EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the athlete journal of Allison Moyer. Allison is a nationally ranked NPC Figure Athlete, nationally and internationally published fitness model, an avid CrossFit athlete, BSN, C.P.T, C.S.N, C.N.W.C, and owner of Alli-Fitness Systems and Predator-Diet. Read all about Allison’s unique approach to training and diet every other week.
Welcome to my journal. I’m a little nervous – and very excited. Honored to be here actually.
This is my first entry and ironically, I’m eleven days out from the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) North American Championships, where I will compete in the figure division. As I sit here writing this, I’m forking down a lovely meal of lettuce, cod, and sweet potato – the saving grace being the sweet potato.
So, I’m competing in figure and I don’t really do anything traditional about it, which you’ll discover by following my journal. I’m paleo. I do strength training and CrossFit only, and I don’t do steady-state cardio. That’s a two-legged unicorn if ever there was one.
In these last twelve weeks of prep, I’ve learned a lot about myself. And in my opinion, the most effective preps are the ones that teach you about yourself. Not only did I become aware of just how strong I am mentally, I also learned a lot about my body.
At four weeks out in my last few figure preps of 2012, I was literally dead. I could barely move, keep my eyes open, or function. So far during this prep, I have set a snatch PR at five weeks out, a power clean PR at three weeks out, and today I just ran two miles averaging seven minutes per mile and did thirty reps of power clean at 80lbs without breaking until rep twenty.
I’ve learned that although I may be ravenous when my fats are reduced, my energy and my athletic output only suffer when my carbs are low. My nutrition is handled by John Meadows, who has reduced my fat intake a little, but kept my carbs high. Even on my lower carb days my intake is high by most standards, and certainly by paleo standards. And my strength, energy, and ability to push myself haven’t faltered. It’s keeping me sane too, I might add. It’s giving me something to focus on rather than just dwelling on how I look.
Right now I’m doing two training sessions a day on most days – HIIT or some form of metabolic conditioning in the morning and then my weights in the evening. I’ll probably run with this right up until show day, but anyone who’s ever done a prep for the stage can tell you that what you do and how you do it can change in an instant. So I may wind up taking that back!
Fasted AM MetCon:
- 30x Power Squat Clean @55% 1RM: 78.75, I just rounded to 80. I made it to rep 20 before I had to break. At eleven days out, I’ll take it.
- Run 2 miles: I banged this out in 14:05.
Push Training:
- Warm Up: 10 minute warm up on the Stepmill with some intervals
- Walking Lunges: No weight, 150 steps
- High Bar Back Squat 6×2 @148lbs: I rested about 40 seconds between sets. This felt easy today. I am on week four of a squat cycle, so the numbers I have written are numbers dictated by my trainer that I HAVE to hit. I should also note that because I train the Olympic lifts for CrossFit, I squat high bar back, not low bar.
- Bench Press 6×2 @ Bodyweight (125lbs): By set 5 this got heavy. Rested about 60 seconds between sets.
- Dips 3×5. I did these off parallel bars. Rested about 30 seconds.
- Alternating Seated Shoulder Press 5×5, superset with Diamond Push Ups 5×10: Only rested as needed, did this to really finish off my upper body and get a good pump.
- L Hangs x 50
- Decline Bench Leg Lift x 50
- Supermans x 50
- 10 minutes treadmill incline intervals: I don’t do traditional “steady state” cardio. But this is figure and I need to have a good set of glutes and since I’m not genetically blessed in that area, this requires some effort. I did 10 minutes of 20:20 intervals. I walked at a 15.0 incline (as high as the stinking treadmill will go) at a rest pace of 2.0 and an interval pace of 3.5. NO HANDS. I lean forward into the hill and dig through my heels.
Today’s Thought: “The most important point to remember in developing self-confidence is to take responsibility for who we are. This empowers us. We can change anything, do anything, and be anything when we assume full responsibility for ourselves.” – Rachael Bermingham
