Introduction

Welcome to my Daily Training Journal for the 2002 ANBC Nationals. Over the next 13 weeks, I will describe in detail my training strategies, diet changes, and personal thoughts for this year's ANBC National Contest to be held on November 2 in Pittsburgh, PA.

Last Year's Performance, This Year's Changes:

Last year I placed 2nd in the Men's Short Class behind Jose Raymond (who went on to win the entire show). I was very pleased with how I looked at the show last year and have no regrets. The main ingrediant I was missing in my physique last year was size, or more specifically, thickness. I haven't competed since the National contest last year so that I could work on muscle thickness. I did this by sticking with the basic exercises and adding deadlifts to my routine. I found this to be very successful. I'm starting my contest dieting 13 weeks out (as always) and currently weigh about 180 pounds. This is by far the heaviest I've ever been. Although I did put on a little bit of extra fat, I think you'll see from my photos that it wasn t that much. So, if all goes as expected, I should compete this year at approximately156 pounds and leaner than before. That would be 5-7 pounds of weight gain from last year. I do want to stress however, that coming into this contest at a certain weight is not a goal of mine. I only mentioned it to illustrate how successful I felt my off-season training went. I honestly don't care if I weight 145 pounds or 160 pounds just as long as I bring to the show the best physique that I can!

I also made some major changes to my off season meal plan. I started combining a high glycemic carbohydrate (like frosted flakes) with AST VP2 Protein first thing in the morning. In addition to this, I started bracketing my creatine. I feel that this process (which I'll explain later on) made a huge difference.

This is what my off-season meal plan looked like:

Nutrition Plan

Meal 1

5:40

2 servings frosted flakes, 1/2C skim milk, 1 VP2

6:00

10 grams L-Glutamine

6:30

2 capsules Dymetadrine Extreme

Pre- Workout

7:15 - 7:45

1 servings creatine HSC

1 servings VP2

7:15 - 8:00 (8:10)

Train

Post-Workout

8:00 (8:10)

1 serving creatine HSC

1 serving VP2

vitamin C & E

Meal 2

9:15

2 medium baked potatoes

4 oz. Turkey

8 oz. Orange juice

10 grams L-Glutamine

Meal 3

11:00

Nytro-Pro 40

8 oz. skim milk

1 med. banana

5 grams creatine

Meal 4

1:15

2 Servings oatmeal

2 servings VP2

Meal 5

3:30

3 oz. Tuna

Lettuce/vegetables

1 Tbsp. Flaxseed oil

1 Scoop VP2

1 med. apple

Meal 6

5:45

Nytro-Pro 40

8 oz. skim milk

SNACK

7:00

Chips, Salsa

Meal 7

7:45

8 oz. Beef or Fish

2 servings of potatoes, bread, or rice

vegetables (sometimes)

Meal 8

10:00

Nytro-Pro 40

8 oz. skim milk

2 Tbsp. Peanut Butter

10 grams L-Glutamine

TOTALS

Protein 421 grams 1684, 42.5%

Carbs 469 grams 1876, 43.5%

Fat 64.5 grams 580.5, 14%

Calories 4140.5 + chips and salsa each day

This Year's Goal:

Starting any type of a program without a goal is a disaster waiting to happen. You must have a clearly defined and measurable goal, as well as an exact plan of how you are going to get there! My goal this year is simple...WIN ANBC NATIONALS. As I stated above, I took 2nd last year so I do not think this an unrealistic goal. However, I'm not going to have an easy road ahead of me. I am pretty sure that there are going to be 2 or 3 people there that have beaten me before. But that was in the past, and what good would it do me to focus on that?