Time+Patience Plus Consistency

[Unholy]

Hey buddy. Just making sure everything is still on track.

Anyone helping you with peak week? Lemme know if you need anything.

[Time+Patience]

how come youre limiting the cardio? just dont need more than what youre doing? i understand keeping high intensity under control to avoid burning muscle.. but low intensity steady state should be ok? note that I dont know.. its a question hah

I limit cardio, or explicit in the gym cardio, as I get cardio in walking to, from and around campus. If I walk to and from school, I will get in about 1.5 miles. I average that about 3-4 times a week so that's why I limit that actual cardio that I do.

2 weeks my friend 2 weeks til one of the greatest accomplishments of your life. You're gonna do great, I for one cannot wait for the results!

Thanks man. My wife asked if I was getting nervous yet, and I'm pretty calm about it. I just have to mail my entry fee and decide if I want to go into the Open or Novice division. I've been happy with the results, but there are some things I'd definitely change for the next time I diet down.

[Time+Patience]

I just finished my last week of school before finals, so it's catch up time again.

Thursday 3/11 @ Skytop

Chins
BW+35x2/2/2/2/2

T-Bar Rows
125x8 drop 100x8

Rack SLDL
315x6 drop 245x8

Pulldowns BN
150x12 drop 120x8

Lying DB Leg Curls
50x15/18

Seated DB Curls
45x10

Lying Leg Curls- upper body off bench
45x25

Incline DB Curls
35x8+4

Low Pulley Cable Curls
45x12 drop 30x15

**** This was a solid workout, but I felt a bit sluggish at first. I decided to just swing in a lot of drop sets, as this was my last workout before I detailed the final 2 weeks of my contest prep. Everything felt great and I could really feel the muscles being hit.



Sunday 3/14 @ Skytop LEGS and HIIT

Squats- plates under heels
315x6
335x5
355x4

Sumo SLDL
315x6/5
335x3

Leg Extensions
160x14/15

DB Leg Curls
60x12
70x9

**** I did the HIIT first thing- I just did 4 intervals, which felt great, and had me ready for the rest of my workout. I was cutting the Squats short of depth, and I really felt it working my quads more. I wanted to stop short of the rebound effect at the bottom of the squats. The SLDL's felt great, I wanted to go higher, but I knew I shouldn't so 335 was my limit. I'm happy to be lugging those weights up this far in my diet. DB Leg Curls were awesome, it was nice to go that heavy- I highly recommend these as my hamstrings are really looking better, from the back and the side. I haven't done enough Leg Extensions throughout this prep, so they'll be in every Leg workout.



I took a recent picture of the quads and I have to say that they look excellent- I'll get that picture up ASAP. I also managed to get a back double bicep shot in before the camera battery went dead, and I've got rid of those extra wrinkles and now it looks like a back.

This contest prep. has opened my eyes to everything. I now know what my true weakpoints are. I'll be developing a nice game plan for the rest of this year as to what I'll do to improve everything. I'll detail everything out after the contest, like Paul did with his journal.

[Time+Patience]

Hey buddy. Just making sure everything is still on track.

Anyone helping you with peak week? Lemme know if you need anything.

I'll just throw out what I've been doing, and tell you the vague outline of what I'll be doing with my diet. Give me some feedback, and any explanation as to why I should be doing one thing or the other, that's if you don't mind Paul.

My numbers have been along these lines:
Calories: 1,800
Fatx: 40-50
Carbs: 130
Proteins: 180

Some days I might add more carbs and lower the proteins and fats, but it depends on what I'm doing that day and how I'm feeling. Today I am actually upping my carbs up towards 180-200 just to overload and hopefully shock my metabolism as it appears to have been stagnant. My weight has been sitting around 176 at it's lowest and normally 179. Since I've been taking in about 130 carbs throughout the contest prep, I'm not sure if there's a need for me to carb deplete and then carb load? I know people will do a carb depletion and full body workouts to burn up any glycogen and then begin carb loading 2-3 days out. I plan on reading through the last few days of your contest prep from your last journal to refresh my memory.

I know that I have at least 2-3 more pounds of fat that I could lose, as my glutes are trying to come in, but some of the bad stuff is just hanging on back there. My separation is coming along everywhere, upper and lower body, and my vascularity is looking good.

I plan on cutting the creatine out the Sunday or Monday before the contest, as well as the extra sodium that I've been adding to my food. I'll probably limit my water intake on Thursday and Friday, but I don't plan on restricting it completely from my system.


Here's what I have detailed with my training and cardio.

12 Days: Push/HIIT
11 Days: Pull or Posing
10 Days: Posing or Pull/LISS
9 Days: Legs/LISS
8 Days: Push/Plyo's
7 Days: Plyo's/Posing
6 Days: Pull
5 Days: Posing/HIIT
4 Days: Whole Front Body/LISS
3 Days: Whole Back Body/LISS
2 Days: Posing/LISS
1 Day: Posing

5 and 3 days out are a way of me being able to hit everything. I was thinking of doing full body workouts, but I want to stop training by Wednesday and just pose-pose-pose.

I plan on only doing right around 4 working sets per bodypart. The Leg workout from Sunday should be a good indicator of the type of workouts I'll be doing. I'm going to do 1 last heavy session for each muscle group, then I'll increase the reps over the last couple of workout sessions.

[Unholy]

I would not cut out creatine. It makes you hold water within the muscle and helps you look full and dry on stage.

As far as your peak week plan goes I meant more for your carb up and peaking strategy.

The workouts look good. I was lifting heavy till about 1 week out and then lowered intensity dramatically around 5-6 days out. My push pull and leg workout were more circuit style for a good pump and focused on posing the last week.

Have you thought about how you will carb load. My strat was as follows.

Last 4-5 weeks of prep i was on 35f 160c 200p

Peak week

Monday - Thursday

35f - 400c - 200p

Friday

45 f - 225c - 200p (1000mg salt total for the day)

Saturday I had a layed out eating plan which was mostly ricecakes, chicken, PB, bananas, SF jam, and Honey

[Behemoth]

Thanks man. My wife asked if I was getting nervous yet, and I'm pretty calm about it. I just have to mail my entry fee and decide if I want to go into the Open or Novice division. I've been happy with the results, but there are some things I'd definitely change for the next time I diet down.

Why not enter both?

[Time+Patience]

Why not enter both?

You can only enter into one category at this contest. I think I'll just go into the Open division and see how I fair out there.

I would not cut out creatine. It makes you hold water within the muscle and helps you look full and dry on stage.

As far as your peak week plan goes I meant more for your carb up and peaking strategy.

Have you thought about how you will carb load. My strat was as follows.

Last 4-5 weeks of prep i was on 35f 160c 200p

Peak week

Monday - Thursday

35f - 400c - 200p

Friday

45 f - 225c - 200p (1000mg salt total for the day)

Saturday I had a layed out eating plan which was mostly ricecakes, chicken, PB, bananas, SF jam, and Honey

I haven't thought of how I would carb load, that's basically what I was trying to ask you within my last post- maybe it didn't come out as clear.

Is that calorie increase to early within the week? I know you were on low calories for the weeks prior, but is jumping up to about 2,600 not going to do much harm due to it only being for a handful of days away from a contest? I thought the Thursday and Friday before were supposed to be the higher carb-up days?

I was assuming to jump up to about 300+ carbs that Wednesday and Thursday, and maybe taper off by Friday, but I've never seen a detailed carb up plan. That is a nice outline to go by.

I'll keep the creatine in me BTW, I presume about 5 grams per day.



I also wanted to thank everyone for the advice thus far, Paul and Behemoth, you two have been a big help. It's nice to have a sounding board to bounce ideas off of, or even pick up new ideas.

[Time+Patience]

DIET I spiked my carbs on Monday- to 240 in hopes of giving my metabolism a shock. I believe I've become a little stagnant in the fat loss department recently. I could really see the effects of the carbs as my muscles really "filled" up. By 9 pm my legs were really popping, and the veins were really showing through.

It's nice to actually see the affects of what I'm eatting and how it changes within my physique. When you get down to a lower BF % it becomes easier to see the effects of the foods.


Monday March 15th @ Skytop Push and HIIT

BB Military
170x3
160x6

Low Inc BB in off pins
185x5
195x4

Low Inc CG BB off pins
155x8
165x7

DB Laterals
35x8/10

DB Pullovers
70x11
75x7

Tri Pushdowns
75x10
80x9

**** I was there by 5:30 am and my energy was great for this one. I did 4 intervals of sprints and then got into the workout. I was feeling everything, and the presses off of the pins felt excellent. I tried the CG Incline for the hell of it, and they went well. I want to continue to incorporate some type of Cable Pushdowns for my tri's, and I like the DB Pullovers a lot, so I'll be doing those at least 1-2 more times before the contest.


Tuesday March 16th @ UC Pull

BB Rows
215x8
225x6

HS CG Pulldowns
270x8
320x4

BB Preacher Curls
65x7
70x4/4

Seated DB Curls
40x9
45x5

Rear DB Raises
30x8/8/8

DB Hammer Curls
45x6/8

**** Great workout! The contractions and mind muscle connections were spot on with this workout! I've never used this HS Pulldown machine and it was great- it really hit an area of my back I feel I'm weak in. I'll definitely being doing a lot more Preacher curls in the future, as well as Rear DB Raises, as I've been neglecting my rear delts over time. I felt incredibly pumped after this one, and my Front Lat Spread was looking pretty damn good. My back looks real good when I get a good workout in- the only problem is that I need more size.

[Off Road]

Big numbers on the military press and rows. Two thumbs up.

[Coke]

Awesome awareness of your own physique, great to see such strategy with diet amongst you guys too.

[Behemoth]

x2 both what offroad and coke said. very impressive militarys and bb rows 1.5 weeks out mang

And like Terry said I'm very impressed with your dieting also. To be brutaly honest when you first PMd me and said you had picked a show out and were beginning to prep I thought you were crazy with the timeframe but you've proven my thoughts very, very wrong and you're going to do exceptional my friend.

[Time+Patience]

Big numbers on the military press and rows. Two thumbs up.

I actually was really feeling both of those exercises more than I've felt them in a long time. They felt great, even though I've gone heavier in the past.

Awesome awareness of your own physique, great to see such strategy with diet amongst you guys too.

I still remember stating that I wanted to become more consistent within my own lifting and my journal updating because of you. I've been doing a great job in that department. Now I have to become more keen to my own body, which is what I'm experimenting with right now.

And like Terry said I'm very impressed with your dieting also. To be brutaly honest when you first PMd me and said you had picked a show out and were beginning to prep I thought you were crazy with the timeframe but you've proven my thoughts very, very wrong and you're going to do exceptional my friend.

I would not have been ready If I was competing at the Cleveland show this weekend. I could still use 1 more week, and I just might enter into another contest the weekend following my 1st one in Northern Kentucky. We'll see, but I would say that unless you were under the 13% Bodyfat, that 12 weeks is the minimum amount of time that should be set aside to diet.

I had to take a step back and think about it, "damn in 10 weeks I've dropped 20 pounds and really got myeslf ready for a Bodybuilding competition." But I still need more time, hopefully I see more changes over the next 7 days.

Thanks for the props fellows.

[Time+Patience]

I'm trying out something different with my diet over the course of the next few days. It's probably advised by most to not change anything, but I don't know what is exactly right for my physique until I try it. So here goes for experimenting.

I'm lowering the carbs from Thursday until Sunday, maybe even Monday. Then Tuesday-Friday I'll re-introduce the carbohydrates back into my diet.

Here are how my macro's have been...
Cals/F/C/P

Mon 3/15: 2,500 60/240/220
Tue 3/16: 2,000 50/120/200
Wed 3/17: 2,000 45/180/220
Thur 3/18: 1,700 50/100/180
Fri 3/19: 2,000 70/90/200
Sat 3/20: 1,800 80/55/180


I'm actually seeing some positive changes already with the up and down days with the carbs. I can feel my glutes and hamstrings tightening up a bit, with less extra skin. So, maybe I should have been rotating carbs earlier? I'll play with my diet even more next time I get ready for a contest. You never know until you try, eh!

Wednesday 3/17

Just a day of HIIT and posing

Thursday 3/18 @ Skytop Legs and HIIT/LISS

Hack Squats
415x5/5 (PR?)

SLDL
275x8
295x6
315x4

Walkling DB Lunges
60x2 Sets of a good distance

Lying Leg Curl- Single Leg
40x12/12

*** I did 3 quick intervals of HIIT before my workout, and finished with another 10 minutes of LISS. The Hack Squats felt great, and I was definitely surprised to be pushing up that amount of weight. The SLDL were great, but I probably cut them short by 1 rep every set, but I don't want to push things this far into the prep. The DB Lunges finished me off and the Single Leg Curls felt very nice. I'll be sure to add more uni-lateral movements in from time to time in the future.




Friday 3/19 @ Hilliard Push & Plyo's

DB Military
60x11
65x9/8

Low Incline DB
75x8/8

Overhead BB Ext. Reverse Grip
50x10/10

Flat DB Flyes
40x10/10

Upright Cable Rows
57x8/8

DB Kickbacks
20x12

*** This felt great. Both presses felt amazing! I have a hard time with my triceps, and I always have. That portion of my workout usually sucks, so I tried these reverse grip for the hell of it and they weren't bad, but I'll never be able to go heavy. The Flyes were a great finisher, especially with the slow rep cadence. I finished the workout with a variety of Depth and Squat Jumps for my Plyometric portion of the workout.





I woke up this morning and did a variety of lengths of sprints. I did about 12-15 intervals ranging from 10 yards up to 80 yards. I would do the 10 yard intervals just as if I was coming out of the blocks in track. I was slated to do my posing today, which I haven't done, but I think I'm going to go do that right now.

I plan on doing the same thing tomorrow, or getting my Pull workout in. I only have 3 more workouts planned, and 3-4 more cardio sessions.

[Behemoth]

Excellent and much anticipated updates!

[Time+Patience]

Picture Update

If I can recall, these pictures were from Saturday, March 13th: 2 weeks from the show.

Order should be:
(1) Back Double Bi
(2) Quads
(3) Rear Lat Spread
(4) Front Double Bi

[Time+Patience]

Lordy, those pictures came up HUGE! Maybe it's because I'm posting them from a different computer, but I didn't do anything different than normal.

Now to critique myself...

I'm extremely pleased with my Quad development. It doesn't show through on the pictures, but after I have a carb meal or come out of the tanning booth my veins are exploding! The separation is clear in the 2nd picture. I don't have a picture of them, but my hamstrings are starting to hang rather well. I got some veins coming in back there also, but one hamstring has better "lines" than the other. I'm noticing the benefits of the heavy SLDL's!

My Back Double Bi looks solid. I could add a good deal of thickness, which I'll address this year. My delts have good striations throughout, and the overall development and cuts are showing through, but I need more overall back development. Also, I need to develop my width on this shot also. My right delt is not symmetrical w/my left.

Rear Lat Spread is solid IMO. I'm getting the wrinkles to disappear in my lower back. This used to be one of my best shots when I had a good deal of back width.


Paul and Behemoth, and whomever else wants to join in, what's your critique on what I'm bringing to the stage?

BTW, at my sisters place on Friday night, my weight read 174 on their nice digital scale. If that's true then I'll be happy!

[Behemoth]

Looking tremendous, quad development is fantastic. With the final color, oil and peak week diet manipulation you're going to do fantastic.

Elbows a touch higher in both dbl biceps shots so biceps peak is just above anterior delt. Feet closer together and toes out more.

Let's see them hams already!!

[Time+Patience]

Let's see them hams already!!

Here you go. I still have some work to do right where me glutes meet. But you can see in the 2nd shot how my glutes are starting to develop striations at the outter edges, but the inner portion is being difficult. One good thing, is that my posing trunks cover my arse up just in case I can't tighten that up any more.

(1) Hams
(2) Right Side
(3) Left Side

[Unholy]

MWAHAHAHAHAHHA

YOU LOOK FANTASTIC!!!!!!

WOW. For such a short period of time you have made leaps and bounds. You should be very proud of yourself and I definitely think you will be hooked once you get on stage.

As far as the carbing strategy goes. What you should have been doing is refeeding about once a week. My refeed was an extra 400g of CHO one day a week. You usually play with different carb sources to see which one fills you out the best, causes the least bloat etc. You also use these weekly refeeds to get a good idea of when you look best after a carb up.

Personally I looked best 2 days after a big refeed. My coach and I used that info to come up with the front loading strategy I used. I still could have come in fuller. I know many people do some crazy ass depletion up until mid week of peak week and then try to cram in their carb load into a 48 hour window and fail miserably. You should have SOME idea of when you look best after a cheat/refeed. Use that info.

Optimally you wanna be stage lean 2-3 weeks out and then start bumping cals and filling out before peak week. With your time frame that isn't possible though so you will just have to take the approach you think will work best for you and run with it. Next time you can mess around more with the carb load during the prep. It will really help you get a good idea of what type of load will work best for you.

Don't make the mistake most beginners make and mess with sodium//potassium. or try cutting water lol.

Gimme your email and I'll msg you my show day eating plan I got from coach to give you an idea though....

5-6 Hours before stage - 40p, 40-50c, 5f
3-4 Hours before stage - 40p, 50c, 5f
1.5 Hours before stage - 40p, 100c, 15f
30 minutes before stage - 2 rice cakes, 2 tbsp PB, 1/4 tsp of salt
5 Minutes before stage - 1 reeses PB cup

Hard posing for 10-15 minutes before Meal 1. After Meal 1 and 2 digest pose for 10-15 after both of them

8oz of water with each meal, 10 oz in between meals. No water 45 minutes before stage.

And you gotta play prejudging to night show by ear because you could have 1-2 hours or you may have 6 hours depending on how big the show is, timing etc.

Lots of info I know =)

I already forgot what I wrote in the begin of this post, long ramble.

KICK SOME ASS

[Behemoth]

Not a ramble, excellent info there. I'm curious Paul, why the jump in fats close before stage time?

[JohnS]

Nice muscles, you have some nice progress... Keep it up, i will keep my eye on this thread.

[Time+Patience]

MWAHAHAHAHAHHA

YOU LOOK FANTASTIC!!!!!!

WOW. For such a short period of time you have made leaps and bounds. You should be very proud of yourself and I definitely think you will be hooked once you get on stage.

As far as the carbing strategy goes. What you should have been doing is refeeding about once a week. My refeed was an extra 400g of CHO one day a week. You usually play with different carb sources to see which one fills you out the best, causes the least bloat etc. You also use these weekly refeeds to get a good idea of when you look best after a carb up.

Personally I looked best 2 days after a big refeed. My coach and I used that info to come up with the front loading strategy I used. I still could have come in fuller. You should have SOME idea of when you look best after a cheat/refeed.

Optimally you wanna be stage lean 2-3 weeks out and then start bumping cals and filling out before peak week. With your time frame that isn't possible though so you will just have to take the approach you think will work best for you and run with it. Next time you can mess around more with the carb load during the prep. It will really help you get a good idea of what type of load will work best for you.

Don't make the mistake most beginners make and mess with sodium//potassium. or try cutting water lol.


Lots of info I know =)

I already forgot what I wrote in the begin of this post, long ramble.

KICK SOME ASS

Good information for sure! Thanks a bunch, you've really been giving me some great direction over the past few weeks.

I won't do the newbie thing and mess with sodium, potassium and H2O. I will limit the extra salt that I add, but if it's there naturally I'll let it stay.

I do agree that I should have been playing with my carbs more often throughout the diet. I did that last week, even though it wasn't much, I went from 140 grams last Saturday up to 200 grams Sunday and then up to 250 grams on Monday, but I saw a big difference in the fullness by late Monday. Taking that small sample I would say I might have a 2 day lag for when the "fullness" peaks similar to how it was for you.

I'll definitely play with the refeeds weekly. Things had been going quite well, so I didn't want to mess with things to much, but I did notice that carb refeed.

I wish I was stage lean 2-3 weeks ago, but I didn't give myself the largest amount of time for this contest, but you live and you learn: If I'm over 12% BF then I'll definitely opt for a 15 week contest prep, but if I stay close to 10% I could do 10-12 weeks I think.

I can't wait for the show Paul, I think I'm hooked already LOL, and I haven't even touched the stage.

[Time+Patience]

Not a ramble, excellent info there. I'm curious Paul, why the jump in fats close before stage time?

I love the info. That's one of the reasons I still keep coming to this board!

I'm going out on a limb and saying that the higher fats close to contest time is to help keep you from starving to death when on stage. But that's what I'd assume.

[Behemoth]

I love the info. That's one of the reasons I still keep coming to this board!

I'm going out on a limb and saying that the higher fats close to contest time is to help keep you from starving to death when on stage. But that's what I'd assume.

I was just reading the other day, if I recall correctly, an article from chris aceto where he had a trainee eat chocolate right before going on stage. I wasn't sure of the reasoning though. Satiety is plausable but if we starve ourselves for months on end, whats one more day. Somehow it must help filling out I'm thinking. I'm going to research this right now

[Coke]

Personally I looked best 2 days after a big refeed.

What Paul states is so true, many competitors find they look better after the show by a day or two.

Awesome networking in here amongst the guys who have hit or plan to hit the stage.