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This New Year, 2007, marks the beginning of my road to the NPC New England Bodybuilding Championships in May where I will be competing in the Middleweight class... In this pre contest journal I will detail training and diet! Learn more.
Jonathan Deprospo's Road To The 2007 NPC Spring Season!
In the past few years I have journalized my brother, Justin Deprospo's contest preparation for the NPC New England Bodybuilding Championships the first weekend in May. I did this for him the first two years that he competed in the show.
The first journal in 2004 only covered the last week or so before the show, where he placed 6th his first time out. However, in 2005, I took it one step further and presented a weekly contest prep journal from 10 weeks out until the day of the show, which I feel was his best showing yet.
In 2006, I had some personal issues that I was battling and wasn't really able to work closely with Justin while preparing for the show, which I feel affected his overall look even though he placed third again.
This New Year, 2007, marks the beginning of my road to the NPC New England Bodybuilding Championships in May where I will be competing in the Middleweight class of the show. Justin will not be preparing for the show with me, instead he will be in my corner helping me bring out the best package I can over the next 12 weeks of dieting, training, and cardio.
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Jonathan Deprospo.
In this first installment of my journal I will begin with a basic outline of my dietary practices, along with my daily diet for the past week. I will then discuss my weight training regimen and why I chose to train certain body parts on certain days and how I plan on making adjustments leading up to the show. I will also discuss my cardio routine and what I am trying to achieve with my cardio workouts.
Everything that I outline is done for a reason, and I will explain what they are as we get into the journal. As far as supplements I will outline what I use after I discuss my diet protocol.
Let's Get Started...
- Starting Bodyweight - around 190lbs. - 195lbs.
- Starting Body-Fat - We use photo assessments to gauge body-fat levels.
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Jonathan Deprospo.
The Diet
When talking about "diets" everyone has a different body. Which means that, if something works miraculously for one person, it won't necessarily work the same way for another person. I wanted to clear that up before I discuss my diet so I won't have someone try what I'm doing and not get positive results.
When designing a diet program you must experiment to find out what works for your body and what doesn't and put together a program that works optimally with your body's metabolism.
The diet that I began for this show at the 16 weeks out mark mostly focuses on protein and carbohydrates with small amounts of fat. I would consider my contest diet a moderately high protein, moderate carbohydrate, low fat diet. My daily diet usually consists of 3-4 whole food meals, (which I will outline below) and 1-3 Meal Replacement Packets (MRP) throughout the day for a total of 5-7 meals.
 My Protein Sources:
My Complex Carbohydrate Sources:
- Oatmeal
- White & Brown Rice
- Sweet potatoes
My Fruit Carbohydrate Sources:
- Raisins
- Bananas
- Apples
- Grapes
- Honeydew melon
- Cantaloupe
My Fat Sources:
- Egg yolks
- Flank steak
- Natural peanut butter
- Almonds
My Fiber Sources:
These macronutrient sources listed above basically lay the groundwork for my diet program. The macronutrient sources are combined at different times throughout the day depending on what I do in the gym, my weight, and my overall look. For instance, when I wake up in the morning my blood sugar is usually low, and I have hunger pains.
Morning Meal:
So my meal for the morning will usually look like this...
- 8 egg whites
- 1 whole egg
- 1 cup of oatmeal
- 1/4 cup of raisins
This meal really gets me going in the morning and I feel like I have a lot of energy about an hour after I eat Meal 1. Around 2-3 hours later I start to get hungry again and it will be time to eat another similar meal minus the fruit.
Meal 2:
Meal 2 will usually look something like this...
- 1 large chicken breast
- 1 cup of rice
- Small salad
After Meal 2 it is usually time to go to the gym and get my workout in. My weight workout lasts about an hour to an hour and a half, after weights I will also do anywhere from 30min-60min of cardio.
Meal 3:
Meal 3 will normally consist of two options. When I train at Boston Sports Club in Waltham, MA, which is about 20min-30min from my house I will get my shake made there after my workout before coming home. What I do is bring my Nytro-Pro 40 and a banana and have it blended with skim milk and sometimes yogurt, this taste very good after a hard workout. When I train at Super Fitness in Watertown, MA, which is about 5min-10min from my house, I will come right home after the gym and have a meal that looks like this...
- 1 large chicken breast or equal portion of flank steak
- 1 cup of rice
- Small salad or broccoli or asparagus
Meal 4:
A few hours after Meal 3 I will follow up with Meal 4, which looks something like this...
- 1 large chicken breast
- 1 medium sized sweet potato
- Small salad
At this point in the night it is usually around 11:00 P.M. and for my last meal of the night I mix a Nytro-Pro 40 in a bowl with a small amount of skim milk and water and mix it up into a pudding. I then add a large TBSP of natural chunky peanut butter on top. I freeze the pudding for about a half hour then I slice up an apple and sprinkle splenda and cinnamon on top of the apple slices.
When I eat it I put some of the chocolate peanut butter mixture on top of an apple slice and enjoy! I find that this meal really satisfies my sweet tooth before I go to bed for the night.
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Jonathan Deprospo.
My Supplement Plan
A.M.
Post W/O
P.M.
- With every whole food meal I also take one serving (4 tablets) of Ultra-40 by Beverly, which is a beef liver protein supplement. I feel that these work really good when combined with whole food meals.
- This supplement regimen is basically designed for an anti-catabolic effect while I diet down for the show. I want to try to preserve as much muscle as possible in the process, which is why these supplements are used throughout the day.
- The supplement regimen listed above is my starting plan, however, new supplements will be added to it over the next three months.
That basically sums up my diet outline for the day. I started my contest prep for this show on January 17th, 2007. Before I began the diet, my diet over the winter holidays had been horrible. It basically consisted of 2-3 meals a day with a bunch of junk food in between and at night. I also was not training consistently or doing hardly any cardio.
This all changed after I met with my contest prep coach at the 16 weeks out point. His name is John Davis and he is a local competitor in the MA area. He has done many shows throughout the past 15-20 years and has a great deal of knowledge regarding the science of contest prep.
John works as a personal trainer and has many clients at all levels of experience, people who are just looking to get in shape and be healthy, and also competitive bodybuilders like myself. I feel that John is a good friend whom I've known for the past 5-6 years when I first began training at the age of 13.
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Jonathan Deprospo.
I feel honored that John has taken me under his wing and agreed to meet with me on a weekly basis for assessments leading up to the show. And by the way, John tells it like it is, if you look like sh!t, you look like sh!t. John doesn't sugar coat anything with me!
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Jonathan Deprospo.
Training Schedule
Now onto the training schedule...
My weekly training split starts on Monday, and I pretty much train everyday except Saturday when I only do cardio training. Each day breaks down like this...
- Monday - Triceps, Biceps, Forearms, Cardio
- Tuesday - Quads, Hamstrings (sometimes), Calves, Cardio
- Wednesday - Upper Back, Abs, Cardio
- Thursday - Chest, Calves, Optional cardio
- Friday - Lower Back, Hamstrings, Cardio, Posing
- Saturday - Cardio only
- Sunday - Shoulders, Traps, Calves, Cardio
Now I will break down each weight workout and cardio workout for each day of the week starting at 12 weeks out. These workouts are my real workouts, and these are the actual weights that I use in the gym, my form is also very strict and controlled. I work to feel the muscles working under the tension of the weights.
Monday - 2/12/07 - Triceps, Biceps, Forearms, Cardio
Warmup
- 10min. warm up on the treadmill before the workout.
Triceps
Biceps
Cardio
- 45min. on the treadmill at 10%-12% incline and 3.4-3.5 speed
Tuesday - 2/13/07 - Quads, Calves, Cardio
Warmup
- 10min. warm up on the treadmill
Quads
- Leg Extensions - 90lbs x 50reps, 110lbs x 40reps, 130lbs x 30reps, 150lbs x 25reps, 170lbs x 20reps
- Leg Press - 2 plates per side x 50reps, 4 plates x 50reps, 6 plates x 40reps
- Single Leg Smith Squats - 65lbs x 15reps, 95lbs x 12reps, 115lbs x 10reps
- Leg Extensions - 90lbs x 30reps, 110lbs x 25reps, 130lbs x 20 reps super-set with...
- D-bell lunges in place - 25lbs x 10-15reps x 3 sets
Calves
Cardio
- 50min. on the Treadmill at 10%-12% incline and 3.4-3.5 speed
Wednesday - 2/14/07 - Upper Back, Abs, Cardio
Warmup
- 10min. warm up on the Arc Trainer
Upper Back
- Assisted Wide Grip pull-ups, reverse grip, and neutral grip - 7 sets total of 10-20 reps
- Underhand grip Hammer Strength pull downs - 50lbs x 15reps, 80lbs x 12reps, 100lbs x 10 reps, 130lbs x 8reps
- Dumbbell pullovers - 60lbs x 15reps, 80lbs x 12reps, 100lbs x 10reps super set with...
- Wide grip lat pull downs - 150lbs x 12reps, 180lbs x 10reps, 210lbs x 10reps
- Single arm lat pull downs - 40lbs x 15reps, 55lbs x 10reps
Abs
Cardio
- 40min. on 10%-12% incline and 3.4-3.5 speed
Tanning
- 10min. in stand up with bronzer
Thursday - 2/15/07 - Lower Back, Cardio
Warmup
- 10min. warm up on Treadmill
Lower Back
Hamstrings
- Stiff Leg Deadlift - 135lbs x 15reps, 185lbs x 12reps, 225lbs x 12reps
- Regular Deadlift - 225lbs x 12reps, 225lbs x 12reps
- Seated pull row - 140lbs x 15reps, 180lbs x 12reps, 220lbs x 10reps
- Single arm low cable row - 30lbs x 12reps, 45lbs x 10reps
Cardio
- 20min. on 10%-12% incline and 3.4-3.5 speed
Friday - 2/16/07 - Chest, Calves, Posing, Cardio
Saturday - 2/17/07 - Off day from weights, Cardio only
Cardio
- 60min. of cardio split up between the Stair Master and the Treadmill
Sunday - 2/18/07 - Shoulders, Calves, Cardio
Shoulders
- Overhead Barbell press - 135lbs x 15reps, 185lbs x 12reps, 225lbs x 10reps, 275lbs x 4 reps - drop to - 185lbs x 10reps
- 6 set up the rack lateral raise set, 20's, 25's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's x 8 reps each
- Single arm cable side laterals - 30lbs x 15reps, 40lbs x 15reps - super set w/
- Reverse Butterflies - 50lbs x 15reps, 60lbs x 15reps - super set w/
- Seated pull upright rope pull - 55lbs x 15reps, 70lbs x 12reps
- Dumbbell front raises - 25lbs x 12reps (each arm), 25lbs x 12reps super set w/
- Cambered bar Upright rows - 75lbs x 15reps, 75lbs x 15reps
Calves
Cardio
- 50min. on the Arc Trainer with incline 3-6 and resistance 20-50
Tanning
- 10min. in stand up w bronzer
Weekly Summary...
Everything has been going awesome this past week! I have been dieting since 16 weeks out, so prior to this journal I had been already dieting for 4 weeks.
Click Image To Enlarge.
Jonathan Deprospo.
However, now I am really starting to feel the effects of the diet, the training, and the cardio. At this point in the prep I am starting to feel like I am in cruse control and all I have to do is keep doing what I'm doing, stay motivated, and stay consistent.
Time Management... And Its Importance...
Before I end this journal entry I would like to touch on one point that I feel is very important when getting ready for a bodybuilding competition. What I want to talk about is TIME MANAGEMENT and how important it is to keep a daily schedule and make sure you get everything completed throughout the day on time.
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Jonathan Deprospo.
Time management makes a night and day difference when trying to stay on top of your personal life while dieting and training for a show. If you make sure you keep a set schedule everyday and make sure that you are on time for your daily appointments you will have a lot less stress to deal with in all aspects of your life. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to E-mail me at KAS1N0l3I30Y@aol.com.
JDMuscle27@yahoo.com
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