4 Weeks Out First Bodybuilding Competition | Bodybuilding Blind #03

How Is My Physique?

Today is the 4 week out mark till my first bodybuilding competition. I started this contest prep about 17 weeks ago. My physique has undergone quite a transformation up until this point. The main reason in taking so long to prep is to try and retain as much muscle mass as possible. Bodybuilding is all about finding the perfect balance of muscle mass and leanness. I believe I am currently about 10% body fat at the moment. Starting weight was 187 pounds and now I am around 168 pounds.

My Cardio Protocol

Cardio is really just a tool to help burn more calories on a cut. Yes, it is important to do cardio to help have and maintain adequate cardiovascular health. Most bodybuilders use cardio to burn extra calories so that they can eat more throughout the day. My cardio protocol at the moment is about 30-45 minutes of low to moderate intensity cardio each day. My heart rate is usually around 130 BPM. I have found this to work best for me to burn fat and allow me to consume more calories throughout my day. This will probably stay the same all the way up until my competition.

Current Macronutrients

Recently I raised my carbs back up to almost maintenance calories so that I will stay around 168 pounds for the next couple of weeks. My plan is to keep my macros at 275 g carbs, 170 g protein, 55 g fat up until about 2.5 weeks out. This will allow me to maintain the weight I am currently at while burning off a little bit more fat at the same time. If this needs to be adjusted before the 2.5 week out mark I will adjust it according to what my physique needs to peak on stage.

The Plan

The plan from here on out is to be consistent as possible. This goes for my macros and training. I have got my posing routine down and will keep improving upon it as we keep approaching the competition. My macros will stay the same most likely up until the last couple of weeks like mentioned above. Once I am a couple of weeks out I will gradually start cutting my carbs down to burn off the last bit of fat. Then on peak week I will be depleted of carbs and my bodies glycogen stores. The current plan for peak week is to reintroduce carbs 2 days before contest day and carb load those 2 days. The number of carbs will depend on how my body takes the first day of higher carbs 2 days before the competition. I will not be dehydrating my body for the simple fact that the human body and muscles are composed of 70% water. If I dehydrated my body then I would come in flat on stage which is no good. I will just lower my water those last couple of days. I am planning on being lean enough to not need to worry about this to get thiner skin. Which is why bodybuilders dehydrate their body. So this is the rough plan for the next couple of weeks. I am going to stay as consistent as possible and not throw any surprises at my body.

Summary

I am currently 4 weeks out from my first bodybuilding competition and think that I am about  10% body fat. My diet and training is going to be very consistent for the next 2 weeks. Then I will start cutting my carbs down lower and lower gradually. I will let you all know about peak week in detail when the time comes. Cardio will stay around 30-45 minutes a day up until my show. My body is reacting greatly to how I am training and eating so I will keep doing what I am doing up until around 2 weeks out and the I will make some adjustments to burn the last bit of fat off. So LETS GET IT and KEEP GETTING STRONGER!