When 
do you know you’re ready? How do I even get started on my journey? If you’re like me, you probably asked this question to yourself time and time again. Every competitor has to start somewhere, but how do you know where to start? Where do you go? When do you know it’s your time to take the stage?
I’m here to share my “in progress” journey; my trials and tribulations, successes and failures and everything along the way. I’m sure most of us can relate to my journey in one way or another because you either haven’t gotten to the stage yet and want to, but don’t know how, or you’ve made it to the stage and remember what it was like when you started your own journey.
I’m just a regular guy, 37 years old, married with two young kids and I work in Corporate America. I’m not a professional athlete with sponsorships and unlimited time to work out on my own schedule. I have family responsibilities, work responsibilities and every minute I have is precious. My story begins back in November. I saw a picture of me at my sister’s wedding and I couldn’t believe how fat I had gotten. It took that picture for me to realize how bad of shape I was in. Up until then when I looked in the mirror I was lying to myself. The guy I was seeing in the mirror was not really the guy standing in front of the mirror. For some reason, my brain was telling me, “Oh, you look fine.”
Deep down I knew I wasn’t “fine,” so I did what anyone who was determined to lose weight, but didn’t have a plan would do. I cut my calories and turned into a cardio rabbit. Two weeks into this I bought a booked that changed my view on everything. I bought Tom Venuto’s book “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle.” I read it cover to cover, multiple times, some chapters more than others. For the first time in my life I was building a diet plan based on what a bodybuilder would use, and now I wanted to change my body composition. It was eye-opening. I didn’t understand how carbs worked and that you actually needed them. Every grocery stand magazine and quick fix diet plan has us scared to death of carbohydrates. This book taught me about goal setting (which I think is critical), what types of foods I should be eating, timing of my meals , a little bit on what type of training I should be doing and what type of cardio I should doing. I took this book and ran with it, and the results I got the first three months were incredible. I went from 225 pounds and roughly 35% body fat down to 185 pounds and 17% body fat.
The book proved to be a great starting point for my personal transformation. As I progressed, I kept doing research, hours of scouring the Internet sorting out the good information from the bad, tweaking my plan and making adjustments to my diet in my workouts. There’s a lot of trial and error in the process, because there is a lot of information out there. While a lot of it is great, a lot of it is garbage. You have to go with your instincts; sometimes you’re wrong so you’ll always need to be ready to reassess your plan and adjust.
During this time I actually won a 90-day weight-loss challenge in my office. By the end of the contest my confidence is really starting to build. Now I was no longer just doing cardio I had fully implemented a weight training plan and I was actually increasing my calories, carbs and protein intake in the process. Once the work contest ended, most people went back to their old ways, but I was determined to keep pushing and see what I could do with my body. I found another challenge to help keep the motivation going. I went over to bodybuilding.com and got into one of the 12 week challenges. There I found a great support group, people with the same goals in a place where no one questioned you or doubted you.
This contest kept me doing more research and it led me into learning about the sport of Men’s Physique. In the back of my mind I knew I wanted to compete, but would people even take me seriously? Only 6 months ago I was an overweight mess struggling to walk the parking deck at work. I didn’t tell anyone my goal, as I couldn’t muster up the guts to tell anyone what I wanted to embark upon. So I kept it to myself and continued researching the sport and reaching out on the internet to people in the sport. I couldn’t believe the responses I got back from the community; everyone was so generous and willing to help. I also started looking for a coach to help me take it to the next level and begin my journey to the stage. I finally narrowed it down and selected a coach, and that’s where the rubber met the road. Things just got real; I had to tell the wife. I was really nervous to tell her, and I was completely shocked by her response of “Go for it.” It was like a weight was off my chest, I finally told someone my goal and there was no doubt or negativity in the response!
I have been pretty selective with the people I have told about my journey so far. The last thing you want is to have someone doubting you are questioning what you are doing. I’ve tried to keep my distance from those people.
To bring you up to speed with where I’m at today, I am currently in training for a show and my coach has provided a full workout and nutrition plan. My original goal was to be able to compete in early 2014, but my coach thinks we can realistically be ready for a small show by October or November. So for now that is the plan, and we will assess as we go and revise the plan if necessary. We are currently working on adding some muscle and bringing up my weaker areas. I am doing much less cardio, lifting 6 days a week and my diet is focused on adding lean mass without packing on excess fat. I’m currently 177lbs and 12-13% body fat and my motivation is through the roof!
My future writings will be about the entire process from day-to-day stuff and leading all the way up to the stage. So stayed tuned in, learn from my trials and errors and follow my journey to the stage!
If you are thinking about competing:
• Don’t wait to start your journey!
• Establish your goals, write them down. (Preferably measurable)
• Come up with a plan to achieve these goals. Write your plan down.
• Do your research, learn what is involved and keep learning.
• If you aren’t sure how to put a plan together, or want to optimize your plan, work with a coach
• Associate with supportive people, people who are trying to achieve the same goals and understand what you are going through.
• Find a family/work/life balance.
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