Sassy69: BB to Physique 2012

[sassy69]

I've kept logs on another smaller board for years, but I've got an interesting transformation underway towards competing in the new NPC Women's Physique category in 2012. I'm also inspired by ATW's & Shan's logs. Training & diet are kinda second nature to me and I stopped feeling the need to include ad nauseum details year ago because I typically do most of the same stuff all the time. This time, however my goal is to dump something like 10-15 lb after spending a lifetime "getting big". And also learning how to find satisfaction in lifting lighter instead of heavier. Again a change in direction of a 30 yr passion. Its taken a year to wrap my mind around this change. So thought it might be an interesting journey to share w/ you guys.

I'm discovering its not a short discussion about what led me to this decision, but it seems to be an inevitable one. 30 yrs of Wear & tear = can't lift heavy anymore. That means no grow. Old = harder & harder to drop bodyfat. Mental/physical/spiritual well-being = must lift. How to reconcile all this & still enjoy being part of the brotherhood of the iron & sisterhood of the steel? Downsize & check out Physique.

After a very long year of exploring alternative ways to drop muscle mass via some sort of interval training, pretty much everything I tried was not a viable replacement for lifting while not hurting and still getting some sort of satisfaction out of it. In the process of trying, hurting, getting frustrated, doing nothing, I have actually managed to drop some muscle mass. So I'm grabbing this as my starting point for competition next year. Ideally I'd be targeting something in the summer.

With the help of Shelby Starnes, I'm going after it. Here's my starting point:

Age:46
Bodyfat: dunno - soft
Wt: 150.5 lb -- keeping in mind 150 has been my stage wt in 2009 & 2010. Obviously hugely different body competition.

Goal... 130?? & rippt

So welcome to my new adventure!

I think my immediate goals are to get down to maybe 135 by Xmas and see what I have to work w/ at that point. I haven't seen that number on the scale since my first show 11 yrs ago.

Towards this goal:

Diet guidelines:
M1: 20 g complex carbs, 10 g fat, 20 g protein
M2: 20 g protein, 10 g carb (fruits/veggies), 10 g fat
M3: same
M4: same
M5: 20 g protein, 10 g fat

So roughly 100g protein per day, 50g carbs (30 from fruits and veggies) and 50g fat. Yep.... whole new adventure.

Training:
Still playing around w/ this but its currently looking like 4 days of Poliquin's German Body Comp-style training. Basically supersetting. Obviously more w/ light weights given the limited fuel. Also toying w/ getting into Bikram yoga. I'm finding my flexibility, particularly IT band / lower back / upper back / shoulders are becoming critical and start to go to shit when I don't regularly stretch. My chiro highly recommends Bikram.

Cardio: currently 25 min SS/day.

 

[dangerouscurves]

Well I'm thankful you're starting a log, def along for the journey

 

[sassy69]

Catching up:
11/4/11 - TGIF!

First day on the program! Pretty close to the diet macros above but I'd already made my food for today when I got the diet details last night.

Training: "Day 1" of a 2-routine alternating Poliquin GBC

20 min DeFranco lower body wu - this actually felt great & I'm flexible as hell given I've been on my butt most of the last 2 weeks.

A1: walking lunges: 40 steps x3
A2: lat pulldowns: 90/20 x 3
B1:leg press: 200/40 x 4 -- ideally B1/B2 would've been C1/C2 but some guy was fucking around on the leg curl when I needed it
B2: seated alt cross cable row: 40/15 x 4
C1: lying leg curl: 80/20 x 4
C2: tri rope pressdown: 80/20 x 4

Cardio: 10 min treadmill + 5 min bike -- bailed early due to sore foot and still a little light-headed from the workout.

 

[sassy69]

11/5/11 - Sat

Slept in big time today... just doing some computer stuff today and huddling under a blanket cuz it got cold! Looks like our Indian Summer is over On the other hand I get to pull out my big sweatshirts & long gym pants.

Here's an example of the implementation of my diet per the earlier posted specs:

M1: A little less than 1/2 c oatmeal + 1 scoop Designer Protein vanilla (~18 g protein) + 1/4 c berries --- a little more carb than prescribed but its what sounded good this morning. And missed the fats.
M2: 3 oz tilapia, 1 c broccoli, 10 almonds
M3: same
M4: same
M5: 1 scoop casein whey (~24g P), a little more than 1tbsp PB

Total cals: 1,028
Fats: 43.9
Carbs: 68.6 -- Probably gonna go back to 1 whole egg + 3 egg whites + veggies + 1/2 grapefruit or 1/2 c oats
Protein: 92.8

I'll see how it goes tonite - last nite before I went to bed I needed a scoop of PB to sleep and not get annoyed by being hungry.

At the moment my goal is to lean out reasonably by Xmas. It helps to have a time-based motivator to stay on this and get some results. Over the last several months I was able to easily drop my protein intake, but just general dont-give-a-shitness and everything-fucking-hurts-when-I-liftness has made me not care so much about getting soft. But there is no better feeling than feeling lean... That's more motivation.

Training: "Day 2" of GBC
DeFranco wu - again felt great & great flexibility
shoulder wu -- right shoulder is a little jacked up from the way I've been sleeping lately.

A1: ATF BB squats (on the 3-D rehab rack): bar/20 65/20 x 3
A2: TechnoGym Vertical Traction (similar to pulldown, but neutral grip):80/20 x 2 70/20 x 2
B1: Lying leg curl: 80/20 X 4
B2: machine tri ext: 50/30 x 2 50/20 x 2
C1: alt cable abductor: 20/20 x 4
C2: seated cable face pulls: 40/15 x 4

10 min posing -- fiddling w/ the new Physique mandatories

Cardio: 25 min treadmill (angle: 9, speed: 2.0)

 

[PillarofBalance]

This will be interesting to watch...

 

[AllTheWay]

i am very excited that you are starting a log. having never done compitition, i am amazed at the dedication that those who do it have! much respect and admiration for you Sassy!

changing ones mindset on how they approach something that is everyday life to them can be very difficult. took me about a year when i went from large animal mobile to small animal clinic life. i think you will make the transition much quicker! i have no doubt that you will way exceed your own expectations in the physique classes!

 

[Ogre717]

first time ive seen a log going from bb to fig. this should be an interesting transformation. im along for the ride and wish you the best of luck.

 

[SHINE]

Very cool!

 

[sassy69]

first time ive seen a log going from bb to fig. this should be an interesting transformation. im along for the ride and wish you the best of luck.

Thx Ogre -- However... this is a big deal to me .. PHYSIQUE, not Figure. No offense to any figure girls, but I need more to my life than quarter turns. Big diff!

ATW -- yes big change. The bigger thing has been giving up the zen-like gift that heavy lifting has been to me for 30 yrs and trying to find a reasonable substitute that doesn't leave me crippled from the shoulders to my hands. The size of the mindfuck I've got thru this past year is really not quantifiable. The silver lining has been the loss of muscle mass in 'doing nothing'. At least its a viable option now. It has taken me 20+ weeks of aggressive dieting & cardio to get down to 150 for the stage. This is truly a different path but sort of a relief that its a win-win no matter how I look at it. Trying to continue what I've been doing for those 30 yrs is a lose-lose, and there's no way around it. At least I'm done fighting it now and can move forward again. I'm an extremely results-oriented person, but the lack of a way to "go into the zone" for me is about the same as losing my sanity & my purpose, so I'm happy to have found some satisfaction again.

And dude, it is HUMBLING getting older, but as I just discovered my girl Michelle Brent, currently one of the oldest ladies in my sport, is pursuing another trip to Nationals later this month, at age 54. I think there is no greater gift to oneself than not letting age change things, but it does mean you have to be smarter about how you do things.

 

[SHINE]

Thx Ogre -- However... this is a big deal to me .. PHYSIQUE, not Figure. No offense to any figure girls, but I need more to my life than quarter turns. Big diff!

Physique is more muscle than figure?

 

[Halo]

I'm in for sure. Great work Sassy, that is some serious discipline with your diet. Looking forward to watching you hit your goals!

 

[sassy69]

Physique is more muscle than figure?

Yep - it will be interesting to see what specifically it will look like next year - however it is intended to be somewhere between "jacked up figure girls" and "small BBs". From activity this year at the national shows, the judges seem to be leaning more towards a distinctly NON-bodybuilding shape. But we'll see. Figure hasnt' had the same definition year to year since it started, so I expect the same will happen w/ Physique. Completely whole new adventure, for sure. What I see being the bigger driver will be what happens at the pro level. Because those w/ a pro card already can cross over w/o having to requalify for a pro card in a different category. I think you're going to see a LOT of the smaller pro FBBs moving over. They tend to judge based on who shows up as opposed to a distinct ideal shape for that category, so we'll see.