So last summer a year into off season I told myself I wouldn’t be getting on stage, I think I’d burned out tbh was slightly obsessed with a poor relationship with food. After doing a powerlifting meet then contemplating strongman, this week a friend suggested doing an NPA show later in the year the Mike Williams Classic, the disability class. After a few hours thinking about the itch came back to compete. The issue is bodyweight wise I’m 32lbs above my previous stage weight (I wasn’t fully lean) and my calories aren’t in the best place after having to dig pretty hard to hit weight for powerlifting.
Being 32 weeks out and having a stag do/wedding/honeymoon all between now and May the plan is to get calories as high as possible whilst keeping bodyfat at bay then do a 20 week cut.
Ideally I could’ve done with longer but if I remember right my last prep I lost a similar amount in 16 weeks starting on 2K cals, so on the plus side I’ll be in a better position this time around. Having said that I know that realistically I may have to dig pretty deep.
Anyway before this turns into an essay calories are currently around 2.3K
TD 300C/175P/50F
NTD 225C/175P/80F
Bodyweight is sitting around 148lbs.
In regards to training I’m going back to legs/push/pull rest and repeat with no variations. I’m taking a high intensity low volume approach with 2 sets for most exercises, top set-back off set approach.
Currently I plan on coaching myself for the whole prep due to having a lot on financially but that’s not definite!
So this is how I’m looking at 157lbs. By far the heaviest I’ve ever been! After being ill over last weekend and not being able to do 2 sessions, having no appetite and poor digestion, things are back to normal.
Switched my back and chest sessions as discussed previously.
Tuesday- Back/Tris
Wide Grip Pulldown- 50x2x8 (PR), 35x15x14
Seated Unilateral Overhand Cable Row- 20x3x8
Seated Unilateral Pistol Grip Cable Row- 15x3x12
(Reset these unilateral rows to improve form, working back up to old loads but with more control) Seated Machine Chest Supported Row- 30x6/3 (meant to be 3x15 with a triple drop on last set, concerning how reps have fell with this load massively)
A-bar pull down-25x3x10
DB Rear Flies- 7.5x3x15
Rope Push Downs 35x3x10
Straight Bar Push Downs 40x3x10
Thursday-
Chest/Delts/BIs Flat Machine Chest Press 57.5x8, 42.5x13.5/6 (big drop which is concerning) Machine Shoulder Press- 22.5x10 12.5x2x13
Unilateral Incline Machine Press- 12.5 per side x12/12/9 (3x12-15)
DB Lateral Raise 5 x3x15 (4 breaths between each set)
Unilateral Cable Flies 15x3x12
Rope Cable curls 25x8/10
Single arm Strict Cable Curls 5x3x15
Forgot to add weight on Monday was 158.25lbs gradually dropping to 154.5 this morning
Mixed week nearly wrapped up, drop in macros has saw my weight drop down daily, caused even more by having what I assume was a stomach bug for the last 48 hours where somehow I've managed to get most of my calories in except yesterday where I was around 350 under (main up for it today).
Training has been good progressing most things however had to skip left side session today due to the bug, should hopefully be ready for legs on Monday!
Bit bored of chicken and rice now so been playing around with a new set up slightly which I'm going to run for the next couple of weeks then reassess.
TD
M1- 80g Oats/30g Iso Whey/50g White Chocolate
M2- 1 Bagel/1 Lean Beef Burger/1 Cheese Slice
M3 (Pre)- 90g Pasta/100g Lean Beef Mince
Intra (same as above)
M4 (Post)- 170g Choco Rice/30g Iso Whey/100g Banana
M5- 100g Lean Beef Mince/100g Mixed Carrot and Peas/1 Microwave packet of Basmati (250g)
NTD
M1- 80g Oats/40g Iso Whey/ 55g White Chocolate
M2-250g Sweet Potato/100g Mixed Carrot and Peas/150g Lean Beef Mince
M3-1 Sachet of Basmati/150g Lean Beef Mince/100g Mixed Carrot and Peas
M4- 1 Lamb Burger/1 Bagel/1 Large Whole Egg/1 Slice of Cheese/200g Aldi Oven Chips
Damn I need to get more consistent with these,
Weight wise shot up from 153-155.2 in a week then dropped 0.1lbs and then up to 157.1lbs, getting a smidge softer in the process so surplus has been tightened slightly with a 50g carb reduction on training days and 25g on rest days. After 2 days 158+, the first day pf reduced calories saw my weight drop to 156.75 so seems to be doing the trick!, Would be pretty pleased if weight maintained this week!
Training wise nothing much has changed just slowly chipping away, biggest progressions are on legs with a 190x8 on unilateral leg press and 42.5kg hack squat for 8, started hacks in march with 20x9 and unilateral leg press 80x10 so progressing fast without sacrificing execution.
Current macros
TD- 470C/170P/60F
NTD- 325C/170P/85F
Training day set up (usually)
M1- 3 large eggs/1 bagel
M2- 3 beef meatballs/50g chicken*/65g basmati*
Pre- 250g microwave basmat/100g chicken*/45g white chocolate
Intra- 27g HBCD/13g EAAS
Post- 175g choco rice (lildl's coco pops)/30g iso/100g banana
M6- 100g chicken*/90g basmati*/100g mixed carrot and peas8
* weighed raw
Hey it's been a while about 6-7 weeks infact! Big few weeks for me recently, getting married last month then having my honeymoon to Dubai at the beginning of this month. Nothing much to report, had 2 weirdly high weigh ins a few weeks back where I put 15-16lbs on overnight and held it for 2 days then weight was back to normal. No damage weight wise whilst in Dubai just gaining at a good assertive rate, weight wise now I’m sitting at just below 155, first time I’ve held 70kg+. To give perspective my stage weight was 112-116 lbs. Deloaded with time off the gym whilst in Dubai, worked out well as I was pretty overreached. Current macros are: TD- 520C/60F/170P NTD- 350C/85F/170P
So after some thought I'm nopw extending my off season.
The combination of what I discussed yesterday and the financial strains of a wedding and honeymoon this month I just don't feel like this year is right. I also want more tissue as don't feel like my last massing phase was of maximal effectiveness. Don't get me wropng I was consistent and adherent but some decision making let me down.
Checked in today with my coach and no adjustments to be made due to the 1lb weight gain, composition still maintained however. The hope is that my weight levels out this week, plan is just to slowly get calories nice and high whilst progressively ramping up strength thus volumes.
Cracking leg session this morning
Leg Ext- 22.5kg x10/17.5kg x15
Lying Ham Curl- 30kg x10/ 20kg x16
Hack Sq- 12.5kg p/s x9/10/10 (4 weeks ago one all out set of 8 with this load)
Unilateral Leg Press- 7pps x3x8
Unilateral Leg Ext- 7.5 x3x10
Unilateral Lying Ham Curl- 10kg x9/9/8
Cable Adductors- 10kg x3x20
I feel you there, I had two competitors drop out of my division at one of my comps. Not ideal, because it should be a COMPETITION, but you are there to showcase your hard work. I say do whatever you think will lead to the best results LONG term, and enjoy the process.
Hey guys been couple of days since my last update but trained back and triceps on Thursday and left side on Sunday
Back and Triceps
A-Bar Pull Down 30kg x3x10
Overhand Seated Unilateral Row 20kg x3x9
Close Grip Seated Unilateral Row 15kg x3x9
Chest Supported Machine Row 25kg x3x12
Wide Grip Pull Down 30kg x12/12/11
DB Rear Delt Flies 2.5kg x4x25
Rope Push Downs 35kg x3x12
Straight Bar push downs 45kg x10, 40kg x12/12
Left Side
Left arm chest press 40kg x4x12 Left arm shoulder press 20kg x15/15/14/14 Left arm pull downs 35kg x4x9 Left arm cable rows 22.5kg x15/15/14/14 Left arm dumbell shrug 17.5kg x4x15 Machine abductors 10kg x3x20 Left leg calf raises 80 (usure in unit) x4x15
Bodyweight just over 1lb up this week.
Found out the 2 others in my class have dropped out so currently in 2 minds whether to get on stage this year
Been a few weeks since my last update. Nothing much to report everythings to progressing at a nice pace, with all lifts slowly improving. 4 weeks into my new program but 8 weeks in total since last deload/time off. Still feeling like I can keep pushing, getting plenty of rest in with this 4 day split, starting to notice improvements too on my weak side.
In 8 weeks average calories are up by 800 to 2705, whilst average bodyweight is 1lb up.The 1lb is only resulted this week, where calorie increase has been slightly more aggressive. Previously my training day carbs have been increased by 25g, this week there was a 50g TD increase and 25g NTD increase, thus 1lb spike in weight isn't unexpected, I'm hoping that's down to water rentention and it'll come back off towards the end of the week but we'll see. Aim is to just maintain condition anyway whilst increasing calories before prep in may.
Current bodyweight (moving average) 149.3lbs
Current macros
TD- 450C/160P/50F
NTD- 275C/160P/80F
Current training day set up
M1- 4 whole Eggs/7g EVO/1 Bagel
M2- 110g 10% Beef Mince (raw)/ 1 Tortilla Wrap/ 30g Spinach/100g mixed Carrots and Peas
M3- 380g Sweet Potato/ 100g Chicken (Raw)
Intra- 13g EAAS/5g Glutamine/5g EAAS/1 scoop of MTS Carb 10 (25C)
PWO- 205g Coco Pops/23g Dynamatize Iso Whey
M5- 100g Chicken (raw)/100g Basmati (dry)/30g Spinach/100g mixed Carrots and Peas
Decent session last night training chest, shoulder and biceps.
Had to make a couple of adjustments to exercises due to the gym I currently train in.
A) Bench press (3x6-8) 55kg x3x6- Not my strongest hit 3x6 with 10kg more in past but we'll get there.
B) Unilateral Machine shoulder press (3x8-10) Had to switch to DB version as only machine is where the flat machine bench press can be adjusted but there's no back support and just couldn't get set up. 10kg dumbells x3x8
C) Unilateral machine chest press (3x12-15)- Used the machine I mentioned above, stack doesn't have loads written on so had to estimate but 2nd slot roughly 7.5kg. 3x12. Not strong enough.
D) Peck deck (3x12-15)- Had to go wiuth kneeling cable flies as my wrist is fused so can only grip overhand. 15kg per side x3x15
E) Lateral raises (4x10-15)- 5kg x3x15
F) Machine Preacher curls (3x12-15)- Again due to wrist went with lying cable curls 10kg x3x12
G) Seated Unilater DB curls (2x8-10)- 10kg x2x8
Awesomeb leg session yesterday.
Was a bit anxious that now doing straight sets I'd burn out after first set but got some decent numbers across the board.
Started with 2 sets of leg extensions them ham curls 8-10/15-20 to get blood flowing to the quads/hams. First time doing this and had a huge impact on my hack squat always felt I was lacking a warm up or 2 but this time felt primed.
Full session
A) Leg ext (8-10/15-20) 12.5kg x10/7.5kg x20
B) Lying ham curl ("") 20kg x8/15kg x15
C) Hack Squat (3x8-10) 10kg per side x3x8 (probably 1-2 RIR)
D) Unilateral leg press (3x8-10) 80kg per side x3x10 (1-2 RIR)
E) Unilateral leg extension (3x8-10) 7.5kg x3x10
F) Unilateral ham curl (3x8-10) 15kg x8/10kgx8/8
G) Machine hip thrusts Black band x5x10
Had programmed abductors and adductors but no machines, bouight cuff straps to improvise but not arrived yet.
First preworkout in 6 months (MVPre) trained at 6pm so probably a bad idea, felt sick after my session which was a first.
So 32 weeks out as of yesterday
Images from Saturday where my weekly average was 147.95lbs. 0.25lbs up this last week with calories upped by on average 100 cals per day and expenditure dropped by 2.5k to 5k.
Start my new program today with Imperium Coaching.
Steps are back up to 8K per day with carbs raised and protein lowered on both training days and non training days.
TD- 350C/160P/50F
NTD- 250C/160P/80F
Training frequency lowered to 4 days per week
Legs/Chest, shoulders and Biceps/Rest/Back and Triceps/Rest/Left Side/Rest with volume increased to 3-4 sets per exercise. Felt undertrained this week suggesting my sets weren't accurate enough in execution so need volume increased.
Trained push yesterday, changed a few things up due to machines being in use, normally hate doing this as it's difficult to track progressive overload but got some good sets in nontheless.
Cable flies 2x15 (15kg per side)
Flat machine bench press 7th pin x7/5th pin x11
Smiths low incline press 10kg per side x10, 5kg per side x12
DB shoulder press 90 degrees 7.5x12/5x15
DB lateral raises 6x6 muscle round 7.5kg
Straight bar push downs 30kg x4x15.
Very efficient leg session last night with progressions across the board. Recently signed up with Imperium Online Coaching, Jack Richardson an MBM athlete himself. Got some good results in my fat loss phase last year, so looking forward to seeing what we cabnn achieve. Decided against prepping myself as I don't feel like I can stay objective enough throughout the whole process.
Bodyweight Wise my current moving average is sitting at 147.15lbs roughly 1lb down, pretty pleased considering calories were increased by 140 on TD.
Nutritional set up on Training Days
335C/50F/175P
M1- 7 eggs/1 bagel
M2- 110g (raw)10% beef/30g spinach/ 100g Mixed Veg
M3 PRE- 110g (raw) chicken breast/350g sweet potato
M4 PWO- 130g coco pops/30g whey
M5 110g (raw) chicken breast/90g basmati rice/30g spinach/100g mixed veg
Intra- 22g Granite Intra (20g carb) with 3g carb from EEA Max.
Legs 25/2
Hack Squats 12.5kg ps x8/5kg ps x13
DBSLDL 25kg x8 (Matching my all time best)/20kg x11
Leg Press 160kg x8/120kg x20
Unilateral Leg Press 45kg x2x30
Lying Ham Curl 15kg x3x12
Leg Extension 10kg x3x10
Standing Calf Raise 30kg x3x15
Took some images this morning which I'll upload to here tomorrow, still trying to get used to my MacBook aha.
So last week I added 20g fat to my rest days which used to be 3 per week, averaging roughly 100 calories daily, weight has went up by 0.5lbs to 148.2 on average. Normally I wouldn't touch nutrition but my weight spiked up then started coming down even seeing a new low. Add that to increased training frequency I've added another 35g carbs to training days totalling 2.45K calories. If my weight continues to rise I'll adjust but I'm predicting that the extra carbs will have no effect.
Trained legs yesterday and push today. Would've normally trained pull tomorrow however I'm suffering from some serious man flu and after training 3-4 days a week for months with little high intensity work I want to ease back into things.
I'll put the sessions below no PR's but never expected any yet just getting a feel for things again.
Legs
Hack squat 6-8/12-15 (10kg ps x 10/5kg ps x12)
DBSLDL 6-8/10-12 (25kg x6/20kg x10
Leg Press 8-10/15-20 (150kg x10/120kg x16)
Unilateral leg press 15-18/18-20 (25kg x30/30)
Leg extension 3x8-10 (10kg x3x10)
Lying Ham curl 3x10-12 (15kg x3x10)
Standing calf raise 4x12-15 (30kg x4x12)
Push
Cable flies 3x12-15 (15kg x3x12)
Bench press 5-7/10-12 (62.5kg x5.5/52.5kg x11)
Incline plated machine press 6-8/12-15 (20kg ps x7/12.5kg ps x13)
DB shoulder press 10-12/12-15 (15kg x5/10kg x13)
DB side raise 6x6 MR (5kg x6x6)
DB skull crushers 4x8-10 (7.5kg x4x10)
Rope push downs 3x12-15 (25kg x3x15)