The NGA Potomac Cup

I will keep this blog short and simple :) I dieted, trained, and did hours of cardio for 18 weeks. I practiced my posing and try to excell at my craft all so that I could reach my goal of becoming a natural bodybuilding professional. I can say that it feels really awesome to have accomplished that this year :) I won the 2009 NGA Potomac Cup Men's Open Overall and earned my NGA pro card! I couldn't be happier and more excited. I enjoyed every moment of preparation this year and I'm glad it paid off. My official weigh-in was 146.0lbs :) Thanks for following my 18-week journey. Now it's off to making improvements and setting my sights on competing as a pro :) 'Til next time!

Dan

1 week out

Wow! 17 weeks have already gone by! I really can't believe how quickly and smoothly things have gone this year. So far, I am really pleased with my conditioning and muscularity :) I think everything that needed to go my way did. The HIIT cardio sessions and the early AM training sessions really paid off this year. My last weigh in I was 144.2lbs. I'm excited to see what my weigh-in will be at the show on Saturday. As far as training & diet, things will change a bit this week. This week, we will allow my body to fill out and bit and give it some carbohydrates each day. As the week goes, I will taper my training and end up doing some full-body circuits. Once that all happens, it's "game over" :)...7 days is still 7 days, so we'll see what I can make happen in that time. I'll continue putting in my 100% effort for one more week...My goal going in is to come in at my best and take top spot in my weight class..Let's see what happens :) Ok, well, that is all for now..I will update one or two more times before the big show..Let's make this happen! 'Til next time!

Dan

2 weeks out

Hey guys! Ok, now we're getting down the the nitty gritty of this contest prep. I can't believe how 16 weeks has flown by so quickly. It feels like just yesterday I was waiting for March 21st to get here so that I could start my pre-contest prep. With a show down and a show to go, I am feeling fantastic. This week started out decent; my energy was good for being lower in calories. The second half of my week felt tremendous! My energy was extremely high and my strength felt like it had doubled from the days prior. It felt awesome. For this week, Layne decided to change my carb intake and fat intake. He also added intervals to my HIIT cardio and added some time to my low-intensity cardio. I love when he makes changes like that. It challenges me and it drives me to attack that week and do the best I can with it. My weigh in on Wednesday was 144.6Lbs. I'm nearly 10lbs lighter than my last competition in 2008, but I feel more dense and a lot leaner. I'm very excited about these last two weeks. I've put some much work into this and I can't wait to see how my hard work will pay off. That's all for now, folks. 'Til next week! :)

Dan

3 Weeks Out & Annapolis Update

Hey guys! Ok, so we're 3 weeks out from the Potomac Cup in Virginia. I'm feeling super pumped about this! Not only because my body keeps improving as the weeks go by, but also because I kinda had an empty victory at the Annapolis last Sunday. You see, there were only 7 people in the open class..Not too big at all, huh? My original idea was for all us 7 open guys to make one class and pick the overall winner from there..Needless to say, they broke us up into our weight categories. I was the only one in my lightweight class. When I went out for the comparison rounds, they moved me to the middleweight class to be compared to the other two competitors. I reality, I won the class; I had better conditioning than the other guys and my posing was superior..However, instead of giving me the middleweight trophy and announcing me as the weight class winner, they announced me as the lightweight winner and took me out there on my own..That stunk a bit..especially since I beat the other two competitors..As far as the overall went, I felt very confident with my conditioning and posing. I felt I had a good shot. The overall favorite was a 44 year-old from the heavyweight class. Thought out-muscled and out-sized, I felt I had better presentation and better separation in my lower body area; our upper body compared in conditioning..All in all, the win was given to him. I took that loss very gracefully, because he was a very good competitor. If we ever cross paths again, I just have to be more conditioned :) Ok, so for this week I'm feeling pretty fantastic. I weighed in on wednesday at 145.2lbs-about 1lbs lighter than my morning weigh in on Sunday..My cardio and eating hasn't changed at all..I'm just going to keep hitting it hard until showtime :) I'm really going to focus on my posing (both mandatories and routine) and also on my getting myself more shredded..I'll update you guys next week on how things are going..That's all for now! 'Til next week :)

Dan

4 weeks out

Hey guys! With the NGA Annapolis tomorrow, I am definitely getting pumped about this whole pre-contest experience. I can't wait to get onstage tomorrow and see what 14 weeks of preparation has done so far. I feel comfortable with my conditioning and muscularity for tomorrow's show, and I am looking forward to seeing what type of conditioning I can bring to Virginia at the end of July. As of Wednesday, I was 148.2lbs. My energy is still through the roof, and my strength with my weight training has gone done about 2-5%. Overall, I have been very pleased with my workouts :) I'll make sure to post some pictures from the Annapolis-I love the lighting there! There weren't any major changes to my diet or cardio from last week. Since Layne wants me to focus on the main show, we're just going to ride this week out and eat and train as if it were any other week. The only difference is that I'll be doing my re-feed day on Sunday instead of my usual Friday. Ok, that's all for now. I'm totally psyched about tomorrow! Wish me luck! :) 'Til next week!

Dan

5 weeks out

5 weeks 'til show time, baby!! Man, I can 't wait! I will say that this week has been my favorite week so far; I think the change physique-wise from last week to this week was pretty dramatic. My lower body seems tighter, especially from the glute-ham area. My upper body is feeling full and I can feel my skin just getting tighter. It definitely makes me push harder in my preparation. When I weighed in on Wednesday, I was 148.2lbs. I'm right on target as far as my weight loss, and my strength has gone down very slightly. The major changes that happened this week came from an increase in my HIIT cardio, an increase in my low intensity cardio, and a slight decrease in my overall carbohydrate intake. The changes were subtle, but I am happy with the outcome. Another change that happened was changing to sprints for my HIIT cardio. Doing intervals of those really got my whole body sore! I can't wait to give them another shot on Sunday :) I definitely need to remember to warm-up properly and stretch after; it's been years since I've sprinted and the last thing I'd want to do is pull a hammie. I'll be competing in the NGA Annapolis next Sunday, so I'm really looking forward to getting onstage and feeling out how I feel with my overall presentation and physique. Well, 'til next week! :)

Dan

6 weeks out

Time is definitely ticking now! I can't believe I've been dieting for 12 weeks already. It seems so crazy because I'm down about 20+lbs. and my energy is still incredible. I actually think I look better now than I did at my last two shows last year. I can't wait to keep getting more shredded!! After discussing with Layne, he felt that another 8-9lbs would get me onstage "super shredded" There have been few modifications to my diet, HIIT cardio & low intensity cardio, but nothing too drastic. I was weighing in somewhere in the neighborhood of 150lbs last week, and I weighed in this week at 149lbs. My training hasn't changed too much either. I don't feel like my strength has really gone down much, so I haven't seen the need to tweak too many of my exercises, rep schemes or weights. I'm really excited about getting onstage at the end of the month. I'm going to keep practicing my posing routine as well as my mandatories. I definitely want to nail it when I step onstage this year! I'll have video of my posing routine by next week, so you can all see what I have put together so far. Ok, well, that's all for now. "til next week! 6 more weeks, baby!!

Dan