Our athlete Rory Golden is going to compete this year and we have decided to follow his journey. A diary from start to finish, 18 weeks out until stepping on stage.
Rory Golden - The Prep files
Blog – 17 weeks out.
Second week into prep and things are still running smoothly. This would be expected so early on as nothing has changed from the week previous. I’m in a good holding point from the off season as I stayed leaner than the previous year learning that building good tissue in a surplus is optimal for Improvement. I made the normal mistake in the previous year when bulking by trying to get ‘massive’. The reality of building good muscle tissue takes time with the correct training and nutritional platform to build from. Due to the lack of this, I was doing cardio from 22 weeks out from the show to get off the unwanted fat by being lazy in the nutritional approach. This made the prepping process longer than it needed to be and fair to say I wasn’t going to let that happen this year.
This week I’ve found my body to really sink into a pattern in terms of training/diet. My body knows what I’m trying to do by regulating it in terms of the same meals as well as intense training/post workout cardio. The changes have come quickly by losing excess water/glycogen by dropping down to mid 84kg when I was starting at 88.7kg. The thing I enjoy most is how the mindset changes to really push above and beyond any limits you have set intentionally or unintentionally as you know many other competitors across the country are doing the same thing.
As nothing has changed this week there could be possible changes happening next week as I wait to hear from my coach after the check in this morning (Sunday). One of the hardest aspects doing this is missing out on certain events with family and friends. My perspective on this matter is very simple… do it because you want and sacrifice without regret. Last night (Saturday) I had a family gathering, where there was food, cakes, drink and so on. Obviously, I know I can’t partake in this however I still showed my face as family is the most important thing. If needed just plan ahead and bring your own food with you or just leave earlier and go home to eat. One thing I always see is people moaning about how hard this is. They spam their Instagram with tubs of food at events saying how much they are missing out. My point is… no one is making you do this. Use this prep process to better yourself and have that impact on others around you in a positive way. At anytime you can cheat and eat whatever you like, you will only be cheating yourself. Others will stay focused and on track as this is only for a set period of time which is helping to achieve a dream/goal. You don’t get special brownie points for doing what is required of you. It’s just another day closer to the deadline.
