Brad’s 2004 Training Journal
Western USA Natural Body Building Championships
July 24th 2004
Sacramento, CA
SATURDAY – 7/24/2004
WESTERN USA NATURALS
Evening Summary – Like I said yesterday, everything
went smooth last night. We got done at 11:00pm
and I was in bed asleep by 11:20 or so. I got a good 2 ½ hours
sleep before the alarm started going off to eat at 2:00am.
Then it was 3, 4, (K) at 5:00am and I was up to eat at 6:00am. 3am and 6am were mashed potatoes, the rest of the day
were all chips. I got ready, put on 2 coats of SUN self tanner and was ready
to go at 9:30am.
Prejudging – There were some monsters that showed
up for this show. I was by far the lightest one in the entire “Open”
class. Eight of us panned out to 3 in the tall, myself and another competitor
in the medium, and then 3 in the short. Even the guys in the short division clearly
weighed more than I. I new after the ¼ turns that I had my class won. One of the judges wrote in his score card once, then folded his arms and watched. The owner was snapping pictures of me like crazy and I could tell by the energy of the judges I had cruised
to an easy victory. My competitor was big and fairly lean, but I had him beat
by a long shot with my conditioning.
Evening Show – 19 of my family and friends showed
up for my show which was awesome. The evening show was a blast. I was on third to last, and last. So I did not even get undressed
until nearly the end. I just hung out outside stretching and talking with a new
friend. I performed my routine to the theme from “Rocky IV” imagine
that, and the feedback from the crowd was awesome. Every pose I hit was an instant
hit. When all was done, one of the judges gave me a standing ovation. “He is popping out all over” was a comment I heard as the M.C. asked the audience how I did. Of course I had won and it was off to the overall against to formidable opponents.
Both the winner of the tall and short divisions outweighed
me, but I had superior conditioning to them both. The tall competitor was the
only other contestant with striations in his glutes, but mine were more deep. The
head judge called out a bunch of poses and the crowd response really had me fired up.
When it came time for the pose down I knew I was holding my own. I did
some direct comparison poses to the winner of the tall class, also last years champ and a ABA/INBA Pro, just to prove I had
him with conditioning. When they announced the results, I was really not all
that surprised to hear the tall competitor had won. I was positive right up to
the end, calling myself the “Giant Killer” tingling right up to the end with the feeling of beating him, but it
was not meant to be at this show.
Nutrition – I consumed ½ a gallon of water before
the prejudging. However, I consumed most of that with my early morning meals
so I had to taper down to the prejudging. Was flexing my hamstrings hard in prejudging
and they started to cramp a little. Prejudging was done at about 12:50pm, and I immediately got my 1:00pm meal down after I walked
offstage. I started drinking water regularly, and added a little GL3 and Creatine
to my 2:00pm nutrition and again at my 3:00pm meal. I saved a little water for about ½ an hour before the evening show, and it paid off. My hamstrings did not cramp. The show was done at 8:20pm and I immediately began drinking water. The celebration
was at an authentic Mexican food restaurant. 16 family members and friends showed
up and we had a great time. I did not add salt to my meal. It was delicious and with all the water I had been drinking, I did not dry out so bad like I did last year.
Summary – What an absolutely awesome experience. The feeling I had being on stage with two fantastic looking athletes going at it for
the overall was indescribable. The feeling of Jamie clapping and hopping in her
seat when I was announced the winner of the medium class was also indescribable. The
whole weekend was great and it will remain some of my fondest memories for a long time.
I have ordered a DVD of the experience, and my friend Ron took about 3 rolls of film to document the show. And with that this journey comes to a close, but another is hot on it’s heals. I am in awesome shape, and I feel ready to tackle the first ever Muscle Mania in San Diego in 5 weeks. So next week it is back in the gym and back to work. I want that feeling I had this weekend to be and even better feeling in 5 weeks. Here I come!!!
