Final Testing by Jean Jitomir

The contests and my spring finals are over-- now I can crawl out of my little hole.  First, I’ll go through the lab results then I’ll write a little about the contest itself!

Test 1 - Test 7

Panorama

The Final Testing!

T1 and T6

I did my last testing session about a week and a half before the Jr. USA, which was only 3 days before the Ronnie Coleman Contest.   Since I continued to diet all the way through the contest, my weight and body fat % actually dropped a little lower than what is presented here before I got on stage at the Jr. USA.  Also, I was also so amped for the Ronnie Coleman that my resting metabolic rate went up by about 200 Calories per day when I re-tested in the following week.

            The tests were performed in the morning after fasting for 10 hours and repeated every three weeks leading up to my contests. I have bolded results that showed interesting changes:

 
Weight
Weight is easy, cheap and can be done every morning.  I weighed into the Ronnie Coleman at 112.5lb and 112lb at the Jr. USA. I lost roughly 15-16lb throughout the dieting process, which is the weight I predicted I would lose in my first contest prep article.

BMI
The unitless BMI a quick way to estimate body fatness- my BMI at 21 is in the healthy range.  A BMI of 21 is comparable to previous contests.  I weighed in at the Jr. USA at 112, which corresponds to a BMI of 20.5.

Calculate your BMI: http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA or DXA)

 
DXA is the best way to measure bone mineral density and risk for osteoporosis.  It is also the easiest and one of the most accurate ways to measure body fat %.  

Front Double Biceps

            By the last update my body fat percentage dropped from 17.5% to 10.3% and it shows!  Based on the full DXA print-out (data not given above), I have lost 9.8 pounds of fat and 3.7 pounds of lean muscle since January.  These values indicate that I have lost about 73% of my weight as fat and 27% as muscle mass, which is pretty typical of the bodybuilding contest prep research I have seen.  All of the muscle mass I lost was from my lower body, which actually helped balance my physique out before the contest.  I wrote earlier that I felt my legs were to dominant 15 weeks out, so I de-emphasized my leg training and did not supplement well afterwards to give my upper body an advantage.  As a result, my legs were not as muscular as they could have been, but I did manage to keep every gram of lean upper body mass that I started with!

Resting Energy Expenditure (REE)

 
The REE is the number of calories used by the body in a fasting state, lying down, awake, not moving at all.  It works by measuring the amount of oxygen taken in and carbon dioxide exhaled to calculate the amount of energy the body is using.

Back Lat Spread

Leading up to the Ronnie Coleman contest, and for days thereafter, my heart rate was going crazy high!  Actually high at this point was about 63 resting; it is usually around 45 resting when dieting and 55 otherwise.  In any event, after noticing the increase, I decided to do a follow-up REE (resting metabolism) test on the Tuesday after the Ronnie Coleman and before the Jr. USA- my resting metabolic rate went up to 1347 kcal/day, which is 200 calories higher than usual!  I actually cut way down on the fat burners before the Ronnie Coleman and in the week between the two contests because I couldn’t sleep at night.  All the adrenaline and nervousness during the first contest also made me less jittery for the larger contest in the following week.

Handheld BIA

Jean Jitomir

The handheld BIA is that little body fat contraption seen in many gyms- it is a rough estimate, however.  My values came out about 3-5% higher than the more reliable DXA value.  From what I've seen in the lab, values are usually within 3-6.  The handheld BIA has been showing consistent body fat loss in each session; however, the percentages are not dropping as much as the DXA.

Lange Calipers

 There are literally hundreds of caliper equations in existence. The best equation for you is based on your gender, ethnicity, age and many other factors.  Furthermore, as many as 10 sites can be measured to plug into a formula.

            The Jackson/Polluck formulas have been the best for me so far, as compared to the DXA.  The Jackson/Polluck 7 caliper formula has been the most similar to the DXA measurement.  On the other hand, the D/W showed a similar trend as the DXA-- that formula also showed a 7% fat loss.  If you did not have access to a DXA or hydrostatic weighing for body fat, using the calipers with Jackson/Polluck 7 is a reasonable way to monitor it.  Just remember, the calipers have no way of measuring the fat that is not directly under your skin.

            To learn how to measure with caliper, please see:
http://www.exrx.net/Testing/SkinfoldProcedures.html

            To calculate your body fat from calipers, please see:
http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

Circumference Measures

 
For a physique competitor, a simple tape measure is one of your most useful tools!  On a contest diet, your waist and hips should shrink a whole bunch, while the arms shouldn't show a dramatic drop.  In combination with calipers, you may be able to tell whether you are losing inches from fat or muscle.  My waist and hip measurements dropped substantially.

Look at Yourself

Valerie Waugaman

There is generally a lot of talk among physique competitors about where your body fat should be for a contest; however, it is somewhat arbitrary, especially for figure competition.  For example, I had a friend who did a figure competition and her trainer wanted her thigh caliper pinch to be 8mm.  She made it to 12 before the contest and was disappointed in herself for missing the goal. In reality, she didn’t have the leg muscle to pull off that kind of leanness.  Furthermore, she had a nice shape and was very polished and feminine.  She won overall in the contest and beat out leaner competitors because she had a sleek, balanced look. 

            It is more important in bodybuilding to have a certain level of leanness; however, the body fat level that looks good on the muscle you have varies from person to person; being as shredded as possible is not always best.

            My physique has completely changed over the last several weeks; I’ve had several moments where I’ve wondered what kind of masochistic mindset had prompted me to compete but that’s all part of the fun.  I know it’ll all pay off in a few weeks.  My goal was to be in the best condition I ever have been for a contest and based on the photos from my previous contests, I’ve succeeded! 

The Jr. USA
The contest was a rockin’ good time!  I knew at weigh in (see below) that I would not be competitive in my class.  Though it stings little at first, it actually allowed me to relax and enjoy the contest more.

After that I had a photo shoot; Dan Ray took some very lovely shots:

Then there was prejudging!  First we had to get our juices flowing in the pump-up room:

We each did our 60 second routines; all women presented themselves very nicely on stage.  I heard a lot of "Wow, the female bodybuilders are hot today."  There were only 16 female bodybuilders, but the competitors displayed outstanding physiques!
Then there was the night show:



In the end, I came in 4th in the light weight class, which was not shocking.  This is not because I was bad or neglected to prepare, but I was not what the judges were looking for in a bodybuilding contest at this level.
I like my physique size and proportion, yet I prefer competing bodybuilding.  So what's the next step in this case?  I've thought about competing in a natural organization or competing in the NPC only at the local level.  Maybe I'll strike again this year at the Figure Nationals.  Who knows?  For now, I’m focusing on my PhD and collaborating with several photographers to build a knock-out comp card!

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