Did my first bodybuilding competition on Saturday, it went great! I took first place Novice category in the INBF Caribbean Grand Prix, so now it's all out hell in the gym to hopefully pack on some more pounds before I go for my next show which I'll have to enter in the open category. It was really encouraging and motivating experience for me coming from being told in Nov. 2002 that I need to start getting things together for lung transplant when I was down to 23% PFT's and extremely under weight, at which point they were trying to convince me to get a G-Tube but I refused 'cause I didn't want to ruine my abs, lol. That whole experience was a wake up call for me to get proactive and when I got back home from then on I took up weight lifting and stuffing myself with food and suppliments. I went into the gym like a twig and started slowly and within weeks I noticed I was feeling alot better and stronger so I just kept going with it and upping the intensity of my workouts. Right now I hover in the mid 30's to low 40's PFT's but I believe because of all the training I function as if it is higher. Reasons for me thinking this is that life so has it that I met my current girlfriend a year ago, who also has a lung condition (Immotile Cilia Syndrome) which is more so rare than CF, she is in the high 60's for PFT's and she's baffled at how my PFT's are low but I am able to train so hard and she can never keep up with me in anything. The next reason I believe this is when my friend pointed out to me that when I was on stage against all these athletes with no lung trouble I was not panting and having trouble controlling my breathing while under the stress of squeezing every last inch of muscle in your body while up on stage compared to a couple of them, I even remember hearing someone calling out from the audience for another competitor to control his breathing. Anyway I am just sharing this to encourage you all and not let anything get you down, the mind is a poerful thing and it is amazing what can be done with determination. I have definately baffled many minds around here where I live with where I am now and where I am coming from. And I will continue to do all I can to keep going! Another point I didn't want to forget to mention is that I have the "death sentence" (if I am allowed to joke around and call it that as that was how it was portrayed to me when it was detected) bacteria B. Cepacia which I just refuse to make it get to my head and get the best of me! Anyway, May God bless and keep you all! and I will try to get some pics of the event up somewhere as soon as they are available to me.
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My first Bodybuilding competition
- Thread starter lilmac7
- Start date
Mark, congratulations on your competition! It sounds like you have a great attitude. I'm going to print a copy of your post for my son. " A twig" describes his body type as well. He's always been a strong athlete until recently. He needs to gain weight and we've talked to his PT about weight training.
My husband has asked about supplements, but you know how the docs react. We'd love your opinion. What did you find effective as an appetite increaser when you first started out?
Thanks so much.
My husband has asked about supplements, but you know how the docs react. We'd love your opinion. What did you find effective as an appetite increaser when you first started out?
Thanks so much.
Mark congats! That's awesome and you are encouraging, I'm going to the gym today!!!! I do like to lift weights but when you get sick and lazy it's hard to start back up again, so thanks, I needed that little push. I also have B. Cepacia (since I was 8 or so) and I'm doing my best to not let it get the best of me! Keep up with the weights and keep us posted!
I echo Karen....pictures would be great!
I echo Karen....pictures would be great!
Spartan936
New member
That's an amazing achievement, mark. You know, your situation shows perfectly the positive effect *hard* exercise and *strict* diet can have on lung function and overall health. It baffles me that many people with CF, and also the doctors, disregard the advice the to exercise and eat right, as if it really won't help. But it does an awful lot. I've had similar improvements, and I'm also looking into amateur bodybuilding.
What are your stats? height / weight? I'm REALLY interested to see what your diet and routine looks like if you'd like to share that. Yeah, pics would be awesome too.
Anyways, that's an incredible thing to do. Sounds like you had your posing routine together much better than they did as well.
What are your stats? height / weight? I'm REALLY interested to see what your diet and routine looks like if you'd like to share that. Yeah, pics would be awesome too.
Anyways, that's an incredible thing to do. Sounds like you had your posing routine together much better than they did as well.
OK....as far as my diet goes I dont follow as strictly as the 'normal' bodybuilder would do cause obviously I need alot of fats so I eat lots of everything except rabbit food aka 'vegetables' for my goal they are a waste of space in my tummy! lol. I aim for 2 grams of protein per pound of target bodyweight, meaning I eat for the amount I want to weigh not what I am currently that way there's enough extra to support growth from the weight training stress. Along with that I have to get some extra protien in the diet as there's no way I can eat all that throughout the day so with help from protien suppliments like Isopure and Musclemilk to name a couple, I've tried too many to name off, and along with that is basicall loads of carbs and fats cause we CF'ers need so much anyway and dont have to worry about excess like 'normal' people. For contest prepping it's allittle different a few days before the show. I also suppliment with stuff like creatine products and NO product on and off to help bulking up, but I've never checked into it with doctors caus ethey may tell me no, I just feel it out, keep an eye on my progress and how I feel.
As for my stats, for the show I weighed 128lbs at 3-4% bodyfat and I'm only 5'4" tall.
Anymore questions I'll be glad to help.
As for my stats, for the show I weighed 128lbs at 3-4% bodyfat and I'm only 5'4" tall.
Anymore questions I'll be glad to help.
That is soo awesome Mark! Congrats. While I do not have CF, my wife, sister-n-law and brother-n-law all do. Working out IS the "miracle drug" for my wife. While she does do limited cardio, she mostly does a bodybuilding workout. She is tall and lean and progresses through each workout at a very brisk pace. While she is consistent with this program, she is always in her best health. When she gets lazy and stops going to the gym, her appetites surpress, she gets sick and she gets worn down very easily.
Congrats on all that you are accomplishing. I just want to send a "what my wife has had sucess with story" out there!
Congrats on all that you are accomplishing. I just want to send a "what my wife has had sucess with story" out there!
its great to know that its possible to have a not so great lung function but to function as if you were normal. i hope i can do that when i end up joining the gym [if things would stop getting in the way like port surgeries and colds grrr]. looking forward to the pics.
p.s. how much protein do you think a female should be taking in? i only have 1 protein drink [equals 30 grams of wpi] a day and im thinking that perhaps i should make it 2 instead. after all, i only JUST manage to get my daily recommended intake from food on a good day. also, got any tips for us cfers struggling with the cf gut?? lol
p.s. how much protein do you think a female should be taking in? i only have 1 protein drink [equals 30 grams of wpi] a day and im thinking that perhaps i should make it 2 instead. after all, i only JUST manage to get my daily recommended intake from food on a good day. also, got any tips for us cfers struggling with the cf gut?? lol
WOW! I'm loving all the feed back and encouragement! To the person that asked about Glutamine and ZMA - I do take glutamine but I've never really looked into the ZMA, glutamine is very important for bodybuilding but it is a tricky thing to take, timing is everything in getting the benefits but this would be a very long post to get into all that detail, if you would like me to explain all of what I've found on how to use it you can email me lilmac7@hotmail.com, so can anyone else who wants to ask me any questions. to the last post about 30 grams of whey protein isolate for the day....I'd definately say you need more. Something that we have to realise is that when the body is under stress like ours constantly and coupled up with weight training, because it is harder and takes longer for the body to burn the fat for energy it will break down the muscle for energy instead simply because it can get what it needs quicker and with use of less energy to process it (hope I explained that right), that's why (and maybe some of you notice this too) when I'm really sick and hospitalised I'll get skinny but still can have some squishiness to me because the muscle is used up for the energy needed, and another confirmation of that is that I can get very weak after leaving, to the poin where a flight of stairs - every step feels like I'm lifting a ton of bricks. So yeh definately quite a bit more protein than that needed!
still trying to sort out some pics, most people I know who took cameras couldn't focus properly as the stage was too far away from them. My RT who came to the show, both pre-judging in the morning and finals at night, which she couldnt get pics either but in the night show for the finals her husband took his more high tech camera was able to get a few when I was doing my rutine, but the thing is by the time the camera would take the pic I was already moving on to do something else so they caught me in some funny positions looking like I was a jungle person doing some dance or something! LOL, but anyway they did get a couple decent enough ones so I'm just waiting to get it from her on a disc.
got some pics everyone! not the best quality as I said people were having trouble focusing, and the individual ones will show you who I am.
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h102/lilmac7_photos/
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I'm trying to get some more and hopefully a video of the pre-judging, that was where I think I looked the best, the night show is mostly for entertainment
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h102/lilmac7_photos/
">http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h102/lilmac7_photos/
</a>
I'm trying to get some more and hopefully a video of the pre-judging, that was where I think I looked the best, the night show is mostly for entertainment