Health and nutrition has always been my main priority, that’s why my off-season and pre-contest diets are not very different from each other. The types of food that I eat stay the same and I only tweak my calorie intake.
All of my meals contain a good balance of carbs, protein and fat. To build muscles, you need to consume more calories than what you burn as well as a higher ratio of carbs than protein. When cutting, you need to slowly decrease calories, lowering carbs and increasing protein.
I am very disciplined with my eating plan during the week. On weekends, I allow myself to have one or two meals out but I still go for a healthier option, for example for breakfast I normally choose eggs or an omelette with rye bread. For dinner, I opt for steak or fish with veggies, or sometimes a good quality burger. On occasions, I even indulge on some cheesecake. It is all about balance and the total calories consumed for the day.
I train very early in the mornings and before my workouts I take USN Pure Glutamine to assist with protein synthesis, Creatine HCL for endurance and stamina and either B4-Bomb 2 pre-workout or Amino Ener-G to increase my stamina and endurance. During my workouts I drink super ratio BCAA 12:1:1, which is great for building and maintaining lean muscle mass and aids recovery. Directly after my exercise, I have a scoop of USN BlueLab™ Whey Protein with my oats (my favourite flavour is Chocolate!)
Before bed, I drink Pure Protein GF1 to help maintain an anabolic state during the night. It’s a great protein blend that contains both slow and fast release proteins.
A few weeks before a competition, I start a full body workout program combined with fasted high-intensity interval training and I slowly reduce calorie intake up until peak week. During prep, I use L-Carnicut to assist with the conversion of fat into energy, PhedraCut Slimpacks to control my appetite and I also prefer to then use Diet Whey IsoLean, which is lower in carbs and sugar and also contains L-Carnicut to accelerate fat burning.
Competition prep is easy with USN’s great quality supplements, a little bit of discipline and, of course, hard work!
Irina competed at WBFF Worlds in Las Vegas in August 2018. Follow her on instagram @irina_nesta