Rich's New Beginning: WNBF Pro Stage in 2009!

[rich55]

Thanks fellas, much appreciated!

MID-AMERICA WRAP-UP

I placed 7th out of 9 in the my WNBF pro lightweight debut. James won the open lightweight class, but missed on the pro cards given to the top 2 overall. Overall I am pleased with our performances and especially VERY pleased with James performance. We are fierce competitors and I am my own harshest critic, but overall I am quite happy with everything.

I certainly made improvements since getting my pro card and battled well on stage in my pro debut. I beat a few in my class and was placed as high as 5th on the scorecards and as low as 8th. This show was a testament to how far natural bodybuilding has come as every guy in our class had shredded glutes, hams, freaky vascularity everywhere, big legs and were just thick! My head is held high as I go into my extended offseason to focus on family and grow. I came in at 157 lbs shredded and now I need to grow to the 160-165 range with the same conditioning to crack the top 5 in my next pro show in 2 years. Improving upper body thickness will be a major focus.

THIS WEEK:

I ate my face off for a full day and am now just enjoying little treats today, but keeping myself in check till a big cheat on Wednesday night. Tonight I will finalize my eating plan and get started tomorrow with that plan. We are taking off from training till Thursday and then coming back after hard with some strength training.

James is strongly considering the INBF Naturalmania and Cardinal Classic shows in 7 & 8 weeks. I am ready to grow top the 190 lb mark finally I will continue to post up pictures during the week as I receive them.

[bull.dogz]

You guys should be so proud of yourselves. Not everyone has the dedication you have, not to mention the guts to get up on that stage. I really find you inspirational as I'm sure others do too. Way to go!!!

[rich55]

Few more shots real quick:

[Arch]

You guys should be so proud of yourselves. Not everyone has the dedication you have, not to mention the guts to get up on that stage. I really find you inspirational as I'm sure others do too. Way to go!!!

X10

Rich man I have been following your journey this past month and it's great to see your dedication to everything especially your family. Congrats man, i know it's not top but like you said it's moving up! Good luck with the baby!

and eat some extra terrible stuff for the rest of us

[rich55]

X10

Rich man I have been following your journey this past month and it's great to see your dedication to everything especially your family. Congrats man, i know it's not top but like you said it's moving up! Good luck with the baby!

and eat some extra terrible stuff for the rest of us

Thanks, I am very pleased with how things turned out and am looking forward to an extended offseason and exciting things coming up for my family. Oh, and I certainly have been putting back some food!!

----------------------------

Here is a link and some pictures from the photographer gallery that has much higher quality pictures.

http://store.element-fit.com/gallery...4_zZXtR#P-8-15










I simply couldn't stay away from training and started back yesterday with a light push workout. Treats have been daily, but I have been saving the all-you-can-eat cheat version again tonight after a pull workout

LET THE GAINS BEGIN!!!

[conda]

If you ask me i think that would have been hard to judge. I'm no judge but you guy's looked pretty even to me. Except i thought you had the best lats rich. It'll be awesome to see your progress toward your goals. We're proud of you man! Nice job.

[rich55]

BACK AFTER IT ALREADY!!!

Taking several days off from training did NOT happen. I grew antsy to get the blood pumping particularly because of the cheating and water retention postcontest, combined with my fierce desire to improve. So, Tuesday I did a light push workout, Wednesday pull and tomorrow good ole legs and core.

Getting much stronger and thicker is the name of the game now. I will be doing some straight up strength training with some bodybuilding moves to finish things off. The first 3 weeks postcontest will include moderate training in the 5-10 rep range and the following 3 weeks will be a little heavier. Then, it's BABY TIME!!! I will continuously work on prioritizing God first, wife second, baby Ava third and then the rest. This will be a daily process that I will pray and work on with my busy life, so that my priorities are where the need to be with all the life change approaching.

My base diet is currently 3000 cals, but I easily go to 3500 and even 4500-5000 depending on how much I treat myself. Oh, and the postcontest supplements are:

HEALTH & WELLNESS:
Orange Triad Multi- 2 caps 3 x's daily
Flaxseed Oil- 1 t daily
Omega 3 fish oil- 3 caps daily
Green Phyto Foods- 1 T daily

GET HUGE STACK:
Green Magnitude (1 scoop), Purple Wraath (1 scoop) & MaxGlutamine (10 g) PREWORKOUT
Purple Intrain (2 scoops) DURING WORKOUT
Golden Gains (2 scoops) POSTWORKOUT

DIGESTION & BLOOD SUGAR SUPPORT:
Insuload, Digestive Enzymes & Gut Health during MASS feeding

PROTEIN, A NECESSITY FOR MUSCLE GROWTH:
Max Muscle MaxPro, High5 & Gourmet powders 4-5 scoops daily


NEW GOAL= TOP 5 PRO FINISH IN 2011

I will be taking 2 years off from competition with a full 1.5 years of offseason. I am not even picking a show till this time next year. I have had a show in front of me since I started in 2003 and now I am just focused on getting BIG! I came down to 157 lbs to get shredded beyond belief and now I need to get up in the 160-165 range. Next up is 190 lbs offseason!!! I know I can get pealed and now I gotta get BiG.

LET THE GAINS BEGIN!!!!

[conda]

BACK AFTER IT ALREADY!!!

Taking several days off from training did NOT happen. I grew antsy to get the blood pumping particularly because of the cheating and water retention postcontest, combined with my fierce desire to improve. So, Tuesday I did a light push workout, Wednesday pull and tomorrow good ole legs and core.

Getting much stronger and thicker is the name of the game now. I will be doing some straight up strength training with some bodybuilding moves to finish things off. The first 3 weeks postcontest will include moderate training in the 5-10 rep range and the following 3 weeks will be a little heavier. Then, it's BABY TIME!!! I will continuously work on prioritizing God first, wife second, baby Ava third and then the rest. This will be a daily process that I will pray and work on with my busy life, so that my priorities are where the need to be with all the life change approaching.

My base diet is currently 3000 cals, but I easily go to 3500 and even 4500-5000 depending on how much I treat myself. Oh, and the postcontest supplements are:

HEALTH & WELLNESS:
Orange Triad Multi- 2 caps 3 x's daily
Flaxseed Oil- 1 t daily
Omega 3 fish oil- 3 caps daily
Green Phyto Foods- 1 T daily

GET HUGE STACK:
Green Magnitude (1 scoop), Purple Wraath (1 scoop) & MaxGlutamine (10 g) PREWORKOUT
Purple Intrain (2 scoops) DURING WORKOUT
Golden Gains (2 scoops) POSTWORKOUT

DIGESTION & BLOOD SUGAR SUPPORT:
Insuload, Digestive Enzymes & Gut Health during MASS feeding

PROTEIN, A NECESSITY FOR MUSCLE GROWTH:
Max Muscle MaxPro, High5 & Gourmet powders 4-5 scoops daily


NEW GOAL= TOP 5 PRO FINISH IN 2011

I will be taking 2 years off from competition with a full 1.5 years of offseason. I am not even picking a show till this time next year. I have had a show in front of me since I started in 2003 and now I am just focused on getting BIG! I came down to 157 lbs to get shredded beyond belief and now I need to get up in the 160-165 range. Next up is 190 lbs offseason!!! I know I can get pealed and now I gotta get BiG.

LET THE GAINS BEGIN!!!!

Awesome man! Rich, have you heard of Krill Oil? It's awesome. I replaced my Fish oil with it . It gets great reviews. You can find tons of reviews on it online by doctors. And you can find it cheap at retail stores.

[rich55]

Awesome man! Rich, have you heard of Krill Oil? It's awesome. I replaced my Fish oil with it . It gets great reviews. You can find tons of reviews on it online by doctors. And you can find it cheap at retail stores.

No, I haven't heard of it. I use Omega3 by CJI, which has a pretty high dosage of EPA and DHA. High content of that is what you want. Thank God for sponsors.

----------------------

BABY PREP & PULL WORKOUT

Ah yes prepping for baby time! We spent much of the weekend at Baby's R Us, unpacking baby gifts, putting together baby gifts and getting the nursery ready. Angie could deliver in the next 3-6 weeks and will most likely go earlier. The nursery is coming along and we are getting ready.

We hit Back and Bi's yesterday and Charles joined James and I who has decided to do the Master's division at the Buckeye Classic next April. He has incredible definition already and really needs to eat more and make his training more well rounded. That we will do!

Bent-Over Rows
Overhand, shoulder width, all-the-way over, for big stretch & squeeze
95 x 8
135 x 8
155 x 8
175 x 8
185 x 8 -----> little sloppy on last two reps

Knee High Rack Deads
Pulling hard with my upper back.
135 x 8
225 x 8
315 x 8
365 x 8 ----> felt this set, but just getting going

Seated Zottman Curls
30 x 8
35 x 8
40 x 8
45 x 5

Close-Grip Chins
Very strict form. Hard later in the workout and after bis.
BW x 8
BW x 8
BW x 6

Wide Grip Pulldowns
140 x 8
150 x 8
160 x 8
170 x 6

EZ Preacher Curls
65 x 8
75 x 8
85 x 6

EZ Reverse Curls
65 x 10
75 x 7

Behind Back Barbell Shrugs
Good hold contracting at top.
135 x 10
185 x 10
235 x 10

Feeling this workout today in all the right places. Oh, this is gonna be fun! GROWING TIME!!

[bull.dogz]

Yeah! Exciting times ahead!! I bet Angie's ready for the baby to come.

[rich55]

Yeah! Exciting times ahead!! I bet Angie's ready for the baby to come.

YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT!! Oh and boy is she ready, haha.



LEEEGGGSS!!!

Just getting back going on legs really yesterday. Focusing a bit more on ham emphasis. Was kind of feeling my right knee a bit on my first few sets, so I went a bit conservative. It has felt fine since. Volume is lighter right now as I'm looking for strength gains and we are hitting muscle groups every 4-5 days.

Squats
Nice and low as always.
135 x 8
185 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 8
285 x 8

Straight-Leg Deadlifts
Hanging a hard stretch on the hams on the eccentric.
135 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 8

High Stance Leg Press
Had to pull my feet in to shoulder width on these and it felt much better on the knee.
4 plates/side x 10
5 plates/side x 10
6 plates/side x 10
6.5 plates/side x 10

Walking DB Lunges
Trip down our gym for ~11-12 steps/leg. Now stopping or breaking stride allowed to count it Had to force strict form hard on last few steps.
BW
30's
50's
65's ----> got it!

Angled Calf Raises
300 x 12
320 x 10
320 x 9
- TRISET -
Hyperextensions
Holding on spinal erectors for 2-count at top.
BW x 10
BW x 10
BW x 10
- TRISET -
Situps
Feet held under low bar, crunching hard at top and slow eccentric.
BW x 10
BW x 10
BW x 10

I then did one superset of lighter toe out angled calf raises and seated calf raises for 15ish reps to finish off my calves.

SUPPLEMENTS:
Orange Triad
Flaxseed Oil
Omega3 Fish Oil
Green Magnitude
Acetyl L-Carnitine
Purple Wraath
Purple Intrain
Golden Gains
Super Enzymes
Green Phyto Foods
MaxPro, High5 and MaxGourmet protein powders

DIET:
Had only my second complete clean day of eating since competing, and ate very instinctively due to extreme hunger from training legs and clients all day for 10 hours. I withheld the urge to eat Carol's heavenly banana nut bread and zucchini muffins. I put down 9 meals and/or shakes

Today was an off day and I had a 3 slices of banana nut bread, 1.5 muffins with a shake for breakfast. Preceded the treat with Insuload and r-ALA. Rest of the day was on point with even a little tapering down of carbs. WOW!!!! Restraint is coming back a little haha. Tomorrow is a push workout and I'm making some blackened chicken alfredo for my postworkout meal. My version will have less than 15 g of fat in it though. I may have to have some more of Carol's famous banana nut bread though!!!

[Illilian]

Dude, you look awesome in the contest pics! that up close pic of your mm, you have some shreaded quads! nice hard work!

[rich55]

Dude, you look awesome in the contest pics! that up close pic of your mm, you have some shreaded quads! nice hard work!

Thanks, much appreciated! Now it's time to get BIGGGGG!



--------------------------

FANTASTIC PUSH DAY!

Yesterday's chest workout was just fantastic! Coming off precontest prep and some time off from heavy lifting you are weak. Yesterday was a nice jump in strength, and you can betchya that I smashed some grub following this workout to take full advantage of the gains. We rushed the end of the workout, so I was on time for my next clients.

Incline Bench
95 x 10
135 x 8
155 x 8
175 x 8
195 x 8
205 x 5

Close-Grip Bench
135 x 8
165 x 8
185 x 8
205 x 6 ---> getting back up there

Slight Incline DB Press
65 x 8
75 x 8
85 x 8
90 x 4 ---> lost it a little on #5 requiring a little tap on the elbows

Fly Machine
110 x 10
120 x 9
120 x 8

Hammer Wide Chest
115/side x 8
135/side x 8
150/side x 6

Decline DB Extensions
Deep, slow stretch on the tris.
30 x 10
30 x 10
35 x 5
- SUPERSET -
3-Way Shoulder Raises
Good prehab. Front, bent-over then lateral with hands at sides.
10 lb DB's x 20 each way
10 lb DB's x 20 each way
10 lb DB's x 20 each way

Overhead Rope Extensions
Need to crush that long head!
85 x 10
90 x 9
90 x 8

That night I was just pounding food every few hours. Hungry = Eating Time! I ate 2 homemade barbecue chicken sandwiches and a small piece of banana nut bread and was just ravenous, so I ate another sandwich and piece of Carol's famous bread. Growing boy here haha!

PULL TIME TODAY

I spent much of the day today running errands and taking care of the wifey. Bless her heart she is now on bed rest, which requires much more on my end. She has a little bit of time, but not much more before little baby Ava is on her way. I had to bail on James and wasn't sure if I would get a workout in due to husbandly duties. Angie was craving pizza and was feeling better, so I struck up a deal to pick up a few movies, get some Coldstone and make my workout quick. Win, win, win all around

Bent-Over Bar Rows
All the way bent-over, shoulder width, full stretch and squeeze.
95 x 8
135 x 8
155 x 8
175 x 8
195 x 6 + 1 ----> rest paused for an extra one

Rack Deads at Knee Level
Knee level certainly takes leg involvement out of the equation. Core strengthening is needed tomorrow.
135 x 8
225 x 8
315 x 8
405 x 8 ---> slowed down to get all 8, but got it!

Seated Zottman Curls
35 x 8
40 x 8
45 x 7

Close-Grip Chins
BW x 8
BW x 8
BW x 6 ---> gaining lbs does not make this any easier

Wide-Grip Pulldowns
150 x 8
160 x 8
170 x 8
180 x 6
180 x 5

EZ Preacher Curls
65 x 8
75 x 8
85 x 5
- SUPERSET -
Behind Back Bar Shrugs
Strong contraction at top.
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10
245 x 10 ---> tough but got it!

EZ Reverse Curls
65 x 10
75 x 10
80 x 6

Dinner was 5 pieces of some slamming good Chicken, Tomato and Spinach Papa John's followed by some Coldstone Cookie Doughn't You Want Some Love It sized ice cream. I also finished off Angie's Birthday Cake Remix. 2500 calorie dinner.....CHECK!!!!

[conda]

Thanks, much appreciated! Now it's time to get BIGGGGG!



--------------------------

FANTASTIC PUSH DAY!

Yesterday's chest workout was just fantastic! Coming off precontest prep and some time off from heavy lifting you are weak. Yesterday was a nice jump in strength, and you can betchya that I smashed some grub following this workout to take full advantage of the gains. We rushed the end of the workout, so I was on time for my next clients.

Incline Bench
95 x 10
135 x 8
155 x 8
175 x 8
195 x 8
205 x 5

Close-Grip Bench
135 x 8
165 x 8
185 x 8
205 x 6 ---> getting back up there

Slight Incline DB Press
65 x 8
75 x 8
85 x 8
90 x 4 ---> lost it a little on #5 requiring a little tap on the elbows

Fly Machine
110 x 10
120 x 9
120 x 8

Hammer Wide Chest
115/side x 8
135/side x 8
150/side x 6

Decline DB Extensions
Deep, slow stretch on the tris.
30 x 10
30 x 10
35 x 5
- SUPERSET -
3-Way Shoulder Raises
Good prehab. Front, bent-over then lateral with hands at sides.
10 lb DB's x 20 each way
10 lb DB's x 20 each way
10 lb DB's x 20 each way

Overhead Rope Extensions
Need to crush that long head!
85 x 10
90 x 9
90 x 8

That night I was just pounding food every few hours. Hungry = Eating Time! I ate 2 homemade barbecue chicken sandwiches and a small piece of banana nut bread and was just ravenous, so I ate another sandwich and piece of Carol's famous bread. Growing boy here haha!

PULL TIME TODAY

I spent much of the day today running errands and taking care of the wifey. Bless her heart she is now on bed rest, which requires much more on my end. She has a little bit of time, but not much more before little baby Ava is on her way. I had to bail on James and wasn't sure if I would get a workout in due to husbandly duties. Angie was craving pizza and was feeling better, so I struck up a deal to pick up a few movies, get some Coldstone and make my workout quick. Win, win, win all around

Bent-Over Bar Rows
All the way bent-over, shoulder width, full stretch and squeeze.
95 x 8
135 x 8
155 x 8
175 x 8
195 x 6 + 1 ----> rest paused for an extra one

Rack Deads at Knee Level
Knee level certainly takes leg involvement out of the equation. Core strengthening is needed tomorrow.
135 x 8
225 x 8
315 x 8
405 x 8 ---> slowed down to get all 8, but got it!

Seated Zottman Curls
35 x 8
40 x 8
45 x 7

Close-Grip Chins
BW x 8
BW x 8
BW x 6 ---> gaining lbs does not make this any easier

Wide-Grip Pulldowns
150 x 8
160 x 8
170 x 8
180 x 6
180 x 5

EZ Preacher Curls
65 x 8
75 x 8
85 x 5
- SUPERSET -
Behind Back Bar Shrugs
Strong contraction at top.
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10
245 x 10 ---> tough but got it!

EZ Reverse Curls
65 x 10
75 x 10
80 x 6

Dinner was 5 pieces of some slamming good Chicken, Tomato and Spinach Papa John's followed by some Coldstone Cookie Doughn't You Want Some Love It sized ice cream. I also finished off Angie's Birthday Cake Remix. 2500 calorie dinner.....CHECK!!!!

I swear man, you are always making me hungry. And i already eat like a bear as is. GL on your Bulking. By your menu.. you're gunna be there fast! lol

[dogsofgold]

Tomorrow is a push workout and I'm making some blackened chicken alfredo for my postworkout meal. My version will have less than 15 g of fat in it though.

How do you make yours? We've been fiddling around with recipes for this and can't find any without crazy amounts of fat in it!