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2012 IFBB/NPC Sacramento Pro Contest Protocol

Within this blog, I will go and describe my personal protocol for when I prepped for the 2012 Sacramento Pro. Here you will read about some of my typical training routines, basic diet structure, hardships, struggles, successes, and daily routines from week to week.

* Please Note – None of these nutritional values or training styles are meant for everyone. These were specific for ME ONLY. So do not assume that they will work for you. Please take note of that. I am not here to tell anyone to “DO THIS or EAT THAT AT THIS MUCH OF IT” nonsense. This entire protocol was what I did, and use it as a guideline for developing your own system.

The contest prep started at the very end of August of 2012; this gave me a solid 13 weeks of prep for the Sacramento pro. The heaviest weight I hit during my off-season was 245lbs, and I kept at a stable 13-15% body-fat while at that size, but I scaled down to about 238lbs right about the time I started the prep for the show. This time around I hired a coach to aid me in my prep; I never had one before, and it was recommended for me to get one. So, I heard around this guy named Omar Ventura from San Jose was the guy to contact, since he had a reputation of getting guys in good shape for their shows. So, I hired Omar to finish off my last 2 months or so of off-season for myself and my fiance Stephanie (who by the way was going to compete in Bikini with me at the Sac show).

WEEKS 13-9 OUT – EXPERIENCE WITH ‘Coach’ OMAR VENTURA #teamventura
So when it finally came time to begin my prep, Omar developed a plan and sent it my way. Off the bat I started off on a 3-day carb-cycle program (high, mid, low), and there was 3 phases/stages to the diet throughout the entire prep. Each stage was modified by amount of cardio and type of weight training workouts. Mind you, I kept to the program, but moved exercises around that worked best for me.

Weeks 13-9 Sample Nutritional Program – High Carb Day:
Meal 1: oatmeal, egg-whites
Meal 2: chicken, potatoes, broccoli
Meal 3: whey protein
Meal 4: chicken, potatoes
Meal 5: chicken, brown rice, broccoli
Meal 6: whey protein
Meal 7: chicken, potatoes
*Meal 8: whey protein or egg-whites

*meal 8 was discontinued after 10 weeks out.
**Was allowed 1 cheat meal a week until 11 weeks out. None after that for the duration of the prep.

Training Splits
Day 1: Chest/Triceps/Abs*
Day 2: Lower-mid Back/Biceps*
Day 3: Legs/Calves
Day 4: Off*
Day 5: Shoulders/Traps/Abs*
Day 6: Hamstrings/Lats/Calves
Day 7: Off*

*Cardio was 45 minutes a day on the step-mill, 5 times per week. I usually did it mid-day or after training. I avoid, however, to do cardio on days 3 and 6 (days I was training legs).

I can honestly say that the cardio was starting to get to me to a degree, especially with my calories being almost cut in-half with the transition from off-season to prep-contest. My legs started to feel pretty lethargic at times, but my overall energy wasn’t too bad. I had great workouts, and my pumps were crazy!

During these first 4 weeks of prep, getting good communication out of Omar was a big problem. Feedback was very minimal, and no changes to the diet plan was ever given. The only responses I got when I asked if we needed to change something was “follow the plan.” When I sent photos to him, all I got in response was “cool” or “got them thanks”. To me, that wasn’t the type of “COACHING” I needed. As an athlete, I need to know where I am lacking?, what do I need to work on?, how am I looking? etc. I didn’t feel I was getting better with instruction, and I felt I was right in the same place I was with all my other preps in the past….doing it myself. So one day, with about 9 weeks to go, Omar and I didn’t have a pleasant chat over “text message” (ya I couldn’t meet the guy even though he lived 1 hour north of me, and Stephanie and I tried multiple times to schedule a meet n’ greet with him, but he could NEVER make something happen to meet his “athletes”). So, to make a long drawn out story short, we fired him, asked for a full refund (we got it), and we both started to look for new prep coaches to take us on during this mess we just went through.

Would I recommend Omar Ventura to anyone? Not at all. The diet and training was very cookie-cutter/template based, and you can tell it was a copy/pasted document he probably handed to every athlete he took on. How did I come to that conclusion? Well, my program was almost identical to Stephanie’s program (just different food measurements). Ummmm, a bikini competitor eating almost the same as a bodybuilder? I think not. He opened up to be a bad business man, and tries to use his “athletes” to get what he wants. I remember a good part of the argument that we had, right before we went our separate ways. I was asking Omar what should we change/modify, since I felt it was time for something, he says “what should we change?”, then I reply “you’re the guru, you tell me.” His next reply is what got pretty pissed off, he says “If you wanted a guru, you should have hired Hany Rambod for $800 week, I’m more of a ‘guide’. You basically won’t hear much from me until 10 days out.” More of a “guide”? I didn’t hire a guide. Won’t hear from him until 10 days out? No, I don’t think so. So, at that point it was done. BUT to keep cool with the situation as best as I could, I told him that I would stick it out with him, but Stephanie wants a refund to go her separate way. His response to that was, “you go in together, you go out together.” I was like, “wow, fine no problem. full refund then.” Myself nor Stephanie was going to stick around with this kind of unprofessional relationship. He’s not anywhere near a coach, so FYI people going to him….be careful. Money BACK in the bank.

9 WEEKS OUT – NO COACH, ON MY OWN AGAIN FOR THE TIME BEING
Currently I have no coach. At this point, until a new coach was found, I just kept doing what I’ve been doing. I did modify my diet to a degree, but still kept my training the same, but increased the cardio to two sessions (45+25min sessions) 6 times a week.

During this week, my goal was to see if I could find/locate a new coach. One that would be giving me what I really wanted out of a coach (teamwork, honesty, critique, push/drive/motivation), and most importantly, one that will take me on with this short amount of time left.

I remember a WHILE back I contacted a pro bodybuilder on Facebook, that I first saw at the 2007 Mr.Olympia contest in Las Vegas, NV, and asked what he was charging for contest and off-season diets etc. He was straight to the point when I first talked to him, and he was also someone that I thought had the ideal physique that I would love to have one day. So why not ask the guy that you inspire to look like one day right? So, I contacted him again, and told him my story and situation. I pretty much told him I was in a pickle of a situation (it’s either get another coach or do the prep myself) and was wondering if he would take me on as a client with almost 8 weeks left. He gave me a great deal on a prep cost since it was half the time he charges for his full prep. He was stoked to get started once we finalize our financial obligations to begin. Funds were sent by the end of that week, and he got me started! My coach was now IFBB Professional Fouad “Hoss” Abiad. I was now a proud member of Abiad’s Army! www.fouadabiad.com

During weeks 10 and 9, Max Muscle San Mateo in the great San Francisco Bay Area were gracious enough to help me and Stephanie out with a sponsorship donation of some of their top-selling Max Muscle product-line supplements. Jason and Tri of Max Muscle San Mateo have been great friends of mine since I started weight lifting in the beginning of 2006, and I give them tons of credit for starting me off on the right foot in this new lifestyle.

8-7 WEEKS OUT
That very Sunday afternoon of about 8 weeks out from the contest, I received my Phase 1 program from Coach Fouad. Man, what a difference it was compared to my old program. I felt more at home with this, and its structure was STRAIGHT TO THE POINT! This was the program I was looking for. I had the times of the day when I was needing to cardio, what fat burning stack to get on, what vitamins I need to keep intaking for proper cardiovascular health, immune function, bone health, etc. Coach Fouad seemed to know exactly what to send to his clients to start getting results.

Weeks 8 Sample Nutritional Program:
Meal 1: whey protein shake, oatmeal
Meal 2: top round steak, potatoes
Meal 3: tilapia, rice, avocado
Meal 4: chicken, rice
Meal 5: tilapia, broccoli, rice
Meal 6: whey protein shake, peanut butter

The awesome part was, I stopped carb-cycling. I felt better during this first week, then I did for the first 4 when I was with Omar. I wasn’t a fan of the carb-cycling bullshit all that much during prep (off-season I’m ok with it), since I felt it drained me way too much during the first stages of the prep. I felt totally flat and depleted during the first 4 weeks, but when I started with Fouad, I started to feel more like myself again (for the time being anyways).

What carb-cycling was making me feel like so very early in the prep; did not like.

Training Splits
Day 1: Chest/Triceps/Abs
Day 2: Lower-mid Back/Biceps
Day 3: Quads/Hamstrings/Calves*
Day 4: Off
Day 5: Shoulders/Traps/Abs
Day 6: Upper back/Calves
Day 7: Off
*NO cardio at all.

Cardio
I was on 6x a week, 2x per day routine. 35min step-mill/35min step-mill. I would get my first session done early in the freaking morning at like 5:00am on a empty stomach. On some early mornings, Stephanie and I switched going to the gym for the step-mill, cause someone had to stay home while the kids were sleeping. Good thing we had an elliptical machine at home for those occasions.

6-5 WEEKS OUT – HOME AND WORK STRUGGLES
This is where things got changed up in my continuing progress. My weight has been going down slowly (which is a good thing since I want to retain as much size and muscle as possible), and I was still in 220-223lb range. My physique was getting tighter as the days go by. Energy levels, well LOL those took a good dive, as this week my carb intake dropped, and so did my fat intake. Lots of energy calories down the tubs, but that’s the name of the game. BUT I was granted an extra meal though, but then cardio also increased this week, and you know how we all love that cardio! Not surprising, I wasn’t too thrilled, but when I asked coach Fouad how I look, he gave me input and how he felt my physique was looking to his standards. We were right where we needed to be, but he felt we weren’t ahead, because technically (as he put it) we were playing catch-up since we didn’t have a FULL prep to work with here. My energy levels shrank fast, and going to the gym became a job at times. When people tried to talk to me, I wouldn’t talk much or give a slight smile dragged my gym bag across the floor was a common sight; those took too much energy out of me at that moment. I just wanted to get in the gym, do my work, and get the hell out! That feeling didn’t stop for the rest of the prep.

My workouts through were always going positive. I got all the work done and get satisfied after each and every single session. I made sure to give each one my very best, and just blocked out all of my surroundings just to keep focused.

Stress at this point was coming from my daily job and home at times. I was getting very tired now, and my energy levels were diminishing. At work, I would just bury myself in my projects and just get them done as best as possible. I would hate getting up to go to the bathroom or go get a printed copy of a email or anything; my legs were getting that exhausted. At home, doing cleaning or usually daily stuff was becoming a hardship. After I finished weights and cardio in the evening, I would come home to start cooking all the food Stephanie and I needed for the next few days, then “TRY”, ya I have to use that word, (and it made me feel like dog shit honestly to really needing to “TRY”; I shouldn’t have to TRY, I should be happy to do) to spend time with the kids, and try to have some sort of normal-level of being instead of being a bodybuilder. I felt less of a good man at times due to my lack of home-activity energy levels. My fiance was going through some of it at well, but as we all know, people react to situations differently, so my body was getting beat down harder n faster I believe. Yes that was causing some arguments and fights at times, but we both worked through it as best as possible by communicating. Libido was going down fast for me. I didn’t have too much of a sex drive as my body-fat percentage kept going down, and my energy levels going down with it. Shit was getting serious at this point….

4-3 WEEKS OUT – MR.OLYMPIA 2012 & HELLO TILAPIA-DIET
Four weeks till game time, man I couldn’t wait to get the show on! Yes I was exhausted and tired like a sombitch, but I kept pushing forward. At the this point, we were going to the 2012 Mr.Olympia contest to celebrate Stephanie’s birthday weekend, and also watch the prejudging and visit the expo. We kept on diet throughout the entire weekend. We arrived that Thursday before the contest, hit up Walmart, and picked up all the food we needed for the weekend. We had a condo ready for us with a full kitchen, etc. So we were set with food. We bought and cooked the PERFECT amount of food for the weekend, so flying back with food in our luggage didn’t need to happen. I shot and took progress photos for my coach while I was there, and sent em off the day before we came back home.

The Olympia expo was a blast. It was awesome to meet everyone once again, and take photos with so many of the great athletes of the sport. I think we took home like 3 giant bags of samples and shirt, on-top of our big time purchases of GASP apparel and getting my usual large stockpile of ALLMAX Nutrition supplements from their booth.

Training in Vegas somewhat sucks now. Most of the Gold’s gyms are closing down, and all they have is the Las Vegas Athletic Clubs. I have got to say, they are some of the worst gyms I’ve even been in. The staff are a bunch of ass-clowns, and the gym has tons of old shitty as equipment (trust me, I love a dungeon to train in, I love brutal equipment, but this LVAC just was crap). What killed me was the $20 day charge per person, when they only charge $19.99 a month for membership. Are you serious? $20 for a day? Good thing we worked out once there, and the rest in our condo complex gym.

When we got back to our home after the long weekend, I was surprised by a new program update from coach Fouad in my email inbox. I got a completely new diet plan to follow, and it said bye bye to all animal meats and powders. To me that just says “Ok, time to get used to being hungry 30 min after each meal”. I’ll be honest, I got somewhat depressed for a little bit, cause I knew the game just took a dive into the real deal now.

Weeks 4 Sample Nutritional Program:
Meal 1: egg whites, oatmeal
Meal 2: tilapia, rice
Meal 3: tilapia, rice, avocado
Meal 4: tilapia, broccoli
Meal 5: tilapia, rice
Meal 6: tilapia, avocado
Meal 7: egg whites

Training Splits
Day 1: Chest/Triceps/Abs
Day 2: Lower-mid Back/Biceps
Day 3: Quads/Hamstrings/Calves*
Day 4: Off
Day 5: Shoulders/Traps/Abs
Day 6: Arms
Day 7: Upper back/Calves
Day 8: Off
*NO cardio at all.

Cardio
I as on 6x a week, 2x per day routine. 45min step-mill AM/45min step-mill PM. No cardio on leg days.

It was around this part of the prep where I started to get really tight in my leg joints/muscles. I was seeing a big drop in my leg day training performance (heavy compound lifts mainly). I felt my quads starting to “seize” during squats or leg presses. At this point, I was given advice to try and go half-reps to keep focus on the quad muscle itself. That did help me in my progress as the final weeks started to go by. My body was slowly drying out, and being on low-sodium for almost 5 weeks is taking its toll. My body was getting solid though.

I was sitting around 218 or so pounds, and coach and I see me hitting around 210-205 by contest time. I was hoping for the best. So, to get me through the next 3 weeks after this, Coach Fouad sent me an email saying “tomorrow, 3x your carbs”. You have no idea how my eyes lit up. I felt like I was given a pot of gold. 3x the carbs in my carb meals was a Godsend. This was my refeed to give me the last bit of push (gas) for the up-coming weeks.

2 WEEKS OUT
This was a tough week mentally. There were many moments I would sitting on the couch just thinking about “why am I doing this?” Your mind definitely starts wondering into places that it definitely shouldn’t, like for instance…I would sometimes wish I would get hurt while training, so that I can give a reasonable excuse to give up and drop out of the contest. Things got that hard, but not just because of the training, diet and cardio, but with all the other things outside of those like family, kids, Stephanie, planning our wedding, work, money etc. Those things were getting put so behind that it was really eating me alive on many occasions. I felt useless on weekends and a lot of the time during the week when all the cooking was done, and I sat my ass down on the couch.

Sleeping was tough, very tough, especially emotionally. Since about 2 1/2 weeks out, Stephanie and I slept in separate rooms (LOL I know I know), but not because we were fighting so much cause both of us were prepping, but it was because I didn’t want to wake her up from me getting up every hour to go take a piss, and our master bedroom has no air breeze going through it if we opened the windows. My metabolism was running so hard, that I would be drenched in sweat each night. So I started sleeping in the guest bedroom so that I could open the big window up at night to keep cool, sleep naked many nights, and I won’t have to worry about me waking anyone up while I get my tail out of bed to hit the bathroom a ton of times a night. I was becoming a non-stop fat burning machine during the late nights, and it was quite uncomfortable.

At this point I hated cardio with a passion. I’m not a fan of it, never was, and this was the most cardio I have ever put into a prep yet. This was the real deal for sure, and all I tried to think about was “one more week, one more week, and then I’ll only need to battle for 4 more days then training/cardio is done!” I couldn’t wait till the Final Week started, I’ve been pretty much depleting for the last 2 weeks straight, and my system was getting fried.

Damn Cardio

FINAL WEEK COUNT DOWN
Finally this week has arrived. I felt that if I made it to this week, my mental game would fall right into place, and it did. I had no hardcore depletion days (that means, no non-carb days) since I’ve been pretty much depleting for the last 3 weeks straight slowly (coach didn’t give me the scoop on that until the final week, and that made perfect sense why I’ve been feeling like crap the last 3 weeks). My body was ready to re-fill-out and all I needed to do was get through the next 4 days (Monday-Thursday) of training & cardio. Coach Fouad gave me my carb-up plan, when to start it (Wednesday before the show), and how he wants to monitor me (he was very specific on everything, which is exactly what I look forward to in a coach). I was excited to carb-up, because that meant “LOTS OF FOOD!”

Carb-Loading Protocol:
Wednesday – Day 1 500g carbs
Thursday – Day 2 400g carbs
Friday – Day 3 300-400g carbs
Saturday – Day 4 Contest day, who HELL knows. Just eat to keep muscle FULL. Eat to win.
Carb Sources: rice, oats, potatoes, honey, bananas, rice cakes*, natural jam*
*Day of contest only

Nutritional Program:
NO MORE FISH! Only Chicken and Steak and Ground Beef.

Water Consumption Protocol:
Wednesday – Day 1 6L/1.5gal
Thursday – Day 2 4L/1gal
Friday – Day 3 1L/.25gal *cut off at 1pm.
Saturday – Day 4 Contest day, none.

When Stephanie and I arrived in the area of the venue (Sacramento, CA), we got right to work. We arrived the Thursday night, a few days before the contest, but we wanted to situate ourselves comfortably early on, so we didn’t have to rush Friday to drive up to make it for athlete check-ins. We got a great place at the Super8 hotel near the airport, it had a full prepping table area, with microwave, fridge, BIG L-Couch, kitchen sink, coffee pot (not like I used it since I couldn’t drink crap after 1pm on Friday. That Thursday, we started to apply our tanning color in the hotel room before we hit the sack to try and get some sleep.

I felt good, real good. My body seems to be going in the right direction. I did have issues posing correctly still. I wasn’t the best poser when it came to my quads. Coach Fouad gave me instructions on how to hit them correctly, but it was a tough process for me to nail down correctly. That is definitely one thing I will work on in the off-season more, and that’s leg posing. We got to athlete check-ins around the time they started, so we wanted to beat the long ass lines that usually come with the process, so we can get back to start tanning again. My official weigh-in was 208.2lbs; I was officially a HEAVYWEIGHT (I originally planned on competing again in the Light-Heavyweight class). That was 24lbs heavier then my last show in May of 2010. I was amazed at the gains I made in that much time.

After we got back to the hotel after check-ins, we had a meal, then I had to go get something items that coach wanted me to have on-hand if it called for it (which they all did). I got three double cheeseburgers to keep with me if I needed it. I had one before going to bed that Friday night…coach wanted me to get my ass to bed for a solid 8 hours of rest.

Getting my Burgers

GAME DAY
Today was the day. 13 weeks of hell, dedication, suffering, sacrifice, drive, sickness and devotion have finally come to this. We both were so excited to get this party started on-stage and off. My fiance looked so amazing, and I was so proud of her. It was one of our bucket list items to do a show together, and today was the day we fulfilled that commitment. It was in these moments before going to prejudging that you mentally reflect on every single thing you did during your prep, all the training you did, all the sacrifice you put yourself through, all the hardships you had to overcome, everything. Now is the time to pay homage to yourself for getting this far. This was the true reward and trophy, just being in this position, and having the feeling of accomplishment of never giving up.

Prejudging
I ate a few rice cakes and jelly at the show here and there to keep my filled out. Coach Fouad had be eat a double cheeseburger in the morning, then some chicken and potatoes afterwards. I kept kept me feeling good, but having no water to sip on sucked. That has to be the worst part of the whole process, no water just is just a horrible thing to go through for 36 hours. Stephanie went up first before my class was called into the pump-room. She rocked the stage as always. I was beyond stoked to see her up there! I know how much she put into her work, and seeing her shine was a gift to see once again. Without her, I don’t think of would have made it honestly. Yes, she got on my case a good amount of times, but I understood why. But even though it was tough between us at times, she still gave me her shoulder to lean on when I was needing it most, and when I was at my absolute limits of exhaustion.

Soon, my class was being called to get ready. I kept my shirt on as long as possible so I didn’t want my competition to see what I had to show on-stage. Plus it kept me in focus with just competing against myself, and not them. I didn’t have to look at how I was looking at that moment vs. them. I just went through my pump-up motions and routine, kept my headphones plugged in and started to get in the groove. My good friend Michael Sausedo was competing with me in the same class. That was also a great fulfillment of mine, that I could share the stage with a great friend of mine. He looked amazing, and he deserved the win the Open Men’s Heavyweight class that night.

But as we hit the stage, I just kept focused. I knew my strong poses, and what ones were my weak ones, but that didn’t hinder me from keeping focused. I just kept in my mind to keep my transitions clean and smooth, don’t shake too much, hold my poses, keep flexed, and just keep thinking that I was taking progress photos like usual (that really helped me). In my last show when I got on-stage, I felt like I didn’t have a chance, and I didn’t honestly. But things were completely different this time; I had the confidence, and I felt I was good enough to compete. In Men’s Open Unlimited Heavyweight, I placed out of the top 5, and placed 7th. You know what, I kept that competitive, and I’m happy with it. In Men’s Unlimited Novice Heavyweight, I gave it my all, and got the first call out, then I was moved into center stage. I can honestly tell you I finally know that feeling. Being placed in the center of the line on first call-outs is one bad ass feeling.

Prejudging is now over, and I’m beat. Competing in two classes was a tough ticket to go through. Coach told me to go each a burger, fries and some cake. Ok lol no problem. During that meal, I did have to suck on a few slices of lemon though. My cotton mouth was a bit much after eating for the last few days, after having no fluids for over 24hrs at that point. But we didn’t have a truckload of time before the night show, so we got back to the hotel to get ready. Stephanie retanned some more (I should have done the same thing dammit), while I ate again haha, and trying to visualize my posing routine. During these short hours, I didn’t feel “FULL”. I contacted my coach about this, sent him some photos quick, and he told me to eat another burger now, and if I needed more “FILLING” to have some ground beef and cheesecake about an hour and a half before going on stage. Stephanie left with our friend Homa early to the night show, while I stayed to rest a little more, and think my routine through.

Night Show
This is it, the last part of this incredible journey; it has come. When I got to the show, I finally know that feeling of “you’re in the running to place” as I walked through the main doors. Many people are stopping you saying “dude you’re gonna take it!”, “you looked great a prejudging, how are you feeling now?”, “go get what’s yours!” as you walk to the entrance of the backstage. While this is all happening I just kept my mindset in rhythm. I still felt a little flat, so I slammed down my beef and cheesecake, and I started to feel my body getting “warm”. To me, that is feeling that the blood is now flowing good, and I’m ready.

I saw Stephanie, just in time, get on stage for the night show, and I was once again amazed and so proud of her. I am, however, pissed off on how they judge many of the bikini competitors (or women in general). WHAT IN THE HELL ARE THEY LOOKING FOR??! Many in her class did NOT have the stage presence nor the balanced physique as she did; FAKE TITS SHOULD NOT GRANT YOU A TROPHY. It’s just a shame that so many women get bounced out of a top spot, after putting in a ton of work and dedication, then being out-shinned by someone that looks like a fake Barbie doll; what a joke honestly.

When I got back down in the pumping-room, I did the very same thing I did for the prejudging. I just practiced my posing routine in my head while I listened to my music, kept my shirt on, did some light poses to get my routine down; I even intaked some more sugar jelly to just keep my system warm, and my blood flowing. Now, the time has come to go back on-stage and perform my routine…

Finally the routines are over, and they line up the top 5. First they call out placing number 5, then 4, then 3. At this point it’s just me and one other guy, and it was a great feeling, and also hearing my cheering section calling my name. “Placing number two goes to…..number 212, Marek Piecyk”. I was stoked, I really was, sure I felt a little robbed that I didn’t place #1 (hell, the guy that won didn’t even have his tanner on during prejudging and he was white as snow. duh fuk?). But what can you do? Storm off stage and display bad sportsmanship? Nah, that wasn’t my style. I just said, I’ll get it next time…

As I walked back to the pump-room to get my things, and head out to the lobby to meet everything, when I walked down the stairs, I just couldn’t believe it that I accomplished all this, not just winning a plastic trophy, but all that was done to get here.

IT’S OVER, TIME TO REJOICE
When I finally met back up with Stephanie, and the gang, in the lobby, it was all cheers, hugs, and rejoicing. We did it, and now it is time to celebrate. We took tons of photos before we left, and I got to take some great shots with my ALLMAX family Kevin and Sasha, who were there at the ALLMAX booth. Stephanie and I got to take photos with Hany Rambod (who Omar told me I should have hired, haha yes I told Hany that story, and he got a kick out of it), we even took a photo with Phil Health right before he left the venue as well. Coach Fouad told me buy two large Gatorade drinks for me to intake after the show was over (replenishing the electrolytes is vital!). He was upset that he didn’t put me in the winner circle, but I told him that from where I was to where we ended was a big turn around….that’s winning enough to me. So after that, we all went to The Cheesecake Factory and ate some things we really have been thinking about for a while; honestly I just wanted to drink fluids…but pancakes were on my mind for breakfast the next day. Been dreaming about those for 13 weeks.

TIME TO GO HOME AND START BEING HUMAN AGAIN
Time to pack up the car, and head home, and it was finally a happy moment to think about. We came here to do what we set out to do, and accomplished it. The journey came to a close, but it didn’t official end until we made our first stop, after we checked-out of the hotel, at IHOP (The International House of Pancakes). It was time for me to have the meal I’ve been thinking about for 13 weeks, and I got plenty of it. I order three FULL stacks of 4 pancakes and a big mocha. I was in heavy, and engulfed it all. Then for a little beverage, we both headed off to Starbucks to have a pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin scone. Things were good now, we both had our fulfillment in these foods, and now it was time to head home to the kids and start putting our finances and life back together, and get the wedding planning started!

RECAP Video of the offseason leading up-to the prep