What It Takes To Be A Pro Bodybuilder .

 

 Derek Lunsford

Nobody ever wants to be told that they're not ready,
mentally, but looking back on it,
I am thankful that I had that setback in my life,
because it definitely rewired my mentality.
So I've started challenging my perspective
on my own ego and pride.
Like, how could I be better in ever aspect of my life?

I will never say bodybuilding ever gets any easier.

I think the bodybuilder just gets tougher.
Now, I just want to embrace my love for bodybuilding,
and be the best bodybuilder I can be.
Not putting any pressure on myself
outside of just wanting to be my best.

So I don't really, like, set an alarm every morning
to wake up, I just kind of let my body
wake up when it wants to wake up,
and go to bed when it wants to go to bed,
but generally speaking,
my routine's the same ever day, anyway.
So when we, me and my fiance,
moved into this house a couple weeks ago,
she had to get an espresso machine.
So she set up this little espresso bar,
and it's been quite convenient for me, I have to admit,
and the coffee tastes great.
And it makes my fiance happy,
and I love her to death, so...
It makes me happy, makes her happy,
and it's good coffee.

Literally, like, every step of my day
is all ready thought out ahead of time.
So I'm all ready kind of, like, prepared,
one step ahead.
If I didn't have my bag packed,
it takes me, like, two minutes to just grab it real quick,
and put it in my bag right here.
But I got my morning bag, my gym bag,
and yeah, everything's set up, ready to go.
Bodybuilding's tough enough the way it is,
so if you can be prepared, you're so much better off,
and you're gonna have a lot less stress,
'cause you're just not worried about playing catch up,
'cause you're all ready kind of playing prevention
by being one step ahead.
(car engine starting)

It's almost like a meditation,or like therapeutic on the way to my morning cardio,or on the way to the gym.
It's just a nice view, it's calming, relaxing.
So whenever I get to the gym,I'm ready to hit the gym hard,
and you know, be aggressive and go.
But I only want that for a temporary period.
I want to control that excitement, and that energy,and I'll conserve it for my morning cardio,my morning routine, and especially my training.

Right now I have 30 minutes on the stairs, steady.
Keeping my heart rate around 130.

30 minutes of cardio done.
I'm gonna tan in the stand up tanning bed,
here, for nine minutes,
and then I'm gonna stroll on into the locker room,
I'm gonna sauna for about 15,
or probably closer to 20 minutes, shower,
and then I'll be ready to head out of here,
to go back home to get meal one.

- [Interviewer] You do a lot before your first meal.
- I don't know, I just like it this way.
I mean, I might talk to James here soon,
now, with it being six weeks out from the Olympia,
that maybe I should eat my first meal
before I leave the gym,
but I like to, kind of, just wait til I get home,
warm it up, sit down on the couch,
and eat the meal, you know, at home.
A lot of bodybuilders, or people who compete,
they struggle with that hunger aspect.
That's not something that even
really crosses my mind anymore.
I mean, obviously I am hungry all the time.
It's just not my biggest concern,
because to be honest, I'm really exhausted.
Like, that's the battle, is that you're fighting being tired
and exhausted, and still pushing through to do the cardio.
To train hard, it's not about,
ooh, I wish I could have a burger today,
or I wish I could satisfy my hunger or my cravings.
It's not even something that registers in my mind anymore.
That's why this year is so much different
than it's ever been,
is that I am familiar with complaining, actually.
In the past, you know, when things would get tough,
I would think, man, like, nobody understands what it's like
to be, you know, a bodybuilder, compete at the Olympians.
It's harder than people think.
And now I look at it as, like,
man, I get the opportunity to do something
that very few people get to do,
and yeah, it might be tough, but I love this.
All right, let's get meal one going.
Here it is.
Boom, Icon Meals.
Cod and green beans.
So I was doing eight ounces of cod,
now I'm doing 10 ounces of cod for my first meal.
(plastic crinkling)
I remember the days of cooking
six, seven, eight meals a day.
Oh, man.

We've done things in a different motion.
This is all, like, a process
that we spend many weeks getting stage ready.
So we just chose to take a slightly different approach
early on, and throughout mid-prep,
to where it landed us to where we are today,
which is in a much better position at six weeks out
then we were last year.
I actually really enjoy this meal.
I would have this over eggs, to be honest.
When I first got into bodybuilding,
all the advertisements was
these crazy bodybuilders taking pre-workout
and going crazy in the gym,
and, like, I though you needed to be,
like, ready to go 24/7, you know?
And no, it's almost quite the opposite.
You kind of just need to just chill out,
and conserve you're energy until you're ready to go.
So before it was like, the last couple preps
it was like, drink extra caffeine throughout the day
so I can stay awake, and now it's like no,
if my body's tired and needs to rest, I'm gonna let it rest.
So that when I go to the gym
I'm gonna have a better workout.


If somebody else was 150 pounds, like me,
and said, "I want to be Mr. Olympia one day,"
I would say, "Dude, go for it."
But for myself, looking back I'm thinking,
man, you got a long way to go,
but if you put the time and effort in,
I believe you can do it, too.
You have to know what you want,
and you have to know that you're gonna commit to it,
and go after it with everything.

- [James] Yep.
(weights clang)
Come on, six weeks. (Derek grunting)
Come on, breath!
Breath!
- It's amazing how fast he has progressed,and the transition that at least I've seen pretty much over the past year. Everything's come up.
He reminds me of a bodybuilder back in the day,Matt Mendenhall.
Just with beautiful lines, shape. Just keeping that mindset of a champion. So take it day to day. Some days are not gonna be good, some days you're gonna have great days, but it's about being disciplined, and being consistent with your training and your diet, and keeping your eye on the prize, focused,and for him, on the 212 Olympian.
- I, myself, have grown up through the sport.
The fast highs, and the kick in the stomach,a couple times when I thought,ah, I could have won this show,or I could have won that show.All those experiences, man,that develops your way of thinking,and the way you think of yourself,the way you think of others.
And you can either take it and make something better of yourself from it,or you can just kind of ignore the signs of hey, this was something that complimented your life, that's gonna make your life better,and the people around you better,or this is gonna take away from your life.
And I think people don't want to be self-aware like that.
They just kind of go through life,
and I want to take every experience, and grow from it. And the layers, here they come.

I like everything very simple, you know?

I actually don't like too much variety in my meal plan.
Like, if I can eat two or three of the same mealfor every meal of the day, I like that consistency,'cause I've had diet plans from James before to where each meal was something different,and I would end up looking forward to, like,one meal or two meals.
So maybe that would have been, like, the cream of rice meal, like, with the protein.
It's like a sweeter meal.
So maybe that would have been my favorite meal
back in the day.
So for every 24 hours, I was waiting for that meal, and I'd get real excited for it, then it would be gone, and I'd be disappointed until the next day.
So if I can just eat the same meal every couple hours, I like that better.

This year has been a different journey, but we're very confident this year, and that's why sticking with the same coach
is very important.
I've been with my coach from day one.
We've done every show together since I started.
He's been my guidance since before I even knew what bodybuilding was.
I said, "I just want to put on 10 pounds of muscle."
And so I'm thankful for my coach, James Brown, JBPrep.
I'm in this, like, hyper-focus state of just, I want to be my best,and I'm really not thinking about anything but just me being my best, and working hard in every aspect, every task of the day.

I had this in my little 500 square foot apartment.
I just had in the dining room.
Instead of having a dining room table, I had this.
Until now, I have it in my garage.
Thank God.

For the next six weeks,I'm just taking each day and each week,and becoming a better bodybuilder.After last year, I took a step back,and I realized I want to enjoy every week of this process.
Not just every weekend that I do a show.
I want to enjoy every week of my life as I'm prepping for the Olympia.
That why I said I don't want to complain anymore about having to do the cardio,or eat this diet, or go train,because I get to do this, I like to do this,I want to do this, and I want to be the best I can at it.And when you see it that way,you start enjoying it a lot more,and then you become better.