Road 2 Enercup
”Behrooz is a personal trainer and co-founder of the online coaching community Road2fit. Last Sunday, he participated in the Enercup in the Men’s Physique class. This was his second Men’s Physique competition. In the run-up to the Enercup, he took you through his preparation. In addition, Behrooz can be followed on his VLOG: www.youtube.nl channel: Road2fit.
D-day: the competition day
Finally, the time had come, I was allowed to enter the stage the day before yesterday after being on a strict diet for 11 weeks, especially the last five weeks in which I mainly lived on white fish, vegetables, egg, basmati rice, and sweet potato. The day before, on Saturday, was the weighing and measuring. Together with my coach Raymond Simon and his other athlete Marc van der Lubbe (who became first in bodybuilding 90+), we went to Hoogeveen. We chose to just sleep at home, so quickly home I went to bed around 9:30 because we had to leave the next day at 6:30. My last meal before going to sleep was a burger and a glass of red wine. At Ray’s request, I had to eat something junk food because I still looked quite flat despite having eaten a lot of sweet potato and rice since Friday and not really recharged yet. As I also mentioned in the earlier report, we chose to drink almost no water on Saturday, and sodium was also out from Thursday.
When I woke up on Sunday morning, I still felt quite flat, but my stomach was tighter than ever, so that was positive, and the pump would still come. We arrived around 8:30. On the way, I ate a lot of rice with raisins and actually did that all the time until the first time I went on stage. I had a spray tan done at 9:30, and it was really well done, thanks to Janaspray tan, really great! At 12:30, it was finally time for after eating a lot of rice, raisins, and rice cakes and being well warmed up, it was almost time to go on stage. I felt good and had a good pump in my muscles and felt hard and was confident that I should be able to come to the “first callout” (note: a first filtering by the jury showing their preference). There were a few very strong candidates, especially Fariq, who immediately stood out to me backstage with a very good physique.
With a lineup of no less than 15 men, we were called to the stage, it just fit haha. After a number of quarter turns and when everyone had been forward, the jury started with the first callout, and I was immediately included. I was already super happy with this and actually knew by then that I could definitely come in the top 4. After the first round, it was quite a long wait until the “t-walk” (solo presentation), and when I took a walk, I met a lot of people from the hall, and everyone gave very nice compliments. Moreover, everyone told me “you will definitely come in the top 3,” which gave a good feeling towards the t-walk. The t-walk was eventually around 7:00 PM. It went pretty well, but could have been a bit better afterward, a bit more enthusiasm next time. Then it was a few hours wait until the award ceremony. In the meantime, I already started drinking a bit more and had some nice snacks like fries and some satay, and it was delicious!
2nd Place!
The winner in my classAnd then there was the award ceremony around 10:40 PM we had to go on stage with everyone, and it was immediately indicated that only the top 3 would move on to the B-class (Enercup is C-class). This was still a bit exciting, but I was very confident that it had to work out.
I eventually finished 2nd and am very satisfied with it because the number 1 was also just really good. My goal was to achieve the top 3, and that certainly succeeded, it was a very nice and educational preparation. I would like to thank the jury and the organization of the Enercup for the beautiful event. Also, I would like to put my coach Raymond Simon in the spotlight. I owe him a lot and have learned a lot from him in the past 11 weeks. I thought it was super cool that I got the chance to do this from Fitsociety and that I was allowed to share my experiences with you. For now, I’m taking a break, and my plan is to participate in the Open Rotterdam on April 19.
Thank you all for following my reports! You can continue to follow our team, Road2fit, on our Facebook page. My buddy Hung Nguyen and business partner is now in his preparation for the ironman and will share his preparation with you through vlogs in the last weeks.
Road 2 Enercup: Last week of competition preparation.
It’s already September 29, which means this is the last week of preparation for the Enercup 2015! The last two weeks have gone very well, and I’m actually already at the body fat percentage I wanted to be at, around 5.8%. This is fine for Men’s Physique, and on competition day it might even be under 5% because then you also try to lose water. The last week, also called peak week, is very important and can determine how you look on stage on competition day. I ate sweet potatoes all day Saturday, no less than 7 meals with sweet potatoes 150/200g per meal. We halved proteins and kept fats the same. I also drank almost no water to see how I would react, and by Sunday, I was a lot harder and drier. We will probably do this on the Saturday before the competition as well.
Nutrition
From Monday my schedule looks like this:
Monday to Friday:
Eating: protein 280g, carbohydrates: 70g, fats: 60g
Water: Start Monday with four liters and add half a liter every day until Friday. From 12:00 PM on Saturday, no more drinking water until the competition.
Sodium: Remains the same until Thursday from here sodium completely out.
Saturday:
Eating: protein: 150/200g, carbohydrates 250/300g, fats: 70g
Water: From 12:00 PM no more drinking water until the competition
Sodium: Completely sodium-free on this day.
Sunday (competition day)
Eating: Small portions starting at 06:00 AM with some white rice chicken and raisins until the competition every 2 hours. Right before the competition some rice cakes with raisins.
Water: No water until after the competition.
Supplements
- Multivitamin (2 per day)
- Magnesium (1 per day)
- BCAA (14 per day, 2 with each meal)
- Omega 3 (1 per day)
- Solgar enzymes (1 per day)
Training
Training in the last week is at a low intensity, and I do full-body upper body with 2 exercises for each muscle group. I no longer do legs in the last week. Cardio remains the same only at an even lower pace 50/60% of maximum heart rate and no more HIIT cardio. I will train until Thursday and then do nothing more until competition day. Especially keeping a lot of rest this week.
Mood
The mood is good, and I am positive about my shape and am very satisfied with this prep. I’m excited to be there and will give everything to come in the top 5.
Posing
Posing is going well I do this now every day for 20/30 minutes. I also try to do the bodybuilding poses every day still for a good mind/muscle connection.
After the competition, a report will follow on how it went the last week and of course what place I came in. This is of course an estimate of how we are going to divide the last week. It is quite possible that some changes will be made with food, especially with the carbs for the competition day. There could be more if the pump in the muscles is not good.
Road2Enercup: 3 weeks out
It’s already September 14, which means three more weeks until the Enercup. The last two weeks have gone well, and I have made significant progress. Body fat percentage has also dropped a bit, and I’m almost at my target which is 5/6% on the competition day. The last two weeks, together with my coach Raymond, we chose not to change too much. Actually, the biggest change in the last two weeks has been cardio and some more rest. I’m now trying to do two days of strength training and one day of rest. On training days, I follow the low carbs diet, and on the rest day, the high carb diet. I mainly train a lot of repetitions with little rest and do 6 times a week every morning 40/50 min cardio and after each training 15 min HIIT cardio (High-Intensity Interval Training).
Nutrition and supplements:
We have now chosen to slowly drain fluid as we get closer to the competition. For this, I use products in the diet plan like apple cider vinegar, pineapple, and celery. What we also do now is two days low carbs and one day high carbs. Also, there is now a bit more white fish in the plan than before and the fats and carbohydrates are a bit lower.
Supplements
* Multivitamin (2 per day)
* Magnesium (1 per day)
* BCAA (before and after training, 12 in total)
* Omega 3 (1 per day)
* Solgar enzymes (1 per day)
* Whey isolate
Training
I now train two days of strength training and one day of rest. I do six times a week 40/50 min cardio on an empty stomach and also from this week 20min cardio after each strength training. The method we slightly adjusted, I start the first exercise on a fixed machine with five seconds down and five seconds up. All exercises after that I do in supersets at a high tempo 12 to 15 repetitions.
Mood
I have to admit that my mood has gotten a bit worse in the last week. Especially on the low carbohydrate days, I notice that I get tired quickly and often grumpy and don’t feel like doing much. I also notice during strength training that my strength is a bit declining. I am therefore trying to get more rest and make sure to get eight to nine hours of sleep a day.
Posing
The posing is getting better, the side pose still needs to be improved, and I need to keep smiling sometimes I tend to look down. Coming Friday, I have another posing lesson with Sourousch let’s see how it goes then. I am now trying to spend 15 to 20 min a day on posing.
I hope you guys have a good picture of the past two weeks. From now on, I will make a report every week, if you have questions ask them below, and I will answer all questions. Also, take a look at our youtube channel Road2fit for the VLOG videos.
Road2Enercup: 5 weeks out
We are already four weeks further and 5 weeks out, so it’s time for an update. The last two weeks I have made good progress and now I’m around 80kg with a body fat percentage of 8.5%. My goal was to weigh around 77/78kg with a body fat percentage of around 6 to 6.5%. Some changes have been made in the diet plan again, and we are actually going to adjust the diet plan almost every week from now on and keep an eye on the shape.
Nutrition and supplements:
Since week six, we have made some changes to the diet plan. We are now doing a carb cycling program where I am low in carbohydrates around 70g per day for three days and one day we increase the carbohydrates, which is also my rest day and I do not do any strength training. The schedule is currently as follows:
Rest day (reefed):
Supplements
- Multivitamin (2 per day)
- BCAA (before and after training, 12 in total)
- Omega 3 (1 per day)
- Solgar enzymes (1 per day)
- Whey isolate
Training
I now train three days in a row with a day of rest in between each. 5 times a week I do 35/40 min cardio in the morning on an empty stomach, and from this week, I also do 20min cardio after each strength training. We slightly adjusted the method, I start the first exercise on a fixed machine with five seconds down and five seconds up. All exercises after that I do in supersets at a high tempo of 12 to 15 repetitions.
Mood
I must admit that my mood has deteriorated somewhat in the last week. Especially on low carbohydrate days, I notice that I quickly become tired and often irritable and don’t feel like doing much. I also notice that my strength is declining a bit during strength training. I am therefore trying to take more rest and make sure to get eight to nine hours of sleep a day.
Posing
The posing is going in the right direction, the side pose still needs some improvement, and I need to keep smiling; sometimes, I tend to look down. This coming Friday, I have another posing lesson with Sourousch; let’s see how it goes. I am now trying to spend 15 to 20 min a day on posing.
I hope you have a good understanding of the past two weeks. From now on, I will make a report every week, if you have questions, ask them below, and I will answer all questions. Also, take a look at our YouTube channel Road2fit for the VLOG videos.
Road2Enercup: 7 weeks out
We are already two weeks further and 7 “weeks out”, so it’s time for an update again. The last two weeks went pretty well. Sometimes I’m a bit tired from working a lot, but that happens to all of us sometimes. Last week I had a check-up with my coach Raymond Simon. Both of us saw good progress, body fat percentage is decreasing, and I’m not losing a lot of weight but still retaining quite a lot of muscle mass. Since yesterday, we made some small changes in the diet plan to further decrease the body fat percentage in the coming weeks.
Also, my buddy and business partner Hung Nguyen has now started his “prep” for the Ironman. It’s nice to have a training buddy next to me with the same goals and who also motivates me well. In the past weeks, I have also trained with Peter de Gruyl, another athlete competing in the same class during the Enercup, and with none other than Sourousch Mosavi, Dutch champion Men’s Physique up to 1.75. It’s nice to train with someone who has a bit more experience, and I got some good tips from him for posing. You can of course see all the training sessions on the YouTube channel of Road2fit where I keep a vlog every week.
Nutrition
Since yesterday, we made some adjustments to the diet plan, a bit lower in calories and carbohydrates and a bit more white fish to further decrease the body fat percentage in the coming weeks. We also chose to replace dairy with tartare before going to sleep now.
Supplements:
- Multivitamin (2 per day)
- BCAA (before and after training, 10 in total)
- Omega 3 (1 per day)
- Solgar enzymes (1 per day)
Training
Strength training is actually still the same for these coming two weeks, I feel good with this method and notice that it works well for me. The only adjustment we made in training is more cardio. I’m going to do five to six days a week 50 min cardio at a low pace besides the strength training from this week.
Mood
Last week was the fair here in the town where I live, a lot of birthdays, fair drinks, etc. I held strong and neatly ate my meals and drank water. Sometimes it’s tough, but when I have a goal, then I go for it and don’t want to drop any stitches.
Posing
The posing is starting to get better, but there still needs to be a lot of improvement. Especially the routine of quarter turns needs to be better and smoother. In the coming weeks, I’m going to take some extra lessons with Sourousch to get the posing completely right. I must also say that I find it difficult to choose which pose suits me best.
I hope you have a good understanding of how the coming two weeks will look for me, if you have any questions, ask them below, and I will answer all questions.
In his ‘Road 2 Enercup’ we follow Behrooz Tanori in his preparation for the Enercup 2015.
Road2Fit with Behrooz Tanori
Behrooz is a personal trainer and co-founder of the online coaching community Road2fit. This year he is going to participate in the Enercup in the Men’s Physique class, his second participation in a Men’s Physique competition. In his preparation for the Enercup, he takes you through his preparation. How he eats, how he trains, etc. He will regularly inform you about his preparation so far. In the last week before the competition, readers will even see daily how Behrooz prepares. In addition, Behrooz can be followed on his vlog.
Statistics
- Name: Behrooz Tanori
- Weight: 85kg
- Height: 1.76m
- Fat%: 11%
Start of preparation
Since last week, I have started my preparation for the enercup. The first week went pretty well. It was again getting used to eating so many times a day, especially coming back from two weeks of vacation. My goal this year is to stand on the stage with a weight around 78kg and a body fat percentage around 6 to 7%.
Nutrition
In the first 2 to 3 weeks, I start with an intake of around 3000 kcal per day, which is also my daily need. I’m not going very low in carbohydrates to retain as much muscle mass as possible. My daily diet plan looks roughly like this:
| Meal 1: Omelet of 5 eggs (2 whole) with 2 tomatoes. Oatmeal porridge with 90g oatmeal, 20g whey isolate, 1 tablespoon flaxseed | |
| (start every morning with a multivitamin, omega 3, and Solgar enzyme before breakfast. | |
| Meal 2: (premeal) 220g chicken breast, half an avocado, 100g broccoli | |
| Meal 3: | |
| 220g sweet potato, 200g white fish, 100g broccoli | |
| Meal 4: 220g chicken breast, 100g green beans, 40g almonds | |
| Meal 5: | |
| 140g basmati rice (cooked), 150g chicken breast, 100g green beans | |
| Meal 6: 5 eggs (2 whole), 200g spinach | |
| Meal 7: | |
| 350g Greek yogurt, 20g whey isolate |
Supplements
- Multivitamin (2 per day)
- BCAA (before and after training, 10 in total)
- Omega 3 (1 per day)
- Solgar enzymes (1 per day)
Training
In the first weeks, I train 4 to 5 times a week on strength and do cardio every other day for about 45 minutes at a low pace about 65% of maximum heart rate (220-age). The distribution is as follows:
- Day 1: Chest and triceps
- Day 2: Legs and abs
- Day 3: Back and biceps
- Day 4: Shoulders, traps, and abs
I use the 5×5 principle where I take the first exercise heavy with 6 to 8 repetitions (5 sets). The exercises after that I do 10 to 15 reps with light weight (4 seconds down and 4 seconds up).
Mood
At the moment, I still feel pretty good and don’t suffer from hunger. This usually happens in the last five to six weeks when you go lower in carbohydrates.
