs.  The goal is to be around 147 lbs and 4-5% body fat, and it seems like I'm on track with it.  I'll get a new update from my coach soon and most likely will be making some more adjustments.  The cool thing is that I have one more Fitness Progress Report two weeks from now, which will be days before the competition.  That will be an exciting one!

My Workout Routine And Diet

My workout routine has been the same since my last fitness progress report. Doing more higher reps, with drop sets and super sets. Still hitting the gym 6 days a week, with 15-minutes of HIIT 3 days a week.  I'm doing abs 6 days a week as well, for 10-15 minutes at the end of every workout.  Workouts are lasting anywhere from 60 to 75 minutes lately.

My weeks generally look like this:

MONDAY: Chest, Abs (15-mins HIIT on treadmill in morning)
TUESDAY: Back
WEDNESDAY: Shoulders, Abs (15-mins HIIT on treadmill in morning)
THURSDAY: Arms, Abs
FRIDAY: Legs, Abs
SATURDAY:  Abs
SUNDAY: Chest, Abs (15-mins HIIT on treadmill in morning)

Every workout tends to be different, as I like switching things up as much as possible to shock up the body and keep it guessing.

My diet has changed this last week.  I've dropped carbs by 50 grams per day, so now it looks like 225 grams of protein, 250 grams of carbs, and 40 grams of fat.  I'm eating about 6 meals per day and have a few meals that I consistently eat again and again.

My meals for a day generally look something like this:

MEAL 1: Oatmeal, Whey Protein (or Casein Protein), Berries
MEAL 2: (Pre-workout) Rice Cakes, Honey, Whey Protein
MEAL 3: (Post-workout) Whey Protein, Banana, Berries
MEAL 4: Scrambled Eggs or Omelette with Brown Rice
MEAL 5: Chicken Breast, Brown Rice
MEAL 6: Protein Pancake & French Toast with Casein Protein, Egg Whites, Berries

Meal #4 and #5 also change sometimes to being Whole Wheat Turkey Sandwiches or Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Chicken Breast.  I switch it up daily, but these are the meals that I eat consistently and I personally love every one of them.  I also take certain supplements, like Creatine, Glutamine, BCAA's, HMB, multi-vitamins, omega 3-6-9 capsules, Udo's Oil, green powder, and a pre-workout energy drink before workouts.

But the key has been to make sure that I am consistent with my daily requirements, with is 225g of protein, 250g of carbs, and 40g of fat.  And within those, make sure I'm eating the best foods possible for my body, which is usually complex carbs and good sources of protein and fats.  I track everything on Excel Spreadsheets and every week I'm sending pictures and reports to my coach.

I hope this gives you more of an insight to what I'm doing.  Looking forward to these next two weeks, going to make sure I keep up my consistency and follow the game plan.  Stay tuned for the next Fitness Progress Report, it should be a good one!