How I Trained For My Show

On the left I was 173 lbs. The right I am 143 lbs. The time between these two pictures is about 26 weeks.

I have been asked by a ton of people since my show how I did it. How did I workout and how did I eat. I figured I would resurrect this old blog to try to help out as many people as I can to reach their goals.
First off, I didn't do this alone. I had a great support system. If you are serious about losing weight or doing a show, get a coach. There are some great ones out there. I have 2 that I really recommend.

How long did the whole thing take?
I started training hard and dieting for the show at about 26 weeks out. That's about 6 months. I lost a total of 30 pounds and 12% body fat. If you notice that means I lost about 1 pound a week. That is the healthy amount to lose per week.

How did I workout? 
I worked out the same as I always do. I train 6 days a week for about 1-2 hours a day. I workout in the morning because that way I won't miss my workout if other things come up. My routine went as follows:

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: Quads
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday: Arms
Saturday: Hamstrings

Did I do a ton of cardio?
No I didn't. In fact, I only started doing cardio hard during the last 4 weeks before the show. I did the stairmaster for 20 minutes a day 3 times a week during the first 22 weeks. The last 4 weeks I did about 45 min to 1 hour a day of cardio. I did interval training on the treadmill. At an 8% incline, switch between walking for 4 minutes at 3.2 then running for 1 min at 6.5. Easy stuff.

What was my diet like?
This is where it all happened. Here is what my diet looked like for the first 20 weeks:

This came out to be about 220g protein, 220g carbs, 50g fat per day.
Meal 1: 6 egg whites, 1 cup oatmeal.
Meal 2 (post workout): Protein powder mixed in water.
Meal 3: Chicken, Steak, Rice.
Meal 4: Chicken & Rice
Meal 5: Some sort of lean meat (chicken, turkey, steak), veggies, rice.
Meal 6: Casein protein powder.


Last 6 weeks I changed my diet to look like this:

This came out to be about 300g protein, 150g carbs, 40g fat per day until the last 2 weeks.
Meal 1: 10 egg whites
Meal 2 (Post workout): Protein shake, 1 cup yams.
Meal 3: Ground beef, green veggies, and rice.
Meal 4: Ground beef, green veggies, and rice.
Meal 5: Ground turkey, green veggies, and rice.
Meal 6: Ground turkey, green veggies, and rice.

In the last 2 weeks I cut out the green veggies and rice from my diet. I lived off of 50g of carbs which was the 1 cup of yams after my workout.

A couple important notes:
(1) I DID NOT CHEAT ONCE. I'm not kidding, ask my wife. I did not cheat on the weekends, holidays, or any special events. If I had to go out I would stick with the basic principles of the diet. No desserts, drinks, or any extra calories other than what was planned. I tracked everything to the point of obsession. I had one real cheat day during this process that I specifically planned for Thanksgiving day. Other than that, it was tupperware and prepared meals. 
(2) THIS IS NOT A SUSTAINABLE DIET PLAN. This diet was for show prep purposes. It was not good for every day life. I had to miss out on a lot of social events because of this diet. I was willing to do that because I decided that nothing was going to get in my way. 

What supplements did I use?
Multi vitamins, protein powder, and pre-workout.  My protein powder has BCAA's and Glutamine in it, or I would use those also. That's all I used. No fat burners or anything like that.

How did I stay motivated?
I decided to do the show and to me that was it. Once I truly set my mind to it, nothing got in my way. I visualized the show every single day. I probably had a bit of an unhealthy obsession with my goal to do the show, but that's what got me up every day. Motivation was never a problem for me.

Was I hungry all the time?
No, not at all. I ate 6 times a day which means I was eating every 3 hours or so. I was rarely hungry. I did crave carbs at the end and that got really hard. What I did to curb my cravings when I almost couldn't take it anymore was made protein pancakes and ate them plain. That is 10 egg whites mixed with about 3 scoops of protein. It makes a batter consistency and you cook it on the stove like pancakes. It doesn't taste like pancakes or bread, but it fills you up like carbs do and it saved me quite a few times from being horribly miserable.

In the last 4 weeks I had a specific show prep coach that I would send pictures to every week and he would tell me how to adjust carbs. He was a good 3rd party to tell me an objective view on how I was doing.

If you have any questions you know I am available to chat! My email is seanfrazer7@gmail.com. Feel free to email any questions.

Motivation

There was a competition put on by Animal Pak and bodybuilding.com that I applied for. Only 5 people got in and you got a bunch of free gear if you got in. Well I applied for it, I thought I was inbecause the admin of it commented on my post, but I ended up not being chosen. I was really wanting this because I thought that it would push me and keep me motivated. But then I realized something. I have been relying on other peoples validation to keep me motivated. What I mean by validation is I wanted to be the "expert" and the "tough guy" on these forums and competitions. Then I had an epiphany. I am not relying on myself to keep me motivated! That's the DUMBEST thing that I could have ever do!! What happens when someone doesn't validate my picture or my story! All of the sudden, I am not pushing myself. So I am done with my bodybuilding.com account. I'm not going to post any pictures there or any stats. I can keep them myself. From now on, the only motivation I need is from me.

New Split Routine

I've hit a point in my working out that I need to start getting more specific on what I do every day. I have a limited amount of time so I need to get pretty zoned in on what is best for me. This is going to be my new split routine:

Monday: 
Legs - Focusing on quads and calves. Squat day. Ass to ground squats so I don't go as heavy as most.
Shoulders - 12 to 15 rep range. Last few reps will be negatives or hellcentric (eccentric) as my friends at Animal call it

Tuesday:
Chest - Heavy day. 6 to 8 rep range.
Biceps - Heavy day. 6 to 8 rep range. Barbell focus.


Wednesday:
Back - Heavy day. 6 to 8 rep range. 
Triceps - Heavy day. 6 to 8 rep range.

Thursday:

Legs - Focusing on hamstrings.
Shoulders - Heavy day. 8 to 10 rep range. Last few reps will be negatives or hellcentric (eccentric) as my friends at Animal call it

Friday:

Chest - Lighter day. 12 to 15 rep range. 3-2-3 tempo. 3 counts up, 2 second hold and squeeze, 3 counts down. Last few reps will be negatives or hellcentric (eccentric).
Biceps - Lighter day. 12 to 15 rep range. 3-2-3 tempo. 3 counts up, 2 second hold and squeeze, 3 counts down. Last few reps will be negatives or hellcentric (eccentric).


Saturday:

Back - Lighter day. 12 to 15 rep range. 3-2-3 tempo. 3 counts up, 2 second hold and squeeze, 3 counts down. Last few reps will be negatives or hellcentric (eccentric).
Triceps - Lighter day. 12 to 15 rep range. 3-2-3 tempo. 3 counts up, 2 second hold and squeeze, 3 counts down. Last few reps will be negatives or hellcentric (eccentric).

I am a smaller guy so I need to keep the strength up but I'm also wanting to have muscle endurance because I like being the machine that can do what ever the hell someone says I *can't* do.

What If You're Tired at the Gym?

I must say, yesterday morning I was tired at the gym. It was a "bad day" at the gym. So what do you do then? I figured out what works for me. 

 It may sound crazy, but go as heavy as you can on those days. Two reasons for that:

#1) You don't have to get all out of breath and tired. When you are tired, the last thing you want to do is superset chest flys with elevated push ups. What I did yesterday was I started on incline bench (I always do DB because it's better on my shoulders) and I started with 55lb. I did 12 reps and then rested. Then I did 10 reps of 65lb. Then I did 8 reps of 80lb. At this point I was starting to feel a little pump and get a little more awake. So I did another set of 8 @ 80lb. That's when I said screw it and went and grabbed the 100's and went to flat bench. I got up 100's 5 times on flat, no spotter (I workout alone). 

So I started all tired, and ended up putting up 100's by the 5th set. At that point I was all sorts of stoked that I just did 100's so I had an awesome workout after that. Which brings me to:

#2) Going heavy makes you stoked. I don't know about you, but for me I get all pumped and want to destroy something when I break a personal record. When I'm tired I start light, and then push it harder and harder until I hit my record. Once you get that heavy weight up, your workout seems to turn out way better. I love it. 

So that's how I get over my tired days. I extend my rest time and go heavy.

The best 2 songs to get you ready for a heavy set:

Enter Sandman - Metallica
Welcome Home - Coheed and Cambria

The Grind

5:20am: 

Today I hopped right out of bed. I was juiced. Ready to go. It's chest and shoulders for me today. I'm ready to go. 

6:00am:

4 sets of incline DB press (@75 pounds) 

4 sets of incline flys.

4 sets of flat DB press (@ 80 pounds)

4 sets of flat DB fly

4 sets shoulder press

5 sets of side lat raises superset with rear delt flys

4 sets of upright rows

Decline sit-ups until I died.

I feel like I ate a ton today. I am so full as I am writing this I feel sick. But when I did myfitnesspal.com I only ate 2500 calories. I did get in 210g of protein. I need 3000 cal and around 250-300g protein. I just can't stuff myself with that much food. I'm going to have to make sure every meal counts.

Idiots in the Gym

Arnold - Ass to heel

I've got to vent about something. There are too many freaking idiots at the gym.

It was legs day. I set up on my squat rack. I put down a set of 8 at 155lbs. It felt pretty good but I wasn't getting my form all there, so I took it down to 135. Up walks this kid to the squat rack next to me. He's no bigger than me and he looks a lot younger than me. He puts on 4 plates on each side. That's 405 lbs. He gets under it, makes a couple grunt noises and then lets out a huge "AHHHHRRHHHH" and steps back. He then squatted about 4 inches down and then back up. His form was so terrible that a guy ran up and supported his back and made him put his chest up. He puts it back on the rack and me and this big guy just looked at each other and shook our heads. Then I do my set. When I do squats I do ass to heels squats. I couldn't finish it with 135 so I took it down to 105 and did another set of 12, ass to heel squats. The kid next to me comes back with a belt he got from the front, and proceeded to put another plate on each side. That's 495 pounds. If he were to do proper form, he would be one of the strongest people in Utah right now. He gets under it, lets out a scream again, and does 4 piss-poor excuses for a squat, and then basically falls forward to get the weight back on the rack.

A few things that kills me about this. Number one, the gym is not a show. Who the hell cares if you can squat 500 pounds! You look like a moron if you're not doing full reps. I see this all the time. Especially on bench and squats. Second, a real bodybuilder or power lifter would never, ever, do 500 pound squat with no spotter. Not in a million years. 500 pounds can break your back, literally. If you go to the gym so big guys will look at you, you will get hurt eventually. Plus, just a little side note, those big guys you are trying to impress think you are a complete moron. I'm sitting here doing 135, but my squats are so deep and in good form, that I have way more respect than that idiot trying to do 500 pounds with no spotter. I had to walk away from him because I was too worked up about it, and it was getting in the way of my workout.

I wish I could yell to everyone in the gym, WEIGHT DOESN'T MATTER!! Go as heavy as YOU can and push it to the limits of YOUR ability. People get hurt every day from trying to push more weight than the guy next to him, that is 75 pounds bigger then he is! With weight lifting it's you vs YOU. Those egotistical morons at the gym doing half-assed reps aren't helping anyone, including themselves.

Animal Rage

I got some Animal Rage this week. It's the new Animal pre-workout. Here's what I think about it.

It doesn't taste all that bad compared to other pre-workouts I've taken. It's a little like tang with a medicine kick. The first time I took it I put it down with just water. I definitely got the shivers after that. If you mix it in some juice, then you water that down a bit, you can barely taste the bitter pre-workout taste.

I only took about 3/4 of a serving. I took it about 30 minutes before the workout. It was back/tri day. I got to the gym and it was complete raw energy. I've had pre-workouts before that made my ears itch, my hands shake, and my legs tingle. I hated that kind of energy. It was like pounding an energy drink before a workout. Rage was nothing like that. It was real energy.

When I started lifting I warmed up easier, and I got on my heavy sets a lot faster. I could single arm row 115 with no problem, which last week I only could single arm row 100. My bent over row was an easy 155. Last week it was 135. Everything seemed easier.

After my workout I didn't have any crash. That was a surprise. The side of the tub says don't take more than one serving per day so I thought I'd crash hard. I didn't though.

All together it was the best pre-workout that I've tried yet. The only thing about pre workouts is they don't seem to last. They don't work after a while that is. I'll let you know if this one starts to not work as well in a month or so. I sure hope it works though!