In this article Jeff and I will detail our preparation for the 2000 NPC Ohio. Although we had both competed before, Jeff for fourteen years while this was only my 2nd, this was our first show together. Bodybuilding is like nothing you’ve ever done before. It’s difficult to explain the pre contest experience to people who haven’t competed, but Jeff and I will do our best for those of you who are interested in competing, or just curious about the process.
I’d always admired my brother’s dedication to bodybuilding. But until the last couple of years I concentrated on running as my major form of exercise. I thought that running would keep me in good shape and paid little attention to my nutrition or weight training.
Actually running as my main source of exercise left me “ skinny - fat ” ...
Once I began training I realized what I had been missing. I knew I wanted to compete. It would take proper training, good nutrition and time (in my case three years) to build the kind of muscle I’d need. I knew my brother Jeff and many other friends and acquaintances had worked with Roger and Sandy. Over the years I had watched Jeff improve tremendously while on his Beverly International nutrition program.
I worked with Roger and Sandy in 1999, but not 100%. I cheated a little on my diet; left out a recommended supplement here and there. I thought I’d be okay on my own. Well, I did okay, just okay. I knew in my heart I could do much better. I should have listened to Jeff.
My brother, Jeff on the other hand – once he starts his diet – that’s it – no more cheating!
I’ll let Jeff take it from here:
I recall sitting across from my brother backstage at the NPC Ohio Bodybuilding Championships this past June of 2000 with a sense of calm. It wasn’t always like this, usually I was the one backstage, nervous, pacing … wondering who was going to take home that overall, or first place trophy…thinking “..it won’t be me.” Meanwhile, my brother Jeff was charged up. He had come to the Ohio in the best shape of his life and after the prejudging he knew he was in for a fight.
In other words I looked fine in clothes. Period!
First off I’ve learned that even in the off-season you have to pay attention to your diet. The first time I went to Roger and Sandy at Beverly International for help with my diet was 1995. I was at 16% bodyfat. Before working with Beverly International I’d let my weight get up to 240 or 250 in the off-season and then diet down for 24 – 26 weeks to the mid 180’s for competition.
This year I used only Muscle Provider, Mass Maker, and Ultra Size. It was well worth the slight cost increase! Remember a deal is not always a deal; you pay one-way or another in the end
For the year 2000, I started early with Roger and Sandy, determined to be my best. I thought I had done pretty well in the off-season. I sort of watched what I ate and trained consistently. I tried to put on some muscle mass but my body let me down. It went right back to where it was the year before. Coming into the competition season it was right around 25%. I learned what my brother Jeff learned a couple of years earlier.
Roger and Sandy helped Jeff and I to understand what it takes to compete successfully. This year I was serious about winning, and learned my lessons well. If you are interested in bodybuilding please give them a call today. They can help you achieve your goals!
Regardless of my off-season condition I was determined to do things right this time. My main goal was to compete in the Ohio Bodybuilding Championships with my brother. I felt the opportunity to compete with Jeff would be something special, and I didn’t want to let him down by coming into the show in poor form!
So I started my diet in January, Jeff didn’t have to start his until nearly two months later. I started my diet at 1650 calories as follows:
Meal #1 3 oz. turkey breast 4 egg whites, 1 yolk 1/2 grapefruit Meal #2 Protein Drink: 2 scoops Muscle Provider, 2 tsp Flax Oil, 3 strawberries, 12 oz water Meal #3 5 ounces chicken (weighed prior to cooking) 2 cups salad (lettuce, tomato, carrot, cucumber, green peppers, etc. 2 TBL Cider Vinegar and 1 tsp Sunflower Oil (or other vegetable oil) for a dressing Meal #4 Protein Drink: 2 scoops Muscle Provider in water Meal #5 5 oz lean meat (chicken breast, turkey breast) or 6 oz Cod Fish 1-cup green beans
Monday and Thursday: I would substitute my 5th meal with 1 cup brown rice (measured after cooking), 6 oz. sweet potato, and a 4 oz. Banana Now, Jeff is going to tell you about his:
And another thing! I have an extremely tough schedule as a personal trainer – sometimes back-to-back clients for six hours or more. Plus I was in the formative stages of opening my new fitness center, Bodyworx Fitness Company. So, I told Roger I did not have time to eat more than five meals daily and at least two, often three would need to be drink mixes. I could actually sip these drinks while I trained my clients. I hate to think how much lean mass I would have lost if I relied on the typical 250 – 300 calorie meal replacement packets that most of my competitors use when rushed for time.
Here is the “diet” and personalized MRP that Roger formulated for the 1st eight weeks of my diet. Roger told me to just select any of the meals listed below. If I needed 3 drinks on a particularly busy day, then I’d drink my own personalized MRP listed below three times and any of the other options for the other two meals.
Meal Replacement Drink 2/23/00: (880 calories, 76 grams protein, 80 grams carbohydrate, 22 grams fat)
1 ½ scoops (large) Mass Maker
3 scoops Ultra Size
1 oz heavy whipping cream or 1 TBS Flax Oil
I could just scoop out the powder into plastic baggies or right into a shaker in the morning. Then whenever it was time for a meal I’d add water and boom – an awesome meal replacement with exactly 20% of the calories that I needed for the day.
The food meals that I could choose from were:
Option A: 12-oz chicken or turkey breast, 10 oz sweet potato or 1 ½ cups oatmeal (before adding water), 1 cup green beans or other green vegetable
Option B: 8-oz chicken + 6-oz 92% or leaner beef 2 cups cooked rice, 1 ½ cups oatmeal or 10 oz sweet potato 1 cup green vegetables Option C: 1-cup oatmeal, 3 scoops Ultra Size, 1 banana, and 1-oz cream (I could mix all this up in a bowl and eat it on the road or whenever.)
I almost always used the personalized meal replacement drink and Option A with oatmeal for my carb – it was the easiest and most convenient method for me.
My other supplements at this time were 6-Ultra 40 liver tablets per meal, a Super Pak with my post training meal for the antioxidant and muscle repair factors, and Ultra C in the morning and before training.
I’ve been relying on Beverly International supplements for the past five years. This year I added two to the mix – Mass Maker and Ultra Size. I was able to formulate an awesome meal replacement drink containing 880 calories with 76 grams protein, and 80 grams carbs by combining these two products in precision amounts
At one point, since my legs have some stubborn fat on them, she suggested that I resume my first love – running . But this time with a new twist. In addition to my normal 45 minutes of cardio 3-4 times weekly, I did sprints around a ¼ mile track (once around sprinting, ½ way around walking – 3 - 4 times). The sprinting really helps to tighten up the legs (something us girls have to work harder on!)
Besides her help with my diet, cardio and posing, she even helped me choose the right competition tanning products, and my posing suit!
Jeff, on the other hand did not add any cardio until the last few weeks as he approached his lowest body fat percentage of all time. For Jeff mountain biking was his preferred activity – interspersing sprints with longer rides.
Jeff and I continued to visit Beverly International over the next several weeks to monitor our condition and to see whether we needed a diet change or not. Since my calories were already pretty low Sandy would just gradually cycle my supplements to achieve higher and higher degrees of fat burning. I was especially amazed at the drop in bodyfat and added degree of hardness I achieved when she added GH Factor, Muscle Mass and Energy Reserve to my pre workout supplement program.
Here is the complete supplement program I used
Jeff eventually had to lower calories from 4200 all the way down to 3300 – poor brother! I’ll let him tell you of his suffering:
“The change was not huge, like 900 calories I believe. I prefer high fat diets to carbs anyway so cutting the carbs was not a big loss for me. We dumped the oatmeal and Mass Maker switched the chicken to beef. Cool! This is the kind of diet I like!
Meal #1: 12 oz 92% lean beef (Laura’s), lots of salsa and ½ cup oatmeal Meals #2 and 4: 3 scoops Ultra Size, 2 scoops Muscle Provider, 1 TBS heavy cream, 4 strawberries and I’d mix this in about 18 – 20 oz water. Check this out for an MRP: 83 grams protein, 20 grams carbs and 16 grams fat! Meal #3: 12 oz chicken, 6-oz sweet potato and 1.5 cups green vegetables Meal #5: 8 oz chicken breast, 12 egg whites, tons of salsa and 1 TBS Flax Oil
I stayed on this down to 3.7% I think. That was at 3 weeks out. Now Roger got a little nasty with me! (So lets get it on I say!!! Hit me!) Check this out 10 oz. Beef, and a grape fruit and 1 cup of vegetables 3 times a day, and 2 drinks, 2 scoops Muscle Provider, 2 scoops Ultra Size mixed in water. Oh yeah! And 6 egg whites at night. Roger loves creating my diets. One food meal to design “eat it 3 times”, one meal replacement drink “drink two of them”, hand me the paper and out the door I go!
I did quite a bit of other Beverly supplements this time as well Super Paks (always), Ultra 40, Mass, Ultra-C, (always) Muscle Mass, Lean out, L-Glutamine, Creatine Monohydrate, ZMA, Joint Care and Energy Reserve. All added and taken away as needed.
Finally we come down to the show itself. Jeff and I were both in the best condition of our lives. Early in the evening I won my class in both the Ohio Valley Novice and the open Ohio. I also was awarded the overall title in the Ohio Valley Novice. Jeff was awesome. He won the open heavyweight title and then prepared to do battle for the overall. It turned out to be a two-man contest between Jeff and the Super heavyweight winner. The more they posed the better Jeff’s condition stood out. As the judges’ votes were tallied it turned out that Jeff lost the over all title by just one point!!!
Even though we both couldn’t leave as overall champions this show was very special for me. It’s not often that you get to compete in the same show with your sister and each take home a 1st place trophy. It must be the genetics!!! (plus a lot of hard work, discipline and Beverly International.)
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