At around 218 right now. Back to back big calorie weeks at 3,900 - 4,000 cals. Will be cutting back next week. I have 63 days until I go into prep. Definitely getting some gains just need to watch out for too much bodyfat.
well done on the transformation, very impressed,gives me hope,being bit older than you hehe,keep it up, watching closely for drive for ma self 
[quote]baj1 wrote:
well done on the transformation, very impressed,gives me hope,being bit older than you hehe,keep it up, watching closely for drive for ma self [/quote]
Awesome! You can do it at any age.
Here is the catchup thread. I was on the road last week in Phoenix for my national sales meeting from Saturday to Wednesday. Had a tough time staying on my macro track. In fact I came back on Wednesday and actually lost 2.5 lbs. I gained it all back after I came home this weekend. Ate âdirtyâ a few times. This week I had to adapt to the hotel gym but it was good enough to get some good workouts. This was a semi âdeloadâ week for me but was still sore after some of my workouts so donât know if I treated it that way. The good thing is my joints donât hurt and my body feels pretty good overall.
I told you my prep would start on the 23rd but I have decided to delay it one more week. I will be outlining my whole plan this coming up week. I am giving myself extra time this prep by prepping for about 23 weeks. This is a nice slow and steady prep where I will try to keep as much of the hard earned muscle I built in the off season.
I will be posting my workouts and my macros next week. I needed to Meal replacement packets a bunch because I was so busy. Here was a pic from today. I am about 218 (about 30 lbs from where I competed at in July). I havenât gotten âfatâ but definitely will need at least 20-25 weeks to get ready.
Very Nice and Good luck in your next competition. I have had a 12 year layoff from competition and am going to hit the stage May 2nd. I am playing with Carb cycling. Have you ever tried that?
[quote]NICE GUY wrote:
Very Nice and Good luck in your next competition. I have had a 12 year layoff from competition and am going to hit the stage May 2nd. I am playing with Carb cycling. Have you ever tried that?[/quote]
Your âmuscle memoryâ will get you back. Yes I have and it does work.
Condolences on your father.
I have to askâwhen you were that chunky guy clutching a newspaper for the camera 3 short years ago, could you ever have imagined that youâd someday quit your day job to be a professional physique athlete and coach? It has to leave you shaking your head at times.
When you put it that way, it is kind of funny to think about. God definitely has a sense of humor. [quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Condolences on your father.
I have to askâwhen you were that chunky guy clutching a newspaper for the camera 3 short years ago, could you ever have imagined that youâd someday quit your day job to be a professional physique athlete and coach? It has to leave you shaking your head at times.[/quote]
Chad, if you are so inclined, I would love to hear your thoughts regarding Physique posingâdoâs and dontâs, what works and what doesnât, common mistakes you see competitors making, tips to enhance stage presence, etc. Also would be interested to hear about your posing routine and how it came to be (eg, did you work with a posing coach at some point?). Finally, do you use the same routine every show, or is your routine continuing to change/evolve?
Thanks in advance.
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Chad, if you are so inclined, I would love to hear your thoughts regarding Physique posingâdoâs and dontâs, what works and what doesnât, common mistakes you see competitors making, tips to enhance stage presence, etc. Also would be interested to hear about your posing routine and how it came to be (eg, did you work with a posing coach at some point?). Finally, do you use the same routine every show, or is your routine continuing to change/evolve?
Thanks in advance.[/quote]
Posing and presence are very important. I would watch some of the IFBB pros on YouTube. I did have a posing coach for one session but then I decided to go at it on my own. When you own your posing, you look more confident and have a better presence. It is important to practice even though there isnât much to physique posing compared to bodybuilding.
I am cutting back calories a bit because I want to be ready 2 weeks before my competition so I can actually increase calories 2 week before my competition. Playing a bit of catch up so taking my calories down to around 2,700 calories (324 g protein, 216 g carbs and 60 g fat). I am around 207 right now ( a couple of lbs behind) and will continue to monitor on calories I am on. If I drop too much I will add calories back in. Still only doing 2 days of cardio a week (HIIT style 25 minutes) and 5 days of weights.
Workouts have been in the 8 rep range doing about 16 - 20 sets per bodypart. Last week I also did 3 drop sets in most of my exercises to get as much blood as possible to the muscle. This year I have really been focusing on Time Under Tension as well as that muscle/mind connection (focusing on the muscle being worked). My chest has always been a lagging bodypart and it is because I have not focused on the chest doing chest exercises. My shoulders end up taking over. I have good shoulder development because shoulders take over most of the time during chest exercises (especially as my chest gets fatigued).
I have developed a bit of a nagging shoulder injury that flared up last year (shoulder impingement). Hitting the proteolytic enzymes like crazy and this helps but it doesnât seem to go away. I have to get my shoulder good and warmed up before I hit any exercise.
I will be preparing all my food tonight for the week. I will be in Dallas Europa all week working the Labrada booth. If you are at this show, come by and see me at the booth and tell me you know me from bodybuilding.com. We are giving some great samples away and giving away $250 of free product both days in a drawing. The show starts on Friday and ends on Saturday. If you havenât ever gone to Dallas Europa, you need to go. It is an awesome show and you will see a lot of famous bodybuilding people there. It is a big show! Activities for everyone.
The good thing is I am on my last notch on my belt 12 weeks out. I donât think this has happened before. I have a long way to go but I am on the right track.
Also havenât shared anything about âlifeâ in a while on my journal. I am taking a lot of risks in life right now (Good risks) that are a bit scary at times. When you get out of your comfort zone it is very easy to tell yourself âyou got this.â When you put yourself in that situation, all you see is the crashing waves around you. When you change you attitude of âI got thisâ to âGodâs got thisâ it is amazing how your perspective changes and how trusting the God of the Universe that he has it under control. He knows exactly what you are going through, just TRUST Him through it.
LIVE LIFE ADVENTUROUSLY! AT THE END OF THIS LIFE IF YOU HAVENâT, YOU WOULD HAVE WISHED YOU DID!
Hello everyone! It has been a while since I updated this thread. It has been a crazy month. I am still posting pics and updates but have not updated the journal in while. I wanted to let you know where I am at. Life always throws you all kinds of curve balls. The way you react to those curve balls really determines your success going forward.
It was great seeing some of you at the Europa Dallas 2 weeks ago. Record crowds. The crowds were so big, we ran out of samples at the booth. Loved hearing about many of your stories (where you came from, how you transformed your body etc). It was a lot of fun! A few pics
Met Charles Glass and got a pic with himâa guy I really look up to
My plan was to compete in my first IFBB Pro contest September 3rd in Pittsburgh. This is the IFBB Pittsburgh Pro Masters. It was my dream to be competing against the best master pros including Michael Anderson. Well, I decided this week I am not going to do this contest. I have had a lot going on this past year. My father passed away about 4 months ago and now we had a very critical health situation come up in my family 2 weeks ago. I have also took on my new coaching business. A lot of things have gone all at once and depending on this new health issue with one of my family members, I might need to help out a lot more.
Having said that, my target is to compete in October. This gives me about 15 weeks to get there and helps me coast into the show. Also, I am going to be hiring a coach and starting to work with him next week. I could prepare without a coach (I havenât had a coach in 2 years) but with everything that is going on, I just need to take directions and execute the plan. I donât need to think about it too much. What is good about having a coach is I will be able to really work on the weakness that I have had coming into shows. Being more conditioned and being fuller on show day.
I am in the 2,700 calorie range (which might be a bit low) and at around 203. I probably need to come in around 190-192 on show day. Remember, I am a lifetime drug free guy so even though I have taken off a year, I will not add too much muscle even in a surplus. At the end of contest prep, I will find out how much lean body mass I have put on.
I want to continue to help others in my coaching business (we donât just work on the body transformation but we also work on the mind. It is truly life transformation if you follow the program). Also, the behavioral psychology of transformation is more important then the plan itself. You can have the absolute best plan in the world to transform your body but if you cannot make behavioral changes then the plan is worthless.
When I meet with my coach next week I will post some of my other stuff (workouts, macros/calories and food).
What show are you doing in October?
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
What show are you doing in October?[/quote]
IFBB TITANS GRAND PRIX PRO MENâS PHYSIQUE in Culver City, CA
My week so far. I am in the 3,000 calorie range and a high day of 3,400 calories. Have some new macros this week. Should be interesting to see how I respond.
Doing Power Hypertrophy training this week hitting some heavy weight the first 2 days of the week (Mon-Tues). Got under 405 this week and it was pretty easy. When bodyfat goes down my body starts to hurt when I get under heavy weight but this felt good.
Did not food prep well at all this week so scrambled all week to put my macros together. This is not a good place to be in. I at least had my proteins cooked but I like having pretty much everything prepared before the week begins during contest prep.
I had an interview this week on the Madhatter Radio Show yesterday. A little on my transformation, competing and coaching. You can here it here: TMH RADIO SHOW EPISODE 1 - YouTube
Putting on muscle is like watching paint dry. It is a long process. You have to be patient and consistent with your workout and diet. I am down to 201 after a vacation. I am 11 weeks out. Trying to get ready 2 weeks ahead of schedule
How do the abs look at this bodyweight?
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
How do the abs look at this bodyweight?[/quote]
Why do you think I am not showing them yet? 
Got a ways to go.
I havenât posted in a while because I have gone through a lot these past 6 months. A lot of life change events. A job change (I am doing transformation coaching full time), my dad passed away 6 months ago and my mother passed away on Sept 25th of cancer. We just found out she had it in June and I have been caring for her these past 4 months. It has been pretty gut wrenching year but peopleâs prayers have sustained me and my family. God has been good even though it has been very difficult.
I was supposed to compete in 2 contests this year including one next week but with everything going on I have decided to wait until 2016. This was a great decision and even though I have not competed for over a year that is okay. I have been fairly consistent at the gym and diet has been OK (not great). I hope to compete again in April (21 months until I last competed). The physique division will probably change in 2016 with the added Classic Physique division. Since I have been drug free all my life, I will stay in the physique division. My wheels are âokâ but in order for me to make amazing improvements I would have to get âon stuffâ and I have promised myself I would not. I started to compete to get healthy and being âonâ would do the opposite.
Anyway, I am weighing around 204 right now and in decent shape. I am going to add as much muscle as I can in 12 weeks then in January I will start the prep for the show in April. Will start keeping you updated over here. Here is what I look like right now:
10/10, awesome transformation man.