And I've hit it at 100mph. Yup, my torrid, offseason love affair with high volume training has been forced to a grinding halt as the keto diet kicks into gear. There's nothing like cranking out the first 5 or 6 reps, thinking you could easily get to 10, and then hiting reps 7 and 8 and realizing that the dumbbells are about to come crashing down on your chest. All I can do is laugh as my training partner has to bail me out of the set. When I proceed to whine about how the lack of carbs is putting a damper on things already, his response is, "If you love them, set them free." Oh, easy for you to say as you sip on your Carbolyze/Isolyze shake.
While this no-carb "wall" is nothing new to me on a contest diet (since I've been following a keto type diet for the past two contest preps), there are a lot of things that are different already. First of all, I'm not following Dave's typical precontest protocol for women. For now, I'm keeping my calories a little higher over the course of the week and including fats in three of my five meals every day (instead of the typical PV/PF rotation). While this will ideally allow me to hammer away at my workouts in this early part of the diet, it is unfortunately countered with more cardio to start. I'm trying to be open minded about this approach, but I'm so resistant to change. Dave's protocol has worked so well for me, especially last year, that I have a hard time trying something else....if it ain't broke, don't fix it, is my thinking. My first week on this new plan didn't yeild the weight loss results that I had hoped, having only lost about 1.5 pounds (Saturday's weight was 146.4). I've got a lot of weight to lose, which is a huge reason why I started two weeks early. A pound and a half isn't bad, but I was expecting a much larger drop in the first week, somewhere around 3 lbs or so. Anyway, I think mother nature contributed to hindering that loss, so hopefully I'll have better results at this week's weigh-in.
As I mentioned before, another thing that's hugely different for me is the mindframe that I seem to be going into this prep with. This offseason was about growth for me in more ways than just trying to bring up my back or fill out my frame. I have come to a lot of realizations over the past 8 months, some encouraging but many very disappointing. While I'm still working through some of these things, I have this strange sense of clarity going into this prep. I'm just as excited as I was last year, if not more so (didn't even think that could be possible), but it's not just a feeling of excitement. There's a lot to be said about having clarity of mind. I would not describe myself as a "spiritual" person at all, but having gotten rid of certain toxic or negative things/people in my life has really brought a lot into focus for me. I'm still working on trying to accept things for what they are and appreciate things as they happen instead of always trying to plan and control everything. In other words, I'm trying teach myself how to roll with the punches and even try to enjoy the moment rather than stress about what lies ahead and trying to figure out how I can prevent anything bad from happening....as if that's even realistic. What can I say? I'm a true control freak at heart.
Ok, enough with the serious, psychobabble. But speaking of planning things, I know it would be no surprise to people to find out that I've already registered for my NPC card, booked my hotel room for Nationals, and ordered my suit. I made out a little list of things I'd like to have taken care of by about 8 weeks out from Easterns, and right now, there are only two things left on that list....register for Easterns and Nationals. The less I have to worry about while dieting, the better off I am as well as those around me. So for now, things are definitely starting off on the right foot. And tomorrow will hopefully add to that. I'm headed down to Long Island to have Mike work on my hamstring again and then it's off to Powerhouse to train back with him and Kevin English. Ummm, yeah, I get to train with Mr. 202 Olympia and his trainer....how cool is that? I know, I'm like a little kid going to see Sesame Street and hang out with Big Bird and Snuffalufagus, all giddy with excitement and all. Next post I'll be sure to write about that training session because I'm sure they are planning on murdering me. I say, bring it on, boys!
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