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Gabriel
Wilson recently had the pleasure of interviewing the Hyperplasia
Challenge contestants. For more information on this challenge, click
Here. To read more interviews, Click
Here.
The
Question will be denoted by the letter "Q"
and the answer by the letter "A."
Interview with littleamazon
Q.
Did you enjoy the HYPERplasia challenge? Please give us your sincere
assessment of the event, and why/if you would recommend it to other
bodybuilders?
A.
I really enjoyed
the HYPERplasia challenge. Despite the fact that I always track my
progress, it gave me a chance of really focus on a goal on a limited
time span, prioritizing my nutrition and workouts for this sole goal.
So, based on my previous experience, with strategies tested over time, I
chose the best strategies for my cut. I did this in a progressive
fashion, hence the variation of cardio, weight training and nutrition
that you see on my journal. I would definitely recommend ALL
bodybuilders to join the challenge. Why? Well, it made me accountable to
someone else besides myself. It made me pay more attention to my diet,
training and cardio, whereas in the past, I would have been more
relaxed, not really optimizing my results. I have been, for the most
part, instinctive in my training, now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t
monitor performance. What it means is that intellectual/measurable
performance has been balanced by input from other areas: how the workout
felt? How mental motivation is in regards to it. Etc. The HPC gave me a
chance to record this process and then be able to look back at where I
was at a specific period of time: mentally, emotionally, spiritually,
and physically.
Q.
Did you feel the contest facilitated friendship and cooperation between
the competitors? For example, did it encourage people to work with each
other and encourage each other?
A. I
feel that the contest promoted camaderie. I saw how many posted on
journals of their "competitors" to encourage them. Now, this is because
most of the members on the HPC were long time ABC members *more than 150
posts* and there is a sense of ownership in regards to ABC and also
members identify themselves with the site as a collective.
I think that this happened because by the time a member reaches 150
posts, if there was an attitude issue, it has been corrected by
reinforcing proper attitude.
Q.
What was the hardest part about the challenge?
A. For
me, the hardest part about the challenge was how to develop
training/nutrition strategy that would give me results on such a short
time span. It was the most fun of all, see what ideal cardio strategies
would aid fat decrease and muscle increase together with weight
training. On the diet side...I had to put aside my fear to fats. lol.
Q.
How much did you have to adjust your life?
A. The
challenge, to me, fits into the lifestyle of the bodybuilder. I ate at
the same times as I ate before but it gave me a chance to focus more
closely on the daily/weekly results, rather than letting things slide
despite progress in the long run. So, eating was easy, because I have
always been an advocate of variety. Training was easy in the sense of
scheduling it, because I had already made a commitment to it. I believe
that once one makes a commitment to the lifestyle, most of the hard work
of the challenge is done. The rest of the time, you are just fine tuning
and assessing what strategies to use next.
So, commitment makes possible for the challenge to fit in one's life.
Q.
What kept you on track and focused for 12 weeks? There must have been
times that were difficult for you to train or stay strict to your
diet—what stopped you from slacking?
A. Being
accountable to the world over my results kept me focused. Also, knowing
that a lot of people were looking at my progress kept me going. Knowing
my body and what was beneficial for it whether cutting calories or
upping them, increasing or decreasing workout intensity, kept me from
slacking. I also kept my eating varied, always with a lot of different
flavors, textures, so that it didn’t feel restrictive. On the workouts,
I kept on looking at what the boys were doing at the gym. I have always
liked to compare myself with them to push myself further.
Q.
Did you ever feel like quitting the challenge, or feel signs of
overtraining? If so, how did you handle this?
A. No,
I never felt like quitting. I did a taper in between…for weight training
to prevent overtraining.
Q.
Do you plan on competing in the future? If not, what are your future
aspirations and goals in bodybuilding?
A. Right
now I am on maintenance but my goals are ultimately achieving a more
balanced physique, mind and spirit. I just don’t want more muscle mass
*I absolutely want that* but I want it to be in balance with my
flexibility, my strength, my muscular endurance, my cardio endurance and
mental balance. I want to be a well-rounded athlete.
Q.
What was your diet like during the HYPERplasia challenge? Did you use
any advanced dieting principles such as calorie and carb cycling? And by
how many calories did you drop or increase on average from the start to
the end of the challenge?
A. I
started the challenge on macros: 50% p/25% c/25% fat. After the first
month, despite my weight loss I noticed some muscle loss, so I had a two
weeks of 40/40/30 with an up on calories and then I started carb cycling
keeping the calories up from the 40/30/30 cycle. I continued carb
cycling til the end of the challenge. I got less scared of my fat
consumption on low carb days, kept better track of my efas as well as my
nutrient timing. In the beginning of the challenge, I was too low on
complex carbs. Thanks to Venom I changed things. I basically made my
meal composition based on my training schedule and my needs at that
time, so I basically stuck with complex carbs 4 times a day: first meal,
post workout 1, pre-workout for session 2 and post workout session 2.
All the rest of the time, I had fibrous carbs. I started the challenge
using the 13 week fat burning diet, customizing it to my macros and
doing the calorie cycling between meals specified on the plan.
Q.
What supplements did you use?
A. Supplementation:
Post-workout shake Post Workout Shake :
Dextro, Malto , Champion Whey Protein, sodium
Creatine
Glutamine
Multivitamin
Vitamin C
Chromium
Zinc/Magnesium (“ ZMA ”)
Efas- Udo’s choice blend
Calcium Supplement
Joint Support Formula
Low Carb Ultramet: Chocolate Fudge & Vanilla Cream
MSM Complex
Q.
What did your split look like?
A. During
the whole challenge, I had one training session at home and a second one
at the gym. At the beginning of the challenge, I did weight training at
home (1hr) and cardio at the gym (1 hr) Then I switched it over, doing
cardio in the mornings and weight training on the evening. I worked out
6 days a week. I had low and high days for weight training and I did
each body part twice, so basically, when I switched weight training to
evening, I had a three day split that I repeated twice a week: Day 1:
Back/Biceps/Forearms; Day 2: Legs; Day 3: Chest/Shoulders/Triceps/Traps.
Repeat again from Day 1.
On the last 4 weeks of the challenge the split changed to Day 1:
Back/Biceps/Triceps/Forearms; Day 2: Legs; Day 3: Chest/Shoulders/Traps.
Repeat again from Day 1. I did a lot of supersets: opposing and same
muscle, partial reps, rest/pause method, etc.
Q.
How much cardio did you do?
A. I
started doing 6 sessions a week, then it changed to 5 sessions a week. I
started with 30 min sessions and went up to 1 hr sessions of cardio
towards the end of the challenge. I used interval training and long
duration cardio. I didn’t use HIIT until the end of the challenge. I
alternated between different kinds of cardio, with concern to joint
support and recovery so I cycled from high impact activities *like
jumping rope* to low impact activities *like elliptical*
Q.
What was more important to you—winning the competition, or improving
your body? And why?
A. Well,
the challenge was more than improving my body or winning, although both
became a factor to me. I wanted to do more than I had done before. To
get to a new level in motivation, energy and commitment beyond what I
had done for myself in the past. It was about my body but not in the
egotistical sense. I strongly believe on ABC. I wanted my journal to be
a strong testimony of how I fully believe in the principles implemented
here. I also wanted to share beyond the training, all the motivational
factors that affected my training and how I dealt with it. I wanted
training to be seen as a variable to improve quality of life and in the
Christian sense, further preparation of the body for service. Venom
brought me back into perspective on setting goals, when my mind strayed
from my main goals to just winning. I felt I didn’t want to let any of
my friends down. I wanted both newbies and advanced athletes to find
useful information on the journal true to ABC.
Q.
Would you have done anything different in your program if you could
start the challenge over?
A. Well,
if I could start over, I would do so with what I have learned already
and the body I have now so that would be a great advantage. I can tell
you that my journal in terms of training and diet would vary, and that
would be so exciting! LOL
Q.
What are some key training tips you would give to a bodybuilder
competing in the same challenge as you (whether it be cutting or
bulking)?
A. 1)
Assess some variables on your training daily: how you feel, how training
was, nutrition and if you need more food, energy levels, rest needed,
etc.
2) Make the most out of your time. Choose activities that support your
goals.
3) Go for variety on cardio and weight training, alternating exercises.
On weight training, have a variety of movements: machine, dumbbell, and
barbell. Switch exercises around, do them differently. Try different
angles on training, lower weight and try a more challenging variation of
the exercise, then work up.
4) Don’t do the same exercises in the same order and in the same fashion
on every workout. You can do the same exercises on the workout…but vary
the order and the type of movement.
5) Hydration, hydration, hydration.
6) Don’t quit taking your creatine during your cut or bulk.
7) Time meals according to your body needs for performance. Make sure
that the meals are within time to support your training sessions.
8) Add variety to your meals: choose several non-salt seasonings and
when you bake a batch of chicken, season two or three pieces with
different spices to add variety to your diet. Cajun chicken is not the
same as tomato basil, right? I used at least 4 different seasonings.
9) Vary your sources of protein based on your need at the time: fast
absorption or not. Whey is good but don’t use it as your sole source of
protein. I used chicken, beef, tuna, salmon, tilapia, pork loin and for
my whey shakes, a protein complex with Whey and other long absorbing
proteins in it.
10) Vary your cardio as you vary your weight training. Stretching should
be part of your workout routines.
11) Use a variety of shocking methods and strategies to keep the body
guessing.
12) Vary your sources of complex carbs. I always had two different
sources and rotated them per week: brown rice, wild rice, oatmeal,
legumes *beans*, whole wheat tortillas.
13) On cheese…I combined fat free cheese with low fat cheese.
14) Use
www.fitday.com to monitor your food intake and also your nutrient
intake to supplement on deficient areas.
15) Go for cardio activity you can monitor. You really need to make sure
to stay at the 65% V02 Max, so use RPE or heart rate monitor (78.6 – 80%
of your heart rate = 65% V02Max)
16) One thing I regret is not taking body measurements every week. I
would recommend this on a daily fashion or every two weeks even if it is
not required by the challenge.
17) Work all sides of a muscle. For example, on shoulders: anterior,
posterior, lateral, prioritizing weakest area first when you are fresh.
Q.
Based on the results of the HYPERplasia challenge, and your knowledge of
science, do you feel it is possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the
same time? Why or why not?
A.
I did lose fat and
gain muscle at the same time. You do need to monitor your macros
closely. Cardio makes a great difference, when all the other variables
are correct, for losing fat. Weight training and cardio need to support
one another, under the principles of correct nutrition to support your
goals. I varied the weight that I handled on weight training,
progressively going up on weight and then I started adding more sets per
exercise. Give yourself enough rest time to recover per set on your
weight training workout. I also prioritized on my shoulders, leaving
them just with chest and traps to be able to blast them. I gained
considerable mass in this area.
Q.
Thank you very much for the interview.
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