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At one week out I'm holding steady at about 191 lbs. By the end of the week after I carb deplete I should be around 187.

To those of you that have been following my pre contest updates I am sorry that I did not write an article for 3 weeks out. I have been doing government funded research in a lab at my college this summer in addition to preparing for this contest and I was just too busy to write a 3 weeks out update. Now where should I begin.

At one week out I'm holding steady at about 191 lbs. By the end of the week after I carb deplete I should be around 187 and after I carb up on Saturday I should weigh in at around 190 lbs. I have no way to measure body fat so I don't know how low I am but I can tell you that I am very lean.

I have vascularity in my abs, obliques, chest, shoulders, arms, legs, and even my back when I flex it hard enough. I have visible striations in my triceps, shoulders, outer quads, and chest.

In my chest I also have cross striations in my lower pecs. So I am pretty sure that I am lean enough for the contest. My diet from week 4 up until now has been.

275g protein
150g carbs
50g fat
Once per week I refeed for 3-4 hours after my leg workout.

At 3 weeks out, I realized that I was lacking hardness in my legs and wasn't as lean as I wanted to be. In an attempt to harden up more I increased my cardio to 45 minutes everyday in the morning before breakfast. For the past 5 days I have done two 45 minute sessions of cardio, one in the morning before breakfast, and once in the evening.

This has really helped to bring out more muscle hardness and reduce my body fat to competition level. It should also be noted that I started sodium loading at 15 days out and started lowering my sodium back down at 1 week out. All that remains for these last week is to manipulate my water levels by sodium/carb depleting/loading.

Here is my diet/workout/cardio plan for the next week:

Sunday: Rest

275g protein, 150g carbs, 50g fat
45 minutes cardio
2g sodium
2 gallons water

Monday: Legs (depletion workout)

275g protein, 150g carbs, 50g fat
45 minutes cardio
2g sodium
2 gallons water

Tuesday: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps (depletion workout)

275g protein, 125g carbs, 50g fat
60 minutes cardio
2g sodium
2 gallons water

Wednesday: Back, Biceps (depletion workout)

275g protein, 100g carbs, 40g fat
45 minutes cardio
2g sodium
2 gallons water

Thursday: Abs (depletion workout)

275g protein, 100g carbs, 30g fat
30 minutes cardio
1.5g sodium
2 gallons water

Friday: Rest

275g protein, 100g carbs, 30g fat
No cardio
1g sodium
1 gallon water

Saturday: Wake up at 4 a.m.

Consume 1 sweet potato every 2 hours with small bites of protein
2 hours before prejudging have = pan pizza
Drink enough water to quench thirst but no more

The purpose of this diet is to enable my body to handle more carbs than usual and store more muscle glycogen than normal so that I will appear fuller onstage. By depleting myself throughout the week, when I ingest carbs on Saturday my body will be able to absorb and store a greater amount of glycogen for a short period of time giving me a fuller look.

By sodium loading and then depleting I am also conditioning my body. Sodium makes you retain water so if you sodium load your body will work extra hard to get rid of this water, thus when you sodium deplete, your body will not be retaining as much water but your cells sodium pumps will still be working just as hard at flushing out water. This will help get rid of any extra cellular subcutaneous water I might be storing.

I will also be supplementing with Potassium in order to prevent dehydration and cramping that may occur from sodium depleting. I plan on taking 99mg of Potassium with each meal on Saturday.

My Tricks

A few hours before contest I will apply Preparation H gel to my midsection or anywhere else that I feel may be retaining water.

Preparation H has an ingredient in it which removes water from under the skin and thus gives the skin a tighter look and feel (this effect only lasts for a few hours)

About 20 minutes before prejudging I will also take 500mg of Niacin. Niacin flushes the skin and may increase vascularity.

If the sun is out I will probably walk in the sun for about 15 minutes prior to prejudging, for some reason when I walk around in heat under the sun it always brings out more vascularity.

Tanning

To tan for the contest I will begin applying Pro Tan on Wednesday and apply it everyday until the contest. About an hour before prejudging I will apply Dream Tan, which is a bronzer and also acts as posing oil. This should give me plenty of color that even the brightest stage lights will not be able to down out.

After the contest is over I will definitely be hitting up my favorite Italian pizza place and maybe even some ice cream shops. I will try to avoid pigging out too much however because of a recent development I'M DOING ANOTHER CONTEST THE NEXT WEEK! The following Saturday I will be entering in the SNBF Tennessee Bodybuilding Championships.

If all goes well at the Mid-America Muscle Classic (my first show) I will likely use the same game plan for my second contest. I am not too worried about pigging out Saturday night since I will have been depleted for so long that I won't store any body fat from even pigging out all night. In fact my post contest binge will likely kick start my metabolism again and will sure make me feel a lot better.

I will have the rest of the following week to deplete my glycogen stores again and this should be plenty of time.

I have no pictures to show as of this time, but you can bet I'll have plenty from my contest! So the time has come time to rock the mid-west!

As always, if you have any questions email me at biolayne@yahoo.com

biolayne@yahoo.com