Weeks 31 to 33
These weeks were by far the hardest weeks of contest prep. Carbs remained around the 250 gram per day mark except for the occasional refeed day and of course for when I peaked for shows. A couple of days we took them down to 200 grams. I know what you're thinking "200 - 250 grams of carbs? That's not too bad at all!". At this point being very lean and having been through a very long prep, that amount of carbs felt like a lot less than it was and it wasn't doing much for me energy and performance wise. But it was of course what was required to get contest lean.
I struggled with day to day things like getting dizzy when standing up. I really had a lot of trouble just walking a few blocks to the gym and carrying my gym bag or riding my bike to the supermarket. A couple of times I experienced some diet/energy related anxiety like symptoms as well which weren't fun.
Typically I required two to three cups of coffee before I could even consider going to the gym to workout. When it came to lifting I got it all done but volume did have to come down somewhat and I had to take extended rests between sets. I remember at times sitting on some of the machines at Golds Gym Venice (my workouts in the final weeks included a reasonable amount of machine work for safety reasons) and watching everyone else working out hard, full of energy and at times I had difficulty just standing up or putting the weights on/off the machine.
Luckily my girlfriend did actually travel over to LA to meet me and then with me to Boston to help me out with everything from preparing food (HUGE salads), to getting around, grocery shopping, training and preparation on the day of my final show. So that was a massive help, very generous of her when I was finding things quite difficult and is something I am very appreciative of.
This is by no means me complaining about the difficulties of the final stages of contest prep but rather just giving my personal account of what it was really like.
PNBA Pro World Cup
So for the most part the day went well. I nearly didn't allow enough time to pump up for prejudging due to the divisions running much faster than expected. Prejudging went well, I was moved to the centre and stayed there the whole time for comparisons. As a result of almost having too little time to pump up for prejudging I was overgenerous with how much time I allowed to pump up for finals as the routines took longer than expected. I ended up pumping up for something like two hours for finals which was crazy but at least I had a good pump. In a way it was a good thing though because one of my meals was quite large and it ended up leaving me with somewhat of a distended abdomen. So pumping up for quite a while actually helped the digestive process along so that I didn't look pregnant on stage.
Award Presentation
With my friend Daniel, backstage after finals
WNBF World Championships
We flew in to Boston I think on the Tuesday before the show which was on a Saturday. This week as you can imagine mainly consisted of making the final preparations for the show. We found a gym to train at which was a few blocks away. We found a wholefoods supermarket to shop at for groceries which was a bit further out and required more walking. Of course this week also involved a peaking protocol when it came to nutrition and training. I feel Alberto got this one right on point as far as peaking went. In fact I have no complaints about the entire contest prep. I think it was a smart way to do it, was planned and executed well and I have no regrets.
The competition itself was a great experience. This was my first time competing at this show as a professional (I had competed at it twice before as an amateur, including my pro card win in 2011). Alberto Nunez and Eric Helms made the journey out to the show to help and support Jeff Alberts and all the other 3DMJ athletes which was not only helpful but was kind of a real bonus to have your coaching team there for support at the end of a big season. Some of the 3DMJ team who weren't competing also came to watch.
With Eric, Jeff and Alberto backstage
When it came to the judging mine was a tough class. At times I was
moved into the centre and at other times I was moved away from the
centre. I would say for most of the time I was in the centre though.
After prejudging I remember Berto saying "well you're either 1st or
5th", which was a commentary on how confusing and close the comparisons
were. I ended up placing 5th which I was happy with (original goal was
to place top 5 at Worlds). The 2013 World Champ (who placed 2nd in the
Pro Middleweight) came and spoke to me backstage saying he had thought I
had won for sure which was kind of cool coming from the champ himself.
As I said the judging was a bit confusing. I couldn't quite figure out
what they were favouring in my class (size, condition, symmetry). It was
a bit random in that regard but placing 5th in the Pro Heavyweight at
Worlds on my first attempt I think is not too bad! Jeff Alberts ended up
placing 4th in the Pro Middleweight as well.
Pro Heavyweight Prejudging, Most Muscular
Pro Heavyweight, Award Presentation
For two weeks following my show I traveled New Orleans, San Francisco and Las Vegas. I saw, ate and experienced tonnes of cool stuff in my travels which is probably too much to include in this blog post but you can check out the many photos I took on my instagram account @evansoooon or https://instagram.com/evansoooon/
Coming SOON - Offseason
My next post will detail what I have been up to in my offseason, specifically what my goals are and what I am doing to work towards them.
Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au
Website - www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon
Thankyou for your continued support
- Evan
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