Post Competition

Here I am in all my glory, it's about as big as I let myself get. I am trying to get bigger- more muscle that is, but not much fatter. And as long as I am diligent I should be able to maintain this level of bodyfat and still add some lean mass.


I am at 126 pounds, I was up to 128 a few days ago, and three weeks ago I was at 119. Now before you go all wonky on me, you must understand that pre-competition the body is depleted and dehydrated. When you eat carbohydrates, your body fills the muscles and liver with glycogen, and when you have glycogen in your body it holds onto water. 2.6 grams of water for every gram of glycogen....Instant weight gain!


Eliminate starches (or most of them) and water and zilch, you have nothing in the body to add weight.


After a competition, your body is primed for nutrients and fuel since it has been so depleted. Many people blow up from eating excessively and some do just getting back to normal foods, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself for the last few weeks and have eaten almost anything I wanted. Yes it shows, I an change that.


But, I have had my fill and am back to my clean eating (mostly) with a treat here and again. When I say treat this is typically savory foods for me. A pork chop, a lamb chop, cheeseburger, Caesar salad....wine.


My diet stays the same, I just allow myself more food. I eat at least one rice cake a day, with peanut or almond butter. I add a whole hard cooked  (well almost) egg to my salad. I allow myself to have my favorite thick spelt toast instead of oatmeal and I don't fret about tasting things here and there.


My lifting is heavy, I don't change it too much post competition. I am trying to add mass so I will lift heavy and focus on volume, I respond well to volume. That's where the German Volume Training comes in. It's hard to do it on a calorie restricted diet, so this is the time!


Wednesdays Roy and I do squats (10 sets of 10) and on Fridays we do barbell shoulder press (10 sets of 10). I repeat them both on my own, squats again on Saturday and shoulders on Tuesday. 


I did shoulders today on my own and was laughing to myself. I had to keep getting off the bench as I was sweating so much from the presses that the seat was wet and uncomfortable...As I always say - I know a good workout when I sweat and my feet aren't even moving.


I was talking to a woman in the locker room afterward and she made a comment about it, I said I was trying to add muscle and she got a look of surprise on her face. "Add more muscle?!" I forget that I am considered quite big and muscular to many other women.


I am back to running my stairs and jumping rope at lunch, so I get two workouts in almost everyday. I gave it up at the end as my competition got closer because I was too fatigued and I didn't want to lose too much more bodyweight. I am at the gym every single morning, and then running every lunch except Wednesday and Friday. Wednesdays I have GVT squats and I would be foolish to run and jump at lunch before that, and on Fridays I lift with Roy at noon so I really cannot fit it in. I do some form of cardio on weekends, either at the gym or on my treadmill.


So while I loved my svelte, lean competition body, It's not a good idea to try to maintain a level of bodyfat that makes an Olympic gymnast jealous, and I don't want to go through life like that anyway. I cannot stay so low all the time.


I will be starting to have more time for cooking and should be posting some great clean and healthy recipes soon.


I will be continuing to take photos, so you can see the changes in my physique and bodyfat, and let you know about dietary changes and my training.