The Countdown Begins

After realizing that I needed more motivation and a medium through which I could promote my own self-accountability, I figured I would start a blog so that I could detail my path to the 2008 North Carolina State Bodybuilding Competition.  This show will be held on Saturday April 19, 2008 in Greensboro, North Carolina.  Today marks what I will call my official preparation for this show.  For bodybuilding standards, this is considered very early to begin preparing for a show, but I guess I should explain my situation.  In May of 2006, I competed at the Mr. Pittsburgh competition.  About a month after that, I ruptured two discs in my lower back (L4, L5).  This landed me in surgery in August to have a laminectomy to repair these discs.  I was out of commission from that time until about April 2007 and I literally did not lift a weight and all but abandoned the bodybuilding lifestyle.  I ate crap, drank beer, and laid on the couch most days for about 8 months straight.  I guess I was kind of discouraged as the ruptured discs left me with numbness in my right foot and the prognosis for any future weight training was not good.  I lost about 25 pounds and my muscles atrophied to the point where I resembled a marathon runner. I mean no disrespect to distance runners as I have the greatest respect for what they do and I ran cross county in High School; the physiques of bodybuilders are just at the opposite end of the spectrum.  I also gained a good bit of body-fat-so much so that my pants are all too tight.  I know what I have to do now and I will make today the start of my journey to the show in April.  I weighed in today at 227lbs.  I do not know my body-fat, but I will try and determine that and post it here within the next few days.  I plan to post my training and diet here each day with comments and updates on how things progress.