Profiles 08 - New Zealand Bodybuilding Research

Date: 22nd November 2008
Last Updated: 22nd November 2008
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Mat Jones - Part two - 10th November 2008 06:53pm

Mathew Jones - a Former Taranaki Bodybuilder and Junior NZ BB'ing Champ talks candidly about his recent experience of competing in Australia

Well first of all Hi to everyone back home and thanks for having a look at my profile.

I will give you a bit of info of how it was to compete this year and my training and diet.

This was for sure the hardest and most trying thing I have ever done in my life. Sure I have competed many times but this time was a lot different.

I moved over here (to Australia) in January to start something new just to get away for a while. So I started work at a coffee shop called Gloria Jeans in the middle of a small town called Geelong about 45min. out of Melbourne.

I started training at an old school gym called Fitness Physique it is like the fitness company in New Plymouth (where I lived in NZ) was but about five times bigger.

I have always wanted to be a nurse so it seemed like a good time to get into it. The course started in July this year and all of a sudden I had the urge to compete again.

I decided to do the Vic national qualifier in October 3rd. So pretty much from the start of the course I was dieting. Good times for my fellow students!

My daily regime

I started getting up in the morning 6.00am - bike to the gym then go home to get ready for school. Bike there. It started at 9.00am and finished at 4.00PM.

I would then bike home then off back to the gym for an evening weight session.

It started to get really hard about halfway through this diet as I had exams also no car and financially it was very very hard working 2 days a week to pay for rent, all my food, supps and all other bills.

What was so different was that I had no family or other bber's in the gym. I was the only one competing.

I'm sure like many others that when I compete I like to be around people I know best especially family and as the diet gets harder the more you rely on them and your fellow bb's.

When it got to about 2 weeks out there were days when I thought i just couldn't do it. I was biking to school one day after my morning cardio session and I wanted to break down in tears I felt so weak, tired and hopeless.

My nursing teachers were telling me to stop as they could see how pale I was.

They said it's not healthy and I had exams.

My blood sugar levels were dangerously low at 2.5 mmol/l it is dangerous when they are below 3.5mmol/l.

Once the last week came around I was excited but I was so stuffed I could hardly do anything. You don't get much energy from egg whites and beans.

I just told myself to keep going also ringing my best mate in NZ Andy Hill - an awesome bodybuilder - kept me going for the last week.

Making it .....

Well I finally got there.

A huge line up of 20 juniors. They reckon one of the best junior lineups they have ever seen for quality.

They compared the top three for about twenty mins.

It was very hot and the sweat was going wild with those extremely hot light.

Well I got third. Not too bad but the judges did tell me that my tan was to light and patchy may have cost me a placing.

But my sights are set on next year as it's my last year in juniors.

So look out for me 4th October 2009
I must say thanks for this awesome site it kept my motivation up. I was on it a minimum 5 times a day. (NB: Anne just popped in here to say thanks to Matt for the nice words.....)

Here is an overview of my diet. A very boring one but effective one:

Meal1. ¾ cup of oats 6 egg whites

meal 2. ½ cup brown rice ½ cup veg 200gm chicken breast or kangaroo

meal 3. ½ cup brown rice ½ cup veg 200gm chicken breast or kangaroo

meal 4. 1/3 cup brown rice ½ cup veg 200gm chicken breast or kangaroo

meal 5. ¼ cup brown rice ½ cup veg 200gm chicken breast or kangaroo

meal 6. Protein shake with water

This was the diet from about week 12 to 1 month out then it changes again by cutting out all red meat and sauces and boiling the chicken and smaller portions of rice.

And the last week from Monday to Saturday every meal was 200gm boiled chicken and ½ boiled beans.

The comp was on Sunday.

I carbed up Saturday night starting at 4PM with potatoes and rice wafers at this time cutting right down on fluids.

After the diet the first meal was McDonald's.

I couldn't help myself. I ate what ever I wanted for a week and now my diet is the basic stuff rice veg meat but mix it up a bit and also using sauces I'm also having treats whenever i want.

So thanks to everyone for reading and to Maria Dunlop. It was awesome to follow your progress coming up to my comp you did awesome.

Mat Jones - 17th October 2008 04:19pm

Mathew Jones, formerly of Taranaki, but now based in Australia, recently placed 3rd at the Victoria Champs held on 3rd October, in a lineup of 20 competitors. Mat is currently studying in Australia and had to juggle his student life while preparing for this comp. Mat was a fomer NZ Junior Champ.

Mat is in the red trunks on the right.

Paul Adams - 3rd September 2008 01:44pm

Paul Adams is currently in training for the NZFBB nationals. Here is a typical day in his life - 8 weeks out...

Paul Adams

Age: 50

Lives in: New Plymouth, Taranaki, NZ

Currently in training for: The NZFBB Nationals

This will be his second comp. His first one was the Wellington NZFBB event in April.

Paul is new to competitive bodybuilding at 50 years. He said it has always interested him and now with the kids grown up he has time to be selfish and focus on what he wants to do.

His physical transformation so far:

Paul said he didn’t know what he weighed before he started bodybuilding – maybe 78 kg (a ‘little chubby with middle age spread”- he said). For the Wellington’s he reduced his weight to 66.8kg – then went up to 74kg post-comp. He is currently 73 kg now and is aiming to coming in with more muscle but leaner for the Nationals in 8 weeks time.

A day in his life:

Paul works full time, in the insurance industry. So training, diet and everything else occurs around a busy work day. A typical schedule right now is as follows:

Meal 1: 6am – get up and have a 40gram protein shake with water. Porridge + trim milk, coffee.

Meal 2: 8am – when at work – have 8 eggs (7 whites + 1 full egg). He just swallows these raw – he doesn’t have time to cook them. These are prepared in advance – cracked and put into plastic containers and taken to work.

Meal 3: 10am – ½ protein shake, protein bar + apple

Meal 4: 12 noon: ½ cup rice, 1 ½ tins tuna, mixed veges

Meal 5: 2pm 8 eggs (a repeat of meal 2)

Meal 6: 4pm – 50 gram protein shake

Meal 7: 6pm – back home for 400 grams chicken breast. 2 slices kumara + lettuce + tomato

Meal 8: 8pm: 8 eggs raw (i.e. 7 whites + 1 full egg)

Meal 9: 10 pm: 40 gram Protein shake + water

Meal 10: 2am: 40 gram Protein shake + water. Paul wakes up during the night to have this and he has done this added meal since April.

The only change which Paul has made to his diet since April has been to reduce his carbs.

Food Preparation Strategy:

To eat this number of meals, preparation is key says Paul. He takes to work each day Meals 2- 6 (above).

To do this he packs:

2 lots of 8 eggs already cracked (yolks removed) and put into plastic containers.

Below: The plastic containers that hold Paul's egg whites to take to work each day. Just a quick swallow (no cooking) and that is a meal.

1 ½ tins tuna + ½ cup rice + veges (his current favourite Asian stir fry). This is already mixed up. Paul cooks 2 days of rice and stir fry together every second day and then divides this up. This way he doesn’t have to prepare things every day. So before work, also grabs a container of his vege/rice mix plus the tuna. At work they are heated in the microwave.

At work he keeps a supply of protein powder. ICE Horley’s in chocolate is his favourite and his protein bars are Horley's Carbless – (the double chocolate flavour).

Training:

Paul does cardio 3 mornings per week – 1 hour walking. This is done before breakfast (5am) on non weight lifting days.

Weights are done 4 days per week. He works out at the gym Saturday and Sunday plus 2 days during the week. This schedule works best due to his work demands during the week.

Below: Paul on the left practicing his posing as he counts down to his next comp.

Wellington Seminar Update - 1st September 2008 11:59am

For those unable to attend, Maeuve Agnew provided the following update and pics from the Wellington BB'ing Seminar which was held on 31st August. Hand outs are also available - refer to the contact details at the end of this report.

Seminar Report.....

The Wellington Bodybuilding Seminar was held on Sunday 31st August. It was a great couple of hours covering off all aspects of competing in either NABBA or NZFBB Shows. We were lucky to have Jim Pitt and Marianne Poole (President and Secretary of NABBA New Zealand) present as well as officials Terry Hills and Mark de Lew from NZFBB.

The audience included some seasoned international and national competitors along with lots of new and fresh faces, which was great.

Topics included discussing the different classes and the type of look judges are after for them, show day processes, tanning, bikinis, drugs in the sport and posing.

Seminar handouts were provided, including notes regarding the NABBA Wellington Show on the 4th of October and the NZFBB Nationals show in Wellington on the 18th of October.

If you would like copies of the seminar's handouts and explanatory notes, please contact Maeve at maeve.agnew@publictrust.co.nz and she'll happily send them out. They apply to any NABBA or NZFBB show.

Attached are a few photos from the day.

Thanks to those that come along and to the guest speakers.

If you have any questions regarding NABBA contact Maeve (Wellington Secretary) and she'll happily help you out. Terry Hills is also available to discuss NZFBB queries at terry.hills@xtra.co.nz

Below: Organisers and speakers getting themselves geared up and ready for the session....

....and here are some of the bodybuilders who came...recognise any faces?

Maria's Newspaper article - 15th August 2008 01:05pm

This Article was in our local newspaper - the Taranaki Daily News and features Bodybuilder Maria Dunlop

Dunlop won't let arthritis cramp her style

By FELICITY ROOKES felicity.rookes@tnl.co.nz - Taranaki Daily News | Friday, 15 August 2008

Maria Dunlop does not look like a sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis.

She's young, fit and a competitive body builder.

"I was struck down nine years ago with this hideous disease," Mrs Dunlop says.

"It's not just an old person's disorder, there are heaps of people around my age who are putting up with this."

The 39-year-old is eight weeks away from competing in the North Island Bodybuilding Champs and along the way she is raising money for Arthritis New Zealand.

"I want to create awareness of this disease and promote exercise and weight training as a great help - with no side effects.

"I want to put a fit face to arthritis, not the usual old lady knitting in a chair," Mrs Dunlop says.

Before she was diagnosed with arthritis, she was a successful competitive body sculptor and personal trainer.

"When I was first diagnosed, I thought that was the end of bodybuilding for me. I thought there was no way I could do it again."

But she didn't give up and as the competition approaches she is lifting weights like she used to and still works as a personal trainer.

"I just want people to know it's not the end of the world."

A member of Arthritis New Zealand, Mrs Dunlop was tired of going to meetings and being surrounded by older people who she felt she couldn't relate to.

She created her own support group dubbed Arthur's Girls which has 12 members and caters to like-minded, young women suffering from the debilitating disease.

"These women were suffering in silence, embarrassed and thinking they were the only ones in pain. Because it has been thought of as an old persons disease they hadn't told anyone."

She says one woman in the group is in her early twenties.

"We are young ladies, not a lot of old biddies," says Mrs Dunlop.

Maria in action

Off-Season Muscle Building - 12th February 2008 05:39pm

I asked Sandy Lee Jose what ideas and strategies she suggested for bodybuilders to focus on in the next few months, so they can come back looking even better (and more muscular) in 2008?

Sandy Replies:

You have to face the fact that you can’t stay lean all year round and make improvements especially if you are natural, female or middle aged.

Ok so you have finished a comp.

It will take about 2 months to get back to some sort of normality. With eating and training.

Then you might have about 4 months until you re think your next years comp plan.

Over the past years I have tried to stay around 63-65 kilos off season and compete at 60 kilos, but I knew that I should be competing at 58-59 kilos.

Each time I started dieting it would work for the first 4 to 6 weeks then I would hit a plateau. Why? Because staying lean and doing cardio all year made my body too fit and too efficient at what I was doing.

So last year I tried something different and I suggest everyone has to try this to improve.

To compete in April of next year:

Oct/November: I stopped all cardio, I ate and dropped reps to 6 - 8. My weight went up to 68-69 kilos but my strength increased, I was doing one arm rows with 130 lb d/bells.

Then I started to diet and do cardio on the 1st December, had Christmas day off and ate whatever I liked.

Then started back on the diet a couple of days later. I was 65 kilos on boxing day.

This kicked my metabolism into over drive.

From then on the weight just kept falling off, I lost a little strength when I went back to reps of 10, but only a little.

I weighed in at my lightest and best for years at 58 kilos.

Towards the end I was eating so much to keep the muscle and I cut my cardio in half, and I was still losing fat.

Below: Sandy in action

I didn't get a trophy - was it worth it? - 14th December 2007 07:11am

Sandy Lee Jose addresses another less talked about issue of competitive bodybuilding - how to cope when you don't place.

I DIDN'T GET A TROPHY - WAS IT WORTH THE EFFORT?

Some bodybuilders - especially first time competitors - spend a lot of time and effort training for an event. They put themselves on stage, but some don't place. Some feel feel bad about themselves and negative about their efforts and their activity.

Competitive Bodybuilding is complex - it is not like running a race, objectively knowing your time, how must faster you need to go to win - it is a bit more subjective. Bodies, as a medium are also unpredictable - you can look great, but on the day who knows how your body will stack up - who will come out of the wood work. And on that stage, you not only present your body, but yourself -Competitive bodybuilding is a bit personal.

So what advice can Sandy offer bodybuilders who compete but don't place? How can bodybuilders manage their own feelings?

Sandy Replies:

The worse I ever felt was the time I didn't win, I blamed myself and I was intolerable, I still remember when I didn't get one call out, but again it was my own fault. I lost sight of myself and was competing against others and not for myself.

Firstly you need to keep sight of things. Be realistic.

Problems arise when friends and family (and its not their fault as love is in the eye of the beholder) - they see you up there and to them you are the best, and that's great, for it takes a lot of encouragement to get up there, and a lot of the time we need people around us to keep our spirits high.

The problem comes when people keep telling you that you should of won etc.

All I can say to those you don't place, and you have probably heard it all a thousand times...

Each year a thousand guys and girls start out to compete, and in the end only about 5 of that number make it on stage, feel proud in your achievement. For there are heaps sitting in the audience that never and will never make it.

The other thing that you need keep in mind- is that this is a sport that takes time to build. You can’t and shouldn't expect to win the first time you get up there, or the second or third.

The worse thing that can happen is winning your first show. You might think the opposite, but if you win the first time, there is only one way and that's down.

Once you win its harder.

BB'er Sandy Lee Jose talks competition

I Can't Stop Bingeing Eating! - 30th November 2007 01:18pm

Sandy Lee Jose is a top Australasian Bodybuilder with many years of experience. I put to her some hard questions – issues which bodybuilders are sometimes confronted with, but maybe don’t talk a lot about.

In the first of a series of three questions, here is her response to question 1.

1. I HAVE FINISHED MY COMPS AND NOW I CAN'T STOP BINGE EATING. What can I do?

Sandy replies:

I have found that it doesn't matter how long you been doing this sport and how much you try everyone goes through this binge eating.

It can spiral out of control sometimes, I don't believe people when they say they don't go through, every male and female I have met over the years goes through it.

Advice steps and how to control and deal with it.

Realise this is normal we all do it.
Keep up the training, especially the cardio. I don't take time off at all after a competition, I am back in the gym straight away the next day, doing a couple of days of lighter weights to get the blood circulating, first body part is legs, as usually I haven't weight trained them for up to 2 weeks prior a comp. And I walk every morning and night.
Don't punish your self when you eat something bad, get over it and get on with the next day.
Over the first month when I get my eating back under control then I back off the training, this way the continual cardio and training sort of compensates for my over eating.
Try to limit yourself to one celebration meal or night out with friends and family a week. Just get everyone together in one hit.
Keep yourself busy, do all those things that you have been neglecting over the past few months, paint a room, go through your wardrobe, just stay busy.

Think of it this way: Your muscles are dying for the food, and I have found that I grow and get really strong during this phase. Most people can make some of their best gains straight after a comp.

Questions Coming Up:

OFF - SEASON MUSCLE BUILDING: What ideas and strategies does Sandy suggest BB’ers focus on over the next few months so they can come back looking even better in 2008

I DIDN'T GET A TROPHY - WAS IT WORTH THE EFFORT?

Some bodybuilders - especially first time competitors - spent a lot of time and effort training for an event. They put themslves on stage, but didn't place. Some feel feel bad about themselves and negative about their efforts and their activity.

What advice does Sandy offer bodybuilders in this situation? How can bodybuilders manage their own feelings if they don't place?

Stayed tuned for these next installments.

Sandy talks bingeing - Hey she does it too!