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 Julie
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| Eat Like Your Competition Is Watching |
| 02.05.2012 23:10:30 | |
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I’m a black and white person, especially when it comes to contest dieting. There’s no gray area on my nutrition plan. It’s very specific. It’s all written down. Unlike a map, there is only one route to get me from A to B, I can’t take detours and I can’t utilize shortcuts. I have to follow the plan as it’s written so I achieve the desired results. Willpower is not something that some people are born with and others are not. Willpower is a habit, just like almost everything else in life that determines if you’re going to be successful…or not. Contest dieting is a mental game that requires willpower…a habit that comes with practice. When I started competing 3 ½ years ago it was definitely not as cut and dry to diet as it is for me today. I needed cheat meals to help me mentally. My body didn’t need them but my mind did. These days I don’t do cheat meals during contest prep. So how do you develop the mental strength and the willpower to stay true to your diet? I have a lot of mental chatter that goes on in my head so I use it to my advantage. In fact, I was just telling Elaine yesterday at the gym that I tend to have really good workouts when I train alone (nobody take this personally!!!) simply because the mental chatter that goes on in my own head is what drives me the most and pushes me to those last few reps I maybe wouldn’t have done. Things like: “Would the winner quit now?” or “Everybody’s watching…you gonna get those last 2 or not?” or “Do you really want to walk away from this set knowing you didn’t give it your everything?” I hate letting myself down, so this talk usually works very well for me. A while back I started telling myself…TRAIN LIKE EVERYBODY’S WATCHING. A few weeks ago I realized this carried over into my kitchen and so I started telling myself… EAT LIKE YOUR COMPETITION IS WATCHING If I imagine one of my competitors is sitting in my kitchen watching every move I make, I guarantee you there is nothing going in my mouth that isn’t supposed to be there. Being surrounded by a ton of “non contest” foods in my home, I have come to rely heavily on mental strategies to help me stay on task. Imagining the watchful eye of another figure competitor who will be on stage with me has been the best strategy I’ve found so far.
And if you’re reading this thinking…”I wonder WHO she imagines!!” My competition has no face, no name…she just IS. After all, my competition is really MYSELF. I’m not competing with any specific person. Just doing everything in my power to bring my A game! Today is Super Bowl Sunday and many of you have families and obligations that require you to attend some sort of Super Bowl function that will likely include an array of junk foods and drinks. Maybe you have planned this as a cheat meal but maybe you are staying on task and packing your own foods. If you are in a position where you are attending a non-competitor friendly function today…try EATING LIKE YOUR COMPETITION IS WATCHING. It may just make the difference for you reaching into the chip bowl…or not. Remember your goal. That food may taste good but it probably comes at a pretty high price that you just don’t need to pay right now. A big shout out to all the ladies who come out to Julie Michaelson Training yesterday for posing class! The positive energy and enthusiasm was infectious! Thank you to Elaine for being a wonderful instructor and to Diane Rudholm at ABB/ON and Shannon at BSN for the samples and goodies!
Be Fearless. Own Yourself.
~Julie~ Fearless, with cape in hand…in relentless pursuit of the GOLDEN tiara www.juliemichaelsontraining.com Twitter: @iriefitgirl Tags: contest prep | diet | training | Posing | Mental Strength | 2012 Emerald Cup |
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 Dr Buff
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| Get Into Auto-Pilot |
| 02.04.2012 07:18:00 | |
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I cannot take credit for this. This is from Roger and Ally Baker of RAB Fitness over in Kennewick, WA. Truer words were never spoken of a competitor and Competition Coach!
"In case you forgot, here's the thing about being a competitor... you wake up every day knowing that you may or may not see changes in the mirror [or] on the scale... and this does not shake you. It may be WEEKS before you see any changes. Some weeks will be awesome. Some not. Instant gratification is not in your vocabulary. You've heard this before and I'll say it again, THERE IS NO OFF-SEASON! That means that you REALIZE the dedication, sacrifice, time, sweat [and] tears that will go into this even in the dead of winter when no is looking or even paying attention. Now, this isn't something that I can just tell you and you will learn. Only time and experience will teach you this. So, if you are the one that is out there struggling today...take a deep breath, remove yourself from in front of the mirror, and get into auto pilot. Because this is just the beginning and if you stick to the plan.... you will be rewarded... " Roger/Ally Baker – RAB Fitness
Roger and Ally NAILED it on the head with this one! Look, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – if you wanna be a competitor – a GOOD competitor - then you’d better be willing to do what others won’t, don’t, and can’t. It’s not about motivation. It’s not about inspiration. It’s not about the trophy or the glitz and glamour of the night show. It’s not about size and muscularity and freakiness or anything else. Competition is preparation, pure and simple. Oh sure, we end up on stage looking our absolute best (or at least that’s the goal) but the contest is not about the end result. It’s about the journey – it always has been about the journey and it always will be about the journey. Several sayings that I’ve coined over the years and use on my website goes like this:
“Many competitors want to win. Do work first. Do not put the win before the work!” David “Dr. Buff” Patterson
“You’re not always going to win, but you sure as hell better train like a winner!” David “Dr. Buff” Patterson
Do me a favor – re-read Rog & Ally’s post one more time, this time with conviction and purpose. Read it out loud! Take every word to heart because, trust me, they both have! You don’t get to the caliber of either of them without hard work, discipline, and sacrifice. There IS NO instant gratification. There IS NO easy workouts. And there sure as hell IS NO OFF-SEASON! Not an off-season, not an off-day, not an off-hour.
Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, traditionally a day of feasting and festivities. All I can say is, if you wanna put yourself in the best possible position to take first place, then you’d better enjoy the festivities without the feast! Some of you will get this…many of you won’t. And it will show onstage on April 20th or 21st, trust me. Personally, I’m gonna watch the game, but all by myself, at home, in my chicken and salad and green beans and yams and potatoes and rice infested house. No temptations. No struggles. Just me. Is it worth it? That’s the question each of you will have to ask yourself Sunday morning…”Is this worth it?” What do you CHOOSE to do in two days? Because remember, no one is holding a gun to your head. It will be your choice – it always has been and it always will be. If the choice is to ‘stick to the plan’, then as Rog and Ally said, “You will be rewarded…”. Peace…
The Dr.
David "Dr. Buff" Patterson, MPE, CSCS, CSTS 253-576-4859 - Mobile http://www.TheDrBuffExperience.com/wordpress http://www.facebook.com/drbuff http://www.facebook.com/TeamBuffedBods http://www.facebook.com/thedrbuffexperience "Tell me you will...tell me you won't...don't tell me you can't!"
Tags: Craig Productions | Emerald Cup | Bodybuilding | Figure | Fitness | Bikini | Dave Patterson | Determination | Goals | Mindset | Thoughts | training legs | setbacks | Dreams | Visualization | Journey | Posing | training | intensity | focused | disciplined | drive | work ethic | hard work | persistence |
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| Dr Buff
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| If It Ain't On The LIst, Don't Eat It! |
| 02.01.2012 00:10:03 | |
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Last blog I promised to write on nutrition, so here we go. Even though I’ve written dozens of blogs and probably hundreds of articles on nutrition over the years, and written quite a few on this site over the past 3 years, there’s always a new competitor who doesn’t know this game. And I also know that one person’s way of saying something just might make sense to a reader over another person’s writing style. What I’m saying is not new, not revolutionary, and definitely not the gospel on nutrition, but if it can help someone, then I’ve done my job. So lemme see if I can help that one person…and perhaps remind others of where they should be and what they should be doing in their own nutrition.
This past weekend we were 12-weeks out from the 30th Anniversary Emerald Cup. At this point, unless you’re roughly 12 lbs. or less out from your show, you should be 100% on task. What does that entail? Well…before I get into that, let me say that the number of ways to diet down are as many as the styles of Martial Arts…everyone has their own style, and they all think their style is the best. I’m not gonna argue with anyone on what the ‘best’ way to diet down is. I’ve said this many times, “All diets work, and all diets fail…”. What I WILL say is, find out what ‘plan’ works best for you and stick to it. Quit jumping from one competition diet to another. That’s why you shouldn’t get fat in the first place – so you’ll have enough time to experiment with different plans until you find the one that works best for you. Secondly, know your body type. That will typically tell you what plan(s) fall in your diet-sphere. Finally, if you need help, find someone who’s knowledgeable in ALL the ways of dieting down – not just the one way in which he/she dieted down. That way, if/when you get stuck, your competition coach will know how to take the appropriate action to get you coming down again.
I’ve seen it too many times before…a trainer who does decent in a show decides to become a ‘competition coach’ and toss his/her hat into the ring. I don’t have a problem with that as long as the trainer possesses enough knowledge and information to help ALL his/her clients – not just the ones built like him or her. Otherwise the competitor client ends up on a cookie-cutter routine or an exact replica of what the trainer does. Not smart. Not good for the competitor. Just last year I picked up 3 people whose trainers, although nationally qualified, didn’t have a clue on how to dial their people down. Sometimes the most dangerous trainer is the brand new one. As my professor, Dr. Hacker, used to constantly tell us, “A little bit of knowledge can be dangerous…”. I’ve helped many a competition coach through the dieting down stages of their clients because they (the coaches) were lost. The client stalled and the trainer didn’t know which way to go with him/her. Heck, even I still get mystified over a client every now and then. But this blog isn’t about trainers, so back on point…
We learned last blog that with 12 weeks to go, one could easily drop 10-12 lbs. of bodyfat on 1 to 1-1/2 hours of cardio and clean foods. 13 to about 20 lbs. would take around 1-1/2 to 2 hours with clean foods, while 21 or more lbs. probably would take at least 2 hours a day. Now I know some of you are wondering or questioning this info…well…I’m a cardio person, so that’s what I do and teach. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know the other ways. If you’re not a cardio person, then you’d better be ready to drop those total calories, and especially those carb calories to lean out. And if you’re a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) person and you’re pushing hard enough (and your calories are dropped enough) you can get by on one session of 30 minutes...but you’d better be ready to bust your butt, and I mean bust it HARD for that to happen. So are we clear on the cardio/no cardio/long cardio thing? I know em all, so if you need any explanation on whether you should use this or that method, holla.
Realizing that everyone is different, and this is just general information, I can’t categorically say where you’re at on the continuum and what you need to do unless I see and comp you. So I’ll use me as an example and everyone can adjust accordingly. I just cut my oatmeal to 25 gm wt with a slice of Dave’s Killer Bread as my starch for breakfast. My protein is either egg whites with some turkey breast (that amount’s classified…) or chicken. I eat what THIS body needs, realizing that I’m not a mass monster, and I know how my body works, and I know my timeline. Since my cardio is still only 45 minutes in the morning, I’m s-l-o-w-l-y dropping my starchy carbs and replacing it with Parrillo Performance’s CapTri – a medium chain triglyceride that’s called the ‘fatless fat’. It processes and acts like a carb in the system, making dieting slightly more tolerable. I only take my starchy carbs so low up to 8 weeks out and then I up my cardio to one 60-minute session. Then I’ll see how the body is responding and stair-step the carbs/cardio cuts until I achieve the look I want. All of this is assuming this ole’ body will hold up to the rigors of contest dieting…
The rest of my meals are simple – protein, veggies, carbs, in that order. I adjust as I need to based upon my timeline. What you have to understand is how to manipulate your macros, meaning we’re all eating protein, veggies, and carbs…the question is, how much do YOU get to eat, and what’s your ratio compared to mine compared to Joe’s, Sally’s, Bertha’s and all the other competitors. Another question you have to ask is HOW MUCH do I get to eat in relation to everyone else? If Big Bradd gets to eat 750 cal/meal and I try to eat what he eats, I’ll blow up faster than your kid’s summer beach ball. Now do you see why I don’t like and don’t do cookie-cutter diets? If no two people are exactly the same, how is it possible for those same two people to be on exactly the same food plan…especially if one is a 5’4”, 135 lb. female and the other is a 5’10” 195 lb. male? It’ll never work. Either one will dial in beautifully and the other will look like crap, or they’ll both be off their macros and neither will dial in to their best look.
Every person I work with, I get as much detailed info on their life and what they’ve done in the past to give me clues into what ‘plan’ will work best for that individual. Some are similar, no doubt, but some are totally way out there. For example, last year I had Gerry Bernabe, the bantamweight overall winner at the Wash. Ironman pretty much doing what he wanted until the final 3 weeks or so. His body was a genetic marvel so the best thing I could do for him was to get out of his way until the last few days and then dial him in. Barb O’Dell, on the other hand, (the Most Inspirational Award at the Ironman for having lost 180 lbs. on her way to the stage WITHOUT surgery or drugs…) had to start doing double cardio sessions 18 weeks out as her body was stubborn in releasing fat. I was wracking my brains trying to figure out how to keep her from stalling as her normally obese body was fighting her every step of the way once she got below 200 lbs. It may seem easy, but it’s not. When you’re dialing in a dozen plus competitors, let’s just say that good note-taking is highly recommended. There’s no way I can remember everyone’s individualized food plans, and when I don’t keep track, it shows!
IN GENERAL, I can tell you that many of you will fall into the 3-8 oz. of protein/meal based upon size, muscularity, sex, lifestyle, etc. Being off an ounce or two over the course of your diet doesn’t seem like it’s a big deal, but it can be the difference between 1st and 3rd come contest day. That’s why it’s important to know your body and understand your macronutrient ratios and amounts. Your veggies are easy – unlimited amounts for the majority of you. If you need an amount, then go with 7-10 oz. (that’s 150-200 gm wt for you metric people). The starchy carbs are the lil’ tricky creatures. Some of you might do well with large amounts, some with literally none, and some dispersed in small amounts throughout the day. Again, it would be unwise of me tell an entire readership what to do and expect it to work for everyone. But I can tell you that once you find that magic number of carbs that YOUR body needs, you’ll know it within a week – guaranteed! And once you find your numbers, then follow it! Don’t be haphazardly changing things up thinking you know better than your coach or you read this or that saying this is what you should do. FOLLOW THE PLAN!!! If you’re doing your own diet, you HAVE to give it about a week to 10 days to see the effects of it. You’ll know in that period of time if it’s working. If not, make subtle changes. If you’ve hired a coach, do what the coach says! That’s the only way your coach can determine what’s working for you and what isn’t.
Well, that’s about it for this blog. I’ve got just some chicken to eat for my last meal. I might have half of a Parrillo Protein bar right before bed…don’t’cha just hate those people who can still eat literally right up to bed and still diet down…peace…
The Dr.
David "Dr. Buff" Patterson, MPE, CSCS, CSTS 253-576-4859 - Mobile http://www.TheDrBuffExperience.com/wordpress http://www.facebook.com/drbuff http://www.facebook.com/TeamBuffedBods http://www.facebook.com/thedrbuffexperience "Tell me you will...tell me you won't...don't tell me you can't!" Tags: Competition Coach | Foods | nutrition | Craig Productions | Emerald Cup | Bodybuilding | Physique | Figure | Fitness | Bikini | Dave Patterson | Determination | Goals | Mindset | Thoughts | training legs | Visualization | training | focused | disciplined | drive | succeed | Dr. Buff | David Patterson | The Dr. | The Dr. Buff Experience | competition | crossfit figure cardio contest prep | coaching |
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| Dr Buff
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| Time to kick it up a notch... |
| 01.26.2012 06:26:16 | |
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12 weeks this Saturday. That’s it. That’s all the time we have. It’s an eternity – 3 months – but it’ll fly by faster than the F-18’s that scrambled out of Portland last summer when President Obama was in Seattle and some idiot invaded restricted airspace…airborne and over Seattle in less than 6 minutes I heard. That’s how fast these 12 weeks will seem to disappear.
If you’ve been on task then you have nothing to worry about. If you knew your timeline and adhered to it, you’re in good shape. But if you’ve been naughty…well…you’ve got some work to do. Let’s take a look at where you should be on the continuum timeline…
If we’re looking at how much fat we have to lose, the formula is simple – we can safely and realistically shed 1.5 to 2 lbs. of bodyfat a week. That should translate into .75 to 1% change in body composition. It’s extremely difficult to drop more than 1% of fat/week unless you’re on the dark side. That’s a blog for another day. But rest assured that a 1% change is quite a bit to change in 7 days…and to do that you’ll have to be literally perfect. The formula is simple – lose 2 lbs. of fat a week with 12 weeks to go – 24 lbs. of fat loss with minimal lean mass loss. If you have more than 24 lbs. to lose, well…you’d better plan on more cardio or even less calories or more drugs to get that fat off!
Even though losing the 24 lbs. is simple, it’s not easy. You’ll have to be perfect – beyond excellent – to make it happen. Losing 2 lbs. a week in my book means doing 2 hours of cardio a day (or expending the equivalent in HIIT cardio in a 30-45 minute period, which is DAMN HARD…) and probably dropping most of your starchy carbs out except for the oatmeal at breakfast. Not fun. Expect to suffer. Expect to suffer hard! As far as I’m concerned, cheat meals are a thing of the past. I know many individuals and trainers will disagree with me, but time and time again, I’ve seen people who ‘cheated’ through their contest diet and people who held their diet, and in just about every instance, the person who held looked significantly better. There’s a great short video out by Dave Palumbo and Kevin Levrone that says it all, in case you think I’m just stupid and don’t know what I’m talking about. Start at about 3:40 and run to the end…it’ll open your eyes if you haven’t already seen it…and it’ll re-awaken you if you have. I know it did and continues to do so for me every time I watch it. It doesn’t ‘motivate’ me, but rather it gets my head on straight on what I have to do to accomplish what I said I wanted to do – come in looking my absolute best for my last show.
I’m not saying that when the time is necessary, you plug in some starchy carbs, such as yams, potatoes, rice, beans, etc. But I am saying that the free-for-all food fest on a Friday/Saturday/or Sunday evening needs to fall by the wayside. Just humor me for a sec, will ya…if you have say, 30 lbs. of fat to drop in the next 12 weeks, why in the world are you taking in unnecessary fat every weekend? I understand the Anabolic diet, the Paleo/Caveman diet, and all the other so-called ‘best-way-to-diet-down-for-your-show’ diets. If you or your trainer wants to do that, and it WORKS for you, then you can click out and be about your merry business. But if you’ve done that in the past and went in your show fat, and you’re wanting to do that again this time, that sounds like the definition of insanity to me…doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome.
There will ALWAYS be a small percentage of the population for which ANY crazy diet will work – heck, it worked for the individual who ‘invented’ it…or did it? How many times have you seen a current picture of the person who SWEARS by this or that diet and they’re in great shape because they’ve been following it for years? Unless it’s lifestyle-oriented, I’d be willing to bet very few if any. Diets in which you have to severely restrict calories or do really dumb, stupid things to diet down are setting you up for a tremendous rebound effect post-contest. You’ve worked hard to get in the best shape of your life, and then two weeks after the show you look like a bloated beach whale about to deliver…doesn’t make sense to me. But I digress…back on point…
The goal is to be at a point to where you only need to lose 1 to 1.5 lbs. of fat/week. That makes the ‘suffering’ bearable. If you’re at a point to where you only need to lose about a pound a week, then you’re sittin’ pretty. At this point you still only need one cardio session a day. It could be the 30-minute HIIT (and please understand that a true HIIT will leave you exhausted and dripping water on the floor…) or a 45-60 minute HISS (High Intensity Steady State – you’re working in a range of 80-90% of your VO2 max as opposed to going into your anaerobic zone on the HIIT – if you don’t understand, hit me up and I’ll explain in more detail). Your foods are in order with no cheat meals added in. The goal is to be at your contest look a couple of weeks out and just coast into the show doing the water, carb, and sodium (if you do that) manipulation thing. In other words, you wanna make life easy for yourself. I absolutely HATE to put people on more than 2 hours of cardio a day…all that means is they were behind the power curve by waiting too long to get serious about their contest diet or their foods are waaaay off which usually means they’re cheating. Either way, they just increased their own misery and run the risk of either dropping out of the show or never doing another show again.
Personally, I prefer to stay within 10 lbs. of contest weight. Part of the reason is because I’m old. I don’t want to stretch out my skin any more than absolutely necessary. Heck, in a few more years I’ll be saggin’, baggin’, and draggin’ due to Father Time gettin’ in bed with me…I don’t wanna have him visit any sooner that when he’s supposed to. The other is because I’ve learned. I learned 20+ years ago that as a drug-free competitor, my contest weight, regardless of what I do, is around 160-162 lbs. As I’m aging it’s dropping a bit. But at 57 years old, I don’t expect to ‘bulk up’ in the ‘off-season’ and miraculously gain an additional 10-15-20 lbs. of muscle. C’mon…seriously? If that were going to happen, don’t you think it would’ve already happened?
I’m at 5-6 lbs. to lose to make contest weight/look. That’s assuming I haven’t lost any more lean mass due to aging. Life is good right now. Next blog I’ll go into a bit more detail on what foods you should be eating. As I say to all of my people who are dialing down, “If it ain’t on the list, don’t eat it…” Peace…
The Dr.
David "Dr. Buff" Patterson, MPE, CSCS, CSTS 253-576-4859 - Mobile http://www.TheDrBuffExperience.com/wordpress http://www.facebook.com/drbuff http://www.facebook.com/TeamBuffedBods http://www.facebook.com/thedrbuffexperience "Tell me you will...tell me you won't...don't tell me you can't!"
Tags: Emerald Cup | Bodybuilding | Dave Patterson | Dr. Buff | Determination | Goals | Mindset | training | intensity | focused | disciplined |
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| Dr Buff
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| Competition Coaches vs Personal Trainers... |
| 07.20.2011 22:46:14 | |
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There’s a world of difference between a trainer who prepares clients for competition and gym trainers. I just picked up a couple of new competitors who learned that the hard way with their old trainer. I’ve written and blogged numerous times on this subject. Don’t get me wrong, I hold nothing against a personal trainer – heck, I AM one, but first and foremost, I’m a competition coach. I have been for over 35 years. It’s what I do – dial competitors in for shows. I’d like to believe I do it well.
This blog was written by Ivan Ribic, the co-promoter of the Empire Classic in spring and the Night of Champions in the fall. Ivan’s been in the competition game for years. He wrote this on his own site several days ago and I immediately called him and asked if I could post this as a guest-blog on the Craig Productions site. It’s a great read – I literally couldn’t have done a better job myself. Direct and to the point, Ivan cuts to the chase on hiring and following your competition coach. Notice I said ‘COMPETITION COACH – not personal trainer! While Ivan uses the word ‘trainer’, keep in mind that you’re hiring a competition coach, someone who’s been in the trenches, done well, and have the credentials to back it up. Learn the difference, know the difference, experience the difference. Enjoy Ivan’s blog…and take his advice…
“Trainers vs Trainees
Trainers . . . would I recommend them? Absolutely! Even the best trainer would be well served by an expert pair of eyes and an outside perspective if they themselves were competing. Having all the knowledge of diet and training in the world still will not be enough if you cannot look at yourself objectively and make appropriate changes. This is hard to do when you see yourself every day. This is not to say that you can’t compete without a trainer and still do well, but in my experience, the vast majority of competitors who step onstage and look phenomenal used an expert [competition coach] to guide them through the process.
While there are literally thousands of trainers at our disposal, it’s important to remember that different trainers specialize in different disciplines. While your local gym personal trainer might have some experience in competition, the vast majority don’t specialize in it. Taking an average overweight, out-of-shape person and getting them moving is a whole different game than taking an in-shape, active person and whittling them down to contest condition. Before you settle on a trainer, ask them to provide a portfolio of other clients who they’ve trained for competition. If their previous clients looked great on stage then you’re on the right track. If not, you may want to reconsider. Stage competition goes beyond just conditioning as well. A good competition trainer will not only be able to assist with diet and training but also with posing, stage presence, [choreography], suits, tanning and all of the other little details that make a winning physique stand out on stage.
Timing is everything. If you plan to compete, I recommend contacting your potential trainer as far out as possible. A lot of times trainers are called 10 or 12 weeks out from a show. That doesn’t leave them much time to figure out how your body responds and what they need to do to get you where you want to go. There’s nothing wrong with getting in touch with a trainer a year out from competition. Get a consultation, have them evaluate your weak points and then give you some direction on what to work on. While the last 12 weeks are going to be the most critical to your conditioning, the proceeding year is important for building a solid foundation. If you're thinking of competing next spring or even next fall, now would be a great time to start talking to trainers about starting a program.
The most important thing!!!
. . . if you skipped past everything else I wrote, I hope you’ll listen to this: If you’re paying a trainer to train you then do EXACTLY what they tell you to. A good trainer has an entire plan that comes together to produce a final result. Changing any part of that equation, no matter how insignificant you might think it is, will change the final result. This means eating exactly what they tell you to, when they tell you to in the amounts they tell you to. This means doing the same type of cardio for the same amount of time on the same days that they tell you to, etc. If you’re not following part of the program, then you’re not following any of it.
If you let self discipline slip and do something that is not part of the plan then you owe it to your trainer and yourself to tell them what you did so they know what’s happening with your body. I’ve seen trainers pulling their hair out because a client’s body isn’t responding the way that it should only to find out months after the competition that their client was off doing their own thing and not following the program exactly. If you don’t understand why your trainer has you doing something, ask them. If they know their stuff they’ll be able to tell you exactly why.
Keep in mind that people’s bodies respond differently to diet, water, etc. If you are following the plan 100% and step on stage and are retaining a little more water than you’d like to, chances are your trainer will know just what changes to make for the next show and can dial you in even better next time. But what if you’re retaining a little water and your trainer didn’t know about the half bag of Doritos you used to sodium load on Friday? Do you think they’ll be able to improve your condition on the next go-around? Probably not.
Once you’ve found a trainer you want to work with and established a plan, be consistent with it and be honest with your trainer. You’re paying them to help you but they can only do that if you follow the program and are up front with them about the details. Over time, your trainer will understand your body and habits even better than you do and be able to help you achieve a top-notch physique.”
Great blog, right? My sentiments exactly! With less than 10 weeks to go for the Washington Ironman, if you haven’t already done so, NOW is the time to contact me. As your one-stop shopping center, I can help you with diet, posing, presentation, choreography of bodybuilding routines, music editing, suit selection, mental training, and any and everything else associated with competition. Visit my new website at http://www.thedrbuffexperience.com/wordpress/ for more information or call me at 253-576-4859. We’re also accepting new members for TeamBuffedBods. Contact my agent, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and request an information package. Good luck in YOUR contest prep…peace!
The Dr.
253-576-4859 - mobile http://www.TheDrBuffExperience.com http://www.facebook.com/drbuff http://www.facebook.com/TeamBuffedBods "Tell me you will...tell me you won't...don't tell me you can't!"
Tags: David Patterson | Dave Patterson | Dr. Buff | The Dr. Buff Experience | training | competition | coaching | Bodybuilding | Figure | Bikini | nutrition |
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| Diane
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| Burnin' Something Fierce |
| 05.25.2010 11:38:20 | |
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Big Things Coming...I am incredibly excited to start the next chapter in my life. 13 Days Until My Last Day Of Class 13 Days Until I Can Start Studying To Get Certified As A Personal Trainer (if not earlier) 19 Days Until I Graduate From College 66 Days Until My First National Show in Vegas Woot Woot! So to say the least...I have some exciting things coming up! I cannot explain the joy that I feel about my life right now. It is kind of funny actually because there are a few things in my life that are not going well at all, BUT I am choosing to focus on the the GREAT things coming up and I am choosing to focus on all the amazing things/people the Lord has blessed me with over the past couple years! That's really what it is all about people...Perspective and attitude. You ultimately decide how to live your life...You decide upon your outlook and your attitude and how you react to the things thrown at you. It's your choice...Turn around and avoid the challenges in your life or soldier up and be strong...Meet those challenges straight on. Sometimes you have to roll with the punches and do so with a big thankful heart and a big happy smile. Cliche...I know. But it is SOOO true! So that's where I'm at. I actually just got home from the gym and had a fabulous workout...I mean KILLER workout. I started off somewhat slow and then that fire in me started burnin' something fierce and I finished weights very strong and then my cardio was even more fierce. It made me think of Julie's blog AWHILE back about giving it your all when you have that burst of energy...Heck if you're feeling energized and strong, THAT is your time to truly push your limits. So that's what I did. My 25 min on the stepmill and 10 min on the treadmill left me absolutely dripping in sweat and it felt so refreshing. Nothing feels better than building up my body...Making it stronger, healthier, faster and just BETTER! So I'm pumped and can't wait for my cardio tomorrow AM! Then I'll be heading to work...then to LA Fitness for a Chest/Bi/Tri workout + cardio. Busy day, but as always it will be absolutely FULL of opportunity and I better be ready to rock and roll! Bless you all and please please please spend some time tonight planning how you can get one step closer to your goals/dreams tomorrow. Life is so short and you've got ONE life to live...I hope you are all pushing forward through your life achieving all that you are meant to achieve. We each have something truly special to offer to the people around us and it would be soooo silly for you to not grasp that tight and make the most of it! DREAM BIG! ;) Stay Strong. Stay Focused. Let the Lord's Light SHINE! Diane
Tags: Determination | Goals | training | energy | posingfocused | determined |
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| Diane
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| 31 Days Until Show Time! |
| 02.25.2010 01:39:21 | |
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So it has been awhile since I've written on here...Again, I apologize! Life has been slightly crazy ;) First off, I went to Elaine's posing seminar on Saturday and it was AMAZING! It is always so great to spend some quality time with other competitors...Each and every gal there inspired me in their own way and I have to say that everyone...everyone!...looks GREAT! It was great to see all of my fellow competitors friends that I had not seen since Ironman in October and it was also great to meet some brand new competitors. I think we had like 6 or 7 girls there who would be competing for their very first time and it's inspiring to witness their focus and determination to learn the ins and outs of competing! Overall it felt great to put on my heels for two hours and get practicing! With the show coming up VERY soon, practice is VERY important right now! All of you competitors, Figure, Fitness AND Bikini, really really really need to be practicing your walking and posing right about now! Make it second nature...You should feel SOOOO comfortable in those heels that you could hop, skip and jump in them ;) I say this because you seriously do not want to spend hours upon hours of training and prep to sculpt a killer bod if you're just going to step on stage and walk around like a penguin because you didn't practice your walk! I think I made my point. So as far as my prep...Things are going fabulous! I've been kicking MAJOR butt during my training sessions and my diet has been great as well. I honestly think the only think that I really need to improve on still is my water intake. It's just not as consistent as I'd like it to be and I REALLY need to work on this! I actually just got home from doing my AM cardio and it felt amazing. That stepmill is becoming my best friend, if you know what I mean! I think that out of the 6 days that I do cardio/week, I do the stepmill 4 of those days. The other two days I spend either at the track doing sprints or doing an 'odd' cardio workout that consists of squats, walking lunges and other sculpting moves! Overall, cardio has been amazing and I'm so thankful that I've kept my mind sharp and focused on what I want to achieve. I start each cardio session with my "Theme Song" and then I begin to visualize myself the day of the show...I visualize my abs, my legs, my walk, my pose...I make sure that I'm visualizing EXACTLY how I want to look on the day of the show! Cardio is my time to do this and I find that it helps me get through my cardio session with unstoppable determination! My diet has been great as well. I've actually been on a depletion for the last few days and it's been different from what I've done in the past, but it is definitely bringing the results that I'm wanting! So I'm thankful that John and Roxana have been helping me on my journey to the stage! They really know their stuff on eating right for a show and it's amazing how much I have learned about my own body since I've started working with them. Today is my last day of depletion and then I'll go back to 'normal' eating tomorrow. Lifting has been going great as well. I've been meeting Pete at Snap and we've been kicking some serious butt! The show is going to sneak up VERY quick and I want to make sure that I'm making the most of every single second that I have with the iron! Plus it has been great to have Pete there to really push me when I'm starting to either doubt myself or feel tired. He always keeps me on my toes, that's for sure! The other girls are doing great as well! It's been amazing to see them learn how to train over the past several months and their transformations have been very inspiring! So that's where I'm am! Getting lean, strong and staying more fierce than ever ;) I'm ready to rock and roll next month and I'm honestly SOOOO excited to step on stage!! SO until next time...Train HARD, eat what you're supposed to eat, drink your water (that's more for me) and get practicing!! We have exactly 31 days until the show...So make the most of EVERY SINGLE opportunity that you have to better yourself! Stay strong...mentally and physically! "We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are." -Tobias Wolff Push through these next 31 days...You have to truly persist in order to discover what you're truly made of. If you really push through, you'll find yourself breaking through barriers that you never thought you could break through. Give it your all. That's all you can do. Once you truly give it your ALL, you'll be able to see what you're really made of! Stay Strong. Stay Focused. Let the Lord's Light SHINE! Diane Tags: Determination | Bikini | Posing | training | cardio | Visualization |
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| Diane
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| 12 Days!!! Make Every Minute Count! |
| 09.21.2009 22:35:11 | |
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I cannot believe that we're already less than two weeks out from the WA Ironman!! Time has gone by SOOO fast!! Luckily I have everything completely organized for the show. I have my suit, my make-up scheduled, hair appointments scheduled, tanning scheduled...etc. It's all coming together wonderfully! I've been practicing posing almost every single day. I practice whenever I can...Even if it's just a few minutes here and there. I'm feeling confident in my heels and just can't wait for the big day to get here....Plus I'm excited to eat ;) I had an amazing weekend! It was my birthday yesterday, so we celebrated my birthday all weekend long. My fiance jokes around because September turns into my "Birthday Month"...Anyways, he spoiled me. We spent the whole weekend relaxing and it was just what I needed. Yesterday I took the whole entire day off from the gym (Not from my diet of course) and I feel so refreshed this morning. We went to Church and enjoyed a great service with my family and then we headed to my parents house to eat food. My parents are great...They had a bunch of broccoli and veggies out for me. They kept the chips out of my sight and they made me some delicious Orange Roughy. Overall, it was a very healthy birthday. I was able to rest my body and nourish it with all the clean food that my parents put together. I am so blessed. I have such a supportive family and could not thank them enough for all that they do for me. Then I got into bed last night at 7:30PM and woke up ready to go this morning. I literally woke up with SOOO much energy this morning...Reminds me of how crucial rest is when I'm working my body so hard during the week. I headed into LA for my AM cardio and I kicked butt!! If I would have had time, I would have easily been able to do 90min of cardio...No joke. I felt like the energizer bunny...I just wanted to go go go. So I'm pretty happy about that considering I'm 12 days out from the show. Normally my energy levels are suffering right about now, but not this time :) I'll keep a positive attitude about these next couple weeks in hopes of maintaining my good energy levels! Today I also start eating all real food (less protein shakes and more real food and lots of veggies) and I'll lower my carbs a bit. I actually had Orange Roughy and Green Beans with 1/4 cup of Oatmeal this morning for breakfast...Fish? For Breakfast? Yes. It works for me, so I'll just keep rolling with it. After I get off work, it's off to Snap for legs!! I'm expecting lots of lunges, squats and all that fun stuff. As each week passes that I train, I seem to enjoy legs more and more. It used to be a mental thing. I used to have a bad attitude towards training legs...I hated it. But I just decided I wasn't going to think like that and now I actually enjoy training legs. I will also do two more hours of cardio later on today. How I split up those two hours will depend on how I feel. So that's my plan for today...Work for 8 hours. Train legs with Pete. 2 Hours of Cardio. Prep my food for tomorrow...It'll be a good day!! Stay Strong you guys!! We have 12 Days to go!! These next 12 days will FLY by, so make the most of each day ahead of you. It will all be worth it when you step on stage October 3rd feeling 100% ready to go! I know that we can do it :) Stay Strong. Stay Focused. Let the Lord's Light SHINE! Diane Tags: Washington Ironman | Bikini | Posing | training | legs |
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| Dr Buff
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| Training Partners - Love em or hate em...you need em! |
| 07.25.2009 14:41:26 | |
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America, I'm pissed! No...not for anything personal (that ain't nunya biz anyway...). I'm pissed because I missed two days in a row due to this nagging arm injury. It's getting better but I decided to take today off as well so I'd be back for sure on Monday. "Make Haste Slowly" I always say. BTW, here's something I heard a while back that was pretty humorous. The first time you hear or read something and you repeat it, you give credit to whomever you heard/read it from - "As so-n-so says...". As you continue to use it, giving credit changes to "I heard..." or "I read...". In time you've said it so many times that it changes to "As I've always said...". I don't have a clue as to where or when I first heard "Make Haste Slowly", but I've been using it so long that it's mine now! Don't hate! Tags: focus | discipline | Determination | training | training partner |
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| Dr Buff
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| The Dr.'s Defining Moment... |
| 07.24.2009 14:43:21 | |
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America, how y'livin? I'm aw'ight - thanks for asking! Where'd I leave off yesterday - oh yea...my first contest. Heard a couple of comments today - they were crackin' up about not only my first bench press but also my first contest. Don't hate, Melissa and Steve...I got both ya'll goin' in a show soon, remember??? N-E-Whoo...today's blog is my defining moment as a bodybuilder. Now most of you would think that it's my first contest victory - if so, both you and y'mama was wrong! Allow me a few minutes of your time to elaborate... |
