Welcome to My Blog!

Hello and thank you for following my blog. My name is Jon Arnold. I created this blog for several purposes. First, it will be used as a tool to help me stay on track with my preparation for natural bodybuilding competitions. Second, I hope this blog will be helpful to you. If you have ever considered bodybuilding, following me through this will help give you a good idea about what it all entails. If you have any questions about bodybuilding or any fitness related matter, please feel free to ask. I have been an ACE certified personal trainer for over 5 years and I have a bachelor's degree in Nutrition. I would be happy to help you in any way that I can.

My Background:

I have been interested in bodybuilding for quite awhile. I remember when I was 16 years old, I used to read all the bodybuilding magazines and tried to learn what I could from the pro-bodybuilders. It wasn't until I was quite older that I realized the majority of bodybuilders pictured in the big muscle magazines use steroids. After finding this out, my bodybuilding interest waned quite a bit.

When my wife and I lived in Richmond, Virginia we worked out at a gym called "American Family Fitness", and we met a few folks there that competed as "natural" bodybuilders. These folks did not have the same freakish muscle size that you saw in magazines, but they were in great shape and were definitely inspiring. After going to a few shows which they competed in, I decided to join them and do a competition as well. I have been hooked ever since!

So far, I have competed in 6 natural bodybuilding competitions as well as the Body-For-Life competition (which you can learn more about at http://www.bodyforlife.com/). Each competition that I have competed in, I have been able to make more and more improvements. At my first competition, I finished last. Since then, I have done much better. In fact, this past year I placed 1st in two different competitions. However, as much as I would like to get wrapped up in my placement. Bodybuilding really isn't (or shouldn't be) about how you place, it's about how you do!

Focus on how to improve you and your placement will take care of itself. There is a common saying in bodybuilding. "You have no control over who shows up." So, even if you do your absolute best and work as hard as possible. You may still come in 6th place out of 6 if there are 5 people who have more of what the judges want than you do. Your placement doesn't determine if you are a winner or not! You are a winner if you simply follow through with what you commit to do. Let God take care of the rest.

My Why:

Bodybuilding is an interesting endevour. Many people think bodybuilding is primarily for people who are vain. Some folks do get into bodybuilding for that reason. However, they usually don't last too long.  Honestly, if your number one reason for getting into bodybuilding is to help yourself look good, then you may want to consider a different sport. Your vanity is not a strong enough reason to keep you doing everything you need to do to be successful at this!

I like bodybuilding because it allows me to show others what you can achieve! It's not an easy task, which makes it worthwhile. It's also a faith-based endevour. In order for you to get your body into the extremely lean state that is necessary for competition, you have to have faith that God will help you through your training and diet to get you there. You can't rely on your own perfection to take care of things all the time. It's an opportunity to show God you trust Him to help you through this. 

My Plans

So, my plans for 2010 are to potentially compete in a couple of competitions around the beginning of June. There are a few different natural bodybuilding organizations: INBF, NGA, and OCB that host bodybuilding shows in the northeast. So that gives me 6 months to prepare for these competitions.

Since I placed first in my category in two different competitions this past year, my goal is to, God willing, take an overall title and go pro this year. It's a big task. However, with steady training, diet, rest and prayer, who knows what can happen!

My goal is to continue to gain weight for the next few months and then start dieting to lose the bodyfat.

Obstacles:

Injuries:  I have a very thight lower back along with what appears to be the beginning signs of carpal tunnel in my right wrist. Lifting heavy weights over a long period of time can lead to chronic joint aches. My primary care physician told me that athletes at my age (30) all experience some kind of arthritis.

I plan to visit a masseuse for my tight low back and hopefully working around the wrist problems may allow my wrist time to recover. I also work in 2, 45min to 1hr stretching sessions each week where I make use of a foam roller to help alleviate tension. Hopefully that will be enough. Only time will tell.

My Training:

I currently workout with weights 4 times each week do 5 cardio sessions and 2 stretching sessions. My split looks like this:
Monday - Quads/Traps/Abs, 30 min cardio
Tuesday - Calves, Stretch and 20 min cardio interval
Wednesday - Hams/Shoulders/Abs 30 min cardio
Thursday - Back/Bi/Calves, sprints
Friday- Stretch and 45 min cardio
Saturday - Chest/Tri/Abs
Sunday - Rest

I do 5 cardio sessions each week for a couple of different reasons. First, it helps me stay leaner in the "off-season". Second, it helps me recover from my weight training sessions faster because of the blood flow so I can lift heavier sooner. Third, it gives me an appetite to eat more good food. I find it difficult to eat as much as I need to, to put on good weight. Doing cardio helps give me a good appetite!

My Diet:

With this current training plan, I could eat up to 4000 calories each day and not gain weight. With that in mind, if I am feeling a bit lazy on a weekend day and not eat as much as I need to and I eat about 3000 calories, I'll lose weight. My plan is to put on about another 6-8lbs over the course of the next couple months before I really start dieting to lose the bodyfat.

So, my current calorie plan is 4500-5000 calories each day with 25-30% of that protein (280g - 370g), 50-55% carbs (550-650g) and approx 20% fat (100-115g). I also try to get in a good variety of fruits and vegetables with at least 3 servings of dairy each day. My diet plan is actually pretty similar to the food guid pyramid, except with more protein. This plan has served me well.

For supplements, I currently take 2 different kinds of creatine. I take BSN Cellmass twice/day and a generic creatine twice/day. This gives me approx 20g of creatine in a day. This has helped me gain quite a bit of weight, granted it's primarily water, but it allows me to push heavier weight.

I used to take a preworkout supplement like Noxplode, but I have found that the caffeine is way too much for me and I get withdrawal symptoms when I go off of it. So, I created my own pre-workout concoction that has lots of B-vitamins and L-Arginine. If you are interested in finding out everything that is in it, just let me know.

I also take a general mulitvitamin with fish oil and vitamin D.

My Stats:

Height: 6' 2"
Today's Weight: 212lbs
Bodyfat%: 9.2% taken 2 weeks ago with a 3 site caliper test
Waist circumference: 34"
Chest: 43"
Arms: 16.5"
Thighs: 25"
Calves: 16"

My goal is to get my weight up to approx 220lbs with a bodyfat of not much higher than 11%.  That would give me a lean body mass of 196lbs. If I then dieted down to 205lbs for competition, my bodyfat should hopefully be around 5% and I would be 5lbs heavier than the last competition in October. I could also keep dieting to 200lbs and potentially get my bodyfat in the 3% range, which would be the lowest level I ever would have achieved. I believe that may be the best approach for me considering I want to win an overall title.

This is what I looked like with my bodyweight at 200lbs with a 5% bodyfat:

This is what I look like today at 212lbs 9% bodyfat:

Of course, the fact that I don't have dark paint on or all of my body hair shaven doesn't give you the exact same picture, but you get the idea. As you can see, I am quite a bit smoother today than at the October show. That is actually a very normal part of putting on muscle size. Putting on weight will put on both fat and muscle. Leaning out will decrease bodyfat and lose a little bit of muscle as well. It's the net muscle gain that makes all the difference!

Today's Activities:

Here is my report for today from http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

              Calories Carbs Fat    Protein  Cholest  Sodium   Sugars   Fiber
TOTAL: 4,443    525g   118g  350g   675mg   4,955mg   232g    68g

Exercise Notes:
Had a great workout today! Focused on higher reps for the legs. Did 56 Reps with 270lbs on the leg press! Did 30 reps each for lunges with 45lb cables. Did 35 reps on the new leg extension machine w/ 90lbs. Then had an awesome bike ride with the new spin bikes. My HR was over 150bpm for the majority of it! Great workout!


I intend to post an actual copy of the myfitnesspal report each day, once I figure out how to copy it from myfitnesspal to this blog. I've got a bit of learning to do.

Thank you for participating! God Bless!