He’s just a normal guy (a tad on the skinny side) on a mission to raise money by beefing up for Charity, read about Sam Worther’s Challlenge…
The Challenge
2014 March, so it’s a little late for New Year’s resolutions but if you wind back the clock to January 2014 my year kicked off with a desire to do something different and challenge myself. So I decided to raise as much money as possible for the Peter Westropp Memorial Trust by entering a Men’s Physique fitness competition.
Fund Raising
So many of my friends had already taken the plunge and put themselves through great fundraising marathons, triathlons and more jovial budgie smuggler running all with fantastic aplomb. I also wanted to play my part but do something leftfield. Having joked with Peter in the past about the Pumping Iron and being an avid viewer of Schwartznegger films targeting the UKBFF London South East Championship on Sunday 11th May appeared a great fit. This was not something to take lightly and would be incredibly tough for me to do whilst working full time on a startup and completing an MBA.
Fitness Competition
Unlike traditional bodybuilding competitions a new style of competition has been developed where people who love to exercise and look toned and athletic can put themselves through a step by step process to create a lean toned muscular physique. Competition prep is basically a test of your physical, mental and emotional endurance. It takes many weeks of a structured exercise plan sometimes taking up, hours of every day. Physical and mental conditioning when you are tired or hungry or craving other foods to push through to complete your mission. Temptations are everywhere.
So I hadn’t been to the gym since August 2014 and my knowledge was grounded on my school boy rugby days. So now as a fairly recently-turned 30-year-old who was born with the skinny gene I’d have to get serious.
Fortunately a friend put me in contact with Ronni Mackay ,who has over 20 years of bodybuilding and competing experience. She has forged my training into 3 stages. Stage 1 involved some introductory weight training to get my muscles used to working out again. Stage 2 centres on bulking up, maxing my nutritional intake whilst weight training. Finally stage 3 is the “cutting” phase where you maintain weight training but include significant cardiovascular work to get lean. I’m currently at stage 2 of this process and what has quickly transpired is the difficulty of eating enough good calories. In my opinion bodybuilders are the best nutritionist and nutrition is around 70-80% of the equation when it comes to maintaining a honed physique.
6 Meals a Day not 3
You need to consumer smaller meals more often. Instead of the standard you need to eat 6 meals a day (yes at awkward times) every 3 hours. So this does mean getting some strange looks from your colleagues at the office, tooling up with a tupperware and viewing food as fuel. You don’t eat for taste, you eat for function. In the main my 6 meals a day are mainly consisting of:
- 1 x Carbohydrate (200 grams) – Sweet Potato – Brown Rice / Pasta
- 1 x Lean Protein (200 grams) – Chicken – Eggs – Fish – Steak
- 1 x Green Veg – Broccoli – Green Beans – Spinach
If there is one thing you take away from this blog it would be that Food is the most important part of the equation if you’re looking to put on lean muscle and within that I’d advise:
- Batch shopping – big on-line grocery shops every 2 weeks
- Stocking up on Tupperware
- Batch cooking – cook a 6 – 9 meals every 2-3 days
The Peter Westropp Trust
All of this is in aid of Peter Westropp, great friend, surveyor and incredibly good guy who tragically passed away in 2011. His charity www.peterwestropp.co.uk support’s the Carers Trust, the largest provider of comprehensive carer support services in the UK. An exceptional cause and one that reflects Peter’s desire to include anyone who felt that they were on the periphery of any given situation and make them feel like a valued and important part of their social surroundings. If you’d like to follow my fund raising physique journey please go to www.aworthychallenge.com
WIN!
You could WIN a training session with expert PT Ronni herself just be donating to Sam’s challenge! Click on the link below & send us your contact details to [email protected] with DONTATED in the subject so that we can get in touch with you if you win! Winners will be chosen on 12th May.
DONATE HERE: http://www.peterwestropp.co.uk/43-events/list-of-future-events/116-a-worthy-challenge-2014