Fitness Hollywood 2006

**Insex** · October 26th, 2006, 02:27 AM

Well, it's that time again. I will be competing in my 2nd bodybuilding competition at the Fitness Hollywood on November 17-19.

You can find more information about this event here:

http://www.fitnesshollywood.com/

Wish me luck!

**Doughboy** · October 27th, 2006, 12:23 AM

Oh wow cool.
Good Luck man, if you do real good u gotta show us some pics

**Insex** · October 27th, 2006, 12:43 AM

A few of my friends and family members said that they will go. So hopefully they'll take some good photographs.

**Adonis** · November 6th, 2006, 11:10 AM

bump!!!!

**bester** · November 10th, 2006, 03:05 PM

I wish you all the best Insex!!!!

Looking forward for the photos!

**Saurian** · November 19th, 2006, 06:12 PM

So..today is the last day. We want to hear details!

**Hans_Rachid** · November 20th, 2006, 12:35 AM

Do tell us how it went !

**Insex** · November 22nd, 2006, 02:44 AM

Alright guys . . .

The Fitness Hollywood event has finally concluded. Overall, it was fun and a very good learning experience for me.

One thing that I learned: six weeks is not enough time to prepare for a show. Especially if you're an all-natural competitor and not using fat burner supplements (or anything else). Another thing I learned: make sure your tanning lady is at the show! If you try to apply it yourself, it will get very messy.

Although this is only my second bodybuilding competition I've done, I feel like I've learned a lot about this sport. I started dieting and learning about bodybuilding only ten months ago, and back then I did not know nearly as much as I do now.

The event was called Fitness Hollywood, which is made up of fitness, figure, modeling, and bodybuilding competitions. The bodybuilding competition that I did was the Musclemania World Championships. This was my first Musclemania competition (my very first bodybuilding competition back in April was with FAME). Musclemania is very competitive, and the athletes there are amazing. As soon as I saw the competitors that I was up against, I knew right away that I was not going to place like I did last time. You'll see in the pictures how fat I look compared to the other guys in my weight class.

Diet:

A typical day for me went like this:

Breakfast: Omelet, banana.

Snack: A bag of nuts and 1 to 2 ounces of wheatgrass. Nuts were usually walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, or pecans.

Lunch: Chicken pita with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.

Post-Workout Meal: Protein shake.

Dinner: An entire bowl of broccoli and some turkey or chicken.

- Water intake was about 1 gallon a day.

- I did allow myself one (1) "cheat day" per week where I would eat as much as I want and reward myself with a couple "treats."

Supplements:

- 2 multivitamin/multimineral pills per day.

- 6 Essential Fatty Acids pills per day and 6 Fish Oil pills per day.

- 6 BCAA pills before workouts.

- 1 scoop of protein powder and 2 scoops of glutamine after workouts.

Like I said before, I did not use any fat burner supplements. With that said, I felt I made good progress without them. Although I have never experimented with them before, I am considering using a fat burner during my next competition to see how ripped I can possibly get.

Exercise:

Sunday - Rest.

Monday - 30 to 45 minutes of medium-intensity cardio.

Tuesday - Back, Biceps, and Abdominals. 30 to 45 minutes of medium-intensity cardio.

Wednesday - HIIT (ran sprints outside). Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps.

Thursday - Legs and Abdominals. 30 to 45 minutes of medium-intensity cardio.

Friday - HIIT (ran sprints outside).

Saturday - Arms, Shoulders, Calves, and Abdominals. 45 to 60 minutes of medium-intensity cardio.

Physical Changes:

Weight before: ~216 lbs.
Weight after 6 weeks: 204 lbs.
Weight during contest (after water restriction): 198 lbs.

Waist measurement before: 36 inches.
Waist measurement after: 34.5 inches.

Estimated Bodyfat Percentage Before: ~11%
Estimated Bodyfat Percentage After: ~9%

Pictures:

Before (Week 1):

After (Week 6):

**Insex** · November 22nd, 2006, 02:45 AM

Contest (Week 6):

**Insex** · November 22nd, 2006, 02:45 AM

Immediately After the Contest (note how much darker I am when I'm not under the bright stage lights):

After the Contest (2 days later):

Conclusion:

Overall, I was not happy with my condition by Week 6. That is partly due to not allowing enough time to fully prepare for a competition. For my next competition, I will allow myself at least 8 weeks to prepare, but preferably 12 weeks. At my next competition, I will consider using a fat burner supplement to see if it will help me get ripped enough for competition. But overall, I am proud of myself for doing this and I felt it was a good learning experience. It's not easy being on stage in a speedo being compared to guys who are obviously much better than you.

Until next time, train hard and train smart.

1dman · November 22nd, 2006, 03:14 AM

The other guys obviously had the advantage of anabolic steroids over you, since you said you were natural. But that was a big tranformation you went through in just six weeks, so you should be proud of that.

**The_Don** · November 22nd, 2006, 06:36 AM

Well done man, awesome.

I agree with 1dman; while you would have liked to have longer to train, the transformation you went through in that space of time is a great achievement alone.

To be honest, if i was told i've got six weeks to cut to get into a comp, i don't think i'd manage and probably not even try as i would probably think it would be unrealistic. For me anyways. I'm slightly pessamistic

(sp?)

So what were your weight sessions like? Since it's still a split, were there any changes to the intensity and sets and repetition range?

I'm starting to cut now so i'm looking for some ideas.

Well done again!

TD.

**copenhagenbd** · November 22nd, 2006, 09:05 AM

Great work man!!!! With the amount of time you had you did an unreal job!!

**Insex** · November 22nd, 2006, 09:59 AM

Thanks guys, your words of encouragement have really helped me out.

To be honest with you, as soon as I walked into the athlete registration meeting and saw all the bodybuilders stripping down to their underwear for weigh-ins, I wanted to go home. Even while they were just sitting down and relaxing, I could see veins and striations in their muscles. I thought to myself "I look like a joke compared to these guys, everyone's going to laugh at me." But then I remembered that my family said they were going to be there, and I remembered that there were a lot of friends back at EF that were cheering for me and wanted to see how I did. So I couldn't back down at that point, and went through with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Don

So what were your weight sessions like? Since it's still a split, were there any changes to the intensity and sets and repetition range?

I trained pretty heavy during the first 4 weeks with high-intensity. Rep range was between 8 to 12 reps. Sets were anywhere from 3 to 5. I usually did 2 to 4 exercises per bodypart. The last 2 weeks I lightened the weightload a little bit but still trained with the same set/rep numbers. During Week 6, I did very little weightlifting because I wanted my muscles to be ready to go for the competition that week.

Want to know something funny? All those other guys that you see with me in the competition photos, guess who weighed the most? Me! I weighed-in at 198 pounds, I think the next heaviest guy in my weight class was 190 pounds. I'm 6'1" and I think the shortest guy was 5'11", so I guess that might be one reason why I weighed the most. But I find it really strange that I would weigh more than all of them, especially when they clearly look much bigger than me.

**bouncer** · November 22nd, 2006, 12:51 PM

Way to go! We are all proud of you for not turning back. Great effort, great experience, and you got in great natural shape. This whole thing is a dialing in process over time. I'm looking forward to your next contest.

**Hans_Rachid** · November 22nd, 2006, 02:44 PM

The third contest picture won't load here.

Anyway, you looked great man, nothing to be ashamed of, especially considering you've not even been into bodybuilding for a year !!! Your pecs and lats were particularly impressive.
And as you said you were the heaviest on stage, though at 9% b.f., so next time when you'll cut down to 5% you'll eat the other competitors alive

True Brit · November 22nd, 2006, 04:12 PM

I think you did brilliant mate, just to enter a contest takes lots of guts, And your looking good mate keep it going.

**bigshow** · November 22nd, 2006, 06:46 PM

Great job Insex! Congrats! We are all proud of you.

**Doughboy** · November 23rd, 2006, 12:38 AM

Congrats man.
Great progress over 6 weeks

**tidalwave** · November 23rd, 2006, 07:19 PM

Dude, you did a great job. Getting that cut in six weeks, naturally, and without a fat burner is a task that few would be able to accomplish. Your chest and overall symmetry looked better than your stagemates, imo. Consider that you're already at a stage that most of us dream about: being in that kind of condition and having the guts to jump on a stage and be judged.