Welcome to my homepage

or...

the difference a day makes

07/14/00

About me:

My name is Ramsay Geha and I'm a sophomore in Exercise and Sport Science at Iowa State University. I've been interested in bodybuilding ever since I got my Hulk Hogan workout kit for Christmas back in kindergarten. Of course my goals and expectations have changed over the years and so has my physique. Currently I value my liver too much to consider bodybuilding at the highest level, but, I love the subculture and hope to spend the rest of my life frequenting gyms all over the world.

This page now and in the future:

Currently this page will focus on the present. But, I have kept careful dieting and exercise records as well as pictures dating back to my sophomore year of high school. Eventually I would like to include what I've learned over the years and some of the ideas I have for the future of the sport

 I've just finished my six week diet and am in just about the best shape of my life. I took pictures from the Saturday before my final depletion workout up until the time of my photo shoot on early Monday afternoon. My condition faded and improved over the time block as you'll be able to see in the pictures. 

Saturday evening at the gym:            

I put together a spread sheet of my depletion workout. Eventually I might post it. It was basically a circuit routine mainly focusing on free weights over machines. I ended up doing about 4 or 5 complete circuits before feeling too nauseous and weak to continue. Unfortunately, I still had to try to hit a couple of shots so that I'd have something on film.

Sunday Afternoon (a little less than 24hrs of carbs):

I have the details of my food consumption and carb-up plan. I used the CKD calculator (follow the link from the lowcarb homepage) to save myself some time punching numbers. To be entirely frank, I hadn't weighed myself since I started my diet (when I was up around 230lbs) and guessed with the numbers I came up with. I used about 11 grams of carbohydrates per estimated pound of lean bodyweight over the first 24 hours. Anybody else think weighing yourself during a diet is depressing?

 Monday late morning (began dehydration):

At this point I was continuing to carb load. I had the feeling that I wasn't as full as I could be, but, didn't now how to go about making the appropriate changes with out getting bloated or over-eating. I was cautious and also tried to watch my sodium intake.

Monday Afternoon (the photo-shoot):

It was about 2:30 pm when these were taken. I had already gone through nasty cramping (during pump-up) and suffered from very poor circulation in my hands (after applying 'decontractile' cream probably similar to 'Preparation H' in effect and 'Deep Heat' in medical usage). Clearly I underestimated my blood potassium level... a fact I didn't realize until I was a couple minutes out from the big moment. Drinking two domestic beers (yeah, I'm 19 and that would make me underage if I were 'Stateside while these were taken!) got me vertical again and my condition continued to improve throughout the session. I was 'over-dehydrated' and drinking water substantially helped me fill out and probably kept me out of the ER for what would have been the second time in 6 weeks (first time I broke out in hives after over-dosing on egg white!). I went through about one liter of water while the pictures were being taken. Clearly I still had some diuretics left in my system because I didn't keep it all down. The lasix 'stories' I had been told involved considerably more of the product (400mg even), but, they were coming from bodybuilders using water retaining anabolic steroids. With the exception of the gray market products (clenbuterol and lasix) and the black market (in the country I'm in) ephedrine, I'm a natural bodybuilder. I've learned a lot and hopefully will make fewer mistakes if I ever get the urge to do this again. The biggest mistake, of course, was the 120mg lasix.

Anyway, I was relatively happy with the outcome. It has taken me a long time to get to this point and I really think I deserved the big pizza dinner I had waiting for me afterwards :)

 send me your comments: rgeha@iastate.edu