Rich's Road to the NPC Ohio State and INBF National's: Controlled Labs Sponsored

[rich55]

Posing and Arms

I took off yesterday, which was much needed. I did a split day of training with my last hard training of arms today.

Posing, Cardio and Arms 9/8:
Afternoon Posing/Cardio-
Posing class went well. Mike had not seen me in 2 weeks and he said I looked much improved and noticeably harder. Very nice. I only dropped one pound too as my strength has continually improved. I'm still sitting at 171 lbs.

I have been tanning every other day now and did so before posing. Combine that with Red Acid and yohimbine and I was a sweaty mess, haha! There were about a dozen plus observers watching a handful of us pose. After we finished they applauded and a few women competitors complimented me on my physique, which was VERY nice!

I did 30 minutes of cardio afterwards split between walking on an incline and moderate jogging.

Evening Arms-
I carbed up last night and have decided to deplete down until Thursday to harden up more. So, today I kept with a higher carb strategy to get the most bang for my buck out of my last arm day. P-Slin, 60 g of WMS and a whole grapefruit postworkout. The workout ROCKED!!

A1- Dip Machine 360 x 6 x 6
A2- Barbell Curls 100 x 11 x 9
B1- Decline DB Extensions 40 x 8 x 7
B2- Seated DB Curls 50 x 8 x 7
C1- Reverse Grip Pushdowns 140 x 10 x 8
C2- EZ Reverse Curls 95 x 9 x 8
D1- Behind Back Bar Wrist Curls 125 x 11 x 9
D2- Reverse Wrist Curls 45 x 10 x 9


Peak week begins tomorrow. An overview will be posted. 3 gallons of water down the hatch!!

[rich55]

Cardio, Light Legs and Mucho Aqua 9/9:
Morning Cardio-
Slammed some Red Acid, Green Mag, Purple Wraath, glutamine and did 45 minutes of moderate walking on an incline.

Evening Legs-
Did light legs and 30 minutes moderate cardio split with jogging and elliptical.

A1- Squats 225 x 8 x 8 x 8
A2- High Stance Leg Press 320 x 8 x 7 x 7
B1- BB Lunges 95 x 10 x 10
B2- Standing 1-Leg Curl Mach 40 x 10 x 10
DB SL Deadlifts 60 x 10 x 10

PEAKING DETAILS:
3 gallons of water drank, diet same...low carb

[rich55]

Last hard cardio day

Cardio and Cardio 9/10:
Woke up and did 45 minutes of brisk walking and then headed back into the gym this evening and did light abs, calves and 35 minutes of moderate jogging/walking on incline.

PEAKING DETAILS:
3 gallons of water. Diet same. I weighed in at 169 lbs today (down 2 lbs from Friday), which is at least partially due to the massive water consumption and hopefully some fat loss as well.

I will pose hard tomorrow, work on presentation on Wednesday posing light with a friend and will pose hard again on Thursday.

[rich55]

4 Days Out!!

I'm sitting 4 days out feeling pretty good despite being depleted of carbs. My quads have crazy cross striations all over the place and my serratus is looking nasty. The interested part will be to see how much more my hammies and glutes harden up in the next few days and as I dry out. It will be my best in terms of conditioning and size to date, but I'm still striving for that shredded glute look.

Light Pull and Cardio 9/11:
Finished this light circuit workout in about 20 minutes:

A1- Close-Grip Chins BW x 8 x 7 x 6
A2- Bent-Over DB Laterals 20 x 10 x 10 x 10
A3- Barbell Curls 65 x 8 x 8
B1- Hammer Low Rows 90 x 8 x 8 x 8
B2- DB Curls 25 x 10 x 10
C1- Wide-Grip Pulldowns 130 x 10 x 10
C2- Machine Shrugs 180 x 10 x 10 x10
C3- Reverse EZ Bar Curls 50 x 9 x 9
35 minutes of walking at low intensity

PEAKING DETAILS:
Still drinking 3 gallons of water with normal diet. Pulled my carbs down just a touch lower these last few days since workouts are light. Man I am depleted!

I've been tanning each day the last few days and exfoliated twice. Tonight through Thursday I will apply a coat of Protan's golden sunless tanning lotion to further darken my base. Friday I will get my color professionally painted on.

Hard posing tonight!

[rich55]

I did a circuit push workout in about 25 minutes and then walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Posed an hour or so later with my friend and fellow competitor. Everything looks great from a presentation standpoint except I need to squeeze my hamstrings harder on the back poses.

I will hit a brief posing session tomorrow evening, but my workouts are done. I am done training clients at 8pm and am only working in the office till noon on Friday.

PEAKING DETAILS:

Diet same w/ low carbs and 3 gallons of H20. Tomorrow I taper to 2 gallons and eliminate added sodium as I heavily salt and season my food.

The coat of sunless tanning in combination with the tanning bed looks great. I will do another coat tonight and tomorrow and am finished tanning.

Carbing-up begins tomorrow night!!

[rich55]

Carbing-up Begins

No workout today, just chillin. I am tired though from the week and carb depletion. In 2 hours I begin carbing-up with my typical large carb-up meal before bed. I will pose for 15-20 minutes, shave and apply a coat of protan then sleep.

Tomorrow, I will taper my water down to one gallon with no added sodium. My macros will total about 2600 cals with 215 g carbs, 290 g pro and 65 g fat across 6 meals with lots of oats, lean beef, grapefruit, sweet potatos and Ultimate Muscle Protein (no lactose). Yum, I can't wait!

[rich55]

Well, I have just been chilling out today for the mostpart and got spray painted with Jan Tana, which looks good and dark. Stopped by the gym to pick up some pump-up supplies and weighed in at 167 lbs. I'm looking much harder and excited for tomorrow!!

I need a little more carbs and will dry out a little overnight. I will sip water freely tomorrow to stay full and consume the following in pudding form before stage:

1 cap P-Slin
4 White Blood
45 g of waxy maize starch
15 g of gatorade powder
1 scoop Purple Wraath

Next stop the NPC Ohio State Bodybuilding Championships!!!

[rich55]

4th Place at the NPC Ohio, Bring on the INBF Show!!

No pix yet, but I just took 4th at the NPC Ohio out of 9. I was in the first callout in very happy to place with some sick physiques. My goal was to place at this show as it was not a tested event with some national levels competitors and it was the first time I competed as a middleweight at only 165 lbs (goes up to 176.25).

Next up is the INBF Naturalmania in NYC this weekend and I hope to harden up a little more for next week's show. It starts first thing after breakfast.

[dogsofgold]

I have pictures... lots and lots of pictures

[rich55]

I have pictures... lots and lots of pictures

Sweet! Email them to me tomorrow at work in a reasonable size format.

[pu12en12g]

Congrats Rich !!!

[rich55]

Congrats Rich !!!

Thanks man! I hope to improve upon this past weekend's performance by tightening up a little. I will be at the top of the INBF lightweight class (145-165) and should do some damage against natural competition. I want that WNBF pro card!!

My cheat meal last night was not really that bad and I got back on my diet first thing this morning. Today, I did not feel that bloated and slammed about 2 gallons. I will increase my water back to 3 gallons tomorrow.

Back at it Again 9/16:
Afternoon Weight Smash-
After I walked off stage, I was very psyched about my placing. BUT for some strange reason, I was energized as hell and could not wait to smash some weights. So, I decided to smash some heavy weights first thing with my buddy James, haha!! Weak point blasting:

A1- Incline DB Press 95 x 8 x 7 x 6
A2- Hammer DB Curls 50 x 9, 52.5 x 7
B1- Incline DB Flys 65 x 11, 67.5 x 12
B2- Preacher Machine 70 x 9, 75 x 11
C1- Flat Bench 225 x 5 x 5
C2- Barbell Curls 95 x 9 x 9
Weighted Dips (drop set) 35 x 12, BW x 6
D1- Close Grip Bench 185 x 6 x 6
D2- Seated DB Laterals 30 x 11 x 10
E1- DB Kickbacks 25 x 11, 26.25 x 15
E2- Upright Bar Rows 60 x 11, 65 x 10

Light Legs & Cardio-
A1- Squats 205 x 8 x 8
A2- High Stance Leg Press 270 x 8 x 8 x 9
B1- Barbell Lunges 95 x 11 x 11
B2- 1-Leg Curl Machine 40 x 11 x 11
SL DB Deadlifts 55 x 11 x 11
40 minutes moderate walking on incline/elliptical

MY TRAINING PLAN:
Tomorrow- Light Calves & Abs w/ Double Cardio
Tuesday- Light Pull w/ Light Cardio
Wednesday - Light Push w/ Light Cardio & Hard Posing
Thursday & Friday - Off

[rich55]

Cardio and Pix

Double Cardio 9/17:
I did 40 minutes of light walking on incline first thing this morning and then went back in for 35 minutes of moderate jogging/elliptical.

Here are a few pictures from this weekend. Not the greatest quality. The pale kid next to me in the first had never even seen a bodybuilding show before.

[dogsofgold]

Not the greatest quality.

Haha I did the best I could with my ancient camera!

[rich55]

Haha I did the best I could with my ancient camera!

It's all good! They are just a little blurrry. I will probably order some from J.M.

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Light Pull & Cardio 9/18:
I did a light circuit workout of biceps, back, traps, rear delts and abs followed by light walking on an incline for 30 minutes.

PEAKING DETAILS:
3 gallons of H20 are going down well. I have decided to change up my carb-up protocol for this show. Water and sodium will be manipulated the same, but I felt I looked more full and vascular after my first large carb-up on Thursday b/c my body was starving for glucose.

SO, I will deplete through Thursday, do beef and grapefruit on Friday and then consume the large carb-up after weighing in. I need to make weight of under 165 lbs, which is what I weighed in at this past weekend so I can risk taking all that before weigh in and come in heavier. I consulted with some former advisors and they have verified that should work well.