The Journey began on the 27th February at The Crowne Plaza (Essex Arena) in Colchester as this was to be the venue for the Hercules Olympia WABBA UK Qualifier on the 26th/27th May 2012, I had travelled down from Milton Keynes to take a look at the venue where I had been asked to guest pose and see the photo-shoot being done for promoting the event.
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I now had 12wks to get in shape for the Guest Pose at the
Hercules Olympia and a further 2 weeks following that event to be ready for the
WABBA World Championships in Italy. You can see from the photo above taken on
the 27th Feb that I was in reasonable condition for the ‘Off season’
weighing in at 21’5lbs at 6’ft tall.
Weeks 14 – 10
Over the first 4 week period I would introduce two short
20-30 min C.V sessions to my normal daily routine, the first being on an empty
stomach first thing in the morning and a second session directly after my
afternoon weights workout. I would
begin my Carb Cycling which suits me and the way I work and live. There are several versions of it and you will find one to
suit you. The main advantages of carb cycling are that you run down stored
glycogen in the muscle, which in turn accelerates fat burning, however if you
are in calorie deficit for too long a period, your metabolic rate will
automatically reduce to protect from starvation. If you have a dramatic
increase in Carbs for a short period this can replenish glycogen stores to near
normal levels, without adding fat and trick your body into thinking it can
remain at its heightened metabolic rate. The way that suits me is: Lower carbs
Mon-Fri and then at the weekend increase carbs to normal non-dieting amounts
and the cycle begins again on Monday.
This is done to burn body fat and stimulates the metabolism;
I reduced my carbohydrate intake from 400g per day to 300g per day for the
first 4 weeks and would use the scales each Friday morning and mirror to
ascertain my progress. My protein intake remained at my ‘Off Season’ amount
approx. 300-400g and Fats would remain the same at approx. 100g. This works out
at approx. 3700kCal per day and combined with the added C.V work I was
undertaking. My carbohydrate sources would mainly be low GI foods such as Oats,
Sweet Potato, Quinoa and Basmati rice; this is done to keep energy levels and
blood sugar levels stable as we don’t want to add fat we want to burn it. At
this point I would still be using protein powder supplements and would of added
several supplements to assist fat meltdown such as: BCAA’s and Glutamine, HMB,
L’Carnitine, CLA, Fat Burners -Forza T5’s, I also recommend using digestive
enzymes to help breakdown and assimilate nutrients. I am very fortunate and
have two main sponsors who supply 99% of the supplements I use:
Weeks 10 – 6
At this point it’s normal to increase C.V to burn off more
fat, I increase time in the morning to 60 mins, Post-Workout to 30 mins and I
would add a 60 min Power Walk at lunch-time just to get out of the gym for a
change. I also reduced my carbohydrate intake from 300g to 250g per day. Posing
practice begins to get ‘match fit’ and other than that it’s pretty much
‘Ground-Hog day’ our routine is our downfall and saviour as a dieting body
builder. We cling to the routine to time meals and combat hunger but if our
routine is broken this can really mess up your head……..be prepared!
Weeks 6 – 2
C.V training is up to a full 2hrs a day at this moment in
time along with 60mins of core exercises thrown in, to ensure the abdominals
are nice and tight. The hunger is usually starting to grate and you find yourself
becoming much more inventive with food, each meal is very important to you as
you covet your food like it’s about to be taken away! Insomnia starts to creep
in due to restricted carb intake and stimulants such as coffee, EPA, Yohimbe
and Gurana all start to burn the candle at both ends. This is where
self-discipline really comes in to its own as you feel lethargic and the
motivation wains slightly. The end is in sight though, so close, don’t give in
now as we are past the half-way point and everything would have been in vain.
Weeks 2 – 0
For most people this includes a 5 day depletion period to
empty all the glycogen out of the muscles, this is pure torture and can stop
some people in their tracks. It is done so that when your refill them with
carbs something wonderful happens: SUPER COMPENSATION!
This is where the body having sensed calorie deficit go’s
into overdrive and produces huge amounts of glycogen and packs those muscles
full to the brim, tightening the skin around the muscles and veins. To do this
copious amounts of water have to be consumed every day 8-14 litres depending on
your body weight, for every gram of carbs to be processed by the body you need
to put in 3g of water. Commonly people carb load with Oatmeal, Sweet Potato,
Bananas, be.supreme, rice and I even know people who use baby food, as it
contains no salt. Now simply got to shave and begin the tanning process. The
bit I least like!
The results can be seen in the image below.
Train Hard, Train Smart but above all else ENJOY IT. Martin
‘The Beast’ Stevenson
WABBA UK Athlete
