DeWayde Perry, MD – An Uncommon Marriage

   I had known of Beverly International since my first visit to the Arnold Classic in March 1998. I visited their booth and had a lengthy conversation with Jeremiah Forster. I had a bodyfat analysis performed and after returning home to Detroit, I received a personalized diet in the mail. I was shocked at what I read. Some of the meals consisted of heavy cream and other items that were counter to my knowledge of sports nutrition at the time. I believed in a high protein, ultra-low fat diet. Needless to say, I did not follow the diet.

   Each year I returned to the Arnold Classic, I would visit the Beverly booth and speak with several representatives. I discovered their website and began reading the stories of successful Beverly athletes. In the spring of 2001, while preparing for a photo essay for Muscle and Fitness magazine, I bought my first container of Ultra Size. I continued to sporadically use Beverly protein powders until early spring, 2002. My residency training was nearing its final stages and I was getting tired of telling people, “No, I don’t compete, but I train as if I do”. After some thought, I decided to enter my first competition. I set my sights on the 2002 NPC Central States bodybuilding championships, which were to be held September 21, 2002. Not only is this an historically large and competitive event, it is a non-tested national qualifier. As someone who likes to set high goals, I thought the athletes at the Central States would be a formidable challenge for my first contest. I realized I was going to have to begin my prep while still in residency, not an easy task.

   I began my contest prep twenty weeks out on May 11, 2002. My weight was 203 at 9.8 percent bodyfat. At the time, I was serving on the trauma service at one of the busiest trauma hospitals in the United States. This required staying awake thirty plus hours in the hospital and operating on patients throughout the day and night. I was in the hospital seven days per week. As mentioned earlier, I would bring all my food to the hospital and store it in a refrigerator. I tried to eat every three hours, which sometimes meant running to my call room between operations to scarf down a meal or drinking a shake while making rounds on patients.

   I was able to visit Beverly headquarters on July 13, which was nine weeks out from the contest. It was a privilege to meet Jeremiah (my nutritionist), Roger, Rita and several other Beverly consultants. My weight had dipped to 191 and my bodyfat plummeted to 6.1 percent. I was still performing well in the gym and had not begun to feel any ill effects from dieting. Prior to my first visit to Beverly, I had been using a low volume training method consisting of five to seven sets of four to six reps per set per muscle group. Weight selection was as heavy as possible. Roger suggested increasing my training volume and from that point I started German Volume Training, which consisted of ten sets of ten reps per muscle group. I also began a 4-on, 1-off training schedule. I am a big believer in cardiovascular health and I chose HIIT for my aerobic conditioning three days per week.

   During the visit, Jeremiah felt it was time to institute Phase II of my diet and supplement plan. (See margin of next page.)

   Another important aspect of contest preparation is posing. At twelve weeks out, I started using David Payne’s posing practice routine as outlined in a previous issue of NNN. I promised myself that although it was my first competition, I was not going to appear as such. I also had the music to my posing routine professionally mixed and prepared at ten weeks out. Posing is not easy. Done correctly, it can greatly enhance one’s conditioning and overall presence.