The Contest preparation time for the NSW state Qualifier (Tasmania doesn’t have an IFBB show) has crept up on me a little and with only 12 weeks to go it is time to ramp up the fat burning. This week we are going to focus on a few tips to accelerate the fat burning process without running ourselves into the ground and becoming zombies.
While I have some work ahead of me, there are a few positives heading into the contest
- I have been doing well with meals, cardio and training the past few months so the changes that need to be made are more like fine tuning than completely changing my lifestyle.
- Muscle mass is high so while I’ll endeavour to retain as much muscle as possible to present on stage, if I do lose a little mass, I’ll still be big enough to be competitive.
- My enthusiasm is sky high, my head space is the best it has ever been and I’m seeing the extra work as a challenge. Contest preparation can be a challenging pursuit, twice as much exercise with half the food. You need to have your head on straight or the whole process will be difficult.
With this firm foundation in place there are a few key parts of the preparation that will be changed this week to achieve the necessary degree of lean-ness.
- Calories will be reduced mainly from carbohydrates in the evening and afternoon meals. Basically, no carbs other than green vegetables after lunch. There is still plenty of Carbohydrate around weight training in the morning, for breakfast and morning tea so energy levels should be fine.
- Cardio will be bumped up to twice a day. This will comprise of 1 walk plus 1 HIIT session each day. The HIIT sessions work well also if they are split up into multiple mini sessions throughout the day where practical. The whole purpose of the cardio is to keep metabolism high and the multiply mini sessions seems to be working well for me.
- Protein stays high and evenly spaced out throughout the day
- HIIT session can be replaced by a second weights session, again in needs to be practical and juggled with working 6 days a week.
That should be enough to really start seeing changes quickly. I will re-evaluate after a few weeks and get the wife to check the progress. She isn’t afraid to give me tough love and will tell me if progress is not quick enough.