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 By: Danny Drescher
Starting Monday, February 26th, I will begin preparing for the 2007 NPC Palmetto Cup in Columbia, SC. This show (which is my first) will be on May 26th, leaving me 3 full months to begin my prep. Right now I weigh in at 170.4.lbs with 12% body fat. At the show I intend to lose as much fat as possible, while keeping as much muscle as possible.
My diet will change a great deal by taking away carbs from night meals, replacing the majority of the bread in my diet with more complex carbohydrates, and having NO cheat meals. Before, I was taking in a rough estimate of about 3,200 calories, and I intend to keep that level up, while lowering my carbohydrates and fat intake as the weeks go by. Cheat Meals: Because of the fact that this is going to be my first contest, I am receiving help from an experienced bodybuilder/nutritionist who goes to my gym. We will begin meeting starting 10 weeks out every two weeks, until we reach the final 4 weeks, where we will meet every week. I know that a lot of bodybuilders have created diets by themselves and made changes when they feel they need changes and have done well in their shows, but I think that you can never be at your top condition without listening to someone else's opinion and advice, especially if you have never dieted for a show before. My diet will change each month depending on my body's appearance NOT BODYFAT OR WEIGHT. As for food, I usually eat the same foods every day, with little variety in the meats here and there. I don't really eat for Flavor just for Fuel.
This is a sample of what my diet looked like before contest prep: Meal 1: 
Meal 2: Meal 3: Meal 4: Meal 5 (Pre Workout): Meal 6 (Post Workout): Meal 7: Meal 8: As you can see, my pre-contest diet consisted of a lot of empty carbohydrates, mainly from bread. This will definitely change. Therefore, all of the foods in red are going to be replaced with either brown rice or some sort of potato. My pre-contest diet will consist of 8 meals a day (on workout days) and 6 on off days. The meals will include more vegetables and complex carbs, with less fat. I will be eating approximately 3,000 calories depending on the day. This will consist of 200 grams of protein, and around 450 grams of carbohydrates.
This is a sample of my new diet: Meal 1 (AM Workout Days Only): 
Meal 1 (PM Workout Days Only): Meal 2: Meal 3: Meal 4: Meal 5 (pre workout): Meal 6 (post workout): Meal 7: Meal 8: This diet is what I will use for the first month, but like I said above, depending on my appearance we may add or take away food. Because of the fact that I am going to be keeping a high caloric intake during my contest prep, I will start doing cardio. I will be starting 10 weeks out, 5 days a week prior to eating breakfast. I will either walk on the treadmill with an incline or use the stair stepper for 30-45 minutes. I will also do calves and abs 3 days a week. Breakfast:
Along with diet, my supplement schedule will change each month. For the first month I will stick with a flavorless glutamine powder by ISS 3 times a day on training days, 2 times on off days, Champion Nutrition's Whey Protein 2 times a day, ISS Gainer pre workout. I will also take an inexpensive, Men's Daily Multi Vitamin once in the morning, and a Vitamin C tablet twice a day.
I will also begin to tan 2-3 times a week, to develop a natural base tan before I apply my ProTan a few nights before the show. I want to look very dark for the show, making tanning necessary due to the fact that my skin is naturally light.
At the contest I intend to win the Teen Division which is not categorized by weight or age. This is going to be quite a challenge because of my age of 16. Even if I don't win, I will still gain experience for my future years of bodybuilding, but I still want to be the best I can be. Goals For Contest:
This contest is going to be my top priority aside from school for the next 3 months. I am going to focus 100% on my goals so Palmetto Cup Watch Out!
  Click Image To Enlarge. Danny Drescher.
Overall this month has been fine, my diet has yet to become a problem, probably because I am eating just about the same amount of calories and carbs that I was before I started the diet, just from a more complex source. Every now and then I begin to get temptations to eat sweets or fatty foods, but they are nothing that I cannot control. My workouts are actually more intense, and the morning cardio actually increases my focus level at school! I visited my trainer twice this month to work on my posing, and go over my diet and cardio schedule. I myself am surprised at the changes that my body has made this month. My abs are already much more defined and visible, my arms are continuously vascular, and my chest is starting to show much more definition and separation. One thing that I did not realize is how hard posing actually is! After the first meeting with my trainer, I was wiped out. We first went though all the mandatory poses, and he fixed a lot of the bad habits I had picked up, and then went on to some more complex ones that show off different angles of my body. Posing is something that I will definitely work on for the next 8 weeks, so I look prepared and confident onstage.
My workouts have actually been more intense than before I started this diet, mainly due to the fact that I got a training partner who is a good 12 years older than me, and who is a lot stronger than me. I feel that I tend to workout harder when working with someone stronger than I am. Our workouts usually last 45-55 minutes, depending on the crowd at the gym. Below is our workout schedule:
*Along with the 5 days a week with cardio, I also do abs and calves in the morning. I feel that this 5 day split suits me better than taking a day off during the week and another off during the weekend, because during the weekends I usually work about 8 hours, which can really wipe me out depending on how busy it is that day. Therefore I prefer to have all my workouts out of the way, so I don't have to worry about squeezing a workout in my already busy day. Overall this first month of dieting has gone great, I am excited to see the changes my body will make during the next 2!
 Click Image To Enlarge. Danny Drescher. Danny Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
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