Bodybuilding.com - My Journey To The 2003 USA Naturals - Week 11!

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Did you know?
Idrise Ward-El got his pro card at his 3rd contest.

Follow me as I go through a strict training and diet schedule leading up to the USA Naturals on August 9, 2003!

Week 11

I ended up having a pretty busy weekend. I had a lot of errands to run and got them all done. I felt better and better every day through the weekend and figured that lying in bed all day was not going to make me well any faster. I did make sure to get plenty of sleep each night. I am feeling 100% better compared to last week. I am still a little congested, but I think I have weathered the worst of this ill-timed cold.

If I have gotten anything positive out of having this cold, it is that I learned that I could fight through my workouts and cardio sessions despite feeling very bad. I know that during the upcoming weeks of my contest I will often feel hungry and tired. I will not always feel like working out, but I do not think it will be as miserable as I felt last week trying to work out. So maybe that is a positive I can take away from this. In a few weeks when I am tired and not motivated to give 100% in the gym, I will remind myself of how I felt during my "sick week."

Training

I finally felt back to 100% this week after being sick last week. Every weight training session was good and I got stronger as the week went on with Friday's Shoulder and Trap workout being my best! I also had a very good week of cardiovascular training by setting some new distance records and increasing my cardio frequency to one session every day.

Nutrition and Supplementation

Despite having a very bad cold and my workouts suffering, I feel that I made some pretty good progress in terms of bodyfat reduction last week based on my assessment photos from Saturday. My scale weight actually went up 1 1/2 lbs from last week. I am not concerned about this at all. I knew weighing 220 lbs last week seemed way to low. Remember that I weighed on a different scale the week before. The amount of water I happen to be holding at any particular time can also make a difference in the scale weight.

I am really starting to look forward to each of my meals now. I know that this is a good thing. It means that my metabolism is running hot and I am burning bodyfat efficiently. I will remind myself of this whenever I am feeling hungry!

This Week, I Will Reduce My Daily Calories As Follows:

Meal #1 - Reduce 1/2 scoop VP2 - 50 calories
Post Workout - Reduce 1/2 scoop VP2 - 50 calories
Meal #2 - Reduce white rice from 2/3 cup to 1/2 cup - 32 calories
Post Cardio - Reduce DGC from 1/2 serving to 1/4 serving - 46 calories
Meal #7 - Remove 1/2 tbsp flax oil - 55 calories
Meal #7 - Add 2 CLA1000 - Add 18 calories

My total calorie reduction this week comes to 215 calories per day. I will perform 7 cardio sessions this week (one every day) and working during each session to improve my performance and raise my metabolism higher. Check out my complete nutrition plan during Monday's Training Journal Entry.

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