Today was my first day training for my contest in Sept. Let me tell you, it was all out balls to the wall training. The trainer I hired took me to a level I have never experienced. It was so insane. I wanted to puke at 3 different points of my back workout. I believe the session went as followed:
4 sets of bent over barbell rows, worked up to 225lbs
4 sets of bent over dumbbell rows, worked up to 110lb dbs.
4 sets of bent over cable pull downs (i think thats what you would call it, maybe extensions, i dunno), worked up to the whole stack.
4 sets of V-Handle pull ups
4 sets of back extensions with a twist.
4 sets of hanging lateral pull ups (i think thats what you call that, hahaha, i dunno), first 5-6 reps were done with a 25lb plate on my lap.

After that we worked on the 6 poses that I need to master. I started off having trouble with the lat spread. I dunno why, but my trainer said that is the one pose most people have trouble on. My other 5 look pretty good for right now.

My diet didn't change much except for my carb intake. My trainer told me to be sure and have a good protein shake with a serving of oatmeal with a scoop of peanut butter for my pre-workout meal. That should help conserve my muscle. Also, I have been eating a half meal every hour. An example would be:
Meal One: 1 can of Tuna and Oatmeal (plain)
Meal Two: 1 chicken breast with small amount of veggies.
Repeats for about 7 more meals. ( I do include a small amount of fats in my diet, mostly from almonds)

I wanted to really work on my metabolism so I figured that if I eat a small meal every hour, my body would be getting a great, steady supply of food all day, therefore would have no reason to store any fat, period. My trainer said that that was actually a good idea. Its kinda a pain in the ass because its hard to go anywhere knowing that u have a very short time before you need to eat, but thats just a price i'll have to pay.

I have a shoulder workout tomorrow so i'm sure to be a bit more prepared this time. I hope its just a hell-like as today.

I'll post again tomorrow night and tell everyone about it.

AnimalForever1:
 
Thanks for moving your posts to this thread.  If I can be of any help, please let me know.  I am in the final two days of preparation for entering my sixth bodybuilding competition this year. And, I have had a modicum of success in my first five. LOL

Sounds like alot of discipline. Definitely something I'd like to get into once school is finished.

Thanks Old Navy, its good to know someone that has been through what I'm about to get into.

Thanks No Quarter, bro, this is pure bodybuilding, I'm happy after 4 years to finally get a taste for myself.

_____________________________________________________________________

I always thought I had trained hard. I always felt I went "balls-to-the-wall", well, let me tell you brothers, I wasn't doin' **** compared to what I'm experiencing now. My trainer, Ed, is really awesome at finding my weak areas and making me bang the crap outta that area until i wanna just fall over. Today was shoulder day, day #2 of my contest training. I got my diet right today too. I woke up and had my protein shake and oatmeal with peanut butter mixed in. Adding the oatmeal really helped me power through my workout today. I didn't get the feeling i wanted to puke today. I'm not saying that I didn't train as hard as yesterday, but all i needed was extra calories.

Anyway, my shoulder and calve workout went something like this:

5 sets of overhead barbell presses, worked my way up to 135lbs for 8-9 reps.
5 sets of lateral dumbbell raises, worked my way up to 35lb dbs.
5 working sets of neutral grip (outside my hips) upright rows with the short bar with 125lbs.
5 sets of cable rope pulls to the neck (rear delt exerice, i dunno how else to call it, and i actually sat here and really thought about what to call it, hahaha) with the pin at 100lbs
5 dropsets of partial rep (starting at the bottom) to full rep machine side laterals. This exercise you start off with the stack (100lbs) and do partial reps (from the bottom) then at 15 reps, you pin the weight at 20lbs and do full reps. Its a killer.

That was shoulders, now to the calve workout.

5 sets of seated calve raises, working up to 155lbs.
5 drop sets of slow, controlled, and a 3 second sweeze at the top, killer, standing calve raises. I dunno how much weight i was doing because i couldn't see it, but I was the best burn I have ever had in my calves. I'll guess around 140lbs and then dropped down to 80lbs.

After all the brutality, next was posing. I'm getting better, but I'm still having trouble with the front lat pose. OLD NAVY, ANYTHING TO HELP ME OUT? Everything else looks good.

I'm consuming about 6-7 servings of oatmeal still. Amazingly, I'm still looking more ripped even though I'm taking almost 200 carbs a day. I guess it was a mind thing for me, but I see now that as long as the carbs are only from oats and my diet stays pretty consistant, it'll work for me. I don't think I'm taking on any extra water either. I can't wait to see what I look like with about 10-15lbs of water dropped off me. I'm gonna take alot of pics.

As I set here and write this, damn my calves, back and shoulders are sore. I told my trainer that the soreness in my shoulders goes real good with my sore back.

I have to train chest tomorrow instead of taking a day off like I usually do. I need to shift my workout routine back one day. So tomorrow will be chest, then legs, then arms, then on Sunday, I will do about 30 minutes of cardio, and leave  the gym. My next off day will be a week from today (Wednesday). I have decided to up my calories to help my body get through this. This will be the only time I don't rest so I should be ok.

I will post what happens on chest day, tomorrow night after work.  Later and wish me luck.

Wow man, that sounds really cool!  I’ll have to try that deal with the Machine Lateral Raises.  How much does your trainer charge?  I found the perfect competition for myself next year that I already know what to expect because I checked the previous one out… the only thing really holding me back is I don’t really have that experienced person to kind of hit up with questions and feedback.  That’s cool that you work on your posing after workout as well.  I suppose I could do it all myself through books and flooding Old Navy’s inbox with questions… lol, but it would be nice to have someone in person like you have.  There are just so many variables with dieting, etc…
 
Do you have pics showing you from head to toe?  I think I saw a upper body pic from the front, but I wasn’t sure if you had any others floating around?  That’s cool @#$% man!  If you wouldn’t mind explaining what the trainer said about your strengths and weaknesses and how you intend to use them that would be cool as well.  I guess I have lots of questions…

Alright X, let me break it down for you.

First question, how much does my trainer charge me? Well, you will be shocked. $10. See, I'll be paying him $10 a session for the next 2 months. Thats why its alot cheaper than say, your mom going and getting a trainer. Cool huh?

2nd Question, I'm more or less focusing on getting a bit more refined and conditioned right now, so the pics will have to come in about a month.

3rd Question, He hasn't really reveiled what he would consider strengths or weaknesses. No body is perfect and there is always something that needs improvement so, i just look at it this way, if i got the guts, thats my strength, everything else needs improvement. I pretty much know after my last couple of workouts with my trainer how each one is gonna be. He is gonna make me go until that muscle is completely fatigued. When you train with a trainer than has been training people that want to compete, everything you have isn't good enough, and thats why you train, to make that muscle better. Everyday you place another big @ss brick in the wall. I just want to be symmetrical. I like that "old school" look. I'm hoping the end product will be something like that. I do realize this is my 1st competion and I might not get what I want in the end. Thats cool though. There are always more competions. More chances to get better. More chances to improve.

If I were you X, I would go for a small show just to get ur feet wet. Even if you don't make the top 5, you still know what its all about. Seating and watching is nothing like doing. If there is a small competion coming up in the next 2-3 months, I would try for that (actually thats what i'm doing right now). But no matter what you do, train like your training for a competion. Good luck bro.

Today was a awesome training day, hard, but awesome. I didn't take a rest day because of my day shifting, so I trained chest right after shoulders, DON'T DO THAT UNLESS U ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO. My shoulders were beat from yesterday, so today that go beat up again. Good thing i didn't have to train front delts yesterday. My trainer wants to try and get me a better set of pecs. Upper and outter need some improvement, and they will. Today was a blood bath though. It went something like this:

5 sets of Incline Dumbbell presses, worked up to 80lb dbs.
5 sets of Incline Barbell presses, worked up to 155lbs. ( I know that seems kinda weak but i had to slow down the negative and really think about the positive to get an awesome squeeze.
5 supersets of really wide and narrow (with eblows out) bench press, worked with 135lbs.
5 supersets of cable cross overs and push-ups.

After that beating, I worked my obliques and abs some.

After that, POSING! YAY! I'm happy to inform you guys that I have finally got the lat spread. I hope i can learn some new poses soon. I wanna start putting together a posing routine for my show.

I have legs tomorrow which i know will be killer, but i want it that way. I like training legs. Lots of lunges i bet.

My diet is good still. I found myself wanting to cheat some today but i just walked away.

Anyway, thats about it, i'll post my leg workout tomorrow night, later dudes.

Well, I got two words to describe today's leg workout... PUMP and BURN. I got my @ss handed to me today. My legs have been at a slow burn all day long. I know they are gonna grow after today. It went down like this today:

4 sets of squats, working up to 315lbs.
4 sets of smith machine front squats, working up to 225lbs.
4 sets of hack squat, working up to 4 plates.
5 sets of individual leg extensions with a 45lb plate for each leg. (probably the most intense sets of leg extensions i have ever done, i will do individual leg extensions alot more often. The burn was like nothing i have felt before)
5 sets of leg curls, working up to around 130-150lbs, not really sure.
Then Lunges up the sidewalk, back down, then back to the door (around 60-70 walking lunges)

For cardio, i walked for 25 minutes at a comfortable pace because my legs were really pumped. I gradually upped the incline as my legs flushed out.

Diet was the same except for the Edge protein bar from EAS, cookies and cream, I ate around 6:30pm. It has 2 net carb, 22 grams of protein and some extra vitamins. I figured the extra calories could only do me good because my body feels completely bashed to hell. I'm thinking on contest day I will be weighing in around 160-ish pounds. No posing for today. Tomorrow is arms, my favorite body part. Sunday is a off day, i'm sleeping in.

That sums up leg day, i'll be back tomorrow night. Peace.

Animal, all the best mate.
 
Im not sure if youre already doing this but why dont you post progress photos until u head into the comp.
 
I for one, and im sure most people around here, would love to follow your your journey.
 
Good luck

Alright dudes, I'll start posting pics at the end of every training week, being Sunday. So tomorrow, you will have your pics.

Alright, so the alarm clock goes off at 8:00am and i wake up and turn it off. Its time do get ready to go get my arms blown off today at Gold's. I get outta bed and wanna fall down because my legs don't feel any better than they did yesterday. I go make my morning Optibol shake, oatmeal and peanut, breakfast. That only takes about 2 minutes to get down. I started to add egg whites to all my shakes because I feel I need the extra protein. About a hour goes by and i drink down my Nitro Explosion/Storm pre-workout mix and take my ALA. I get my Cell-Mass/L-Glutamine powder mix it my mixer cup, grab my keys and take off. I get to the gym, hobble to the door, take a look at my hot friend Alex (man she is hot), i get a wave back and go find Ed. Arm day, damn, I like doing arms, but you know what? It was a awesome and brutal training session today, here ya go:
5 sets of EZ-bar curls, worked up to 90lbs for 10 reps (some forced on the last 2 sets).
5 drop sets of cable rope curls, started with 100lbs and dropped to 50lbs for 10 reps each.
5 sets of seated alternating dumbbell curls (palms up the whole time) with 25lbs for the 1st 3 sets, then upped it to 30lbs. Did 5 reps each arm alternating, then did 5 reps each without alternating. (Found out that my left arm is stronger than my right, but i'm right handed, weird....)
5 sets of strict incline dumbbell curls with 30lb dbs.
TRIs!
6 sets of machine tricep extensions on this machine called "Stroke". With each set, you move the weight to a different peg and it works a different part of the tricep.  My trainer said it hits all 3 heads. Anyway, it works really well. I dunno how much weight i did because i didn't wanna know.
5 sets of skull crushers supersetted with partical tricep presses then to full range presses. worked up to 70lb EZ-bar.
6 sets of tricep press downs. I dunno what the weight was but i know i started with 200lbs. it got moved around some as i got more tired.

After all that crap, pose time. I learned 2 new poses. Right Side Chest and Right Side Tricep. My right side chest doesn't look that great because it feels weird, but i will practice it alot more. Lat spreads are getting better every day. My legs are also cutting up a bit more. I think i'm gonna shave my legs tomorrow. That should be interesting. I wanna start tanning soon, so i want a nice even tan. Tomorrow is my off day, so i will make some pictures to post and do some posing.

Monday is back, i can't wait. Later.

Hey guys, I wasn't able to make any pics today. I spent like all morning Nairing and shaving my legs. That was more difficult than I thought it would be. I'll try to make some tomorrow after my workout. Peace.

Alright, here are the pics. They are alittle blurred, i dunno why, but u can see enough. 

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looking good man, i can't wait to see you in contest shape!