2.5 Weeks Out!

The last few weeks have brought many exciting and new opportunities and friendships. I am truly blessed and honored to have so many supportive and generous people in my life. My heart is filled with gratitude and enthusiasm each and every day.

My contest is rapidly approaching on the 13^th, I've been so involved with the community and projects that it just occurred to me recently it's been nearly a month since my last blog entry – I'm here to fill you in!

Since six weeks out I have slowly and reluctantly lowered my carbs from 150g on most days to 100g most days. I was able to maintain weight loss at 125g for a couple weeks, but now were down to the nitty gritty! I even lowered my protein ever so slightly – instead of multiplying my bodyweight by 1.5, I multiplied my lean body mass by 1.5. Okay, so that's a difference of five pounds at this point, but hey 50 calories is 50 calories!

Most days look like this:

262g/protein

100g/carbs

50g/fat

Total: 1898 calories

This week is the first that I'll lower my weekly weight training sessions from five to four, knocking off one leg training day in favor of cardio. Now my training split is as follows:

S: 45 minutes cardio

M: Legs (Refeed) 45 minutes cardio + 30 minutes walking

T: Shoulders/traps -- 45 minutes cardio

W: 30 minutes High-intensity interval training + 45 minutes walking

Th: Chest/Back -- 45 minutes cardio

F: Biceps/Triceps -- 45 minutes cardio + 30 minutes walking

Needless to say a lot of work on very little calories! I've lowered my total training time on most days from about 75 minutes to 45. Although, my volume has stayed relatively high. I'm still able to accomplish 20-25 sets in that time frame by pushing myself with shorter rest periods, I will proceed to do 45 minutes of cardio after weight training. Usually, I'll aim to keep my heart rate between 140-150 bpm and alternate between using an elliptical, cycling (outdoors weather permitting), and high-incline walking.

2-3 days of the week I'll incorporate HIIT (high-intensity interval training), a lot of people asked me which is best for fat-loss. I've mentioned previously that they both have very distinct advantages, therefor why not just do both?! In addition, I'll add a thirty minute walk in the evening every other day and include twenty minutes of posing practice. Posing was something I overlooked entirely my first show, I still have a lot of work to do on it but I'm getting better each day and that's what counts!

Side notes:

-My refeeds have been reduced from 300-253g/carbs to 240g.

-This weekend I will switch legs from Mondays to Saturday; the logic is that if I give my legs a week off before stepping on stage they will become more defined and striated.

-Stay tuned for pics!

I'll end with a quote from Thomas Paine:

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.”

Questions or comments?

andrewbora@live.com

borafitness.com