Yesterday I started “carb loading.” This followed on the heels of “carb depleting” (which started on Sunday).

The point of all this is to empty the body of carbohydrates and jam it with water… then empty it of water and jam it with carbohydrates. The end result of all of this is full muscles and tight skin.

What happens during the process though is incredible!

It’s amazing how much my body has changed in three days! It looks much worse now than it did on Sunday! The crazy thing is that this is what is required before show time! It goes through the “valley of death” to climb to the mountain of success! By Saturday all of the loading and depleting will have run its course and my body will be contest ready. For now though I feel swollen, gassy, waterlogged, tired, and of course… grumpy. If I didn’t completely trust my trainer, Rob Polenik, and the process I’d be real discouraged right now. Which leads me to the main point of this…

In order to get “contest ready” you must be willing to do a few things:

• Recruit a coach that knows what he/she is doing… then trust him/her. Don’t second guess them. Do exactly what they say… always.
• Be willing to make sacrifices… big ones. If you want the joy of standing on the mountain top you must endure the pain of getting there.
• Be willing to sacrifice and train for a long time. The biggest wins follow the longest and hardest off season preparations. Big wins don’t come by way of luck. Luck comes to the prepared… and preparation is long, hard work. It’s worth it though.

OK, let me get a little less philosophical and give some “real-time” updates:

• Yesterday we picked up my shorts for the show. Thanks to Rob and Sherri for going with me!
• Today I start, between all of my meetings, applying the paint-on-tan. You don’t want to be the whitest guy on the stage… and right now I’d be that guy! The whiter you are the softer you look and the less muscle definition is apparent. Don’t want that to happen… so bring on the paint!
• Once the tanning starts the showers stop. Apparently it’s gonna stink at the show. Everyone will look good… but smell equally bad! Nice. Tanning paint + BO. I’ll let you know how that goes. 😉
• I’ve had an ephiphany… we eat/drink often because we are bored! Now that I can’t snack and my drinks are very limited I don’t know what to do when I’m studying/working! I keep reaching for coffee or water… but there’s none there! (My limit is 2 cups of black coffee today and 1/2 gallon of water).
• At my last weigh in, last Saturday, I weighed 165… which is what I weighed 15 years ago when Sherri and I got married! I look different now than then though… but that’s still pretty skinny! I’m looking forward to putting some mass back on!

OK, that’s it for today!

Peace!