Hey Guys, happy to be here and share the next 6 weeks of prep with you all.
So to start, that's my big head battling AJ's normal sized head in the picture at the top of the page :)
I'm now half way through week 24 of this prep with another 5.5 weeks to go before the big one. I started prep at 246lbs and stepped on stage at 213.8 after a re-feed the day before show day, where I weighed in at 212.8lbs. A week after the show I hit 2 new lows over the weekend (212.4 and 212.2) on 345C, 270P, 45F - 2865 KCAL.
I started off this weeks training with a fresh body and mindset as I took 3 days off training. The reason being is that my motivation to train was surprisingly at the lowest its been and the enjoyment I usually get out of training wasn't there. If i continued to drag myself through sessions like this it's a slippery slope towards losing motivation all together and falling out of love with the process, so speaking with AJ we took a short training break.
Sticking to my diet and cardio, just avoiding training, I spent 3 days away with my girlfriend as she deserved some quality time with me after being so supportive for the last 22 weeks. I'm not going to lie, it's put a lot of stress on our relationship, so this quality time together has helped us massively. Maybe i'll post more about the struggles prep puts on a relationship if people are interested as it's something I don't think people think about.
Anyway, the result of my 3 days off...I woke up on Tuesday morning with not just a hunger for breakfast, but a hunger to train, I couldn't wait to get back in the gym and smash legs, the excitement and motivation was back, in a big way. Strength is back to where it was pre show, I'm focused, determined and ready to attack these final 6 weeks (5.5 now) and push for better condition. At a minimum I can drop 6lbs but if i really push, possibly 8-10lbs is achievable and hopefully that's striated glute territory. I was noticeably softer in my hamstrings and glutes than my upper body so that has to be the goal.
Sounds like a perfect start into a productive Offseason!! And even if its a bit bothering you could not make it this year, You will get there 2019 in an improved fashion which is very cool in my eyes ;)
It's been a while but I thought i'd start logging my off season progress when I have a bit of spare time and to keep me accountable.
So, Sunday marked 4 weeks exactly since the BNBF British Finals and I would say my recovery diet has gone pretty much perfectly in this time. My weekly average weight on Sunday was 214.9 lbs, which is 10lbs up on my fully depleted lowest prep weigh in, and 7lbs up on my stage weight at the finals. Now i'm looking to gain around 1kg a month and will make macro adjustments if i feel weight is increasing to quick/slowly.
I'm now into week 4 of my new training block and sessions have been spot on, plenty of energy and motivation in the gym and strength is progressing at a nice steady rate, some movements are taking a little longer than others to get back to where I was though.
I'm gutted I wasn't able to cash in on my DFAC World Finals invite for this weekend and it was eating away at me for a while but life and other commitments meant I had to make the tough, but correct decision at this moment in my life, not to go.
I'm more motivated than ever to make it my goal to achieve that World Finals invite in 2019 as a Heavyweight! (It's already written down in the front of my new log book)
A long VERY efficient off season for me so I can better my 2017 physique!!!
excited to follow!
That post - break cortisol drop and chill out :D So cool to have you logging and this will be something amazing for you to look back on in 5 weeks when you're the champ. Let's do this buddy, showing the members what we're about!!!!
Following!! You looked massive on stage mate, vvvv impressive!!