Blackhulk’s Blog: Exploration and Design

Hello everyone

This year I am hoping to compete again, and My coach-to-be is hinting at Me doing at least two. My original plan was to compete in the English Physique Federation (EPF) in the early winter season. I haven’t discussed with My coach or decided yet which is the other contest I will be doing. I will be going for the over 40s category.

Nevertheless, in the meantime, I am bulking up and hoping to get back to 115kgs or more of lean muscular bodyweight before dieting down. I would like to be seriously ripped (especially for competing) no matter how heavy I am, and, of course, healthy.

What do I eat to get big? A typical day’s eating (at work) consists of:

• Breakfast - porridge oats with full fat milk. Sometimes cooked in water. Or 2 slices of German rye bread with pilchards/tuna/roast beef
• Mid-morning – tuna with mayo and pasta, or pasta with tuna and mayo plus sweetcorn, a small bunch of grapes and a glass of water
• Lunch – a large baked potato with a lot of butter, coronation chicken/club chicken (whichever is available – and the catering staff are always joking about the fact that I include tuna and mayo with this. Yes, you read that correctly!), a small salad, grapes and a glass of water
• Mid-afternoon – egg and cress sandwich (brown bread) with grapes, and a glass of water
• Immediately after gym – grapes, an apple and a chocolate muffin (oh yes, I have a sweet tooth)
• Dinner – this can vary depending on what I feel like at the time, it could be baked potatoes with chicken, or it could be a pizza (from the supermarket), topped with roasted chicken from the local delicatessen. I also have a glass of water.
• Bedtime - a casein-based protein shake

Occasionally, I have chicken and chips for breakfast, a big enough portion usually left over from the night before when I’ve had it for dinner. Or I may have crunchy oats (granola [?] with milk and/or yoghurt). Once per week I allow Myself to ‘cheat’, or rather, binge, though not too much. Red wine (usually a merlot), or Guinness^TM, with more junk food. Sunday is usually detox day.

I ensure I drink enough water throughout the day and during training.

At the moment, I am not counting calories (what’s that anyway?). My goal is to gain weight and ultimately get ripped whilst keeping as much of My size as possible for competition.

Supplements I am currently taking

• My base supplement is a multivitamin-mineral which I take once or twice a day.
• 2 x 1000mg glutamine capsules twice a day – first thing in the morning and last thing at night
• 2-4 vit B complex tabs 3 times per day with meals.
• 5g of creatine monohydrate in water as soon as I wake up.
• 5g of creatine monohydrate in hot water 30 mins before dinner. If this is a training day, it will be in a whey protein shake immediately after my workout.
• 1 zinc tablet before bedtime on an empty stomach

I am considering including other supplements and will give an update on this blog once they have been incorporated into My regime.

Please note: this is what I eat in the off season. This method of eating is unique to Me. I do not advise anyone to copy it because it is very heavy on fats and quite heavy on simple sugars. I am currently learning how to do all this much more efficiently and effectively and I will provide an update.

If you are a cash slave (fitness slave, muscle slave) with an interest in health and fitness, feel free to contact Me. I offer an attractive personal training package.

Peace…Almando The Blackhulk

So you’ve made your resolution to get fit. You’ve signed up with a gym. You’ve had your induction and are well on your way to getting rid of the excess fat and guilt that came with all that Christmas food and drink, not to mention the New Year celebrations!

Here are some tips for making sure you stick with your targets:

A great way to do this is to use the SMART model. SMART stands for:

SPECIFIC - MEASURABLE - ACHIEVABLE - REALISTIC - TIMELY

If we take the SMART model and apply it to your resolutions

1. Be SPECIFIC as to what you want to achieve. You will find it useful to make a clear statement (of INTENT), write it in one sentence, and stick it on the wall where I can see it. This statement of intent sends a strong message to your subconscious mind (or it will eventually) that you mean business. Which statement is more specific? ‘I want to lose weight’, or ‘I want to lose 10lbs’?

2. The goal must be MEASURABLE. How will you know how you are progressing? You might wish to weigh yourself - for example - once every week, or a fortnight, or every month, depending on the nature of your goal. When you see progress, you will become even more motivated to achieve your goals.

3. The goal must be ACHIEVABLE. You may need some help with this. Perhaps discuss it with a close friend or a personal trainer. Can you visualise yourself achieving the goal?

4. The goal must be REALISTIC. It is not wise to set goals you know you cannot meet. YOU WILL FAIL. Make sure that you target is something that is part of who you are and what you want to achieve.

5. The goal must be TIMELY. When do you want to achieve this goal? So taking the weight loss goal we mentioned earlier, you might say, ‘I want to lose 10lbs of fat in 3 months’. I included the word ‘fat’ because when people start training to lose weight they suddenly find they start gaining weight and they begin to panic that they are not achieving their target weight. Remember, your body is made up of water, fat and muscle. Remember this too: MUSCLE IS HEAVIER THAN FAT. One good way to check this (or measure this) is to use skin calipers, preferably professional ones. Your gym might have some.

If you think you would like some additional help, a personal trainer is a good idea. When I started out in powerlifting, I used a personal trainer for about 2 weeks or so. Once I went through the programme and could see that I was progressing, I became more motivated to switch to bodybuilding from powerlifting and have not looked back since. I do sometimes go back to my powerlifting roots when I need a change in routine…

Good luck in achieving your fitness goals this year and have fun!

By the way, I have a friend who runs courses for people who want to increase their knowledge of nutrition, fitness and bodybuilding, as well as getting employed in the fitness industry. He is going to be running a course shortly on Nutrition and he comes highly recomended. He is a trainer of champions and is the one who trained the guy who beat me to first place in the First Timers/Over 80s class last year. His name is Cain Leatham and his website can be found by clicking on this link here. Or email him for more info at cain@gbfitness.com. Tell him I sent you!

Peace

Fionn