14 days (13 if we don’t count today) til the BNBF British Final. And only 7 (6?) til I next compete – I’m doing the NPA South East a week today.
Prep is just ticking along and things are moving in the right direction… I think… it’s really very hard to tell when you’re the one immersed in it!
I told you yesterday that I got me a sponsor. I’ve also got me a gym-buddy (at weekends anyway). My lovely hubby! Yay! He used to do a lot of weight training himself back in the day (his main sport is now mountain biking) but he’s already said he’ll come to the gym with me a few times a week next year. He’s started already and I must say it is great to have him with me, both for the company, the practical help of a spotter and the invaluable help of having him able to photograph/video my posing and routine. It’s so useful to actually be able to see what I’m doing!
TRAINING
I’m still doing all my weights sessions but have cut my cardio for these final two weeks. I can do a bit if I have the energy but at this stage we’d rather I channel any extra energy (ha) into maintaining muscle mass. My diet takes care of fatloss. So, I still do interval-type cardio a few times a week, but plyometrics are now out as I’m just too tired to do them safely enough.
Today, husband and I trained chest and biceps. Here’s what we did:
Mobilisation warm up
Bench press (flat) – Olympic bar + 25kg, 27.5kg, 25kg
Bench press (decline) – Olympic bar + 25kg, 27.5kg, 25kg
Bench press (incline using the Smith) – 35kg, 32.5kg, 30kg
Single-arm dumbbell press (flat, decline, incline, flat) using 22kg dumbbell
Superset of bicep hammer curls (using 12kgs) and decline dumbbell flyes (using 16kgs)
Abs (fab to have a partner for ab work as I can do lots of different stuff)
Posing and routine
I’m pretty pleased with the weights I’m pushing whilst in a deficit and two weeks out from comp! 
Phew!
DIET
After all that I came home and ate this:
That would be an eggwhite “crepe” (just egg whites cooked in a little coconut oil) with a mix of sauteed sweet potato and king prawns on top, seasoned with plenty of chillies from my garden no less. Hit the spot!
POSING
Is going OK – I practice every day at least once – here are a couple of photos (from a very bright squash court so excuse the washed-out lighting)
ROUTINE
Is fab! Well, I think so anyway! 
I won’t be doing a traditional “peak week” for next week’s NPA show as my goal at the moment is the BNBF Finals, so I can’t do anything which might jeopardise that. So I’ll be more or less training and dieting right through the NPA show, rather than doing anything different this week. I’ve no idea what that will mean for how I’ll look! Hopefully I’ll still come in looking OK. There are 5 in my class at the NPA show so it’s by no means a given that I’ll place top 3!
One last funny which might amuse the bodybuilders amongst you. thefitdog was a little poorly yesterday so we didn’t feed him for the day to give his stomach a chance to recover. What was his first meal this morning? Oats cooked in water and leftover bits of grass-fed sirloin steak. Ha ha! Only the dog of a bodybuilder would get that kind of meal. Sounds like something I might eat!
Well, that’s about it from me! Time for lunch – yippee! Hope you’re all having a lovely weekend.
14 days to go – update is a post from The Fit Writer blog.
Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.
Sounds like the training is going well, good luck!
Thanks
u look awesome!!!! love how your muscle pops through- i so wish mine would do tht!
Thanks hon
Shoulders look bigger on your side chest pose than at your qualifier – good stuff!
2 more weeks will fly by, especially with NPA SE next week…
THANK YOU <3 XX
Ok, I’ve been meaning to ask this for ages. If you only eat the egg white, what do you do with the yolk? Please don’t tell me that you throw them away!
Lordy no, I hate food waste, that would kill me! I order liquid egg whites ;D From here http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/liquid_egg_whites mainly but I’ve also got them from here http://www.eggnation.co.uk/ and here http://www.titanics.co.uk/acatalog/Pasteurised_Egg_White.html. They have a decent shelf life but I freeze them then they last…well…forever I assume.
The amount of egg whites I go through, I’d be chucking away unthinkable amounts of yolks. Poor chickens!
I love reading your posts. You look amazing and I’m sure you’ll do very well and both the BNBF & NPA. Keep up the great work.
One note about the fitdog, sorry to hear he was poorly, as I’m a vet nurse a bit of advise, miss out the oats in the dogs diet as it’s best to give him fibre in the form of veg, slightly bolied. Dogs don’t digest carbs very well.
Hi Helen and thank you, that means a lot coming from you as I thought you looked fantastic at your qualifier. Thank you very much for the oats info – whoops, I had no idea – I was going along the “what’s bland?” route and had no time to do rice. Thank you. (Frankie says thank you too!)
All your hard work and dedication is certainly showing, you should be so proud of yourself. You look fantastic
Thank you very much
I just found your blog but I’m intrigued! You look amazing and I love that you’re high in spirits this late in the game (as opposed to feeling kinda crappy due to diet or whatnot.).
I haven’t done any sort of competition but want to and my only hangup would be the diet part- completely feeling depleted scares me… as does eating way too much animal protein.
But you’ve been doing hemp protein (yay to your sponsor! that’s awesome!) so maybe it’s doable for me.
And I agree- your dog eats quite well!
Hi! I’ve been reading your blog for ages
Thanks for the comment – truth be told I am feeling kinda crappy this week but it really is only one or two weeks out from comp for me. I normally have a bit of a mental wibble somewhere around 5, 4 or 3 weeks out, then it gets physically tough from 2 weeks out. Which is now. It’s definitely not sustainable but the general way of eating and training is, and it’s one I think I’ll stick with even when I’m not preparing for a comp.
What category do you want to do? Figure/BB?
Thanks for reading!
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