Hey guys, so i'm super late doing this log but it's better late than never I suppose.
So to tell you guys a little bit about myself. I last competed as a teen in 2016 which was my first and only competitive season, the main reason behind competing that year was to try bodybuilding out and to see if there was a place for me, originally I wasn't looking to place just to see if I enjoyed the process of being a competitive bodybuilder. Admittedly I did better than expected and became the UKDFBA UK teen champion and then place 2nd at the WNBF worlds in LA, I also won the NAC open British as a Junior. I loved every second of that season and promised myself I would be back for a Junior British and World title.
Fast forward to now I have spent the last three years contributing every meal and training session towards that goal. My lined up shows for this year are: BNBF Midlands (25th Aug) UKDFBA Northern (8th Sep) and the national titles for both federations following, if all goes well a Worlds show too.
My competition prep started on 4th March, so i'm currently over 9 weeks deep with 16 more weeks until my first competition. My starting weight was 207lbs and my starting Macros were: (TD) C:700 F:60 P:225 (NTD) C:400 F:100 P:200. Currently I'm around about 194lbs and my current macros are: (TD) C:400 F:55 P:225 (NTD) C:275 F:79 P:225, and those numbers have been the same for the past 5 weeks after trying to distinguish a deficit that'll give me a good rate of loss for a few weeks prior. Current steps throughout prep has been 10k, and my cardio throughout prep has been 30 mins MISS twice a week with 15mg yohimbine prior to each cardio session.
So far prep has been pretty easy as expected. The initial few weeks were mainly creating a prep routine for me to get into with things such as steps, sleep, eating times, training times and getting into the habits of the actual prep itself. I find getting into good habits early on is the easiest way to get myself into my 'prep bubble'. I'm really enjoying the process atm, and I look forward to keeping you all updated on the process :)
Just to bring you guys up to speed with how things have gone the past few weeks.
The BNBF finals has been ticked off, I came third in a very stacked line up. Apparently the best junior line up they had, so i'm happy... ish, we always want that first place.
Here are the show day videos for anyone interested:
https://youtu.be/faZhYgzqMCg
https://youtu.be/XPvBPilXkMw
Here's how the peak went:
Usually we've dug for half the week then started to fill up, but my body went very flat and a little faded from digging in the start of the peak week. I believe this was a warning that the body does not want to dig anymore, which is common for someone dieting for as long I have, on top of this i was feeling very fatigued and food focused. We managed to restore the physique via loading moderately throughout the week (roughly 450 carbs a day) and reducing expenditure, as my physique improved so did fatigue and food focus.
The feedback:
I got told on the day of the show I looked considerably better in the evening show with a little bit more food in me, therefor a little bit more fullness. The day after I looked even better. What we've taken from this for the next show is we could potentially start filling up earlier by either an additional day of loading or wake up earlier on the day to start eating, or both.
The approach between shows:
Due to how my physique responded to digging by getting flat and faded, it was decided that the smartest approach was reverse into the next show. So we've taken out cardio to reduce expenditure and macros have been C:325 F:50 P:225 to up food. The physique has gotten a little tighter whilst not getting too flat which puts us in a great position to load this week following up to the UKDFBA UK finals
Shots sent over last week to AJ at 167lbs, that seems to be the weight we're floating around at.
I started back digging straight after the UKDFBA northern show to get tighter for the BNBF finals with a drop in food. Safe to say this has been quite productive with dropping nearly 1.5lbs last week.
Macros have been: TD C:275(25g drop) F:40 (5g drop) P:200 NTD C225(25g drop) F:50 (5g drop) P:200 Expenditure: 15k steps 5x30 min miss sessions
We're having 2 high days both Friday and Saturday to keep the physique from running too flat and fading, we did this last week and it worked well filling the physique up we will repeat this week before the peak for the BNBF british. Macros of these days are 450 40 180
My energy this week has been pretty poor and hunger/food focus has crept up I'm going to be honest and I've had to dig mentally, but it's been managed well especially considering moving house and being ill around this.
Hey so i'm a week or so late for this. But I've been a little busy moving house etc
So... We took the UKDFBA northern junior class with first place and an invite to the finals which will be held on the 20th October.
The approach on show day was very similar to the BNBF midlands in terms of peaking and the day itself. Even down the the meal choices, however I was rather ill on the day which was inconvenient.
I woke up with a headache, bad stomach, sore throat, the works. At first it was going to be hit and miss on whether i'd perform on stage but fortunately it didn't effect the look too much if at all and my well being picked up throughout the day enough to do my thing on stage and take the w.
So far this peak week we've been digging and prioritising fat loss,
so there hasn't been any change in food or expenditure. The incentive behind this is it will contribute toward the condition at the finals. So rather than using the whole week to peak we can utilise a lot of it as a fat loss week. This proved useful for last peak and it worked very well. We lost around 2lbs and were still able to peak effectively and take the win at the show.
Today is the last day of digging and then we will look at lowering expenditure and upping food ready to peak for Sundays show.
Here is a good comparison both at 5 days out, definitely some added detail. I'm looking forward to hopefully more detail as we introduce more fullness into the physique.
Amazing look Jack! So a question, what did you learn from that first show of the season is there anything you and @madebymorris will be doing differently or were you happy with the peak?
Here are my check in shots to Aj from yesterday morning, updates to Aj are still being done daily.
This week is being prioritised as a fat loss week this week to tighten up for the ukdfba northern. Weight is back down to my lowest weight of 169.4lbs which is awesome considering the stressors are higher. I believe we have a more detailed look at this weight too, but we still do have the cheeky post show tan lingering around.
Current Macros are TD: C 300 (25g drop) F 45 (5g drop) P 200 NTD: C 250 F 55 (10g drop) P 200
Current expenditure is: 15k steps daily and 5x30 MISS sessions (on the cross trainer to reduce leg fatigue).
As you can see very minimal increase in the deficit as that's all that's needed, we don't need to dig massively to tighten up for the next show, these past few days account to that. I see so many competitors going very hard last minute to get the condition for the show, this usually results in the looking washed out by the time they come to stage.
Hi guys I was meaning on posting an update about my show day at the BNBF midlands a little sooner, but I've been super busy.
We got the result we wanted which was the win and also the invite to the BNBF british finals. We are 9 days out from the next show which is the UKDFBA northern.
A quick run through of the poa that day
M1 - 8:00 100G OATS 35G WHEY 20G Dark Chocolate (85%)
M2 - 10:00 2 WHITE TORTILLA WRAPS 100G Raw Weight Chicken Breast 125G Mexican Inspired Rice M3 - 12:00 2 WHITE TORTILLA WRAPS 100G Raw Weight Chicken Breast 125G Mexican Inspired Rice M4 - BACKSTAGE 20G 85% Dark Choc (this aided in vasodilation, giving a better pump) 1 SERVING NON STIM PRE WORKOUT.
M5 - POST MORNING SHOW 2 WHITE TORTILLA WRAPS 100G Raw Weight Chicken Breast 125G Mexican Inspired Rice
BACKSTAGE NIGHT SHOW Repeat of non stim pre workout
Home - 150G Oats - 30G Whey, 25g Dark Choc, Bed.
Water was kept the same, just ensured not too much was had to extend the mid section
sodium was also kept the exact same
The full show day video can be found here:
https://youtu.be/lfDX5ZyQhFw
Hey man! Gongrats on your win!
I have question regarding your split in offseason. Did you follow 2 set approach like JP is preaching or lil bit more volume ? You have incredible develop arms and shoulders for natural guy
Mid Peak week update
Just to give you guys an update on the peak week so far. Atm we're running on normal training day Macros (C 325 F 50 P 200). I think we've learned that we don't need buckets of carbs as I'm gaining a dryer physique on the standard carbs. We'll top up on carbs if we run a little flat. In terms of training we're doing normal training routines (minus legs) atm but not going all out. Cardio is at 30m on the cross trainer, again not going too hard as the main aim of this peak week is to reduce systemic fatigue to lower any stress related water retention to obtain a dryer look. So far we're succeeding and it's only day 3. I believe we can improve condition constantly throughout this week whilst learning a tonne about how best to approach future peaks
169.4lbs was my weight this morning and these were the photos that went along with it. AJ said I'd have a sub 170lbs weigh in by my first show and I was sceptical of this especially considering I was 173lbs on Monday. This is even lighter than when I was a teen at the peak of my season but with a far better look.
We are being v vigilant in terms of multiple updates daily with Aj with the physique atm, then making adjustments if and when we need to.
Refeed update
Same as previous high days in terms of macros and food choices. Also pretty similar in terms of the drop in fatigue and increase in mood. In terms of the physique we are again fuller but with a loss of detail. Now, this may very well determine our approach to peak week this week. Instead of 2 days of high carbs prior to show we will drip feed them in throughout the week. The incentive behind this is to find the perfect blend of detail and fullness. If we're running a little flat we will top up with some more carbs, vice versa if we spill over a little
Training update
Push training has been mainly focused on getting a decent connection with the cuffed based exercises whilst somewhat maintaining numbers. cuffed raises are nailed in terms of execution and the cuffed fly's are improving steadily
Pull training has largely been maintained, pump has disappeared a little and so has energy for the session, but i'm trying my best to maintain session quality
This weeks legs training has reiterated that my legs and absolutely battered. With them fatiguing fairly quickly within the session. On the plus side this was the last leg session before show day giving them time to recover and look visually less inflamed
Cardio has been taken out until further notice also to reduce systemic fatigue and to help with leg recovery
Physique update
At 1.5 and 3.5 weeks out we are weighing at 172.4 which is still a decent drop in scale weight co considering high days have been put in place. Legs are looking inflamed as mentioned previously, hopefully the rest from training them and cardio brings that down
Nutrition Update
Some more high days have been put in from Thursday and Friday. I'll log tomorrow the results of those high days and how they've dictated our approach for the upcoming peak week
Other updates
Up to the point of high days, fatigue was the highest it's been throughout prep. hunger has been higher from the previous high days. Despite this both are still manageable and all the boxes are still being ticked. Also mood is still in a good place. I've naturally still been waking up earlier than my alarm.
refeed update
This was the first refeed in my 23 weeks of dieting, the fatigue peaked just prior to the high days. I believe the additional carbs were very much warranted, I felt better physically and psychologically for it.
There were a total of 2 high days and the macros of the refeed consisted of: C500 F40 P175
The food choices were:
M1: 6 rice cakes 45g jam
M2:250g mexican inspired rice, 125g chicken, 100g mixed peppers
M3: 250g mexican inspired rice, 125g chicken, 100g mixed peppers
M4:600g light rice pudding
M5: 150g oats, 1 serving of whey
M6:150g oats, 1 serving of whey