How to balance college with bodybuilding

My days honestly starts at 5:00 A.M. and go until about 9:00 P.M.  No, I’m not Superman.   I don’t have a secretary that plans out everything for me regularly. I’m just a regular guy who has a passion for success in my sport.  So how do I do it? It’s not about prioritizing which one is more important than the other.  School, my friends and family, my team, and my passion for bodybuilding are all at the top.  If I start trying to pick which ones more important than the other, there would be major problems.  I keep them all on a level playing field and I’ve learned, through trial and error, what works for me. Tip #1 Find out times that fit your diet, and make it work.  I wake up an hour earlier than any college kid should and eat breakfast. I carry two book bags to school:  one for my books of course, and one that’s filled with food in tupperware containers.  I have breaks between my practice for cheerleading and class and work that I make sure to fit my meals in. Beast 100% Whey chocolate not only tastes good, but it’s good for when I’m on a time crunch.  Through a cup of steel cut oats in their with 2 cups of Beast 100% Whey  and right there I have about 45g of protein and 40g of carbs.  Also with the Beast shaker, I have that extra compartment to keep extra protein if I’m running late to class or work or whatnot. Tip #2 Listen to your body and use a workout split tailored to your needs.  Now I’m not saying skip a whole week or month of training, or go easy on yourself all the time but know what your body wants and the time it takes to recover.  Being on the cheerleading squad, one of my responsibilities is to throw a girl up in the air and catch her.  Am I going to do a heavy shoulder or chest workout the night before and be so sore that I drop her on her head on game day, in front of 92,000 people and on national television? Definitely not.  Am I going to skip a training day? Well I have options.  I can go do light work, or utilize an off day in my training schedule to pick up what I missed. Tip #3 Learn how to kill two birds with one stone.  While you’re at work or in class and you have some down time, think about your schedule ahead.  Do you have to grab any food from the grocery store?  What else do you have to train this week and do any changes need to be made?  Is training going to have to be cut short because of work or class and how are you going to adapt? For example, I have morning workouts for cheerleading Mondays and Wednesday morning.  I go through the prescribed workouts that the strength coach gives us, and then at the end, I’ll add in my heavy squat work or maybe some tricep auxillary work that I missed out on the night before.  Or another, I had to pick up a manager shift for 3 hours to help out a friend that was sick and it’s usually during a time where I train legs.  Instead of freaking out, I made a quick change to my workout, splitting my legs up into quads before work and hamstrings after work, keeping them both short and intense. Finding out ways and adapting to stressful situations is a key element in succeeding in this sport when you’re busy.  No one has it easy—everyone has obstacles they have to get through.  I get enough sleep nightly (when exams aren’t around, haha) and I get all my own meals and training in, while doing a million other things.  No excuses.  It can all be managed, you just have to take the time to do it. It all comes down to how bad do you want it.   Danny Quach is a senior at the University of Georgia and he’s studying Health Promotion and Behavior.  He’s a powerlifter at heart and has done it for over six years.  He just competed in his first bodybuilding show in Summer of 2011.  For powerlifting, he holds some Georgia records.  In his first bodybuilding competition, he placed 2^nd in Novice in INBF Southern States.  On his spare time he’s a part of the University of Georgia’s cheerleading co-ed squads; his favorite past-time? Throwing girls around and catching them.