Tomorrow, 5th February, Saturday, we have the "Best Physique" competition at IIT Madras. I competed in the competition in the last two years too, without winning it. Probably because I'm not bulky or because I still have a lot of fat on me. But this time, being the Powerlifting captain, I'm responsible for organizing the competition and this makes the competition a little more special. This time I put a little more fight for the competition that I did the last two years and I'll briefly tell what I think did right and what I did wrong.
The conventional training style for pro-bodybuilders has two phases- a bulking phase when they grow muscle and mass, and a cutting phase when they lose most of the fat( and a little muscle too). Typically these phases last for some months. I tried to follow the same, though in a different way- I scaled down the months into weeks. I had to do this because I had only a month before the competition. Till December 16 I was busy doing Olympic Weightlifting, and then a 2 weeks off from Weightlifting, and all the time I had left was January. So, any pro would just laugh it off if someone say's he's going on a 3-week bulking phase. Hopefully, no serious bodybuilders are reading this, so I'll just go on.
Bulking: From Jan 2nd to Jan 23rd.
The routine: 20-rep squat program.
The routine is kind of self explanatory, I do 20 reps of squat with a weight and each session I add 2.5kg. I started at 75kg for 20 reps on Jan 2nd. 2 weeks into the program, I started giving up on reps. I managed 20 reps of 82.5kg. Then I did 17 reps of 85kg, 14 reps of 87.5kg and 17 reps of 90kg, the last one on Jan 23rd. I did a total of 7 sessions in 22 days, so almost 1 session in 3 days (And I also did 6 sessions of Olympic Weightlifting in the 22 days). Other than the squat 'my' routine had 10 reps deadlift, weighted pushups, military press and barbell rows, all high reps.
The diet:
Probably the most I ever ate.Breakfast had 8-10 bread slices, 1 glass of tea and 1 glass of milk (I usually eat only 5 bread slices and drink 1 cup of tea). Lunch had 8-9 rotis, with curry , and 2 cups of curd (Usually, it's only 4-5 rotis and 2 cups of curd). Dinner remained almost the same- dosa or puri or whatever was available in mess. In the evening, I drank 2 glasses of milk (earlier only 1 glass of tea). After workout, a glass of fruit juice, and before sleeping, another half litre of milk. Other than this, I was eating some 3 eggs a day. And this was all the food I ate, no chips, no biscuits, no pizzas and stuff.
The result:
Probably the most important part is this. Apart from the strength gains, I gained a little more than 2.5kg. I started at 62.8kg and ended at 65.5kg. And the fat I gained wasn't all that much, atleast 20% of the weight I gained could have been muscle.
Cutting: Jan 26th to Feb 4th
The routine isn't any special. I got back to doing Olympic Weightlifting 3 days a week. The fourth day, I did some heavy squat for low reps, military press, etc... The last 4 days I have been pumping up- Doing a full body routine with 3 exercises for each muscle group except the biceps (I'm not allowed to grow my biceps coz it'll later pain in Weightlifting), 3 sets of each exercise to 10-12 reps. I usually am a big fan of jogging, but a minor ankle injury prevents me from doing it. I hate to do cardio on those cycling machines and stuff in the gym, so haven't been doing any cardio except for the high-rep workout.
The diet:
This is the major part of the cutting phase. I drastically cut down on food.
For 3 days, I was at home (during Saarang). Those three days my diet was too awful- breakfast was 150g of boiled chicken, lunch was 3 omelets, 2 more in the evening, and another 150g of chicken in the night. Other than this, 1-2 laddoos a day (couldn't resist, was just craving for anything sweet I could find. This part screwed up my entire diet).
Then, after coming back to insti,
Breakfast: 4 slices of bread and 1 glass of tea
Lunch: 3-4 rotis with curry, 1-2 cups of curd
Evening: 1 glass tea. No fruit juice after workout. No milk after dinner.
Dinner: 1 plate of chilly chicken or chilly beef.
Before sleeping- 2 or 3 eggs.
I cut down on my diet, but the volume of my workout remained the same.
The result:
Cut down weight from 65.5kg to 63.5kg. Not sure about the strength losses, hopefully I haven't lost much.
Today and tomorrow:
Today, I started to dehydrate. Today, I had 2 glasses of tea in breakfast and in the evening, and 3 slices of bread in the morning and 2 rotis in lunch, and 4 egg whites in the evening. And till the evening, I drank not more than a 100ml of water. And I'm going to dehydrate a lot when I go to pump now. My dinner will stay as usual, 1 plate of chilly beef. Tomorrow morning, I'll probably go jogging. In the afternoon, I'll thulp at lunch, will load up on carbs. And just before competition, I'll eat a full pack of glucose. I won't be drinking more than may be 200 ml of water till tomorrow evening. Just for comparison, I usually drink 3-4 litres of water a day.
Just to mention, this time we have two body weight classes- under 65kg and above 65kg. The first guys in both classes compete for the 'Mr. IITM 2011' title. I am quite optimistic of putting first in the under weight category. And if I can get very lucky, maybe I'll win the title too....
The workout was pretty much fine, but the diet part was too painful. No rice, eating less than half of what I ate last month, no extra stuff like chocolates or chips or biscuits or anything else. Now pro-bodybuilders do this thing for months during their cutting their phase. And they almost totally stop drinking water for atleast 3-4 days before competition.
Bodybuilding isn't as easy as people think it is. It isn't just about going into the gym and lifting a couple of dumbbells. It's about control and character. People say those big guys like Arnold and Ronnie did drugs to build that body, but they forget about all the pain they go through when they workout and when they stop eating all the junk and eat very specific food.
The conventional training style for pro-bodybuilders has two phases- a bulking phase when they grow muscle and mass, and a cutting phase when they lose most of the fat( and a little muscle too). Typically these phases last for some months. I tried to follow the same, though in a different way- I scaled down the months into weeks. I had to do this because I had only a month before the competition. Till December 16 I was busy doing Olympic Weightlifting, and then a 2 weeks off from Weightlifting, and all the time I had left was January. So, any pro would just laugh it off if someone say's he's going on a 3-week bulking phase. Hopefully, no serious bodybuilders are reading this, so I'll just go on.
Bulking: From Jan 2nd to Jan 23rd.
The routine: 20-rep squat program.
The routine is kind of self explanatory, I do 20 reps of squat with a weight and each session I add 2.5kg. I started at 75kg for 20 reps on Jan 2nd. 2 weeks into the program, I started giving up on reps. I managed 20 reps of 82.5kg. Then I did 17 reps of 85kg, 14 reps of 87.5kg and 17 reps of 90kg, the last one on Jan 23rd. I did a total of 7 sessions in 22 days, so almost 1 session in 3 days (And I also did 6 sessions of Olympic Weightlifting in the 22 days). Other than the squat 'my' routine had 10 reps deadlift, weighted pushups, military press and barbell rows, all high reps.
The diet:
Probably the most I ever ate.Breakfast had 8-10 bread slices, 1 glass of tea and 1 glass of milk (I usually eat only 5 bread slices and drink 1 cup of tea). Lunch had 8-9 rotis, with curry , and 2 cups of curd (Usually, it's only 4-5 rotis and 2 cups of curd). Dinner remained almost the same- dosa or puri or whatever was available in mess. In the evening, I drank 2 glasses of milk (earlier only 1 glass of tea). After workout, a glass of fruit juice, and before sleeping, another half litre of milk. Other than this, I was eating some 3 eggs a day. And this was all the food I ate, no chips, no biscuits, no pizzas and stuff.
The result:
Probably the most important part is this. Apart from the strength gains, I gained a little more than 2.5kg. I started at 62.8kg and ended at 65.5kg. And the fat I gained wasn't all that much, atleast 20% of the weight I gained could have been muscle.
Cutting: Jan 26th to Feb 4th
The routine isn't any special. I got back to doing Olympic Weightlifting 3 days a week. The fourth day, I did some heavy squat for low reps, military press, etc... The last 4 days I have been pumping up- Doing a full body routine with 3 exercises for each muscle group except the biceps (I'm not allowed to grow my biceps coz it'll later pain in Weightlifting), 3 sets of each exercise to 10-12 reps. I usually am a big fan of jogging, but a minor ankle injury prevents me from doing it. I hate to do cardio on those cycling machines and stuff in the gym, so haven't been doing any cardio except for the high-rep workout.
The diet:
This is the major part of the cutting phase. I drastically cut down on food.
For 3 days, I was at home (during Saarang). Those three days my diet was too awful- breakfast was 150g of boiled chicken, lunch was 3 omelets, 2 more in the evening, and another 150g of chicken in the night. Other than this, 1-2 laddoos a day (couldn't resist, was just craving for anything sweet I could find. This part screwed up my entire diet).
Then, after coming back to insti,
Breakfast: 4 slices of bread and 1 glass of tea
Lunch: 3-4 rotis with curry, 1-2 cups of curd
Evening: 1 glass tea. No fruit juice after workout. No milk after dinner.
Dinner: 1 plate of chilly chicken or chilly beef.
Before sleeping- 2 or 3 eggs.
I cut down on my diet, but the volume of my workout remained the same.
The result:
Cut down weight from 65.5kg to 63.5kg. Not sure about the strength losses, hopefully I haven't lost much.
Today and tomorrow:
Today, I started to dehydrate. Today, I had 2 glasses of tea in breakfast and in the evening, and 3 slices of bread in the morning and 2 rotis in lunch, and 4 egg whites in the evening. And till the evening, I drank not more than a 100ml of water. And I'm going to dehydrate a lot when I go to pump now. My dinner will stay as usual, 1 plate of chilly beef. Tomorrow morning, I'll probably go jogging. In the afternoon, I'll thulp at lunch, will load up on carbs. And just before competition, I'll eat a full pack of glucose. I won't be drinking more than may be 200 ml of water till tomorrow evening. Just for comparison, I usually drink 3-4 litres of water a day.
Just to mention, this time we have two body weight classes- under 65kg and above 65kg. The first guys in both classes compete for the 'Mr. IITM 2011' title. I am quite optimistic of putting first in the under weight category. And if I can get very lucky, maybe I'll win the title too....
The workout was pretty much fine, but the diet part was too painful. No rice, eating less than half of what I ate last month, no extra stuff like chocolates or chips or biscuits or anything else. Now pro-bodybuilders do this thing for months during their cutting their phase. And they almost totally stop drinking water for atleast 3-4 days before competition.
Bodybuilding isn't as easy as people think it is. It isn't just about going into the gym and lifting a couple of dumbbells. It's about control and character. People say those big guys like Arnold and Ronnie did drugs to build that body, but they forget about all the pain they go through when they workout and when they stop eating all the junk and eat very specific food.
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