Well, hello ladies and gents, Robert Sykes, Keto, savage.com.
And today I'm going to do a little podcast is a little
different than normal. I'm not bringing a guest on.
Truth be told, we are traveling back from a competition right
now and I'm short on podcast episodes.
So I figured I'd be able to do like a a short solo episode that
kind of discusses my wins and losses of these past three
competitions. So I'm going to break this up
into two separate podcast. This one is going to be the
wins, the next one is going to be the losses and just basically
some pros and cons of what I've learned over these past three
competitions thus far. So without further ado, let's
dive into the wins part one of this competition series thus
far. Quick little caveat before we
actually begin. I'm recording this at an Airbnb,
not in my normal studio. I am using my normal mic, but
I'm using a different mixer. So hopefully the audio is still
pretty good and the levels are all solid.
So my apologies. My sincere apologies if the
audio is not great, but that's just kind of circumstances that
we're in right now. So here we go.
So we've done 3 competitions, thus farm.
We started with the OCB federation that was in Logan, UT
and then we did the A New York competition which was INBFWNBF
and that was in like I said, New York, White Plains, NY to be
specific. And then we are on the way back
from the third competition, which was in Washington state
that was also an INBFWNBF show. And I may do a wins and losses
series after the next two shows as well.
There's five competitions total, but these first three
competitions were all amateur shows.
So I was competing as an amateur.
So I figured it would be fitting to do this, pros and cons, wins
and losses as an amateur. And then again with the two pro
shows. So let's just start from the top
and we'll kind of dive in. We'll just go with the the very
first beginning wins and losses of the the 1st 3 competitions
here. So the first competition in
Logan, UT I won my that was the one that was originally supposed
to be bodybuilding. They're all supposed to be
bodybuilding. I entered in as a bodybuilder,
but they didn't have any competitors in that class other
than me. So I had to compete as a classic
physique competitor if I wanted to be up against other
competitors and not just win by default.
So I opted to do that, which is exactly what I did with that
competition. I won Best poser award but I did
not win the class because they awarded that to a guy that they
said had a better classic physique.
Look, again, I went in to be a bodybuilder and I had to compete
in classic. So I guess you can kind of
classify that as a loss. But I brought a better
conditioning to the stage and I had in years prior at prior
competition, so I'm chalking that up as a win in my opinion.
Again, they they counted me off because I was too big and too
lean for the classic physique competition.
But again, my whole goal with this entire prep is to be the
leanest man alive. So if I'm getting discounted for
being too lean, I'm not really going to count that as a loss.
That is a win in my book. So that was the results for that
show, the second show in Massachusetts, I won my class,
but I did not win the overall. So I won my class in lightweight
bodybuilding and then I competed against the other winners of
their class in the overall title and I got probably second.
They don't tell you what the actual placing is in the
overall, but I got probably second in that.
And the individual that won that one, they said had just better
posing. So again, we'll dive into the
losses and what I learned from the posing in the next part of
this series, but I brought a better level of conditioning to
that show that I did the prior show.
So in that regard, I'm marking it as a win.
And then this latest show, the INBFWNBF competition in
Washington state that I'm coming back from, I won.
I won big on this one. This.
This was a big show for me. This is a show that I've been.
This was the one that I've honestly been trying to peak for
since the very beginning. I competed in this show in 2015
and I won my class and got second on the overall.
I competed in this show in 2017 and I got second in my class and
I compete. I I prepped for this show in
2020 and then before the competition could take place,
COVID cancelled it all. So I was not able to even
compete in this show. So long history with this show,
specifically the WNBF Natural Puget Sound Pro AM in Washington
state. This weekend I actually took the
title for my class in lightweight open bodybuilding,
won my class there against the competitor class of eight
different individuals. So very stacked class in that
regard and won my class. And then I competed against the
middle weight and the heavyweight and I actually won
the overall as well, which means I am now officially a debut in
BF. Professional natural
bodybuilder. So huge, huge, huge win in that
regard. I feel very proud to hold that
title. This has been a long time
coming, long, long journey for this show specifically and this
federation win overall. So I feel very good about that
and that is a definite win for me.
As soon as the show was over or soon as I stepped off stage,
they took me back to get my urinalysis test done.
So they're going to get those results processed and then I
will officially be a debut NBF Natural Pro.
So very excited about that. I actually qualified to compete
as an amateur at Worlds at the last show and then again at this
show, but now I'll be able to compete as a professional.
So very excited about that. So that's a huge win with
regards to the high level, you know what the actual placing was
at each show. So now that that's out of the
way, let's dive into some of the specific wins of the prep
itself. So let's start with meal prep.
Meal prep is obviously very important when you are in a
competition prep, you're tracking on your macros, you're
getting everything down into the T and I have really, really
focused on being as incredibly streamlined and organized and
dialed in as possible with this competition meal prep.
So I am blessed to have a wonderful wife in Crystal.
She has prepped literally every single one of my meals from the
very beginning. I have not had to deal with
that. She is done with that.
The way I've got it structures. I build out a spreadsheet and I
put my macros for the week. I'm my own nutrition coach
because this is using my protocol, so I calculate my
macros for the week what I want to be consuming.
I plugged it into my macro tracker in which I'm using my
macros plus and then I basically give her access to that and she
is able to see exactly what I'm going to be consuming each day.
You know the right ratios of the foods, the right macros,
everything. And I keep my foods consistent
for the course of a week. So my macros change every single
week. And then I slightly adjust the
food intake based off of those macro changes.
So I've kept the foods honestly incredibly consistent throughout
this entire prep. I'm 29 weeks into the prep at
the time of this recording and the base of my nutrition has
always been a ground ruminant animal of some sort, usually
beef venison or lamb with eggs and then I'll have a full keto
brick at some point throughout the day.
So that is pretty much been the basic foundation of all my
meals. I'll adjust the proteins and
fats slightly via, you know, adding an ounce, subtracting an
ounce of one of those things usually with the meat or the
eggs. And then I've also, as my
proteins kind of been varying as well, I've been.
I've been incorporating egg whites because egg whites are
pretty much pure protein. So if my proteins increasing, I
could simply add more egg whites.
If my proteins decreasing, I could simply decrease the egg
whites without having to also adjust the fat sources.
So egg whites have been a pretty easy manipulating variable.
So again, I'll have a fatty coffee of some sort in the
morning when the macros were hired, there was heavy cream in
there. As the macros have gotten lower,
I've swapped the heavy cream out for, you know, like a nut Pods
almond milk Creamer because those are typically 1 gram of
fat per tablespoon so very easy to manipulate, Manipulate that
intake to nail the macros and then that one meal.
As the calories have gotten lower, I've transitioned from 2
meals to one meal that is normally consisted of the full
keto brick and then some ratio of a ground beef, lamb or
venison and eggs. Whole eggs with a certain amount
of egg whites. I'll sprinkle some dried kelp on
top of that with some seasoning and that's pretty much been the
basis of my meal prep throughout this entire prep.
So I'm a big advocate for keeping things simple.
No need to complicate the system, no need to add in
unnecessary variables. If you know your body responds
well to it, keep doubling down on that and just keep things
consistent because then you can dial things in with more
confidence and know exactly how your body's going to respond.
So that's been the basis of my meal prep.
Again, Crystal's been doing all of that for me.
She'll prep for the entire week, typically on Sunday, and then
I'll be good to go grab the Tupperware of prep food, put it
in a warming tray, put my brick on top of that so it's got the
perfect texture. And then I am rock solid.
Takes the guesswork out of it. So let's now talk about some
travel. Travel pros.
So the first two competitions both to Logan, UT and White
Plains, NY we took the rig which we're calling it the rig, It's
this big 1999 Freightliner ambulance that's been kind of
roughly converted into a camper. And we've stayed at various koas
along the route and not so much hotels, but koas or Airbnb's,
but mostly koas with this big old camper.
And that has been good because there's a ton of cabinetry space
in this camper. So I've got like a cabinet for
my supplements. I've got a cabinet for my
workout equipment. I've got a cabinet for my food.
I've got a little mini fridge in there.
So space has not been a problem with that.
This last competition to Washington state, we took my
truck and we loaded everything up in little totes, like plastic
totes. Put that in the back of the
truck and continue to stay at Koas and or Airbnb's the the
actual weekend of the the show. We stayed at Airbnb because I
had my on all these shows. I've I've flown out to my media
guy, Chip and this last show my parents flew out as well to you
know participate in the show. So we've stayed at an Airbnb for
the actual weekend of the competition, but in regards to
traveling to and from the competition, we've stayed at
various Koas and that has been good.
There's been some cons with that for sure, and I'll dive into
that on the next part of this series.
But the pros have been good in that we have several days of
travel. Usually we're breaking these
days into four or six hour long driving stints, but we're taking
Rigel with us to all of these as well.
So we're trying to take it slower because you know he needs
to get out stretch his legs. I need to get out, stretch my
legs so a four hour day one's it becoming a six hour day, a six
hour day one's it becoming an 8 hour day because we take these
frequent stops. We're also stopping along the
route to train to get my cardio in to just make sure that we're
checking all the boxes there. But in doing so we've been able
to stop at various, you know, KO ways and see those.
We've stopped at a couple different museums and just like
scenic byways and just like gotten some memories together as
a family, which is cool. We've been documenting all this,
taking pictures. So the travel has certainly had
a lot of pros in that regard, making memories, and I'm very
excited about that. Again, there's been some cons
with that approach and I'll dive into those on the next video.
With regards to electrolytes, electrolytes have been something
that I've been tracking very, very strictly these past few
months. As I've gotten closer and closer
to these competition days and peak weeks, I don't want to have
any surprises there. If you do not have your
electrolytes dialed in, IE sodium, potassium, magnesium and
your fluid intake, it's going to cause a drastic shift in how
you're looking and peaking for the show.
So if you have a disproportionate ratio of your
fluid intake to your sodium potassium load, you could be
coming in not near full enough or maybe you have an extra layer
of fluid in your subcutaneous layer of skin, which is going to
hide the definition of vascularity.
So that's no good at all. So I've been really strict about
tracking my electrolyte intake and fluid intake these past few
months as we've gotten closer to these peak weeks and shows, and
I have truly gotten that dialed in.
I've got my entire peak week strategy dialed in from an
electrolyte and refeed standpoint.
The first two shows I did a sodium load on Friday with my
ketogenic caloric refeed pizza and that brought a fuller look
by having an additional 3 to 4000 milligrams of sodium the
day before the show. It basically drew in any
subcutaneous fluid I had into the muscle tissue itself and
filled me out considerably, which allowed me to bring a
fuller look to the stage on show day.
However, with this last show in Washington, I played around a
little bit differently. I'm front loaded my macros and
actually kept my sodium levels consistent throughout the entire
week at my baseline intake of about 11,700 milligrams of
sodium. And I got that through, you
know, the LMNT packets. Mike Muchell's Mile Science
Electrolyte brand relight. I just a few different
electrolyte supplements, so I've tracked all that, but it winds
up being about 11,700 milligrams of sodium with the salt that I'm
also adding to my food. And that with the amount of
fluid intake I'm taking it on a daily basis has really allowed
me to flush out any excess fluid without needing to draw it into
the muscle tissue and have a sodium load.
So this last peak week, I actually did not have a bolus of
sodium prior to the competition and I brought a really good
level of conditioning to the stage.
I was able to fill out properly, not quite as much as I was for
the first two shows, but I think I benefited overall by having
that dryer, crisper look because that's often times what the
judges are looking for within the debut NBF Federation.
So feel very good about the electrolyte manipulations.
They're definitely a win in that regard because that is something
that a lot of people struggle with.
So really tracking that, getting it dialed in and knowing what my
body responds well to and how much to, you know, add or
subtract is key and that's going to be different for everybody.
So don't take my intake of 11,700 milligrams, which is
pretty high by most people's standards as what you should be
taking in. You can certainly manipulate
your electrolytes and fluid to reach an equilibrium within your
body, but that's going to be different for everybody and it's
going to be you know, variable based off of how much you're
sweating, the environment, etcetera, etcetera.
But for me, that has been key with regard to the refeed
manipulations. The first two shows I had my
ketogenic caloric refeed pizza on Friday.
The shows were on Saturday. I also started incorporating an
extra pound of ground beef or lamb on Thursday, the day prior
to that refeed. I tested that out after I did
the 50 mile March, which was the week before my first
competition, and I noticed that extra pound of meat filled me
out even further. In tandem with that refeed
pizza, I was coming in pretty depleted.
So that worked out well. What I did with this last peak
week going into the Washington show was I actually started
incorporating that extra pound of lamb with added duck fat on
Monday and Tuesday. And then Wednesday I had the
refeed pizza. Thursday I had the extra pound
of lamb and then Friday I had an extra pound of lamb, I believe,
or maybe it knows. Thursday I had the refeed pizza,
Friday I had the extra pound of lamb.
And then Friday or on Saturday rather than the day of the show.
All that I ate prior to stepping on stage was a full keto brick
and a fatty coffee. In the morning I had a full keto
brick before I stepped on stage for my class, and then I had
another full keto brick before I stepped on stage for the overall
competition. So this last show, all I did
from a day of show nutrition standpoint was the fatty coffee
and then two full keto bricks. And then I had the rest of my
macros after the show was over, but my body responded really,
really well to that. I was able to bring in that dry
look. It didn't cause any excess fluid
retention. I was able to fill out my
vascularity was next level. Everything worked perfectly from
a peaking standpoint with that strategy.
So that was a huge win for sure. It's interesting, most other
competitors, pretty much every other competitor, was sucking
down rice cakes covered in honey and Jelly and just a bunch of
carbohydrates backstage. And here I am eating a full keto
brick that's got more fat and then in it than they're probably
having in a week. So felt really, really good
about that. Definitely kind of just, you
know, verified that the keto brick was a perfect backstage
source of nutrition to peak properly for these shows when in
a keto adapted state. So that's their manipulations I
made with regards to the refeeds and peaking protocol.
With regard to tanning, that has been a pretty big win.
In the past I've used a rub on Tan or a pat on Tan called Dream
Tan. I love the way that looks.
However, all of these shows have not allowed Dream Tan because it
is so messy and I think most of the federations are moving that
direction. They are at a liability if the
venue gets messed up or any issues are there.
So a lot of these competitions are moving to a 0 Dream Tan or
self application Tan policy and they're just forcing competitors
to use the sponsored spray tan company.
So I've used the sponsored spray tank company at all three shows
and they've all turned out great.
Sometimes it can be hit or miss with these tanning companies,
but all three companies that I've worked with thus far have
been very professional. You pay for the tan up front.
They typically give you a coat of tan on Friday the day before
the show and then touch ups on Saturday the morning of if need
be. But again, all that has worked
out wonderfully. We'll have not had any issues
with the tan. All right, polygraphs.
Polygraphs have all been a pro. There's some anxiety associated
with polygraph testing. I'll talk about that in the
losses section of this. But I've passed all three
polygraphs. I've done 3 polygraph test now
for all three shows. Those have all gone very
smoothly. The proctors or the
administrators for the polygraphs have all been very
professional, very kind, very friendly, and I've been able to
just sit in on those and pass all three of those polygraphs
without any issues. So that is a massive win there.
With regards to posing trunks and posing suit, this is much
easier for the guys and the gals, but what I've done this
year is honestly, I've been pretty lazy with it in the past.
I've gone through like a legitimate posing trunk company,
sent them my measurements and give them the specs of what I
wanted. They would make a custom suit
for me this year. I don't know if whatever reason,
I just decided to go through Amazon and actually just
purchased a bunch of different pairs on Amazon for a reasonable
price and then tried them out and wore the ones that I thought
fit me the best. So don't overthink the posing.
Trunks definitely get ones that fit you well and showcase your
body well, but I was honestly impressed with the selection you
can get on Amazon. So if you're in a bind, you need
to get some posing trunks in a hurry.
You can certainly get some decent ones on Amazon, but do
spend the money to get some decent ones.
You don't want crappy posing trunks that are falling off of.
You're not giving you full coverage, so that is a win
relationship with those around me and my wife Crystal, So this
is a huge, huge win. This is honestly probably one of
the biggest wins of this entire prep.
Honestly, in prior competition preps, I have just been very
negative. Like I'm depleted.
I'm hungry, I feel miserable, especially when I was eating
carbohydrates. And I would take that out on
those around me, especially those in my inner circle,
because I would feel comfortable enough to do so with those in my
inner circle, which is most certainly not fair to them.
So one of the things I was really trying to focus on with
this prep from the very beginning is to just be very
stoic through it all and not let it be a negative in my life and
not be negative towards those around to be in my life.
And I can say with confidence that I have done a great job
with that throughout this entire prep season.
I have not raised my voice, I have not gotten bitter or
irritable really, or lashed out at anybody.
And I'm really proud of that. Like a lot of competitors become
just zombies and are incredibly negative to those around them.
There are short fuses and they just have bad temperament, and I
haven't had that at all with this prep.
And I think a lot of that is because I've just been so
reflective and focused on being grateful and appreciative
towards every little thing with this prep.
I've taken time to journal in the mornings.
I've taken time to meditate. I've taken time to pray, taking
time to like really dive deeper into the spirituality component
of my life throughout this prep. And this prep has really opened
my eyes to that spirituality component that could be a whole
other podcast in and of itself. But I think being present, being
grateful and just taking each moment for what it is and and
really being, you know, honest with myself and those around me
has allowed me to be positive to those around me.
And that is honestly one of the biggest wins of this entire
prep. So I'm very proud of that.
And that goes through with my mental state and overall
outlook. You know, that's the next bullet
on this wins section. I haven't been negative.
I've been positive. I've really just recognize that
this is a chapter in my life. And yes, I'm depleted.
Yes, I'm hungry. Yes, I want to eat, but that is
no reason for me to be negative overall, like all that I'm going
through right now, All the sacrifices that I'm making, me
being as depleted as I am, this is all my own doing.
This is all stuff that I asked for, planned for and wanted.
I can't have this grass is greener on the other side
approach and always be looking for the next thing.
I just need to be focused on the here and the now and soak it in
and be grateful for it and appreciative towards it.
The goods and the bads. So that has been a really good
thing for me. And my overall mental state and
overall outlook has been very positive, gym lifts, training
and cardio progression. So this has honestly been really
great too. I've lost a little bit of
strength, so I'll kind of touch on that with the losses in the
next section. But honestly, I made it all the
way through probably 25 weeks of prep before I started noticing
any decline in strength whatsoever, and that is just
huge. Most people that go through a
prep start to experience incredible decreases in strength
and power output as their calories drop, as their weight
drops, as their leverage points change.
And I have not really noticed that like I am still, to this
day, 29 weeks in pulling and pushing a lot of the same weight
that I was in the offseason. Now, I may not be doing it for
quite as many reps, but my overall strength capacity hasn't
really decreased much at all. My lean mass and skeletal muscle
tissue hasn't really dropped much via the body composition
scans, DEXA in body calipers, etcetera, etcetera.
Well, calipers are not only going to get a measurement for
muscle tissue, but with the in body and the DEXA scans, I'm not
really losing much actual muscle tissue and that is reflected in
my strength markers in the gym. So I've lost a little bit of
strength, but again not near as much as I have in years prior,
especially when I was doing carbohydrate based approach.
So I think that really speaks to the efficacy of a ketogenic prep
protocol when it comes to preserving lean tissue and
maintaining strength and power output in the gym And the
cardio, I've had to do pretty minimal cardio like I have not
gone above 2 cardio sessions a week.
I've increased my intensity level and the duration of those
cardio sessions, but I have not been a slave to the Stairmaster
throughout this prep, which is also a huge win because if you
start overdoing cardio, you're going to start losing lean
tissue. So by me not having to do that,
that's also protected me against losing muscles.
So that's a huge plus as well. Now let's also dive into some
documentation and content creation.
So that's one thing I've really been trying to focus on
throughout this prep. I want to be incredibly
transparent. I want to take you all along on
this journey, and I've been really adamant about that From
day one. I have posted an Instagram
picture that kind of breaks down my stats, my nutrition, my
macros, my training, my cardio. Every single week I've been
posting that. So I've been really, you know,
consistent with that, which I'm proud of.
I've been documenting this on YouTube.
There's been a YouTube vlog update every single Friday, so I
feel very good about that. Chip, our media guy, has been an
absolute rock star. Like I said, he's been coming to
each of these competitions and filming this on a professional
level with the correct lighting, camera and audio set up.
So we are getting high quality footage for the vlogs, but also
for the competition prep course that I'm in the process of
building out now. More on that later, but this
course is going to be a freaking behemoth.
It's going to be a one stop shop for anybody that's wanting to do
a competition prep via this Ketogenic protocol and it's
going to be a massive resource to people wanting to lean out in
a healthy, sustainable manner. So really been adamant about
creating content, documenting this journey and consistent in
doing so. So I feel really, really good
about that. I've done that in years prior,
but I feel like I've gone next level with this one.
So hopefully you all agree with me on that and you're getting
some value out of these consistent weekly vlogs,
podcast, Instagram updates. And I will keep that going
throughout the reverse that as well because that is something
that needs to be documented and shared too, because a lot of
people don't give the reverse that the attention it deserves.
All right, let's talk about judges feedback.
So I've gotten feedback from all the judges at every show and
that's been super helpful as well.
The first show, it was the show that I entered as a bodybuilder
then had to cross over and do classic physique.
So most of the judges feedback there was that I was just too
lean and too big. But again, like I said at the
beginning, that was my goal in the 1st place.
So I'm not really taking that as negative constructive criticism.
That's just is what it is with me having to do the crossover.
The second show in New York was very enlightening because what
likely cost me the overall according to the judges was that
my posing in the symmetry rounds were a little off.
So I'll kind of dive deeper into that in the next phase on the
losses. But generally speaking, the
feedback on that show was unanimous that I was the most
conditioned or one of the most conditioned.
Me and the other guy that won the overall on the stage.
So that was great feedback. And they said all my other poses
were on point. That was one that actually won
the best poser on. So great feedback from the
judges there. And then with this most recent
show in Washington that I won, the overall on the judges
feedback was great as well. They had a very cool how they
did. They had a like after party so
to speak at a restaurant. I did not eat at the restaurant,
but they had all the judges there at different tables and
the competitors could just go there, get something to eat if
they so choose, but then just sit with each of the judges to
get feedback on them specifically.
So I did that with all the judges and the feedback at the
show that I won. The overall on was great.
They all said that I was the most conditioned guy on stage,
which is what I was striving for.
They said I was lean and crisp and dry.
They said that I could work on some of my just putting on more
size honestly like I'm the lightweight competitor, so just
building more size was key or is key.
So I need to be doing that in this coming building phase.
But honestly most of the judges didn't really have much
feedback. They they all kind of said that
I brought my a game, I had the conditioning, I filled out, I
had the right proportions, the right symmetry, the full
package. So all the judges feedback at
all shows has been really positive thus far and I feel
grateful to have had the opportunity to sit with each of
these judges and get that feedback and anything they've
been able to tell me that kind of build on, I've been able to
harness that and just improve for the next show.
With regards to the camaraderie of the competitors backstage and
on stage at all shows, it's been amazing at each of these three
shows. The camaraderie has been there.
You know we've talked with everybody backstage.
That's what I really love about this Natural federations.
It's not like click it all like you'll sometimes see at the NBC
shows. Everybody is there to be their
best. Everybody wants the other
competitors to be their best because they want to beat them
at their best. We're all talking about, you
know, what the journey's been like.
We're all talking about how positive it's been, how negative
it's been. We're just talking and it's fun
to be up there with other competitors that are happy to be
there, that are excited to be there.
We're all fist bumping. We're all like doing pose downs
together, talking about how brutal the posing is.
After we walk off stage, it's all smiles, you know if if one
guy wins, everybody else goes to congratulate him.
And there's just a lot of support amongst the competitors
at all these shows and I really appreciate that because at the
end of the day, this is all supposed to be fun.
We're all supposed to be enjoying this process and having
good camaraderie amongst the other competitors that you're
stepping on stage against and competing against makes or
breaks that. So I've been very grateful for
all the competitors at these shows.
I've gotten, you know, vlog footage with them.
I've messaged him on Instagram after the shows.
I've set a podcast recordings with a few of them.
They've all been great to interact with and I just can't
say enough good things about the competitors of these shows.
Relationship with food, that's been a big win for me with this
prep in years prior. I would binge on foods and purge
on foods after the show because I felt so depleted and
sacrificed so much during the prep itself.
I don't anticipate that happening at all post show
season with this prep because I've just really got things
dialed in right now. I'm not really fixated on the
food. I recognize that I'm depleted.
I recognize that I'm hungry. But my relationship with food
has not been a -1. I have not deviated from my
macros one single time since the very beginning of this prep.
I don't have any plans to going forward and I feel very good
about that. My food choices, like I said in
the very beginning, have all been very consistent.
So I haven't had very much variety.
But I honestly think that's been a good thing because I'm not
craving a ton of variety. I look forward to my single meal
every day. I look forward to the taste, the
texture, the simplicity of it. So our relationship with food
throughout this prep has been a positive and I feel very, very
good about that OCD. I've got two more bullet points
here. OCD, so I've I've been open
about this in the past, but I have a really bad case of
obsessive compulsive disorder and that really reared its head
when I did my first competition. I mean, I was just in a very bad
place and I was able to harness that for bodybuilding and I
would kind of transfer these OCD tendencies towards, you know,
training harder and hitting a certain Rep count with regards
to my training. But OCD for me is oftentimes
been a negative because it just, you know, takes things, it takes
over my life like I I take it just messes with my hand.
I feel like I've got to do things a certain number of times
in order to be considered successful towards that.
And that's oftentimes manifest itself with my training in a
negative way, to the point of me overtraining and just risking
injury. With this prep, I haven't had
that issue. I've been able to just, again,
be present, be objective and be smart about my training.
Like I'd push my body. I don't leave anything on the
table, but I don't push it to an unhealthy level that really
flares itself from an OCD standpoint.
So that not being an issue with this prep has been a massive,
massive win. And I'm so very grateful that's
been the case because that has not always been the case.
But with this Prep specifically, it has been no issue whatsoever.
And the last bullet point for this win section is simply the
fact that I've truly enjoyed this entire process.
Like a lot of people go into a prep, especially if you're a
first time competitor, you don't really have the perspective
because you've never done a prep before and you're doing this
very hard thing and you fixate on how hard it is.
So much so that it becomes a miserable thing and you're proud
of what you're doing. But it's like something that a
lot of people don't want to do again because it becomes a
negative, miserable thing in their life.
That has not been the case with me.
I don't know if it's because I've done so many prep seasons
now or what, but I've truly had fun and enjoyed this entire
process. I have not felt miserable at any
point. Yes, there's been moments where
I felt depleted. Yes, there have been moments
where it's like, man, I just want to eat.
Yes, there have been moments where it's like, I'm so freaking
exhausted that, you know, I'm looking forward for this to all
be over. But when I take that in its
aggregate and I just look at this prep in its totality, I've
really had fun. I've enjoyed it.
I'm having fun documenting it. I'm having fun creating content
around it, having so much fun reading the comments and the
YouTube section and the Instagram comments and just, you
know, seeing the feedback I've gotten that's kept me going,
that's kept me positive, you know, actually being present and
in the moment and soaking up all the little nuance of this prep
has been enjoyable. Diving deeper into my macro
tweaks, my electrolyte manipulations, my training
variations, my cardio, the tanning, everything.
Like, I've really just enjoyed this process and we've done
three shows. Now we've got two more to go.
I'm excited about these next two, looking forward to these
next two and I have not felt miserable at any one point.
This is a sport, this is my profession.
This is something that I am now professional athlete in and it's
been very, very fun and enjoyable.
At the end of the day it should be fun and enjoyable.
I want to be able to walk away from this competition season
with positive memories and thus far I can confidently say that
will most certainly be the case. So a huge win for this season
thus far is that I'm simply having fun and enjoying the
entire process. So that is a massive win as
well. And that, ladies and gentlemen,
concludes the wins section of this two-part series on wins and
losses of my competition prep thus far.
Again, I felt it fitting to do this after doing 3 amateur shows
and having now won my pro card as a WNBF natural bodybuilder.
I will likely do the same format of wins and losses in a two-part
series after I do the two professional shows competing as
a pro because I think there's going to be some differences
there with that being a pro stage against pro competitors.
So by all means, please let me know in the comments if you like
this format, if you like me doing this solo episode format
in which there's no guest to me, just talking.
So I'm very curious to see if this is a good thing or bad
thing from a podcasting standpoint.
Love to hear your feedback, love that you are, you know, a part
of this journey with me and I can't thank you enough for all
the support you've shown me throughout it.
So thank you all for listening and I will talk to you next
time.