2008 Competition Prep and Training

[needtogetaas]

Re: 2008 Competition Preparation

I have been reading a few interesting books related to diet

The True You Diet - Dr. John Briffa

Biochemical Individuality - Roger Williams PhD

Metabolic Profiling

This is the conclusion I have come up with.

Diet is very individual. The general recommedations that have been made about what is a healthy diet just does not work for everyone.

If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Over human pre-history different groups of people have had to adapt to different climates with different types of foods available.

When people eat a diet that is based on their ancestral foods, the do not seem to suffer the chronic degenatory diseases that are plaguing the Western World right now.

Consider different aboriginal groups, when they eat a diet suited to their environment, they are healthy. The adopt a 'western' diet, they start to suffer from 'western' diseases.

The Pima Indians in the American South West are a good example of this, they are now the most obese people on earth with the highest incidence of type II diabetes.

Obviously now, a lot of people are a mix of various groups of people, but there are ways to determine what diet works for you.

I have dieted down while eating baby new potatoes as one of my major source of carbohydrates.

There have been a lot of studies examining the efficacy of low carb diets for the obese, and while low carbs, high fat/high protein work really well for some, the barely work at all on others.

Similarly diets with high carb, high protein, low fat, work for some but not for others.

It is obvious, there are so many obese people that say they have tried all the standard cookie cutter diets that are recommended, and they don't work.


I do think diet has to be individual, so either you have to experiment on yourself or use something like this metabolic profiling.

I will be typing myself, I will let you know how it works out for me.

You just keep growing in knowledge. I love it. I learn a lot from you girl.

 

[Tatyana]

Re: 2008 Competition Preparation

I did 60 min of cardio on Friday, and I was on call Friday night, which always throws off my sleep schedule.

I know most of you won't want to hear this, but I got my period as well yesterday, which is good as far as weight goes (it will probably be less than I thought it was), but it does set me on my BUTT sometimes.

Messes more with sleep, as my body temp goes up, but I haven't had any wild cravings for food.

I have had a few more cocoa powders with cinnamon and splenda 'hot chocolates' since yesterday.

I just had the WORST training session I have had in three months.

Legs, I even dropped weight off what I have been doing, but I did get through it.

I did have a slightly larger meal than usual after training today, going to get more sleep tonight, and just get on with it tomorrow again.

I have a 12 hour shift tomorrow, so tomorrow night I will probably only do cardio after work.

A few progress pics from Friday

 

[Scotsman]

Re: 2008 Competition Preparation

I hate it when bad workouts happen. But I try to use it as fuel for the next time.

Looking good in the pics.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[the-short-one]

Re: 2008 Competition Preparation

You're looking good, Tat. Nice booty!

 

[mamaj]

Re: 2008 Competition Preparation

Pics look great!!

 

[Tatyana]

Re: 2008 Competition Preparation

Last night 60 min of cardio on a bike, which I thought would be really EASY, but I really felt it today.

When the weather gets better, I think I will start cycling to work once a week, it is about 13 miles. I have done it a few times before, it is a really nice ride, about half of it is along the Thames Estuary.

This week is high volume training, no training buddy tonight as HE HAD A BABY (well his former partner did). A little girl, 7 lbs, I have seen a pic and she is just the cutest thing already.

It was tough getting into the gym tonight on my own, I had to re-arrange my work schedule to go to the Arnold Classic, and I have had LOADS of on calls and what we call extended days close together.

The sleep thing is definately missing.

I did manage to train, nothing amazing, but at least I got in and got it done.

This is when I am getting the wisdom of my coach, as I am going to have a long season of training and dieting, and both are really really simple, and training rarely takes more than 30 min.

Cardio, different story.

 

[princesa]

Re: 2008 Competition Preparation

Looking great Tat.

Nice legs and glutes

 

[Tatyana]

Re: 2008 Competition Preparation

Thanks for the encouragement and kind words all.

Good thing my coach is more critical otherwise I might just end up sitting on my butt more than I really should.

Yesterday morning I did 60 min of walking cardio on empty, slight incline, 4 km/h.

In the evening, my training buddy and I went to the new gym in Rayleigh again for chest and biceps.

My arms are not one of the parts I need to develop really, but I find that on heavy weeks, after hammering chest, my triceps are too knackered to get a good work-out, so that is why I am doing the cross training.

However, after this week, there may be some wisdom in mixing it up again.

I am doing high volume training, very few exercises per body part, 10 reps, 6-10 sets, one minute rest between sets.

The burn by the last few sets is unbelievable, however it is getting better so I am going to have to up the weights again next time I do it.

I was on call last night, but managed about 2 hours of sleep, had a nap today and then went and trained legs and shoulders.

I am only training with weights four times a week, but two bodyparts get trained twice a week in a rotation, so it is not the same two bodyparts each week.

My biceps CANED today, so back was on the schedule, but completely out of the question.

Worked out well as I got to use a different leg press. My first coach always recommended using different bits of equipment and using different gyms, as the stress on the muscle is different.

I must admit, I didn't like the set up of this leg press, and I did drop the weight a bit as the strain on my knees and hip flexors felt a bit odd.

I am working on building up my quad sweeps, so when I am doing leg press, I am keeping my feet as close together as possible.

After my last two rubbish workouts, I have noticed that I haven't been pushing it as much as I could this week. Only with biceps, all my other weights are going to have to go up.

The dieting thing is getting easier, but my work schedule does mess with it.

When I am on call, I am awake for almost 24 hours and have to stretch my calories through this period, then the next day, I am awake for about 10 hours and have to try to squish all my calories into this period.

It is getting easier though.

Dieting does do my head in, my weight hasn't dropped much for dieting for about 5-6 weeks now, but my bodyfat is dropping, and I am starting to look bigger due to being leaner, and people do notice.

The progress pics are invaluable as I have a hard time noticing any differences or progress using a mirror.

My training buddy is great too, as he has competed before so he will tell me where I am changing, and what I need to work on (same as my coach).

 

[wlmcrae]

Re: 2008 Competition Preparation

OK, now I feel like a total wimp! Way to go Tatyana!

 

[Tatyana]

Re: 2008 Competition Preparation

I took Friday off entirely, no cardio no weights.

Yesterday was 60 min walking cardio, average around 3.9 km/h on a 5% incline.

Today I did 45 min on the stationary bike.

I wore my heart rate monitor both days and to my surprise, my heartrate was higher on the bike, even though it doesn't really feel like as much effort.

I will be doing more cardio on the bike. It is also easier to read on the bike.

I also walk to the gym sometimes, it is about 25-30 min for both ways, but as I don't drive and take the train, walk to and from work, it never seems like cardio to me, but it would add an hour most days.

I finished off this week's volume training with back and triceps, and even though I increased the weight for back by 5 kg/11 lb, still wasn't enough really.

Same for triceps.

My weight is STILL the same but most people are saying I look bigger and leaner.

My BMI scale is not showing much of a shift either, but they are not known for their accuracy. I have yet to find my accumeasure calipers in my flat.

I got a battery for my other fat calipers, I may have to get my training buddy to start taking measurements for me, cause really, I do have a hard time seeing any progress most of the time, but I do know that the fat is coming off.

Slowly but surely. Really, this is what bodybuilding is all about, there are no FAST results.