The Aftermath...

Whats goin on everyone. Its been a long three or four weeks since my last post so I'm gonna give you all a rundown of my time away and what the future holds. First I want to say I am a little disappointed that I wasn't able to win a show this year. I have set many goals for myself along the way in my bodybuilding career and have achieved every single one of them, be it financial, professionally or just in feeling good about what I'm doing. I think that is the main reason it is so hard for me to think that it won't happen for me this year.
Heading to Tampa I felt relatively at ease about everything, I wasn't really nervous about the show. I felt ready and confident that I had added quality size and was going to do well. Upon arrival I had the owners of Camp Muscle Clothing pick me and my training partner Paul at the airport and take us to the hotel. Hany, my nutritionist met us there and things proceeded to fall into place. I had retained a little water from the flight and we began setting up how to get rid of it so a little night cardio was in order on Thursday night. Friday morning things really started to come together and by Friday night I felt like I was in peak condition and as full as could be. I woke up Saturday morning still feeling confident but not feeling as sharp as I had felt the night before. It didn't really effect me mentally though, I hit the stage with confidence and tried to own it. It wasn't my day though, DJ had me beat and I give respect where it is due, he is a veteran of the sport and I didn't look good enough to make that irrelevant.
On a great note though all three of my brothers were able to make into Tampa on Friday and having them there was amazing. Two of them haven't seen me compete since 2002 so I was really trying to get the win for them but sometimes things don't work out like they're supposed to. It was fun though, after the show my three brothers, Paul, Hany and I went out for some food. I was supposed to be a well behaved meal out since I was possible competing a week later. So we started out a sushi place at 11 at night, my brother ordered a boat for the table (something like 100 pieces of sushi) and I ordered a plate of pasta to boot since I was craving it. Needless to say the sushi and the pasta were all gone literally in a matter of minutes..lol.
So as we're sitting there I happen to mention IHOP and how they have been tormenting me with commercials the whole time I was dieting. My brother says hes never been and Hany starts going on about banana pancakes, next thing I know we're in a cab on the way to IHOP and four entrees later Hany tells me I better stop if I am going to do the show next week...lol. I'm thinking, you waited till the fourth entree to tell me to stop..lol. Good thing he was there though, I could of kept going.
Anyway, I woke up the next morning and had breakfast with everyone and said by as they all went home and I went onto Dallas. In Dallas the cardio began full tilt to get rid of the IHOP I devoured a couple nights before. There was a pretty good Gold's gym near the hotel and a couple friends of mine Max and Katina took me to there gym so that was cool. The week was busy, on Tuesday I did a photo shoot at MetroFlex (always a favorite place to go) with MD which I think turned out well. Wednesday and Thursday were spent grocery shopping and preparing food in my hotel room. Oh yeah and still hammering away at the cardio, the IHOP was just about gone by that time.
Friday was prejudging and I felt like I looked better than the week before and was confident hitting the stage. After the callouts I realized I wasn't going to do as well as last week but it didn't really effect me. I have come to realize that different judging panels like different physiques and there isn't much you can do except keep getting better until they like what you're bringin.
After prejudge I wanted to stay strict in case things were close the next day. I felt good about the way I came back on Saturday. I was a little harder and I thought it was important to give the crowd a good look at what I really had to offer instead of coming back off. It was actually quite a relaxing show altogether, I had good people around me all week and leading up to the show helping me stay focused so it was relatively stress free. After the announced the placings I thought I could have been a place or two higher but I was happy for Bill and Joel, they are both good guys and deserve to go to the Olympia.
After the show I had many fans and some industry insiders come to me and tell me they had me higher than 4th. That's always nice and helps soften the blow of a loss so I want to thank all of those people now. After the show, Hany, Paul, Bill Wilmore and myself went to the Cheesecake Factory(a post show favorite). I didn't get to crazy there, I actually had been on low sodium for so long that everything I ate there just tasted salty, except the MILE HIGH CHOCOLATE CAKE! That wasn't salty..lol.
Like I said though I didn't go too crazy at all eating that night. I had a MuscleTech shoot the next day and didn't want to disappoint them at all so I made sure I showed up in the best shape I could. The shoot on Sunday went well and MT being the awesome company they are took me out for Sushi dinner after the shoot, I have to thank them for that!
I kept it clean most of the night that night also because I had another MD shoot the following day. Per Bernal was the photographer and even though I thought I didn't look my best, he has a way of setting up lighting that can make a fat guy look great..lol. Anyway the shoot went from about 8am to 3pm and although it was a long day I think we got some great shots.
The best part of that day was 3pm because that was it for the year for me. I had busted my ass all year and it peaked through those three weeks I was away from home. I did two video shoots, three photo shoots and two shows and although I didn't win a show I think overall I represented myself well in all aspects of my career over that time. I couldn't wait to get home though, that night I checkout out of the hotel at 3am and went and slept in the airport terminal till 7am where I caught the first flight back home.
Now I am home and after eating like crazy for the last two weeks ( I have been training and doing cardio since I got back) I have had time to reflect on what happened. I have spoken to Hany about my conditioning and we both agree that trying to come in bigger worked but is not something we want to do again. I believe as does he my physique only looks good when I am shredded, not kinda shredded but peeled to the bone. That being said I have made it my mission to step on stage next year at 260lbs. That will be a 15lb jump but I think I can do it. Although that is my goal I will drop to 250-255lbs if it means dry and ripped to the bone. Like I said that is the most important thing next year.
For those of you who are wondering what my plans are, well, when you decide you want to add 10-15lbs to your frame you basically know you need as much time as possible. For this reason I am passing on the O and using this time to grow. You may not see me onstage again until next September unless my body responds more quickly than I think.
Thank you all for the support, the kind words and always having my back at the shows, on the boards, through Facebook or any other outlet. My family, friends and fans are everything to me and I appreciate them more than anyone could possibly know.
I guess since I didn't achieve the goal I had in mind this year that means I have to double up goals for next year. I'll let you know what the goals are for this year as the year goes on, stay tuned....

Sacrifice Without Regret,
Fouad 'Hoss' Abiad