NPC Masters Nationals

I didn’t get home from Pittsburgh until midnight last night and was up at 6am this morning to come to work.  It’s been a hectic day, as I’m leaving tomorrow morning about 7:30am to go to LA for a 2-day photo shoot with Michael Neveux for Ironman Magazine.  It’s now 6:30pm and I finally have time to sit at my computer and catch up on my blogging.  I really need a laptop so that I’m never computerless!

Anyway, my last “official” workout of last week was on Wednesday when Tricia and I met to train arms.  I hit it pretty hard, even though prejudging was on Friday.  I still have more competitions and guest posing this year and I want to continue to improve.  Here’s our bi and tri workout:

Standing DB Curls  6 sets 9-12 reps, drop set on final set

Cable Curls 4 sets 10-12 reps

Hammer Curls 3 sets 10-12 reps

Skull Crushers 5 sets 12-20 reps

Pressdowns 4 sets 12-15 reps

Seated Tricep Extension 4 sets 15-20 reps

Thursday I traveled to Pittsburgh so that I could make the Thursday evening weigh-in.  I wanted to compete in the welterweight class (165 lb. limit) and I was 169 lbs when I went to bed on Wednesday night.  We had a 5:30am flight out of Austin so we got up at 3:15am (after going to bed about midnight).  I weighed 168.5 lbs when I woke up, so I decided to allow myself a small cup of coffee.  With a 3 hour layover in Atlanta I made the mistake of allowing myself another small cup of coffee.  We got to Pittsburgh, checked into our hotel, then walked about mile to the Golds Gym.  I got on the scale and was still weighing 168 lbs, even though I had not eaten anything, or drank anything besides the 2 small cups of coffee all day.  It was about 4:00 and the weigh-in started at 5pm.  I went as hard as I could on a lifecycle for about 15mins, then did a full body workout for about 30 mins and still was only down to 167.5 lbs.  I was so freakin’ thirsty that it was all I could do not to have a drink of water!  But, I sucked it up and got into the sauna.  It took me about 30 mins in the sauna to lose the 2.5 lbs down to 165.  Then Diana and I walked about another mile to the Sheraton Hotel where the weigh-in was being conducted.  After about 30 mins of standing in line, I was so relieved to step on the scale just under 165 lbs.  I was absolutely exhasuted!  After a couple of meals and plenty of water I was back up to a rock hard 170 lbs the next day.

The contest was outstanding.  With 415 competitors it’s the biggest show I’ve been involved in.  The backstage staff did a fantastic job!  I was absolutely amazed at how good all of the masters competitors were!  My class had about 15 guys.  I could tell by the comparisons that I was in the top 5, but I knew that it must be very close.  After looking at Dan Ray’s photos on Saturday morning I knew that I had done everything I could do.  My body was ready and I posed extremely well.  I felt like I had a really good shot at winning my class.  As it turned out, I learned that there was some controversy during the welterweight prejudging.  Some of the judges apparently thought that I was still a WNBF Pro.  When that news reached me I was worried that I might not place.  Jim Manion assured me that my status in the NPC was good, but I knew that the judging was already done and that something like that could tip the scales in a very close contest.  So, I was not too surprised to be called out in 2nd place.  Welterweight Champ, Kent Bierly, was very very good and deserving.  Ironically he is also a former WNBF Pro.  Overall I had a great time at the show!  Again the competitors were very impressive and Gary Udit did a masterful job running the show.

I couldn’t have done it without Diana’s help with almost every aspect of my preparation, including doing most of my thinking for me in the last couple days.