Fitness & Nutrition - A Natural Body-Builder's Perspective

A few years ago, I met and became good friends with Oke Ememe. His journey is not dissimilar to mine in that he lost a lot of body fat by changing his lifestyle completely. He did however go one better by competing successfully in the NPA (Natural Physique Association) Body-building championships in 2013.

In this piece, he gives us an insight into his fitness and nutrition regime in the build up to his competition. It's a very interesting read, and I hope you enjoy it. 

Let's start with what I used to call the Bulking Stage of my programme at the time. 
To the untrained eye it would look like you've just got 'fat', however the bulking process played a fundamental part in the body-building process. Bulking up allowed me to build muscle in preparation for the shred. 
To give you some background....
Before body building I always struggled with my weight. The struggle really started after I finished university in 2003. I had just ended a serious relationship, became very depressed and used food to ease the pain and loneliness. This carried on for 2 years and brought my weight up to 21 stones of pure muscle lol, I wish! I was very fat and only had one tracksuit that fit me, I wore it everywhere! People could no longer recognised the well dressed 14 stones man that enjoyed playing football and martial arts but felt sorry for the beast I had become!!

This was my starting point! 

So you can imagine the little monsters in my belly saying ''bring it on'' when I heard I had to start bulking up for the competition. My bulking diet was written by a good pal of mine who regularly competes at untested body building competitions. I was told I had to weigh all my food from now, stop eating junk food, stop drinking alcohol or partying. He even had the cheek to say I had to stop eating white rice and look at the healthy options like brown rice, sweet potatoes and wholemeal bread. At this point I started reconsidering this crazy idea of competing ha ha ha.
People don't understand the sacrifices body builders have to make to get into tip top shape and I guess I was one of them, I was under the illusion that 'I love weight training this will be a walk in the park' right?.... Wrong!!! In the coming months I would realise that "dieting and cardio" are just as important as lifting weights. 

Getting My Grub On Was Becoming A Thing Of The Past!

My initial bulking meal plan consisted of 6 meals per day: 

• Meal 1-100g of Porridge oats, 1 1/2 scoops of Whey Protein Isolate and 1 table spoon of organic peanut butter,
• Meal 2- 200g of Red Meat (steaks), 100g of white rice (won him over in the end lol), 1 portion of Broccoli and 1 table spoon of Udo's oil or 1 handful of Brazil nuts or cashew nuts, 
• Meal 3- 200g of chicken, 100g of white rice and 1 table spoon of Udo's oil,
• Meal 4- 200g of Turkey, 100g of white rice and 1 table spoon of Udo's oil, 
• Meal 5- 200g of salmon, 100g of white rice and a 1 portion of broccoli or asparagus and final meal
• Meal 6- 5 whole eggs, four eggs whites, 100g of white rice and a portion of broccoli or asparagus.

All my meals were prepared with no salt, seasoning or sauces. They were extremely bland, this was difficult especially as my previous diet of traditional Nigerian food was extremely flavoursome.
The first day following this diet was tough. The bland food was extremely hard to swallow, literally, and I needed a lot of water to keep the dry tasteless meals down. I knew then and there that if I was serious about this competition my relationship with food had to change, gone are the days where I ate for enjoyment, food was now a tool, a tool my body needed to transform.

Although I had to stick to this diet religiously, there were days were I picked at my girlfriends plate or binged on cakes, jerk chicken and rice, Chinese and Thai food. Little did I know that these regular cheat meals will make me work even harder during the shredding phase. So please don't make the same mistakes as me. 
All my meals were prepared a day in advance by my lovely girlfriend Kate aka Head Coach (Here she is opposite doing her most muscular poses backstage at the NPA British Finals ) 
Although a primary school teacher with piles of work to do, she always made time to support me, with food preparation, encouragement on days when I was ready to pack it all in and chief camera woman during my posing practise. I guess she probably knew my routine more than me and deserves a medal for putting up with me.
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During the bulking stage I only did 10 minutes cardio to warm up before weight training. My  profession at the time as a civil servant saw me working from 9am to 5pm. I had to schedule my training around these times, choosing to train at 6am during the quiet periods in the gym to avoid distractions.  I previously trained during the evening so waking up at 5am to train at 6am was challenging but after 2 weeks it soon became part of my daily routine. While at the gym I made sure each training session counted. I was lifting as heavy as physically possible, squatting up to 220 kg for 10 reps and benching 180 kg with support. I would strap 90 kg onto a dipping belt and go for 8 to 10 reps in addition to 60 kg for weighted chin up's.
Now at 17.2 stones and my clothes stretched to the limit. May had finally arrived and it was time to start the shred.

                                                               The final Product - SHREDDED BABY!!

Oke Ended up Finishing Top In South East Division, and 2nd in The British Finals. Quite A Journey, and quite a story!