Part 3.
The final week.
Depletion started 7 days from the show. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all under 75gr of starchy carbs and plenty of green vegetables.
When I take my carbs down so low, I will compensate by bringing protein and fats up a bit. The idea behind the very low carb is to tighten up that extra 10%, to deplete the muscles, and to increase insulin sensitivity in preparation for the upcoming carb load week. Without optimal insulin sensitivity while carb loading, you can eat as much as you want and youll never carb up maximally.
Depletion workouts consisted of training each body part at least twice in a 3 day period. Workouts are long, 1.5-2hrs, but the amount of actual work done to each muscle group is minimal. The goal being to deplete glycogen, not build muscle at this point. I try to train each muscle from as many different angles as possible to ensure that I am depleting as many muscles as possible.
My lady, Amanda, son Benjamin and best friend Bob Weatherill and I all packed up and headed to Vegas on Tuesday. I wanted to get into town early so I could get settled before everyone started showing up.
We arrived at 4pm Tuesday and were greeted by the film crew from “Generation Iron”. We were scheduled to shoot on Wednesday(intentionally on my end, I didn’t want to be bothered until I was settled), so much for that!
The next few days ended up being extremely busy and it seemed everyone wanted my time and attention. Normally before a show, you will find me in my room for 3 days posing, eating and sleeping. Not much else. My focus is on one thing- the contest. When im not meditating and visualizing my goal, im posing or eating.
This week however, turned out to be quite the opposite. I really didn’t have time to pose, and definitely didn’t have time to nap.
Interviews, filming, meetings, meet and greet, the expo and the arrival of friends and family from all over the world occupied my days.
On the whole, my body felt great. I knew it was going take a perfect week for me to break into the top 6(which was my goal), and things really did seem to go as planned. The only thing I can think of that would have made me better, was the rest and posing. But I truly cant complain about the entire process.
My support team(Amanda and Bob) were incredible and I couldn’t have done it without them.
My carb load started at 200g of carbs Monday and Tuesday. 500 Wednesday, 1000 Thursday and 600 Friday(the show was Friday night). Very similar to the load that I followed for the Arnold Classic earlier this year.
Carbs of choice are usually very similar to what I eat while preparing for the contest. Primarily white rice and sweet potatoes.
I’ll divide the total daily amount over 6-8meals. Meal one of the day, and meal 5 are still no carb(like I always advocate while dieting). This just allows my body to maintain insulin sensitivity, and therefore actually use the carbs im putting in.
Some of the supplements I use during the last week:
Fenugreek
Cinnamon
R-ALA(allmax)
Fish Oil
Magnesium
Tyrosine
Taurine
Zinc
Glycocarn
I try to not eat anything for 3hours before going on stage. The idea is to keep the stomach empty and blood in the muscles. My last meal before the show began was
Steak and sweet potato with some “nutzo butter” (look it up….Delicious).
This brings us to the actualy MR OLYMPIA Contest.
It was incredible and overwhelming to say the least. An incredible honour to set foot on that stage. Childhood dreams fulfilled. To hear that olympia music playing brought tears to my eyes. I know that my son was sitting in the audience brought passion to my heart and took all my fear and anxiety away.
My dad, who took me to my first olympia in 1998(i was 17- and 180lbs.) was sitting 2nd row.
My best friends in the world, my family, my incredible lady all looked on and I felt every one of them cheering for me.
Outcome aside, the Mr Olympia 2012 was every bit as incredible as I could ever have imagined it to be, and much much more.
I hope you all get to live YOUR dream.
PLease take a minute to share the blog. Comment below if you enjoyed it or learned something. Your comments keep me motivated to blog more often. 😉
Best,
BPak
Ben 75 grams of carbs were just the starchy carbs or the starchy carbs+ the carbs from the veggies? and what time of the day you eat during depletion? and one more question: how you manipulate water consumption 4 days before the show?
Great stuff! I’ve enjoyed these updates greatly. Continue to inspire and much luck in your future endeavors!
Adam
TX
Would love to read your take on water and why you think you didnt get to top 6..
Congratz on fulfiling your dream and all the best for the future !!
Hi Ben,
Love all your blogs. I have been following your advice and tips now since early this year. I have made some crazy gains from them too! Since competing in may I have added a stone to my contest weight and in better condition too!
This Saturday (nov 3rd) I compete for the Mr Universe title, thanks to you I feel this will be my best chance ever! Loving the hypertrophymax series too!
Thanks for your advice!!
Wish you the best for your future competitions!!
Hope one day I may get to do a workout with you!!
Thanks man!!!!
Steve Cart.
So proud of you hunny!!!!!!! <3
thanks for sharing! can you tell a bit more about your depletion workouts? do you train during the carb load? why are you bringing up carbs gradually the peak on the 4th day? isn’t insulin sensitivity decreasing the further we wait after the depletion workout?
Thanks for the informative blog. I’m enjoying HypertrophyMax also. Would like to know more about water manipulation and diuretics. I’ve competed twice and won my weight class both times. Do you use any fats to fill out or only carbs. Thanks
Hi Ben
I always appreciate the time you take to share these details. Fascinated by the whole depletion/carb loading stuff.
I’m amazed your muscles aren’t sore the day of the show after all that preposing days before?
I read a great book with a renowned personality test in it called Please understand me 2 I’m guessing you’re an Artisan Promoter type 😉
Where did you place Ben? Well done on your journey!
This was a great post! Would love to hear about your water and sodium intake for the week.
hey ben,
Really awesome work big guy,would have liked to hear what was going through your mind when you were on stage,great blog, more please!
Proud of you big dog BOOM!
Keep growing Ben! Enjoy yourselff you paved your golden brick road. Thats what pure hard work does. Love your work and ill be looking forward in presenting my inspiration and transformation to you and Vince in the next few months. Cant wait…
Thumb up!!!
I feel motivated after going through your blog. I am an Engineer with a deep passion for Bodybuilding. I want to be a pro like you but that is not possible for me with my profession. Still I enjoy building my body from the bottom of my heart. I have recently started your MI40 program (taken from my friend ). You will be surprised to know that my chest size increased by 4 inches from 46 to 50 in 1.5 months. I will always be grateful to you. Keep posting good things and motivating all of your fans. Wish you all good luck for your future endeavors.
Awesome blog, thanks Ben.
So I’m on week 3 of MI40 and I just finished back and hams and must say( considering week 3 is lower intensity) I have an incredible lift! From start to finish my body was feeling it. It took everything I had to keep from vomiting during my last set. Thank you Ben, so on fire right now, if you haven’t try MI40 yet… You need too. Amazing training investment.
Thank you Ben, you truly know how to inspire greatness!
This article was stored like a favorite :), I like your site!
Ben, I’ve seen your training methods and passion to work hard the whole past year mostly in the mi40 program. You are my hero and my favorite bodybuilder and I truly believe you will be a Mr. Olympia someday, for sure.
Hey ben
I was wondering how to really eat right for muscle building at about 190 pounds because I train hard but the nutrition is about the only thing right now I have no clue on.
Thanks
MY MAN! U WILL BE MR “”O”” VERY SOON!!